Since there have been a lot of discussion about the new map and even a proposal for one while a lot of players are against and may quit the server if the map would be reset, I'd like to contribute a compromise solution which would both revitalize the server and still allow to people not to forsake their creation. As far as I'm aware the current agruments in favor of a new map are:

1. We need more player interaction, claywars, diplomacy, politics.
2. Newfriends are quite lost in the spawns, after being banned for griefing (which they don't even realize), they tend to sail off to distant parts and live as hermits.
3. An insane amount of ghost towns gives a post-apocalypse feel.
4. Large biomes for feel-rich terrain, less pointless ocean.

Getting a new map will only temporarily solve these problems. In fact, the points (2) and (3) were seemingly addressed in the multiple spawn points which “simulated” a fresh build area, but the process inevitably repated itself. The older players leave the game or just abandon their older building sites and the newfriends are unable to settle that land like Barbarians did with good Ol' Rome. Life there basically thethers on the edges, the old creatings being the reason for the centrifugal force pushing newer construction outside. Obviously the mindset and the population dynamics are the reason behind the current half-stale state many people note, not the map itself, therefore a reset would only buy a little time. We cannot afford annual map reset because that would obviously scare the best autists away. Therefore I humbly present my proposal on how we could cure the geographical part of the problems new-map proponents are complaining about while not destroying the map in its entirety.

1. Produce a list of ghost towns, contact most active players/nations and survey which projects they actively lead or use.
2. Copy all the outstanding architecture along with their chunks to a separate void-filled world serving as a museum of autism glory.
3. Remove all of the unused building sites from the map, retaining those parts of the settlements which are still needed for purpose other than just looking at them once in a year.
4. Fill the holes with the newly generated landmass, also fill some of the central ocean as well.
5. (optional) If possible, move the distant parts of the world closer to the center depending on nations' desire.

Given these measures we would get a large central area of unexplored and fresh land. That would solve most problems headlined at once and moreover produce an inward driving force for the colonization which would automatically ensure civilization contact. Also, that roughly translates the processes of historical internal areas colonization by prehistoric tribes, so haplofags are gonna be feeling feels too. Last but not the least, this process can be repeated in regular intervals (1-2 years) producing a fresh and dymanic population and construction landscape as oldfags go and newfags enter while also providing a return reason for the older players because the geography, nations, settlements and faces will be everchanging.

I can volounteer to solve some technical limitations arising should we support this proposal. — Sevastopolis 2013/02/26 14:58

Now this part is purely cosmetical to illustrate the algorithm in action. I have no prior idea what settlements to select and imho the demolshing radius should be even larger, so that's just to get an idea on what I mean: First we isolate the functional settlements and mark the no-demolishing zone shown in green. Then the area is removed while select active cities are retained. We then fill the empty area with the new geography resulting in something like this. The older chunks marked by the red border.

Pro vote: ✔ Contra vote: ✘
Pro: 1 | Contra: 1