All around Nationstates regions are noticing a decline in players. The root cause has been identified as people going “back to school.” Be prepared to push recruiting in the coming months as students get accustomed to homework and extracurricular activities. link
I would have to respectfully disagree with your findings. Typically, we experience a resurgence in activity around September, and have apparently experienced another this year. Though, it could take a while for these results to show up, so that could be a problem.
