@thatguythere I think, oddly enough, this works for and against a place.
One of the benefits of Reno1, back when, in the period between its opening rush (which every game had, after which 1/3-1/2 of the initial appers who just apped every new place at the time fall off in the first or second idle freeze) and WtF2 hitting (when a new wave hit, which was followed by the RfK closing wave), was the size.
It wasn't tiny but it certainly wasn't big. People had to be on better behavior and keep themselves in check and compromise to get anywhere -- all around. And people did, and in a reasonably peaceable manner, too. The environment at the time greatly benefited from this, and it was one of the healthier game communities I've seen during that period.
It's one of the reasons I find that 'active player group of around 10 or so players on most of the time + 20 or so players popping in 2-3 times/week + 20 or so more casual players popping in maybe once a week' to be pretty much the ideal 'sweet spot'; it's enough people around to allow for opportunities, but not so many that things become permanent niches or cliques or circlejerks if people want to actually do stuff.