I think the issue is more of a supply vs demand issue. I don't think that the number of RPers have dropped over the years, I just think things have become more centralised. Rather than the load of small sites that we had in the late 2000's instead we have ended up with as all trio or so of larger communities.

The biggest thing is that we have ended up having too many GMs. I.E we are creating more RPs than there is demand for them. That means GMs have to market themselves rathe than focus on building a decent RP. That puts them under immense pressure etc and I could go really and write an article on the whole thing. I miss the old days where there were few GMs and RPs were fewer. You had to really commit to it to get in and as a result everyone was invested and you got like 100 posts out of it before it died. Now, getting past page one is seen as a crowing success it seems.