Because lets be honest. The game isn't that popular . . .
And I guess because YOU say that it isn't that popular then it must be true?????
have you paid any attention to how few players roam your shard?
I have seen few players roaming the changed Fire island. I found it actually scary and left me wondering if I have been tossing money down a hole.
Fortunately UO seems to be changing their style of offerings to players and have done a lot for Crafting. Nothing in SA seems to require that you kill supermonsters with a gadzillion hitpoints or have a gazillion in gold to buy the ingredients.
I'm a player who enjoys this game for the Crafting in it. The combat is pretty much limited to getting resources for my Crafters.
This game could pull in a lot of potential players who don't care for hardcore combat games which nearly all games are. UO needs to start advertising the non-combat features of this game and do EM events geared to low combat Crafting related things. I suspect many who play hardcore combat games but don't particularly enjoy them would stop by to check UO out. In UO you can play anything from a non-combat capable crafter to a miner combat miner/logger and have a lot of fun. No real combat involved. Unlike 90% of the games out there.
Stop trying to compete with other hardcore combat games UO. Use the qualities this game has that the others don't to pull in players.
Don't compete with the other games strengths (strengths hah!). Compete with them using the strengths this game has that theirs don't have. All the play possibilities for the non hardcore combat players out there. Some games touch on crafting, nothing I know of has Crafting and low voilence play like UO.
Don't compete with them on thier terms. Compete with them on terms *they* can't compete on.