I'm not saying that your point is invalid. I'm about to enter a dormant stage myself, so I can hardly present myself as the bastion of activity. It seems like you're looking for a fight where there isn't one. I'm not really trying to disagree or debate with you.
a) communication outside Avalon is very much a problem. Not only have I said this in the past, I've been punished by the divine for criticizing gods who used things like msn to gossip/plan punishment. However, I think it is a problem in this way: when people use external communication to plan things that should be planned (with all the risks inherent) in game, such as political actions. Warfare I honestly cannot demand as needing to be planned IG, considering how complex and spammy the system is. Msn and so on makes it bearable and far easier on eyes/buffer.
b and c) obviously. The ways to freely communicate via the internet are growing, so it's logical that people would be doing it more. When I started playing, for example, Skype was not common - now it is.
With that said, Avalon tires me these days. If I login, I'll be swamped with demands, needs, requests, jumps, etc, so I tend to just leave my msn on and answer questions to people who ask them there (what does this comm do? What cures x? How do I do y?), so I guess I'll admit to becoming a hypocrite. A few years ago I'd rarely do such a thing - then again, a few years ago I was rather obsessed with Avalon - these days, it's just a game. Despite that, I still tend to keep politics for the game and msn for chatting, skill discussion, technical clarifications, etc.
Communication doesn't really equate to forums, though. These forums serve the role of entertainment, education (combat logs, skill discussion), and more general gaming "philosophy" chat. They also allow dormant players a way to keep in touch with the game, even if they are taking time off (which helps maintain the "community" feel of Avalon). I don't think anything occurs here that would otherwise occur IG, and that's when forums do become a problem, when people use them instead of the game. I don't really see that and I bet if Genesis allowed cities to write their own help files, you'd see forum activity drop even more.
Then again, many people will claim that Thakria's success is attributed to our forums, but I think it far more likely that forums were just the medium. The discussion and enthusiasm and dedication our group put in was the key catalyst, and forums were just how I easily coordinated that, especially the training. It was the people posting, not the posts, that made the city strong.
