Dear Utopia Devs,

I 100% applaud you for your work, dedication, time, effort, resources, and everything you put in to making this game better. I genuinely think that you are doing a great job and hope that one day this game will be as amazing as it used to be (it's already better than some recent ages). You have added more, made things more interesting, targeted some of the raw problems, and I'm impressed and happy with this improvement.

This is not a however, the game will function w/o this.

Now consider the following with an open mind.

People are...people. There is a beauty to this and it should be welcomed because it's a game that can accommodate this mechanism. New players, will either learn and enjoy this aspect, or immediately despise it because it is inherently unbalanced. Evil is more dominating in this game because there is such corruption. There are those few or maybe many who combat this, but if they do not carry the tolerance, patience, and drive that is far more difficult to maintain, they will fail or give up early = fail.

What am I talking about?

I was just in a kingdom where the monarch basically had a fake war in his favor. There may have been a select few that were in on it...but the majority weren't. Some were duped, maybe I was the only one that noticed because I have experience. I didn't make it known to the rest of the kd, just informed the monarch and went about my way. He knew I was right about what happened and admitted to it to me. I truly doubt he will reveal it to the rest. I am not saying this is wrong or against the rules, the war wasn't entirely fake - the members of the kd who didn't know about the deals did what they thought was best (followed orders or not, blah blah, etc). I'm not here to present a moral argument, only a potential solution that could also help with other problems. Unfortunately, there will always be the people are people and it may never truly be resolved w/o HARD blocks to what people do.

A second server, which is something I think you're already considering is the baseline of this suggestion.

1. Make it known that this server is not an anything goes server and impose hard rules/laws that cannot be overruled by what is tactfully called "Diplomacy."
2. Contents of the rules should include the following and probably more
-- You cannot play in both servers with the same account (of course people get away with multi in the game as is, but do your best to keep up the multi bans).
-- There is a HARD limit to the range at which one can even attack into another (including ops) - perhaps 50% kd size to 200%.
-- Install an in-game democratic feature (like voting for monarch) that includes major decisions such as: offering/accepting/withdrawing from wars, entering/leaving stances, casting rituals, going unfriendly/hostile.
-----> ex: province joe schmoe hits into kingdom x twice. Nobody else can hit kd x from joe schome's kd until the kd has all voted that it's ok to go UF with that kd, etc.

NOTE: to many current utopia players, especially those who have played for a long time - this not only sounds like something that would instantly be rejected by them (either because they enjoy this corruption and are good at playing it, or just because whatever), but it shouldn't affect those players because nothing will be changed in the WoL server, this is a separate server that would be designed FOR newer players or players who have been victims of this (though probably mostly legal, still rude), and just can't deal with it. This can also be the server that provides a step-wise tutorial. (Brand new players can start off in a simulation mode where they can click +1 tick to advance and are in a game with a bunch of random bots that do basic things here and there - nothing complicated/fancy/AI). After a minimum amount of ticks or certain amount of basic functions accomplished (built, razed, explored, attacked, generated scientists/wizards, didn't starve, etc --which they can speed through if desired by +1 tick function) they can advance to the server.

So...why am I suggesting this?
It may be obvious to some, but this is parallel to most games available of any sort. There is "usually" a: tier system, an easy/medium/hard mode, etc. So if it helps to think of it that way, please do. Some people want always select the "easy mode" in a game because they just want to play the game, see the story, enjoy chilling out to a fun game. Others prefer the challenge of the harder mode and thrive on dying/respawning and refining their game play. Some people don't even TRY to play a game that doesn't have an easy mode (I've seen this so often and am always quite surprised by it, but it is true). As for the tutorial part, I've also seen people instantly give up if a game has a relatively fast learning curve.

What are some potential things to watch out for?

1) Meta/balance may be very skewed with a system like this. It may be better to make this server limited to only 4 races/personalities (the primary ones: Elf/Halfling/Undead/Human -- Mystic/Rogue/Warrior/Cleric) The game becomes more simple, welcoming, and "friendly" to B type gamers - I do not mean this as an insult in the slightest to those who enjoy the artistic aspects of a game more than the raw number/mechanics. Even with a smaller pool of choices, there may still be a need for some tweaks/balances [less overall bonuses/penalties, etc]. Maybe this could be story based with the "good" races in this server and all the "evil" races available in hard mode.
2) WoL server would likely shrink and you may get a 50/50 split [if not 50/50 you'll at least see the ones who prefer the anything goes and those who prefer the 'easy mode'].

What are some indirect benefits to expect?

1) You will essentially be making it easier for those people I mentioned previously who really try to do the right thing by their kd-mates. Make "honorable" war agreements, try to really focus on kd-team play, fight "fair", etc. You'll give them a chance to shine w/o being forced to first climb Mt Everest. You will also make it harder and probably less desirable for those who are the opposite and thrive on the scheming, backstabbing, and manipulation. This is fine, because there are two servers.
2) Eventually, once solid kd's are formed in this "easy mode" server, maybe they will want to migrate as an entire kd to the "hard mode" server where they can test what they've learned and how much they've united as a kingdom. They will know that they will be transferring to an anything goes server and they will only do so by choice.

Of course, I'm sure I've missed plenty of things to consider. This is just a suggestion that I think would, overall, expand the game itself. It might annoy some of the current players because they "need" those more trusting/naive players to feed off of. Which there will still be plenty, but less is always hated by people who always just want more.

There are many other things you could do with this, but the basics are there.

Please give this suggestion a hard consideration, you're probably way smarter than I am and at least more complete in terms of what would need to happen.

I know one thing is certain --> I feel terrible inviting new players to the game as it currently is because they will mostly hate it. With this other server, I would not feel this way because I think they would rather enjoy the game.