How many squads go in there on a regular basis? If the squads went in there on a regular basis with the objective on swatting down the opposition then you would have more people in there.
What happens though is you get a sprinking of squad members and a few one man bands. Why not get the squads in there and let's see what happens? JG54 fly as a squad in there so why not others? A lot of these childish posts would go away if that happened. The so called Red Barons of the MA would probably get their prettythang handed to them once or twice by Thrilla, Snaphook, VWE, Larry et al, that would make them want to try harder and then they would comeback for more.
Can we somehow encourage more Squads as part of their Squadnight? Their would be comparable crates on both sides and it would come down to the guy behind the joystick. So just to summarize, too many individuals and not enough squads in there leads to low numbers and no cohesion, more squads in there fighting as a unit leads to more fights and greater numbers.
iTunes, you just hit that nail pretty squarely.
Want numbers in the AVA?
Encourage squads, not individuals. What happens when you only have one regular squad flying in the AVA?
You get that one squad seeming to dominate, not because they are all aimbot / superjock / 'toon fighter pilots, but because they fly "together".
The individuals who come in and don't even have a wingy become the baby seals.
Encourage squad type set ups and get some structured mini type scenarios (ala Larry's wednesday night missions, Fuds ideas etc etc), and you may draw entire squads.
The AVA has very good potential to be a popular arena, that could grow into something quite unlike the current MA's. Kinda like scenarios or FSO except you don't need to register and it is available to all.
RTR