Id like to put fourth a theory of my own.
Many people like myself are growing at a decent rate. I myself am one of the top players in my continent. Based on that fact alone, you might be tempted to assume that I am relatively active and able to do a decent amount of fighting. Truth be told, until a week or so ago I was limited to one, maybe two logins a day. I was a full time student and a full time employee. Throw in the fact that I lived off campus and had no internet at my apartment, and you wonder how i ever find time to log in at all (and no, I cant play from my phone). Yet somehow I am in the top 20 of my tribe and even better ranked in my continent.
If I were to come under attack, there is no possible way I could defend myself. I would almost certainly quit. Yes, it is because of the attacks, but are you really going to blame my "RL issues" on the war? no, those issues existed beforehand for months. However, when put under pressure, I have no choice really but to give my account over to almost permanent sitting or quit (or go camp out at the library all night and hope nobody attacks during my 8 hour work shift or 5 hours of class)
After having led a number of tribes, I have come to realize that very few people are as active as many of us more hardcore players might imagine. When able, I would love to sit here 18 hours a day and didge, snipe, stack, prenoble, renoble, and all other manner of antics. At the moment, for me and a huge majority of people in this game, that just isnt possible. Most people get by with a couple logins a day.
Its almost dead even. Nobody is owning anybody stats wise.