The world has 80k+ players , and almost 60k who are still playing. So his statement is not completely wrong. Its not a necessary that all great players or good players must come in the forums and exhibit themselves. Its not a must that all great players must be in top ranks or in top tribes.Each player has his own style of greatness , all the greatness we speak on in here are those of early game players who dominates the world pretty quick with their unique skill and strategy at early stage. However it has been seen many times that once the world starts to slow down entering the mid game phase , most of these early gammers quit as they lose interest or they just thinks that its best to quit when they are at top or a new world comes out and they want to keep their reputation as dominant early gammers and leaves for those worlds.
In mid games , we talk mostly about Tribes rather than players and even if we talk about players , we talk at the most about top 20. So obviously those mid game great players gets unnoticed and then the late game , we just talks about account merges , new players playing old accounts , world wars , thus forgetting about the dedication of those late game great players who still plays there account all by themselves.
So mate greatness differs according to each stage , however i agree the most attractive span of greatness is the early game