Expedition: general discussions.

many players and GMs were online almost 24/7.

But why were they online? Well, the GM might have had a lot of time to dedicate to running the game, which is understandable. But what about the players? It was precisely because of their interest in the game, which arose from its good implementation.

interest fades when you have to wait a long time for a response.

And it also fades when nothing happens in the game for a long time, and no one "encourages" the players to move forward. Take, for example, "1257" or whatever it was called. Actually, things were moving along nicely until we got to the future and found ourselves in a half-empty city where it's unclear what to do or where to go.