It's always funny to realise the shift between that feudalistic, cutthroat, decentralized and geopolitically interesting strategus dream we had, and the reality of strat 3 and it's modern carebear geopolitics.
I know most of the players aren't the ones to blame (except the cheaters of course, yes we all know who they are, but that's not my point). The game mechanics are the problem. In the current system, allying with people is a big win-win with very little rational reason not to. Nash equilibrium is cooperating, and the game became extremely uninteresting as people realised that. There is a lack of incentives to fight each other.
Btw, are there any factions left on the map that are not part of the alliance now that the greens are gone ? Sounds like some interesting gameplay.