Opinionated and Uninformed

Think of the community it could create.  Adding drama, conflict, and all kinds of potential for political chaos.  Not to mention later being able to bet more lavish items.

Anyone that is better at Texas Holdem then me should not be able to play this game.

This, in part, will address the issue I have where I am excited and want to play Illy, but there is nothing to do until X is done building/researching/etc.

Also I don't think poker would be used in this time frame.  If you want i suggest going to pogo.com where you can player exactly that while you wait for illy stuff to happen.  Or a better suggestion if you don't like waiting buy a bunch of prestige and then you can do quite a few things instantly.  

Alliance chat: Most people are partially afk most of the time because they know that it's going to be 6 hours before they do the next thing in game.  Occasionally there are times of activity, but still... I would imagine that with that structure of the game this would be the case in most guilds - no?

Something like a minigame with game-world consequence (however small) would actually by a cool catalyst to more in-game interaction - including in guild chat!

I mean, there is a reason that "team building" exercises aren't about sitting around and small talking.  They are about interacting with people.  I think a cool game mechanic like a mini game would be a phenomenal boost to people's activity in the game.  And with that only good things will happen!

Do you wise veterans think this is so crazy?

ditto that.  Also, we have quite a few unsolved mysteries and once you grow a bit you can do "The Statue Hunt", etc.  I spent a lot of time reading the research tree and the faction descriptions.  Things really do pick up, as slow as the beginning might seem...