A larger map doesn't necessarily kill interaction. It's been argued before in two or three threads but these ideas sum up the basics:
NotJimmy97 wrote:Why not just make basic survival scale in difficulty with the distance you travel from the center of the map? Trees get tougher to chop, animals get more aggressive and stronger (and more valuable), and other interesting challenges arise for players in the far reaches of the hinterlands? It could scale linearly such that players can progressively explore the farther recesses of the world, but at a certain point the challenges of living would be greater than any experienced player could deal with. I'm probably just rambling here, but that sounds like a system that would be a lot more organic than the invisible wall that currently encloses the world map.
Kaios wrote:I like the sound of this quite a bit, makes sense and seems fair enough in terms of balance. Even the tree chopping becoming more difficult is a reasonable idea since it limits how far out you can go before you get to a point where it becomes too difficult to establish a settlement at your current level preventing players from going hours upon hours away from any civilization at least for awhile.
Loftar has mentioned a few times that making an infinite map is his ultimate goal in this regard. The idea above seems to be a good solution that pleases everyone and doesn't ruin interaction.