TL;DR
My opinion of zone is that it's not a completed server - the gmap shouldn't need so many revamps, the management should better unify the staff team and coordinate projects.
The server is lacking in content, but has enough for its 200-some playercount, I suppose.
The best part of Zone, and the reason I played it actively for so long and contributed to the staff team's efforts, is because of the community. Aside from a few salty players, the players of Zone are in general a friendly bunch. This, coupled with the small playerbase, makes it much more simple to get involved in the game's "central culture" than on the other, larger, iPhone servers.