[networked]

This reminds me more of Fallen London (formerly known as Echo Bazaar) [1] than SimCity. Fallen London was the first and only free-to-play game to get me hooked enough to pay the developers for some extras. I'd suggest anyone with an interest in either free-to-play games and/or the role of writing in video games to take a look at it.

Here's a review [2] and an analysis of the game's monetization [3].

The developers' blog has insights into their process and what they call "narrative engineering" [4]. It's best to read it oldest-to-newest.

[1] http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/

[2] http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/03/30/impressions-falle...

[3] http://www.gamesbrief.com/2012/09/my-f2p-journey-fallen-lond...

[4] The post at http://about.failbettergames.com/2010/02/27/echo-bazaar-narr... provides a starting point for learning about the latter.