I think sim city fails miserably in one point: personality I know that it's almost impossible to select a personality for each sim in your city, however it would be very interesting if neighborhoods or even whole cities could take on an especific type of behaviour. For example, cities with a extense farming tradition that suddenly turns high-tech will have some trouble adapting to new habits. Or cities with a large waterfront will be more inclined to beaches and waterfront houses. Sims with a wide variety of education and culture would demand a lot more than ignorant sims and so forth we don't want a city made up of robots...