RoB is not a city RPG, it doesn't attempt to simulate/role play an entire city. You have to think of it as an economy, with the builds representing different types of companies (owned by single individuals). Basically you try to show off/market as much as possible to climb to the top of the economy. To do so you can employ tactics like partnering with other businesses etc but the player count has been too low for that to really work out. In 2011 the player count seemed to consistently be around 20, so it worked out a bit better since the game mode caters to lots of players.