Ah Yes Sim City 4
Maybe it's the compelling graphics, they grab you, then drop you...
I don't know, but the game is just outstanding, except for those parts where you're just screaming at the buildings because they're not doing what they should, especially mass transit.
See, Sim City turned around and took control of the world after SC3k, and then they made unlimited which had a good array of disasters (my favorite part) and awesome ways to just play the game, but SC4 is so structured that people find it just too intimidating.
Maybe if the connections were a little more stable between cause and effect in the game it would have gotten more attention, but hey, I enjoy the game a lot, it's another person's loss where they're not getting the fun.
See, SC4 is based on economy, yet its hard to get the ratings up on a commercial building, I absolutely hate querying a commercial building and seeing it say Customers: Low, yet I always do, I've only seen it say high a few times in my entire SC4 gaming...Sadly it doesn't like to change, and that affects a lot of things...Yet despite screw-ups like that in the game, it's still immersive as ever, maybe if you could make a Sim City, then get your Sims to live in it, and you could PLAY your sims as they go to work and all that, then Maxis would have a Masterpiece legend of a game...