Concerning my post calling coiners cheaters here is a reply from a player on the GBG feedback thread that says what I meant.
I don't consider it cheating at all either, but I do consider spending money on it "not fun." If I had money to spend, there are things I would spend money on, but not on making my city powerful. I would spend money on things like having my own personally designed avatar, aesthetic things related to the city, convenience things to save me time. I remember one time I wanted an avatar that was part of a purchase and I might have done it, but to do it I would have had to buy a bunch of junk for my city, it was a package deal, nope, not doing it. Spending money on competing doesn't make sense to me, then all we are doing is competing about who has the most money. For me it's a matter of pride that no money was spent in creating my city. A financial cap would make sense to me as an equalizer, but I'm sure Inno wouldn't agree, lol. It's okay. You see I never set about this game trying to be #1. That's ephemeral anyway. I play the game because it's interesting to do and because I meet interesting people. Other people need to be #1. I don't. I do get excited when I do better than I thought, when I figure something out. If I ever end up #1 by doing my own thing, I'm sure I'll do a happy dance (though I'm sure it won't last long). But dumping a bunch of money into a game so I can say I'm number on, that's just not me.