Maybe I'm being too broad, but isn't being the biggest, meanest, most criminally-organized crime family enough of a reason? I'm no Mafioso, but I imagine it is a kill-or-be-killed profession. You're either expanding or being overwhelmed -- a zero-sum game of sorts.

I've played and enjoyed many games with less of a point.

If all you're looking for is a goal, then the head of the family/your brother/your best friend was killed by enemy gang X/an unknown party and you need to investigate/kill them. Or for a different twist, you're an undercover agent trying to find some particular evidence and you may or may not become corrupt.

One question you might explore is what kind of experience do you want your players to have? What type of emotions do you want them to experience? Why might the various decisions be difficult/interesting?

A game with a high quality pre-scripted narrative might benefit from standard plot devices that justify why the characters do the things they do. But in an open-ended game world which your game seems to be, the player experience, not the in-game character experience, is the ultimate reason why the players will stick with the game. It certainly helps if the player experience and the in-game character experience match up. But just stating that the in-game character is attempting to rise to power, or seek revenge, or get rich, or whatever else, usually isn't enough if the game mechanics aren't sufficient to make the player have a similar experience.

So you might consider if you want players to often feel a strong degree of suspicion toward others. Or do you want team dynamics to arise, with players banding together as groups competing with each other? Is it okay if real-life friends can have zero suspicion of each other in the game and can band together safely against others, or do you want the game mechanics to even make real-life trusted friends a concern within the bounds of the game world?

When a player loses, do you want even that situation to be emotionally satisfying to the player, due to the loss often occurring after a period of rising tension and uncertainty and culminating in an epic loss for some and win for others? That can make for some great story-telling opportunities for players, and helps make the experience much more memorable.

Do you want players to experience the thrill and uncertainty of gaining power within an ever-expanding web of complications and instability? Or would you prefer that they have a relatively stable experience of always improving their situation within the game, with the rate of their improvement dependent upon how often they play, how well they play, and certain elements of chance or unpredictable opponent behavior?

These and other similar questions might help you figure out what type of game mechanics you need in order to make players want to keep playing.

Thanks very much for the replies, everyone.

We have been developing even more since posting here and will take on further suggestions during the future development.

Very much appreciate everyone's feedback with this. It helps a great deal!

You need quests. You need to direct people what to do when they first play the game. I just tried your game, and found myself having to consult the manual a lot just to find out what I can do or cannot do. And I have done a lot more reading than what most people would be willing to do.

As a level 1 thug, I can only pickpocket or punch, which only netted me ~$20/action. When can I move on and do something else? What commands should I enter to get to those? I tried buying some drugs, and it tells me to get a container, and after consulting the manual (again), I can't find containers anywhere else in the shop.

Tell players exactly what to do:

"You are on your own and need some cash.  Type .crime pp or .crime punch"
> .crime pp
"You stole $100 from wandering tourists!  Awesome, let's buy some containers so we can get drugs later.  Type .shop buy container"
> .shop buy container
"You spent $10 on a container. Nice! Your buddy Joe asked you for some cash. Type .crime punch Joe to tell him to go away, or .debt add Joe to loan him some cash"
> .debt add Joe
"You loan $20 to Joe.  He said "I appreciate it" and left.  You now have $50. Go rob more tourists"
> .crime pp
"You stole $150 from wandering tourists!  Now let's try to trade some drugs"

You get the idea. After players get a hang of the game with some commands, then you can let them go in the open world.

"You are on your own and need some cash. Type .crime pp or .crime punch"

Good life advice, really.

You need quests. You need to direct people what to do when they first play the game. I just tried your game, and found myself having to consult the manual a lot just to find out what I can do or cannot do. And I have done a lot more reading than what most people would be willing to do.

As a level 1 thug, I can only pickpocket or punch, which only netted me ~$20/action. When can I move on and do something else? What commands should I enter to get to those? I tried buying some drugs, and it tells me to get a container, and after consulting the manual (again), I can't find containers anywhere else in the shop.

Tell players exactly what to do:

"You are on your own and need some cash.  Type .crime pp or .crime punch"
> .crime pp
"You stole $100 from wandering tourists!  Awesome, let's buy some containers so we can get drugs later.  Type .shop buy container"
> .shop buy container
"You spent $10 on a container. Nice! Your buddy Joe asked you for some cash. Type .crime punch Joe to tell him to go away, or .debt add Joe to loan him some cash"
> .debt add Joe
"You loan $20 to Joe.  He said "I appreciate it" and left.  You now have $50. Go rob more tourists"
> .crime pp
"You stole $150 from wandering tourists!  Now let's try to trade some drugs"

You get the idea. After players get a hang of the game with some commands, then you can let them go in the open world.

This is excellent feedback! We'll look at adding more RPG element to it so new users understand more.

We are also going to be adding missions which will give users a number of tasks to complete.

Thanks for your input

the goal should be to increase the size of your gang. Start with knives or something and players need to work up to own more businesses and buy bigger and better stuff. you need to buy more buildings to house your gang members ext.