It's quite similar to the movie v game connundrum. Movies are a directed story, carefully controlled by the producer, and the makers can guarantee everyone the same experience. It translates directly to pen and paper versus online. If we could build, as well as destroy - we could set ourselves up with intrigue. I'm not saying having one group of players simply assume the role of traditional DM, and create an 'adventure' for others.
Building is key.
We need to ability to build not just houses - but sheds, vaults, mines, farms, barns, ranches, towers, plant crops and trees, make traps, dig pits, tunnels, erect doors, dams, irrigation, terraforming, and many other things. Naturally we'd need to balance the extent to which we could modify the world - which brings me to my next point of destruction. We need the ability to burn, level, demolish, siege, flood, fill in, and remove everything that we can build. As well as certain things that we did not originally build. Player organizations are likewise important.