So your thinking on having a online only game where anyone in the game can make things to have in the game, have you seen Second Life?
http://secondlife.com/
Everything in the game is made by everyone in the game. Simple tools too and its only online, Id love to see someone make a single player version of this though, would love to sit and make stuff at college

theres a free open source project based on the second life engine called OpenSim, lets you have your own functioning Second Life server, the only difference being that the objects dont have collision on them, you just go right through.
This isnt just a gimp mask...This is an S&M gimp mask...