it is not up to the playerbase to save and develop a game any game. Its up to the developer.
The boards as they are here and in other places exist as they do purely due to Horizons progress or lack there of to date.
Remember people play the game to have fun. This isn't a religion.
The minute it becomes a job you have issues.
To use your analogy, the king has over taxed his subjects and spent the treasury. He needs to send his knights out to find the holy grail. For it is their quest to heal the land not one that belongs in the hands of the kings subjects and courtiers.