I hate SoL it is boring, I live it every day, it gets stagnant really easy.
But, I think the main problem is games get spread to thin and mods take too long to get things rolling. I have seen games where people already have like 3 characters a piece before the game even opens and then it just implodes.
I don't think the town or city thing works because it makes no since that there isn't a diverse demographic.
It might just be that games are the way of the past because you can have so much more artistic freedom in a PSL. You can be more invested.
Group PSLs are probably the best bet with no more than 10 characters maybe even as few as 5 and then if you find you have a side character that keeps showing up they become more important and get more plot.