I feel kind of sad that 80% of the responses here are "great idea! ...but nah, I'm not willing to do this myself"
Not time traveling, playing day by day, slowly saving up and actually working for your own things, not plot resetting to let your town develop naturally...I remember when I used to play my game like this (before I came across this place and learned that with enough patience I could basically control every little aspect in my town). I'm really tempted to participate in this. I would suggest adding one more challenge, and that would be "try to complete the store catalog without trading). Is this possible in a year? The no trading rule would add an extra challenge to everything. If we do participate, how do we communicate? Through this forum?