The Sims in any iteration already is/was a powerful tool for healing. There are official blog posts and videos highlighting this use of the game.
The bazar-like atmosphere you describe, however, is not how the core sims community connects. We do that outside the game, by sharing stories, screenshots and gameplay challenges. For what it's worth, lots of chats revolve around how downloading cc for hours can be "playing the game", too. When playing, we want to be fully immersed, with no reminder of the outside world existing - just take a look at the shopping cart button controversy, a single glowing spot that takes two seconds to click away, yet was viewed as unacceptable. Now imagine how much more reviled (and as result: not get used) a marketplace would be that is actually part of live mode!
