Player 1 is sitting in New York, Roleplaying with Player 2.
Player 3 is all alone in Bretonia, maybe, and gets bored. Heads for New York to find some RP.
Players 1/2/3 are now all in New York, leaving other places less populated, and bringing more players to flock to where the RP is.
So on and so forth, the amount of people centered around New York grows.
A million dollars isn't cool. You know what is cool? A basilisk.