Global Control versus Local

The Problem

In most games I can think of, the player's control tends to be very local. The player controls a particular thing or group of (explicitly selected) things at a time. The kind of interaction I've got here has the player controlling the properties of space itself rather than the things within it. That presents some problems if I'm going to attempt to make a fun game out of it:

1. 1. The player can't identify with anything in particular in a "I'm this guy and I need to do XYZ" sense.
2. 2. Player attention now needs to be spread across the entire playing field.
3. 3. Almost paradoxically, there is lots of feedback but the consequences of what you're doing are difficult to grok.

But are any of those actually particularly important for making a game fun?

My gut feeling is "no", but what could serve as evidence to make it more convincing?

Other Games

There are a few games out there like where player control is not localized. SimCity, SimEarth, and probably other Sim games that aren't coming to mind (notably, this does NOT include SimAnt or The Sims). From what I've heard, Populous maybe fits the bill as well, but I haven't played that one. So how do these games make it work?

Well, I think I can safely say that SimEarth did not work. It was a fascinating simulation and a neat toy, but it wasn't really much fun. Or even a game, really. SimCity, on the other hand, was quite fun, and while it was as much of a sandbox as SimEarth, it did lend itself very readily to some obvious goals (keep the citizens happy, get more money, increase population, expand to cover the whole map). So maybe SimCity is the only other real example I've got. So what did SimCity do that made it work?

• No time pressure at all.
• Combined local effects in with the global
• Had very neat visualizations of the important effects. Line graphs for overall values changed over time and overlaying color-coded images onto the world to show how things like crime rates and pollution affect different parts of the city.
• Choices had very clear consequences. Power plants provide power, police stations reduce crime, etc.
• Even if there is no character that the player is controlling, the familiar setting means they can relate what they are doing to real-life concepts.

But what does that mean for my game? Are there other (perhaps non-electronic) games that relate to this one? I've got lots more thinking to do...