When will researchers stop picking premature goals for their projects like search and rescue? I know, because I did exactly the same thing as an undergrad. Just admit it's an technological exploration and that you need funding to continue working on it.

Please bare in mind that is not even finished yet. I would expect the developers to explore new possibilities regarding gameplay.

TTD is a good example and should probably me mentioned in this context. It does indeed have much of the experiential qualities regarding whole world manipulation (WWM) that I wanted to elevate. And before that we had populous and SimCity. But they don't feel as much paradigmatic as experiencing first person WWM. I guess I need to be more clear about that I'm talking about experiential qualities in first person gaming. I'm truly sorry for being a bit childish about this, and I totally agree that things both could and often should be different - even opinions :)

Destructable is one thing, but how about manipulable, reconfigurable and ultimately constructable?