FUNDAMENTALS OF GAME DESIGN, SECOND EDITION
God Games
The term god game refers to games in which the player takes on the role of a god, but one with limited powers like the gods of ancient Greece, rather than an allpowerful god from monotheistic traditions. In a god game, the player's power derives from a population of simulated worshippers—artificial characters that the player, in his capacity as their deity, must nurture and care for. The population is usually depicted as a tribal people rather than a civilization.
God games use an omnipresent (of course!) interaction model and an aerial perspective. They often share qualities with both construction and management simulations and with real-time strategy (RTS) games. (Sometimes games in these genres are described as god games, but if a game doesn't specifically refer to the player's role as that of a god, the term is not appropriate. The Civilization games are not god games.) As in a CMS like SimCity, the player of a god game exercises only indirect control over the population. He can't tell each specific individual what to do, as he can in a strategy game. On the other hand, as in an RTS, he competes directly against an enemy—in this case, a rival god—who has his own population of supporters. And unlike either RTS or CMS games, god games offer the player godlike powers: controlling the weather, reshaping the landscape, and the ability to bestow various blessings (such as fertility) on his own population and various curses upon the population of his enemy. God games are a subgenre of artificial life games because so much of the player's role involves tending to a population of simulated people whom he controls only indirectly.
