re: Playing God
I know what you mean. In a related vein I look at the ads for the movie "Bruce Almighty" (God takes a vacation and delegates his power to some schmuck) and think of all the damage I'd do if I had omnipotence without omniscience, let alone wisdom.
Funny how the thread turned into a critique of your choices in the game, rather than people playing along with their own choices (in most but not all cases). I guess it's the natural mode of this place: point/counterpoint. I've had similar problems trying to start participatory games. What can you do?