First impressions can make a huge difference. Especially in the case of the spatial organization of things, they set the frame we use orient ourselves in a broader context.

I should have mentioned that I'd noticed the inclusion of scale-change settings the first time around. But I have strong sense (based in part on years of research in the area) that allowing parts of the environment to change scale arbitrarily (at least early in the user's interaction) will hurt their capacity to form a veridical and long-lasting representation of the organization of space.

Of course, I've never done anything close to this in awesomeness; no doubt there are trade-offs of which I'm unaware.