The game mechanics have surprisingly few ways in which the players can control the course of the game AS A GAME (since the Narrator sets up all the contests and decides the abilities and ratings of the opponents). Expenditure of HPs (either as bumps or ability improvements) is how players control the course of the game.
Rereading this, my thoughts were not clear.
Consider a game like chess. The outcome of the game entirely depends on the skills of the players. They have complete control.
Now consider a classic 'simulationist' RPG. Although there is an element of skill, the players players are at the mercy of the referee (who chooses the house rules to apply and sets up the scenario) and the luck of the dice. If the dice say the PC is dead, they are dead. If the referee does not want you to have the option of using a clever ruse, he can set up the scenario so the options are limited. If he does not want your character to have a particular skill, your character never has an opportunity to acquire or improve it. Despite being much more flexible than chess, in a classic RPG the players have less control over the outcome, and the referee has much control.
Hero Points in HW, and presumably in related games too, make an interesting difference when added to the other rules. Spending HPs is as if the PLAYER says 'it is important to me that X is so, and I will change the game world so X is true'. If the luck of the dice means your character will die a pointless death in a brawl, but you would like your character to die heroically on a battlefield, you can spend HPs to avoid the pointless death (e.g. the dagger thrust misses). If the Narrator has decided that all the player characters will be plain farmers, but you would rather play a skilled swordsman, you can spend HPs to acquire and improve a sword fighting ability (e.g. a wandering sword master teaches the character some sword fighting in exchange for hospitality).
HPs give the players control some over things that, in traditional RPGs, players could not control. In particular, they give some control over things traditionally determined (directly or indirectly) by the referee. This increased player control is important because HW stresses joint creation of the story.
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