I personally think that most of the AAA companies have fallen into this repetitive trend/model to gain the maximum profit, making the game predictable and boring. But it is yet till an indie (Or a large company, sometimes it happens) company comes up with something new, refreshing and non repetitive gameplay that make me start throwing money at my screen (But nothing happens! ).
Though there is a great hate on it, Minecraft maybe wasn't the first to develop a game of that type, but it was the first to push the idea forward with great thrust, and I respect that (Look at the figures $? ).
But, I would by a game that is infinite, not only multiplayer, but also infinite in single player, take GTA V as an example, I love messing around with the sandbox.
I would look for:
- Gameplay
- Graphics (Related to gameplay)
- Story (Not too much, but I do like when you get introduced to e.g. the characters, so you can play in their style.
But, this is just my opinion, and it may differ from others.