Popular things have to be bland in order to appeal to a large base. Because a significant portion of humanity will be pissy about any given dash of flavor. I'll never understand all those people who are happy that gaming became mainstream.
Most dedicated gamers are still stuck in the same position as they were before. Its like how Harry Potter is so popular but I'm still a [generic profane insult] because I read A Wizard of Earthsea. God forbid I try to say I prefer it and why.
Meanwhile the ancient dreams of gaming have failed to materialize. EVE Online is the last bastion of true MMOs. And by that I mean the way they were imagined in near future sci fi. Whether you like WoW or not, its certainly not anything like what people were dreaming of back in the day.
RTSes became MOBAs. MMOs became WoW. And so on. But gaming is more popular now right? Fantastic. If only the popular games were ones I wanted to play...