Action-RPGs are "the fast food side of RPGS" - and what I personally find absolutely HORRIBLE is when people know no other way RPGs are and then DEMAND that all other RPGs should be like this !
...
This is the curse of streamlining for mass market appeal ... It just becomes flatter and flatter ... more nd more shallow, no more intellectual food anymore ...
I think this rather sums up why I tend to get irritated with the "that's not a real RPG" sort of discussions: I'm not saying it was your intent but it can very easily come across as rather elitist and condescending towards those of more "lowbrow" preferences, especially regarding elements like good graphical presentation (which I actually rather like). Preferences are just that: there's no correct way.
Turn-based combat is another one that comes up often, but is this any more "correct" than real-time combat? Personally I don't care for it, though I'd shy way from criticising it on that basis: it's just not my cup of tea, that's all.
Although I sympathise with the concern that games may tend toward a "lowest common denominator", I think I'd be cautious to avoid any suggestion that they are dumbing down to suit the mass-market as is often suggested. Even if it's true on some occasions, it doesn't really invite considered discourse, and not doing so is the enemy of promoting more widespread interest in the genre.
I'm reminded of the interminable squabbling amongst Elder Scrolls fans about why Oblivion is rubbish compared to Morrowind, which became so shrill that I almost avoided playing Morrowind altogether (I'd started with Oblivion, so I was going "backwards" through the franchise). Fortunately I gave it a look anyway and enjoyed it a lot, which revealed that most of the arguments were nonsense and I should've just dismissed them in the first place; where Oblivion does fall short (and this is still a subjective area) it was easily enough fixed with user-made mods to deal with levelling, trading and obliterating the conspicuous areas of computer-generated landscape. But had the elitists succeeded in putting me off with their haughty dismissal of Oblivion and its corollary which suggested Morrowind to be an ugly, difficult and uninviting game, I'd never have experienced the joy of playing it.
