I think turn-based combat was a mistake for many reasons but the main one is because it is contradictory to the nature of video games and D&D. D&D is first and foremost about creating a simulation of a faux reality we cannot access in any other way than our imagination and theater of the mind. Video games are proto-simulations by their very nature. Turn based combat is like a glitch in the matrix, it's a crack in the simulation. This was acceptable and understandable in the past due to technical limitations and the industry not pulling the kind of audience or money that it is today but that is no longer the case. I'm not saying RTwP is perfect but it is definitely a step up from turn based combat in this regard. I could say more on this subject but I don't want to offend anyone or taint my sentiment with bias so I'll leave it at that.
First, thank you for setting out cogent reasons for your preferences.
Second, I disagree...sort of.
It seems to me in general that there are two basic approaches (yes, variations exist but I'm going to start by lumping rather than splitting) in video game combat.
Twitch fighting - the "how fast can you hit the buttons and maneuver your character" that is seen in Borderlands or in Elder Scrolls Online. There are no "pauses" and if you "pause to think" in real time, the baddies will overwhelm you and kill you.
Turn based fighting - each time a PC is "up", they get time to think and choose their actions.
I've played both, and I can see good and bad sides to both. One example would be a delightful friend of mine who gets very very stressed during Twitch style combat - and the stress basically makes those sorts of games not fun for her.
The point is that Larian Studios chose Turn-based combat; and then made the further choice to take advantage of it's tactical potential and included surfaces, throwing, free actions and all sorts of refinements. This means that ANY combat can be approached tactically and also that WHEN a combat is approached with thought and planning it goes better.
One downside to this is that it "makes me think" more often than a more simplified game, but I choose to see this a feature, rather than a bug.
Now to go back to Argonaut's point; original D&D is certainly well described as a "Theatre of the Mind". Which makes me think of a type of play/presentation done in my early school years called "Readers Theatre" which was akin to a stage play where the Actors stood in a row and essentially read their scripts. There was no "acting" (physically) and it was sort of like being read aloud to; a definite difference in style from more usual Theatre - but also let itself quite well to the audience being able to "see" the action in their imaginations.
In the same way, fanfiction takes a story from RPGs or games, and then tells it. And in writing, one cannot have simultaneous different things going on. So reading is "one word at a time" and you tell "this thing happened" and then "the next thing happened" which is highly akin to turn based play. That's one of the reason I can enjoy it, because I can "follow the story" more easily.
So for me, it is very effective in that "simulation of a faux reality" is very accessible by these means.
