I wish I could remember where I heard this, but a game designer (maybe of the Outer Wilds) said that modern video games are designed to play themselves. This was mostly in context of open world games, which do everything in there power to ensure that players never feel out of their depth, but it goes for most game systems in every genre. Every aspect of rpgs that veered into simulation is not user-friendly so naturally game design has become about sanding down those edges, or taking them out all together. I'll let you guys tell me how this might also be the case through the editions of D&D, I feel that older rules did more to deal with simulation in campaigns (usually in exploration) but never really adequately and it seems like most players and DMs are satisfied to hand-wave it.
