Originally Posted by Zentu
No one is saying the genre should be shackled, but is watering down a genre the best thing for it? Sure you might increase mass appeal but at the expense of your core community? What is wrong with focusing on a core community? Why do we feel every game needs to be for everyone? Why can we not have games with very specific targets instead of games with no real focus?
EXACTLY!!

This is very much my core criticism. And we are seeing this same trend in every form of entertainment, from TV shows to movies to music to fiction novels and amazingly sometimes even sports! And now, very tragically, also video games (and specifically RPGs). It is all about oversimplifying/dumbing things down to the lowest common denominator as the way to maximize your audience.