Games, like anything else, have varied levels of specialisation. The majority of AAA games have a fairly low level of specialisation, they’re designed to be appealing to the largest possible audience, so they tend to focus on things that everyone likes (story and graphics) without getting too deep into mechanics. Some people like some mechanics, and dislike others. For any given mechanic, you’ll have a portion of gamers who like it, and a portion who don’t.
Currently, making a AAA quality game takes A LOT of money and resources, so companies need to get their money back (they can’t run at a loss, no matter how much love of gaming they have), which means applying a lot of shallow, but commonly liked mechanics. Things like combat, hit points, upgrades, progression, etc. The more they apply, the more gamers are going to like the game, and the more gamers will buy their game, and the more money they make. This generally comes at the expense of depth of mechanics, and therefore gameplay. What you usually end up with is something with “stunning visuals” and an “intriguing story” that lasts 6-15 hours, then it ends and you feel rather hollow.
CDDA is the opposite, it’s incredibly dense and mechanic rich, which means that it takes a very certain type of person to play and enjoy it (just look at the small playerbase we have). However, the type of person that enjoys CDDA feels right at home, and can spend hours upon hours playing it without ever getting bored. It’s a special type of person that enjoys CDDA though, they need to care very little for graphics or given story, which are nearly a given in most AAA titles.
