-structure: this is a related concept, but it's one that's worth mentioning. it is beyond belief that nowadays games draw criticism for being 'linear.' if you want to make an open-ended game in the style of planescape: torment (which had some good ideas but still hasn't been properly followed up on after 12 years, by the way), then fine, good for you. but games absolutely don't NEED to be that way. linearity is completely natural, and i appreciate a video game that has a clear structure and presents me with concrete, sequential goals. too often games go too far in an attempt to present an unstructured or 'sandbox' environment and end up creating a world in which you can do anything yet there is nothing worth doing. in addition to some of the previous examples, simcity was a lot like this - okay, it's fun for a couple of days while you're still discovering all the new ways to build stuff, but then what? it's ultimately pointless. luckily the ideas behind that game were later adapted to the rts genre, which lets you both build your own empire and tear your opponent's down.
-respect for the player's time: i tried playing skyward sword a few months back. while i've never really been a zelda fan, i figured i'd take a look at what the series has become and hopefully find one or two things to appreciate. instead, i found probably the worst loz title yet. the tedious fetch quests, the insufferable hand-holding, the hilariously ill-conceived harp segments, the goddamn tadtones - all of these loudly announced to me that the game did not respect me at all. even the dungeon puzzles advance this idea; zelda puzzles are designed to take only time, not any kind of thinking or originality. if you ever don't know what to do in a room, it's because you simply didn't see something in the room that would solve the puzzle. and don't get me started on crap like the fludd room in lanayru mining facility or the first puzzle in the ancient cistern which makes you swim all over the main chamber at the designers' whim to find those symbols to unlock the door. it's just work and more work - no sense of play. when i 'play' this game, i feel like i'm doing slave labor.
-challenge: very few modern games are the least bit difficult, and even most of the classics are easy. indeed, when you look at the back of a game's box, you'll find a little blurb telling you exactly how long you're expected to take to complete it. games are designed so that you can beat them in essentially a set amount of time, which means there's little room for displays of skill - or else the really talented players would be able to get through a game with much less trouble than the less experienced ones, who might need to practice for months to get anywhere. at most, there are more difficult optional modes or 'post-game content,' but these have no bearing on a normal playthrough of the game and force you to play designer to some extent, which a game shouldn't do (e.g. bastion and its idols). when was the last time a game not made in the arcade style took you months to beat - and not because you got bored and stopped playing?