Ahh, I see what you're getting at. Notably, one of the big changes in D&D and its culture that roughly coincided with the shift from TSR to WotC (though possibly coincidentally, as the Player's Option stuff and even some early 3.0 planning predates that) was a shift from optimization being treated as entirely immature, selfish, and shameful to being encouraged. And I definitely see how that can be a turnoff.
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