I have countless times seen people asking why generic "low-effort" plots such as survivals, skymine plots etc. get so much more attention than games with more unique gameplay elements and features, and I've formed my own theory of why this happens. (Note that this is just an educated guess, and there's probably more factors to the situation.)
Generic plots are usually simple and easy to understand, naturally this will attract players that are looking for a quick source of entertainment. More advanced and unique games can be very fun once you get into them, but the average bored player isn't always willing to spend time learning and getting familiar with a new concept, hence many people leaving within a few moments of joining a game, and hence the popularity of games like survivals and skyminers. This is an issue among almost all platforms that provide a large selection of player-created games. Roblox, as an example, has this issue too, where 90% of the most played games are essentially generic clickers ("simulators") constantly creating spinoffs of each other.
I can't say for sure if this effect is more common among younger people, but if you take a look at statistics from games on Roblox you can clearly see that the average age of those playing on the generic "simulator" games is lower than the average age of those playing on more unique games. The statistics might not be 100% reliable in determining the cause of the popularity distribution between games since the more unique games might be tailored for a more mature audience and vice versa, but if the players' age plays a role in how willing they are to learn and get into games with new concepts, then that might explain why players on DF claim to have experienced an increased difference in popularity between plots since CommandGeek's video was released.
TL;DR: Generic games like survivals might be more popular simply because they are easy to understand, and therefore they attract players that are just looking for a quick game to play without putting too much effort in learning a new game concept.
Generic plots are usually simple and easy to understand, naturally this will attract players that are looking for a quick source of entertainment. More advanced and unique games can be very fun once you get into them, but the average bored player isn't always willing to spend time learning and getting familiar with a new concept, hence many people leaving within a few moments of joining a game, and hence the popularity of games like survivals and skyminers. This is an issue among almost all platforms that provide a large selection of player-created games. Roblox, as an example, has this issue too, where 90% of the most played games are essentially generic clickers ("simulators") constantly creating spinoffs of each other.
I can't say for sure if this effect is more common among younger people, but if you take a look at statistics from games on Roblox you can clearly see that the average age of those playing on the generic "simulator" games is lower than the average age of those playing on more unique games. The statistics might not be 100% reliable in determining the cause of the popularity distribution between games since the more unique games might be tailored for a more mature audience and vice versa, but if the players' age plays a role in how willing they are to learn and get into games with new concepts, then that might explain why players on DF claim to have experienced an increased difference in popularity between plots since CommandGeek's video was released.
TL;DR: Generic games like survivals might be more popular simply because they are easy to understand, and therefore they attract players that are just looking for a quick game to play without putting too much effort in learning a new game concept.
