You seen to either get games where the multiplayer scene is non-existent, or hyper competitive like SC2, where you feel a bit brutalized.
One reason I think I was drawn to the warcraft/starcraft custom games when I was younger was that it just seemed too much effort (and kind of tedious) to get "good" at the main game. Goofing about with strange maps seemed more attractive.
Fun fact. When Blizzard was working on match making for SC2 they found they’d made it too good. That you’d consistently get matched with someone so close to your level that each game would be completely draining. They found they needed to widen the standard deviation so that some games felt like a cake walk and other times you just got stomped. What I don’t know is how much of the change was due to direct player feedback, and how much of it was simply trying to maximize player session retention.
I suspect I’m quoting a post I read on gamasutra. Very good site for those interested in game industry anecdotes.
Check out the SC2 arcade and co-op missions. They perfectly target the 'mid-core' strategy gamer and Blizzard has pushed a lot of content into them over the past years. I would not be surprised if it dominates the normal ladder in hours played, just like the old Brood War UMS maps.
Probably a strong reason why there isn't much competition - why build a new game, when you can weave less competitive mechanics on top of an existing engine and game universe that already has fans?
One reason I think I was drawn to the warcraft/starcraft custom games when I was younger was that it just seemed too much effort (and kind of tedious) to get "good" at the main game. Goofing about with strange maps seemed more attractive.