I understand you although I am not that pessimistic about the future.

There are small independent game developers who aim at a more mature public and their games do not have the "hold an ever bigger carrot for the donkey" feature. The Take Command series, about the American Civil War, are such mature wargames (TW can hardly be called a wargame (anymore)). Then there is the upcoming HistWar, Napoleonic warfare. Both of them appreciate history and do not dumb down their games.

R:TW will be the last mainstream game for me. Modding TW has been fun but I have had enough to calming the ADHD kid down and learn him how to dress like a clown everyday.