However, some old games' gameplay, unlike Pong's, was awful. Sometimes, terrible gameplay was actually a legit "strategy" by the devs to artificially make a game last longer, so people wouldn't feel ripped off. Good gameplay was appreciated, sure, but bad gameplay was often swept under the "challenging/hard-to-beat" rug.
I think part of this was because games used to be about the gameplay, and not about the special effects.
A few weeks ago I got an old Pong cart in the mail. By the time I looked up from playing it, I'd lost half a day.
No special effects. Minimal sound. Irritating controllers. But almost entirely about the gameplay, and not about the game.