Is it obvious to say some of this is simply people lacking the vocabulary to talk effectively about their game? I.e., they may intuitively know what it is they’re gong for (or maybe not, honestly) but are unable to explain it. I mean, you may know how you feel when you watch/read AGoT, but you don’t really know why, or what exactly triggers those feelings.

E.g., this happens to me in my UI design work all the time. People interact with designs all the time, but it’s often in unconscious ways. But when they ask me for something, they can’t do much beyond say “make it pop” or “just like Amazon, okay”.