these posts gatekeeping what’s called an ttrpg always confuse me
This isn't gatekeeping. This is authorial intent. The companies that produce these games have increasingly co-mingled their staff with video game studios, with a very intentional and explicit eye towards making the conversion to CRPGs easier.
Mechanics in the system that are fuzzy to implement in a video game environment get cut or edited into a numerical effect. Characters and monsters that exist or behave in ways that are difficult to conceptualize as a computer game get re-engineered. Non-combat features and more artistic roleplaying elements get beveled down. And the end result is a game that ports much more easily to a digital medium.
I don't begrudge the studios for the transition, particularly given how much more money there is digital gaming. But when I've already got a stack of older edition books and mods and half-written home brews, there's no rush to jump ship. Not when I've got my eye on an even older stack of Unknown Armies and 2e Mage: The Ascension books and I'm hoping to wrangle some players into a game that's even more abstract and esoteric.