Legos are like coding. The simplicity of Lego yesteryear was like some of the simpler programming languages out there. Approachable and rewarding, but limited. Over the years, the language of Lego has added new programming constructs and is inherently more complex, more capable, and harder to approach.
The evolutions the article describes may be deplorable to some, but it was adapt or die. Anyone playing with Tinker Toys, Lincoln Logs, or Erector Sets anymore?
I am 51 and still collect Lego. I realized some years ago, that my own four kids were not getting the same enjoyment out of them that I had. Chagrineldy I realized that in my attempt to help them love them, I had over glutted them. Two large bins (the kind you put in the back of pickup trucks), an explosion of piece types, and an explosion of color, made it too difficult to find the piece you wanted.
So I sorted them. Today, I have more than 200 clear Sterilite storage containers with the whole collection sorted by basic shapes or types. Some are very specific (2x4 bricks), some more of a category (all technic gears). I had tried sorting them by color in the past, but all that led to was very mono color creations.
When I build something, I use the whole set. But when grandkids and nephew/nieces come, I just get a few of them out. With about 20 boxes, it returns to that simple approachable phase and they do the coolest things. You can get a lot of mileage out of just the plates and bricks, plus one or two of the “specialty” boxes thrown in for grins (e.g. two of my nephews just love the big box of wheels).
The most popular boxes are still the minifig boxes: heads, hats, vests, torsos, legs, tools, animals, foods, weapons. They’ll “play dolls” with those all day. They generally push the few Friends pieces out of the way. When the kids were younger, we used to do a monthly bricklink order as a group. My 3 girls always opted for more female hair pieces.