I think it's interesting that within the community, games kinda get treated as if the more abstract they are, the more "pure" they are, like a game is less incremental if it puts effort into anything apart from the gameplay itself. Narrative, graphics, and sound design are almost treated as negatives.
I was going to lead into saying that the "pure" games are probably more likely to fall into manipulation rather than genuine fun, but as I was writing it I thought about how loot boxes, which are obviously manipulative, use flashy effects to make them feel more rewarding. So I don't think it's the presence of those things that makes a game more genuine fun either. Honestly I just have a hard time finding where the line is, beyond "I know it when I see it".