Developing interesting characters is a skill which is naturally lacking in 99% of technical computer people, just as working on 3D engines is impossible for most writters. The problem is that people think that anyone can write good stories... and that's why John Carmack is right in most instances of video games in general ( note: "video games" includes PC games for this article).
The point most people miss in this particular debate is that each player look for a different thing in the games they play. I love Wing Commander for its characters AND its fun space arcadey combat AND etc. I like I-War 2 because it looks good and has an amazing developed universe to fly around. I like Freespace games because they have a good engine, good gameplay and BIG cap ships... And X-BtF because it makes me sleep like a rock. I like most Space-sims for differente reasons, I see no need to hate all others just because WC is the best. WC will never be substituted, but there are several OTHER good Space ship games to play.
We cannot measure all games by a single factor. Some people like playing CS with other pre-teens in LANhouses and shout a lot, others prefer to humiliate adversaries with lightining victories in seconds in WarCraft III...
There is no paradigm of what factors are essential in a game, only PERSONAL paradigms. Quake had NO story-telling and made Game History, Half-Life had great story-telling and made Game History all the same. And both were FPSs.