Hey read your article and was impressed. It's often hard for people to talk intellectually about video games as a medium and I think that you have some very, very valid points. My main problem with most RPG's is that either 

A) the story is the most contrived, recycled piece of garbage I've ever seen, but has pretty graphics and an ok system 

or 

B) I get to a point where I JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW IT ENDS. I remember playing the first Lunar game on PS1 and had to force myself to finish it just so I could reach some conclusion. 

Most Final Fantasy games for example (I've played several) I NEVER finished, because the grinding made me lose interest.

However, first of all I'd like to point out two titles that I think deserve HUGE Kudos in their ability to tell a story in an enthralling way that doesn't detract from the game experience:

Shadow of the Colossus and Ico

Beautiful, minimalistic games that use little dialogue yet tell incredible tales (and are also still gorgeous even by today's standards)

I would also like to mention the Choose Your Own Adventure genre, which is also in that grey area between game and story… or more specifically they ARE non linear stories. We're starting to see Youtube choose your own adventures… as well as a fairly large number of apps that also are in the choose your own adventure format. One of the things that draws people to that intereactive element as well as games like, for example, Mass Effect or Eldar Scrolls 4 and fallout 3 is that they are really whole WORLDS of stories… and you can "reread" from a totally different perspective should you choose to be evil or good, align with one side or another. While you may encounter the same situations or people, the interactions you will have will be drastically different, giving you the ability to not only re-experience the story, but to do so in a way that you don't feel like "Nah, I've already seen it"

Anyways,

Well done I enjoyed the read!