I'm surprised it took me so long to explain properly in detail exactly why QTE is such a terrible game design choice but I think it's important to articulate your thoughts rather than be some irrational douchebag about it. Oddly enough, it was my recent attempts at trying to play modern 'rockstar games' and finally tweak on them that did it. I can't seriously think of any gamer who looks at that shitty gameplay and goes "Yes, I can't wait to tap a button repeatedly in order to progress through a cutscene that has nothing to do with the gameplay!".
Do you guys remember how they did it in older games? I even have something of a reliable formulae on that as well and I'm making notes on it which is part of what this post is about.
gameplay/cutscene/gameplay/cutscene/ - Simple right?
Now it's fucking
Gameplay/CutsceneQTE/QTE/Gameplay/CutsceneQTE/CutsceneQTE WITH EPIC ENDING PRESS X TO APPRECIATE
It's the "Press F to pay respects" meme on steroids and I hate it. Finishing a game used to be a joy, you used to get excited with a story driven game and could sit back and watch it like a movie for a reward once you beat a certain section a.k.a Halo 2 ( Especially with the amazing anniversary cutscenes ).
Now you have to keep doing this bullshit of "PRESS X TO APPRECIATE CUTSCENE" and it drives me fucking mental. Games developers much like with ubisoft with their gameplay breaking UI vomit seem to have tricked themselves into thinking this is what gamers want or alternatively and sadly more likely this is pretentious hipster nonsense and they really think this design philosophy is the way to go and then they act shocked that so many gamers aren't interested in their stupid walking simulators. It's so damn boring with arguably no real gameplay you could probably code some hotkey script to play the game for you.
TAP X REPEATEDLY TO COLLECT CASH LOOK AT HOW AMAZING THIS CRIME GAME IS YOU GUYS BY THE WAY YOU CAN'T SKIP IT EITHER
I remember when they were added and they were fucking beloved for it. Resident Evil 4 and God of War were highly praised for them and became massive hits, inspiring people to copy them.
I even distinctly remember some review on G4 contrasting them to "Kojima mega-cutscenes" which were hugely popular at the time. Especially as most games refused to let you skip them either, so QTEs functioned as a way to keep action and attention during cutscenes instead of constant "put the controller down and enjoy a movie" that was huge in the PS2 era.
So the problem really isn't QTEs themselves. Its their overabundance and their extremely boring use. Even in the two big examples I used, they were only in a handful of cutscenes (and God of War only in actual combat) and were always either dramatic setpieces or for awesome attacks beyond the normal combat engine.