playing a game with godmode and infinite money cheats on gets boring. It's funny or entertaining at first or for a while, but there's that point where you realize that without the constraints of the games systems, there's really no reason to play it anymore

I'm not a writer but I certainly experienced that as a gamer. Just as an example I'd play Rollercoaster Tycoon in sandbox mode as a kid but I didn't develop a true love for the game until I played the scenarios. Part of the problem with game journalists is they never experienced that because they hate the medium.