I'm not sure I'd be all that harsh...although Ryan Dancey has described many TSR employees from back in the day as seeing game design as merely a stepping stone in the writing game to getting "real novels" published...and where some of those ex-game designers have ended up bears this out. 
No, I think it's ingrained in RPG culture...many people who should know better unconciously or implicitly assume that FRPGs are fantasy novel simulations, and therefore develop worlds with lots of macro level detail that work well as backgrounds for novels, but not for games...especially other people's games, where macro level detail often gets in the way more than it helps. I think that lots of macro level structuring has been accepted since Greyhawk (yes, Blackmoor predates it, but not publishing-wise AFAIK) as just The Way You Make A Setting, and goes unchallenged almost across the board because it's just the done thing. Greyhawk featured in it's early incarnations a lot of macro level abstract stuff, as opposed to JG setting's micro level abstract stuff. Unfortunately, the micro level stuff ages quicker (thus the Necro update) and doesn't sell novels (thus WotC probably won't bother to enter this arena).
The difference is marked. You can take the City State and build out, or take Furyondy and build in. Which requires the least work for your first few sessions, and which is less likely to impose macro level canon bondage-and-discipline restrictions on your campaign themes as your campaign grows? Hmmm?
IMO, the JG setting stuff is very abstract, but at a low level, so it doesn't get in the way when you stamp your own personality onto it whilst doing a fair bit of grunt work for you. I've questioned the lack of such "DM's playgrounds" on these boards before (but with a higher level of low level detail) as a sort of wants list for publishers, and been called a kvetcher for it because I'm not satisfied with the status quo, and bother to say so (thanks Alan).
No, I think it's ingrained in RPG culture...many people who should know better unconciously or implicitly assume that FRPGs are fantasy novel simulations, and therefore develop worlds with lots of macro level detail that work well as backgrounds for novels, but not for games...especially other people's games, where macro level detail often gets in the way more than it helps. I think that lots of macro level structuring has been accepted since Greyhawk (yes, Blackmoor predates it, but not publishing-wise AFAIK) as just The Way You Make A Setting, and goes unchallenged almost across the board because it's just the done thing. Greyhawk featured in it's early incarnations a lot of macro level abstract stuff, as opposed to JG setting's micro level abstract stuff. Unfortunately, the micro level stuff ages quicker (thus the Necro update) and doesn't sell novels (thus WotC probably won't bother to enter this arena).
The difference is marked. You can take the City State and build out, or take Furyondy and build in. Which requires the least work for your first few sessions, and which is less likely to impose macro level canon bondage-and-discipline restrictions on your campaign themes as your campaign grows? Hmmm?
IMO, the JG setting stuff is very abstract, but at a low level, so it doesn't get in the way when you stamp your own personality onto it whilst doing a fair bit of grunt work for you. I've questioned the lack of such "DM's playgrounds" on these boards before (but with a higher level of low level detail) as a sort of wants list for publishers, and been called a kvetcher for it because I'm not satisfied with the status quo, and bother to say so (thanks Alan).
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