Gaming

Escort missions and weapons breaking without a reasonably easy way to get/make more (glaring at you, Dead Island...)

Death penalties. Any game that seriously penalizes you for dying is just so frustrating for me. I understand that there has to be some form of reason to not die but please, at worst just reload an earlier save for me (and make sure you have frequent autosaves too).

If I lose all my items on death I'm just reloading a save. If I have to respawn at a checkpoint ten thousand years away I'm going to be very mad. If I have to listen to someone monologue to me every time I die I'm refunding your game.

Probably simple, mindless side/fetch quests. Defeat enemies, get loot, run it back, rinse and repeat. It also is incredibly dry to watch as well as actually do yourself.

I honestly do not like the RPG mechanic of levelling up/buying skills, especially in FPS games. I'd rather have a Half Life experience over levelling.

I'm also not a fan of side quests. I find it breaks the immersion when you're character is on some crazy, world saving overall quest but sure, I can spend time to find that random thing for you.

Anything that encourages toxicity and trolling behavior, though I suppose in some ways that's unavoidable and is the nature of anonymity/pseudo-anonymity that online gaming offers.

QuickTime events. I started replaying RE4 original. Did not miss them.

Currently?
Having cool abilities tied to NPC companions.

And I'm pretty sure (nearly?) everyone knows why and what I'm talking about.

I really don't like random bullet spread. Especially when it becomes more random if your character is moving.

crafting dear god I hate crafting if I ever find the person that introduced crafting into the triple a formula...

Perhaps forced online with no way to self host.

I think forced stealth mechanics in games not designed for them are my pet peeve. Looking at you Witcher 2.

Crafting with survival elements, one button stealth attacks, random loot with stats in story games.

Not a gameplay mechanic but constant fucking talking mains and npcs

Someone already sort of mentioned this, but I don't usually like crafting and building stuff. So games like minecraft and animal crossing new horizons are out. For the latter, greatly prefer new leaf.

Story, specifically cutscenes, especially if they're unskippable. Everything I need to know should simply be presented in the HUD or in the menu/options/inventory/etc. It's fine that there /is/ a story but at least give me the option of skipping it entirely and playing the actual game.

Stamina, why can't i just keep running forever!! Eben worst in open world games.

Most open-world games have areas on the map that are blank until you "explore" them by climbing a tower of some kind and "activating" that region on your map.

This results in trudging blindly into the middle of every new area, ignoring interesting stuff along the way and beelining to the tower just so you can see the damn map. It's an annoyingly unnatural way to explore.

I didn't even realize that I disliked it until I played Far Cry 6, which has a much more organic and immersive landmark discovery process. You learn locations of interest from readables and by talking to friendly NPCs that you encounter in the world.

Edit: sp

1. Slow, boring climbing sections that add nothing to the game and just pad out playtime. I'm looking at you, God of War (2018).

2. Lives systems. Luckily modern games never use it anymore, but every now and then I play an older game and wow, losing 30+ minutes of progress just because you died a few times SUCKS.

Crafting. I don't want to have to remember the recipe to stuff, then find out where it is, then keep going back to make it again

Disclaimer: not always

Character stats, commonly called "RPG elements".

In games with low enough detail that I have to use my imagination, it makes sense to have a character constitution 10 increase to 15 and take 50% less damage from blunt weapons. It works perfectly in Rimworld, ADOM, Terraria and the like because you can't completely see what's happening, so when your character does low damage your imagination has room for him to hit badly or be partially blocked.

But in games with modern graphics and animations, it feels... off. An attack animation that shows someone swinging a sharp steel battleaxe perfectly and connecting with bare flesh at momentum, deals... no damage because the wielder has low strength and axe skill, while the target has a high armor value.

The bit in a certain DOS game where a demon respawns lower level demons... If you know, you know.

Repeateable procedural quests. I feel like this explains it all.