The Devaluing of the Level-Up
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Worst, however, is that the new understand of leveling up as a treadmill, rather than a logical outcropping of the rules of the game world, has also begun to define modern RPGs as well, not just shooters and action titles which hold up leveling as a pretense of depth. One of the most telling quotes I've heard about RPGs in recent years, regardless of the original context, comes from a Torchlight developer: "RPGs are always best when the numbers are going up." I think, in a certain sense, I can agree with this - it's always good for the player to be making progress in the game and moving forward, and that's true in pretty much any game genre whatsoever. Giving strong feedback on that progress is also one of the bigger parts of the art - after all, the derogatory term "corridor crawler", if nothing else, implies a static experience.
Where this mentality breaks down is that it begins to forget exactly what purpose leveling up serves in the first place. I've already touched on the appropriate context of leveling mechanics, so I won't go into that again, but suffice is to say that there needs to be a consistent and strong basis for including such a mechanic in your game. As a designer, one shouldn't be content to say things like "well, it's an RPG, therefore we've got to have leveling up." It's both practical and good design sense to look at those mechanics and question exactly what role they serve within the game, and adjust them accordingly. Sure, it's good to make progress in a game, but is doing so through discrete XP gain, leveling up, and new skill points always a good thing? I can't answer that question definitively, because it's inherently subjective, but the important thing is to ask in the first place, and genuinely try to provide an answer - otherwise, creatively, you are running on the very same treadmill you've given your player.
