So I thought Dead Money -with its characters, plot and philosophical issues- was excellent. And then I read the player reviews.
- spoilers ahead -
9 out of 10 people are upset you can't take the gold out of the vault with you. The theme of Dead Money is leaving your obession behind you. In the end, the player has to physically leave the DLC's obsessive focus (the contents of the Sierra Madre's vault) behind them to escape. Father Elijah can't bring himself to let his obsession go, and thus ends up trapped or dead in the vault. The fact you can't actually steal all the gold is a literal incarnation of the metaphorical theme of the DLC.
Another common complaint is that the game is really hard and by the end you stop caring about the loot and just want to get out of the Sierra Madre alive. Again, that's the whole point of the story. The object of your greed isn't worth the sacrifices you have to make to obtain it.
Lots of others are angry they couldn't bring their power armor, stimpacks and weapons into the DLC. Being naked and vulnerable are necessary for the "greed doesn't pay" and "you have to leave your obsessions behind" themes to work. If the player could blow through the ghost people and reach the vault with ease, the DLC's themes wouldn't have any impact with the player.
For selfish reasons I want game developers to go to the effort of making thought provoking plots and well developed stories. But if the vast majority of players don't understand or even notice, then why should they bother?