I am also highly skeptical that the quality of graphics you can squeeze in from 60 to 30 is all that better. Maybe on aged consoles, sure- that's a bit different, and more a fault of the console manufacturers than the developers. Still unacceptable IMO. It's also a big reason why PC gamers scoff at consoles- 20-30 is just sad. What is disgusting is that many of these games which target 30, will (as all games do) dip. They sometimes dip to below 20...
Most gamers, even if they state they disagree or can't tell the difference, would most likely prefer a game experience where
1) Art is prioritized over Pixels. By this, I mean: A game looking good is not very relevant to a game having a lot of polygons. Skyrim had amazing performance, but looked gorgeous. High numbers of polygons is less important than what those polygons look like. There are some games with "lower quality graphics" which look better than "high end graphics" because the art director really knew their stuff. Some indie games are known for their amazing art direction- putting AAA budgets to shame.
2) Art, Polish, and Smooth (60fps) Performance are prioritized over glammer & glitz. When it comes down to it, graphics quality falls away just like Color does in a Black & White movie. While there are some exceptions to this rule (breathtaking cutscenes at dramatic moments) it is quite consistent that graphics really aren't that big of a deal. Smooth Performance does not- quite the opposite. Bad framerates (and yes, 30 is NOT a smooth framerate, or even a good one- it's an ACCEPTABLE framerate) are noticeable for the entire length of gameplay. They harm the entire experience from start to finish, in significant ways. People would notice a 60fps, stable performance game- and they'd like it.
3) Unacceptable graphics flaws were not apparent. It's amazing when a game has hundreds of millions of dollars as a budget, and the capes and armors still clip the character at every opportunity. Gamers want immersion in "high end graphic" games (whether they realize it or not). That's what the "high end graphics" are all about. Blow their mind, make them drool, orgasm their eyes. What better way to stop that eye-gasm dead in its tracts than to have obvious, unacceptable flaws that break that immersion.