A good example is SpellForce. With all the expansions for SF1 you get like 200hs of basically the same gameplay: enter map, build base, create an army and slowly clean the map
Wait, are you talking about repetition in gameplay mechanics or in content?
Gameplay mechanics have to be repetitive by nature. Think of soccer, it's basically the same thing over and over again -- same set of rules, same initial number of players for each side, same objective, grass field as field of play, and so on -- yet people still play it and are eager to pay money to watch a bunch of players do it for them.
Having repetition gives consistency for a game, it helps the brain make decisions because it can take some things for granted. If nothing was repetitive (i.e. nothing remained consistent), then rules wouldn't be important, because anything would be valid at any time -- one day soccer could be played with hands, another day players could punch each other freely, etc.
Now, if iit's repetitive, how can it be fun? How can people enjoy soccer, basketball, rugby if it's always the same thing?
Because the content changes, not the rules.
What is content in soccer?
- Number of players in each team (if one player is sent off, things miight get complicated for the punished team)
- Strategy of each team (each team might have a different style of play and different ways to make the ball cross the opponent's goal-line)
- Referee (if he's inexperienced, he might judge events naivelly )
- Type of ball
- Size of field and quality of grass
- Player motivation and emotional level
- Player skill (some players are more skilled than others, and in different ways)
- Team engagement (a more engaged team communicates better)
- Manager
- Stadium and how many supporters came to the game
- Weather conditions
- Many others
Obviously, if people had any say in this, they would choose the most favorable conditions for their team -- like in a videogame. But this would make things boring for everyone.
The reason many soccer fans enjoy watching a soccer match is because anything can happen during the game. It's impossible to have a match that's exactly like any other due to the amount of variables that exist.
This level of uncertainty is what keeps people interested, that's why people enjoy matches between rival teams the more, because there's 50% chance of victory for both sides.
At the end of the day, people want more of the same. They want the same rules, but different content.
That's why Nintendo managed to make a game about jumping interesting for more than 30 years.