Shaders were a step in the right direction. Shadows and Shaders made more in-depth atmospherics and gave us the possibility of having future innovations and immersions which enables a brand new range of content that can be created. Maps were sacrificed, but Blockland is full of highly contribution and creative content makers and it wont be long until we have re-constructed maps with new means.
Then, nobody will use them, and we'll realize what a huge waste of time maps were and be happy with the shaders.
With shaders? I can make an atmospheric stealth-based game about ninjas.
With Bedroom? I can spam crap inside the bed.