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There's something so intoxicating and awesome about real time strategy games, which probably is evident through the fact that even games today are attempting their hand at such a genre. While it was hugely popular back in the days of Warcraft and Starcraft, there's no point dismissing the more recent titles because they do a great job. I'm going to talk about a few reasons why I believe this is so:

1. Warcraft: The Frozen Throne has one of the best stories I've ever seen in a video game, and even to this day i'll defend it when people try to rag on it for not being good for its time. For those that only played Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, you should playthrough Frozen Throne as it's a completely different experience altogether. And an unforgettable one at that.
2. Something that has never died down in video games is multiplayer accessibility, and although it's fun to get on Counter Strike or Call of Duty with your friends, nothing will ever fill the void of getting a bunch of friends together for a lan party, and destroying each other through the use of base building and tactics. RTS games really put you to the test in your knowledge of strategic gameplay and if you weren't prepared, you were ****ed.
3. Easy to pick up, but hard to master: With real time strategy games, the trick is in the title; strategy. If you're willing to put some time aside to learn the AI, to learn the different forms of gameplay, and ways to get the battlefield on your side, well RTS games are up your alley. I've put many hours into Warcraft III's custom modes where you can face off against 7 or 8 other computers, and their difficulty can also range. The hardest difficulty is hard as ****, so be careful.
4. The entertainment from a viewer standpoint is also heavily underrated when it comes to real time strategy games. People will often put them into the more boring camp, but I find it especially exciting when you're watching a pro play the game and use strategies you've never seen done before. It helps you learn as a player.
5. The community for real time strategy games in my opinion is still strong, but maybe not as strong as it once was. I remember a year or so ago I was able to get into some multiplayer matches through Warcraft III with no problem. Granted, those people spent hundreds and hundreds of hours to master the game, so it never really ended well for me.
6. Great characters in video games makes the game that much stronger, and as far as Warcraft and Starcraft are concerned, they have some of the best. More specifically, everyone knows about the fall of Arthas through Warcraft lore and a lot of people really like the technical sides of the characters in Starcraft. The fact that you can feel a connection to those that are just simple little sprites just tells you how much of an impact a simple game can have.
7. Graphically, I'd go out on a whim and say that real time strategy games have always been awesome, whether we're talking about the first Warcraft games or the first Starcraft games, or even more recently with the Civilization games to the Age of Empires games. They have their own special charm that makes them feel polished and special in their own way. There was never any lack of creativity thrown into the games graphically or environmentally which allowed you to really feel submerged in the world.
8. Maybe even more so recently, video games need to have replay ability. With how expensive video games are getting, there's really no reason to spend 60 bucks on a game that you're going to get 1 to 2 hours out of tops. From experience, I can safely assume I've gotten into the hundreds in regards to play time with the Warcraft games. I've never dived into the Starcraft games as much as others have, but I completely understand the appeal to them, and I've seen players go at it against each other and I can see how much technical knowledge you need in order to succeed in that game specifically.
9. Everyone loves them. It's true, I don't think I've met someone that enjoys video games that has said they truly hate real time strategy games. There are those that have never really experienced them, but they've admitted that they look like a lot of fun. Then there are the hardcore players that truly enjoy them and will never hate them. They're a lot of fun, and they're very hard to hate because of their intellect and strategic nature.
10. Some people really like to waste time if they're waiting for something to happen, or they have a few hours to kill on a plane or in an airport, and you can easily get through 2 to 3 hours as you get submerged into an rts game, especially if you have a really good custom match going and you're attempting to take out all the other opponents. I don't exaggerate this either, since I've had a 3-4 hour game go on with other people that I had a LAN party with. I don't remember how badly I lost, but I know for a fact that it was a damn good time.