We prefer the villa set up.
I say it often: I did not get into timeshares to stay in glorified hotel rooms.
Most other timeshare developers do not even build stand-alone studios except in urban locations where space is at a premium. Even some of those are 1BR suites--for example Marriott's Custom House in Boston isn't really a villa, but it isn't really a hotel room either. And the location is
fantastic.
And most owners in those other systems do not seem to prefer smaller units. In Wyndham, for example, the smaller units are almost always the last to book at most resorts.
Things are different with DVC though. Very different.
I think part of it is that DVC has a structural problem in how they assigned points to different villa sizes, and 1BRs are over-pointed vs. studios. At Marriott Grande Vista, another Orlando-area resort, a studio is about 75% the cost of a 1BR. At most DVC resorts a studio is right around half. Disney uses square feet (more or less), while Marriott does not---the MGV studios are about ~410 sq. ft., while the 1BRs are more than double at ~880.
This may be because DVC was pretty early to the points-based game, and others were able to learn from their mistakes.
Some folks also think that DVC owners are fundamentally different than owners in other systems (they are more value-conscious), or that DVC stays are different from other timeshares (more go-go-go than other vacations). I don't think either of those is necessarily true. When we go to non-Disney timeshares, we aren't sitting around in the unit all day. We are at the beach, the local amusement park, hiking, kayaking, seeing the sights, or whatever.