Well, yes, there's nothing wrong with the holodeck itself, it's a fine storytelling tool that works under a variety of circumstances. In the case of Hollow Pursuits, it provides insight into Barclay's character, and then we have the creative use in A Matter of Perspective where its used for everyone to present their version of events, and so on. It's the constant "the holodeck is malfunctioning and destroying the ship" trope that got really tiresome really quickly.