Video games are (usually) designed in such a way that there is a guaranteed path to victory. You just need to find it. So failing means you found one more path that doesn't lead to victory. That mindset helps motivate me to keep trying until I find the path that the designers made for me to find.

Life is not that way, unfortunately. There are plenty of no-win scenarios. Running into those makes me want to curl up in a ball under a blanket and run away from my problems.

I'm currently experiencing this, which is why I'm on lemmy instead of working. I'm currently in database hell and I can't find the way out.

Glad that impossible NES games taught me i’m a failure early on

You term it in a very positive way but I term it as nothing but "hopium".

The hope of may be you will do better in the next game or in the next next game or the one after - gamer developers use this to keep us hooked is what I believe.

You will definitely get better aa you keep playing the game and this improvement will give you even more of that hopium drug. It is a cycle which cannot be broken unless you get genuinely bored of the game.

Joke's on you... I've never finished a video game!

"Don't go hollow, now."

There is so much focus on the lore of Miyazaki's games, but not enough about how it also has hella meta commentary on games and players, too. One of the main ones is how death doesn't matter, and no matter how hard things get you, the player, can overcome all these obstacles and beat the game if you persist. There are examples of those who do survive until the end, and many examples of those who give up at various stages of the game, much like how real players would if they find themselves unable to beat a particular boss necessary to complete the game. The NPC's stories often mirror that of a player who faces the same objectives.

And reality you fail the capatilism fucks you up because failures is never a option is this capatilistic hellscape

Up to a point. I played Cuphead and it was too hard and gave in.

Idk man my life fell apart and I failed out of college. Hard. Picked myself back up and learned a trade and I've had a very successful career that I love and a beautiful old home I'm remodeling and a partner who loves me and we're gonna get married soon.

Video games are just something to pass the time.

The group of Intellect Devourers, when you're lv 1 in the beginning of Baldur's Gate 3, proved this shower thought about 5 times for me.

Same with competitive sports. As a tennis player, if I lose a match I'm usually doubly motivated to get back out there for another one.

This is what I love about the Souls genre. It's a great feeling to chase.

Jokes on you, I save scum

Jane McGonigal has a TED Talk about exactly this: https://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world

I found that I really, really enjoy extremely hard video games, ever since I did some koan training.

My therapist told me this exact thing last week.

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/muXfZr5EYCfZqLmsb/memetic-hazards-in-videogames similar ideas to what you're talking about