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arXiv · 2603.26677

Why Do We Suffer for Fun? Ordeal Pleasure in Souls-like Games

Flint Xiaofeng Fan
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Abstract

Souls-like games exemplify how digital play can produce radical forms of pleasure through sustained challenge: players voluntarily invest tens or hundreds of hours in experiences designed to kill them repeatedly. This paper theorizes ordeal pleasure as a community-level phenomenon that emerges most fully when three mechanisms reinforce one another: Ludic Cultivation (mastery through fair adversity), Aspirational Deferment (delayed gratification oriented toward future growth), and Communal Mythopoesis (collective construction of shared meaning). Drawing on game design analysis, empirical player studies, and community discourse, we show how Souls-like games produce pleasure by coordinating difficulty, temporal structure, and social meaning-making. Comparative analysis (Elden Ring, Hollow Knight, Lords of the Fallen, The Surge) illustrates how specific design choices enable or undermine ordeal pleasure. The framework adds a temporal dimension to motivation theory and specifies social mechanisms beyond generic relatedness. It also offers design principles for designers seeking to create challenging games that transform suffering into complex satisfaction.

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Flint Xiaofeng Fan. 2026-03-08. Why Do We Suffer for Fun? Ordeal Pleasure in Souls-like Games. https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.26677

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