You've managed to traverse through the game's first 27 levels, each level representing incremental increase in difficulty – just enough to keep the gameplay interesting.

You've managed to kill five of the game's 33 bosses, dying a few times here and there, but it's mostly been clear skies and smooth sailing (and did I mention you were having fun?).

Then you reach the next stage, another boss stage. "It's all good," you think to yourself. "I've had enough practice on the earlier bosses, this one shouldn’t be too bad…"

…And then you die.

It's okay, this game's got a quicksave feature at the beginning of all the ‘hard’ levels, I'll just reload and try again…

…And then you die… Then die again.

…And then you die another dozen times… And then you rage quit.

Soon, the game becomes just another dust-collecting bookend on your shelf. The frustration this can cause can almost be described as trauma, and hence the game rarely gets another look in.

This has happened to me far too many times than I care to mention. I seem to have this inability to pick up a game where I left off, particularly if I was stuck at a blocker*. I have this aversion to trying again and again and again. The futility infuriates me. And sometimes this even spills over to extreme frustration with the developers of the game.

But it's not only that. I have persevered before, and I have succeeded at championing the frustratingly difficult parts of a game, and it has felt really good: Yay! I’m the best, woohoo! And all that. It’s just that immediately afterwards I think to myself, "Why on Earth would I ever want to play this game again if I’m only going to have to put myself through this part all over again?"

I know, it's a really pessimistic way of viewing things and it's probably the reason why I haven't been able to finish as many games as I'd like when I'm constantly thinking in terms of replayability. That and playing a game through to the end can turn out to be a very lengthy commitment and I have to believe it's really good for it to hold my attention.

When you stop playing through a game, that's hours and hours of content you're potentially missing out on! This pisses me off.

I can hear the cries of "Y doncha get sum skillz n00b" and I truly promise to take this articulate advice onboard one day, but right now I just want fun, not punishment.

Gone are the days of old when penalising a player at the arcade meant business (yeah, I know there are still arcades around these days but who goes there anymore?) as opposed to fun. I think the games industry is advancing for the better, with more and more open experiences like The Sims and GTA. These are games that reward you, rather than punish you.

Still, just as with anything in life a healthy balance is key. We still need extreme challenges, just like some people need extreme sports. But we just don't need as much "practice through death".

Meanwhile, I’m off start another game!

* Industry-speak for ‘a really hard bit’.

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