Failure

Chapter 4 of Jane McGonigal's book, Reality is Broken

1. Gamers spend most of their time failing, yet they don't seem to mind at all. In fact, they actually enjoy it! Scientists at the M.I.N.D. Lab in Finland proved this strange fact scientifically.
2. The M.I.N.D. Lab wanted to know why failure is so fun for gamers, so they set up a test to see what triggered the highest emotional response. They received very positive emotional responses when gamers experienced triumphs, but oddly they also received just as positive of emotional responses when they lost in the game or when their character died.
3. Through interviews with gamers and game designers, they found that the enjoyment the gamers were feeling after failure was actually stemming from the way they failed. Instead of failing passively, they failed in a spectacularly entertaining way. In the example this chapter gave, they were sending monkeys flailing through space in little clear bowling balls which is pretty comical. The animations and sound effects brought even more joy to the players.
4. This led to a very important discovery: when we are given feedback that is the right kind even after we have failed, we feel more motivated and optimistic the second time around. If we are given the wrong kind of feedback after a failure, we are left depressed or hopeless. As long as gamers continue to receive the right kind of feedback from failures that leave them feeling optimistic and hopeful, they will continue to play. 
5. Gamers get bored if games are too easy. They want to lose. If they are constantly winning, it is not fun. They have to find the perfect balance between too easy and too hard. If they are failing every single time, they will be frustrated. If they win every single time, they will also be frustrated.
6. Games are consumable, because eventually players wear them out. Once they have experienced all the fun and beat every level or learned how it all works, it becomes boring, and they will not play anymore.
7. McGonigal says that learning to be optimistic through failure is not just a game skill, but a life skill. She notes that if people become resilient even when faced with adversity, they will be emotionally stronger and more confident people who can hang in there when times get tough. These leads to better lives, overall. People who have this kind of positive attitude are more creative, have less stress in their lives, and are more self-motivated. They even live longer lives!
8. There is actually such a thing as being too optimistic however. When we are overly optimist, or rather unrealistically optimistic, we can actually cause ourselves to go into depression. Instead, we need to focus on more realistic goals to increase our own energy and motivation.
9. Well-designed games have realistic goals and appropriate amounts of optimism.  They help us realistically believe in our own chances for success.
10. McGonigal spends some time mentioning the game Rock Band 2. This game, she says is very realistic in its goal. It also allows for spectacular failures that leave players coming back for more. Lastly, it is a social game! Success means nothing if you have no one to share it with. Games are more fun when everyone is spectacularly failing and having fun together.