[mcpackieh]

Often the game mechanics themselves aren't actually fun (at least after the novelty wears off) but players keep playing because they enjoy the sensation of winning. The player can't have fun unless they win because the game is not intrinsically fun.

You know it's a good game when you can reflect back on a match you lost and think "yeah that was worth it, I had fun."

[Kinrany]

Treating "losing is fun" as an explicit design goal and not merely an observation about some games is something I haven't seen, but it makes a lot of sense.