Designing an RPG (and I’m talking tabletop, not computer) is like designing an uncomfortable chair. And right after you finish building this uncomfortable chair, you have to convince someone to sit in it. And not just that, you need to teach that person to get other people to sit in the chair as well.
If you do it right, everyone gets something out of the experience. It’s worth the bruising.
If you don’t do it right, nobody will sit in the chair for long, if at all.
The game’s player, if he’s conscious of his own decision making, is going to at some point ask himself, “Is this worth the pain?” If yes, he will keep on keeping on. If not, he’s going to call it quits.
Now, the game’s designer can make the chair less-painful but he can never make it comfortable. I think the best RPG designers are experts in not making less-painful chairs but are adept at distracting the person sitting in that chair from realizing how awkward and painful it is.
Now how’s that for a tortured metaphor?