Mario Kart

You jam your finger on the A button to drive full throttle then use your boost power up. Your little toadstool in a kart goes flying.

You see your opponent in the bottom left corner approaching from the rear. But this is no ordinary adversary.

It is your previous best lap time in ghost form.

You lose. So you start the lap over again. And again. And again.

By the time your friend comes over to play for fun, your fingers are hurting from the controller stick. You are mentally burned out.

Sometimes it pays to measure yourself against your past success. Other times it removes the joy of playing the game in the first place.