It has been a while, but I thought his whole thought process was more: make it as punishing and difficult because life is punishing and difficult. Sure, I get that, but like my teacher analogy, you're not really going to learn anything and only succeed only out of pure spite for the creator, if you are masochistic, or both. That style of game only proves who you are in the sense that you can handle a difficult/needless struggle, but it does nothing to actually improve the person and help them gain the skills to climb that mountain. In my opinion, that ability to help people grow and get good without punishing every single error is far, Far more important than just proving one's self.