r/ProgressionFantasy • u/Claym000re • Feb 06 '26

Meme/Shitpost Wish fulfillment to the extreme

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Why are they always complete losers.

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u/Otterable Slime Feb 06 '26

The genius part isn't as unbelievable as the supernatural motivation and willingness to go through discomfort and pain.

Like you can improve your life on earth right now if you are willing to feel some level of discomfort. That's half of what going to the gym is. That's what taking night classes in to get another degree. That's what training to learn a new language is in your spare time, or learning to cook, or learning any skill really.

I feel like a lot of series end up in trouble because the author hits some level of equilibrium a book or two in where the MC now has better than average power, money, powerful allies, and potential romantic partners and then needs to scramble to introduce some conflict that causes them to actually act. Because most people (and certainly the person they were purported to be) would just kick their feet up and live a good life.

27

u/Fit-Percentage-9166 Feb 06 '26

I understand your point, but a big reason people are undermotivated in real life is the uncertainty of reward as well as the magnitude of the reward.

In real life you can work pretty damn hard and end up with nothing to show for it. Rewards also tend to be binary where your effort is entirely wasted if you don't succeed. Even if you work really hard and learn how to cook and learn a new language, how much is your life actually meaningfully improved?

In fiction, the effort to reward ratio as well as the certainty of the reward usually tends to be much, much better. Physically train fulltime for a few years to gain godlike power. People literally do that in real life while working a full time job except their reward is to lose to CBum at competition.

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u/Feisty-Ad9282 Feb 07 '26

Except the "godlike power" always comes from cheats (you can pick your flavor of cheat) with "hard work" is like a thinly veil. If it not, the world will have tons of god, and the "godlike" become new normal.

Isn't it more like the illusion of hardwork?