It could be 'cos some of us have day jobs where we spend most of our lives doing tasks essentually dictated by others.

When playing a game we have an illusion of being in control... which gets shattered when we need to replay a level where replaying that level was not of our own choice.

I don't think it applies to me personally.

I do VERY hate losing progress, but I kept on playing Diablo 2 offline no cheat solo and died many times. Racked in 3k hours into it.

The same thing happened to me on Diablo 3. This time online, but also play Hardcore. Still managed to sink 3k hours into it.

Losing in a game often means losing progress.
A few times it's good, because it signifies that the game is offering a good challenge for your skill.
But if it happens too many times or if it causes too much loss.. it becomes frustrating.

Repeating the same process N times to reach the same point again isn't exactly compelling for me.
I also personally need some change in scenery, plot, mechanics to enjoy games more and death usually blocks such progression.

That said, there are many people who like speedrunning, extreme difficulties and\or permadeath modes, so I guess the thrill of the competition overcomes everything else for them.

Because: (a huge) part of the fun of playing games is making said progress.
And the gameplay really is just a means to that end.

If the gameplay stops leading to some kind of (recognizable) progress (or even worse: if it leads to parts of the progress, already achieved, getting removed again), our enjoyment of the gameplay (as good as it may be in itself) stops.
See, I can enjoy playing a game, search every nook and cranny to find some exciting stuff, level up my character(s), unlock and explore new levels, etc.,...that's all lots of fun...until I die and find out that I have been so engrossed into the game, that I forgot to save my progress over the course of the last two hours.

That's the moment, when all the fun I had, while playing these last two hours, vanishes, and gets replaced by frustration and anger instead.

Or to give some different examples: books and/or movies - there can be found some awesome scenes in both of these medias, which you absolutely enjoy while reading/watching the first time.

Now imagine said awesome scene would be repeated several times back to back, and you would be forced to read/watch it over and over again, before the plot continues...would you still enjoy it?
Or would you tire of it?

The loss of previous progress is why I hate it when games don't give the player control over saving. I really don't like ever risking progress made before the current playing session, for example; it makes the game too high stakes for this purpose, especially when I just want to relax.
I always save when given the chance, and I constantly save in "save anywhere" games. In fact, I dislike it when a game keeps the player from saving frequently.

In any case, I consider not saving the game frequently to be a bad habit. Saving, the way I see it, is part of being a good gamer.

(I also dislike how some players look down on frequent saving, particularly those in the "permadeath" crowd.)

looter games are all about progression
so are adventure games
and to some extent RPG games

repeating exactly the same stuff is boring, especially if you did it like 5 mins ago

So much this.
This also goes for gating 'interesting' content behind less interesting things, or forcing the player to perform repeated repetetive tasks (aka 'grinding').

Any game that does not respect your time, is not worth your time.

I think this depends on the game. Nethack, for example, is not a complicated game that takes a long time to accomplish. Instead, permadeath is part of the fun of the game. Not for the challenge, but for the new beginning, and the punishment for doing something really stupid, because that's why people die in nethack, and it shows you how stupid everyone really is, because that's what the game preys on to win against the human: our greed, stupidity, etc. It's quite a humbling game once you understand it, but also quite fun.

Permadeath is certainly something to cater to shorter games with less investment into a character, run, etc. It's got a world record of 1 hour my most recent googling suggests, and there's no magic sequence breaking tricks or things like that.

Contrast that with minecraft, where an update pretty much forcse you to restart your randomly generated world. For shame. They could do some sort of "Frozen in time" thing or something and provide portals to "the current world" or something. Or an easier way to get to unexplored territory.

Like minigames? yeah, we have another thread going for that one.

Though, for grinding, I'm not sure i agree. There's certainly an addiction angle to it, but it should be reasonable. Monster hunter seems to have found the sweet spot, while final fantasy 15 comrades' lohengrins have found the point of frustration.

well it depends on the implementation and the game
i don't really miss the savespamming from older games
and especially hate the games where you are expected to do it , like in the new ufo games
hups 90% missed the target better to reload cause it would be game ending
and they save before each shot :D

If one loses a progress one made while enjoying the gameplay is not fun for the very same reason - one lost a beloved progress he made. Add to that if one acquired items which depend on the random number generated mechanics and random events that shaped that save file, it becomes obvious why, duh. Add to that time invested that could have been used to improve the events in the very same save file... There are all factors possible included really, there is no need to write them down anymore.

Because gdoing something once might be fun, but doing ti over and over again becomes boring.

It's entirely possible to enjoy gameplay the first time around and not enjoy having to repeat yourself.

Because we like the feeling of progression, why is this even a question.

Gameplay is a very vague term. For me, gameplay is more than pressing the same few buttons over and over again, and progress is often a big part of gameplay, as can be exploration, discovering new things etc. Let's say someone tells you they think cycling is fun, would you interpret that as them enjoying the pure act of pedalling, regardless of context? A fan of cycling actually might not enjoy doing it indoors on an exercise bike without getting anywhere. It's the combination of mechanics and context that often makes something fun. Losing progress in games, at least the kind that people complain about, usually means repeating almost exactly the same things you did before with little variation, and for many that stops being fun pretty quickly, if it doesn't bring anything new to the table. You might say that the new thing to discover is how to get better at the game, but in my experience games often force you to repeat a lot of stuff that you had no problems with before you get to the parts that would be interesting to try again.

Yet it seems that many gamers look down on pure progression games like idle clickers. (Basically, this is a game where the *only* thing is progression; there aren't any situations to use the power you've accumulated (if that phrase is even meaningful), and your main goal is to just increase a number.)

(Although, there are some idle clickers that take some interesting approaches, like CivClicker and Universal Paperclips. Note that Universal Paperclips, unlike most idle clickers, does have an end, and it's possible to get there in several hours of play.)