Why people try harder in video games than real life.

We see it all the time. People are will to put more effort and spend time playing video games than trying to solve world problems. Why is that? I made this example in class but I believe it's because if you fail or mess up in a video game you can always restart and try again. Rarely can you fail or mess up in real life and be able to go back and restart. But just like a video game you can learn from your mistakes that way if you ever get the chance to restart you'll play smarter the next time.