Well, I'm not most players.
I believe that there is a significant number (perhaps a minority, perhaps not, I can't say) of players who want to feel that they have an impact on events, that what they do matters. They want to feel that the conflicts they're in really CAN go either way, most of the time.
I agree that there are players out there who insist on "winning" most of the time, who find winning more desirable than losing, and only accept losses when they can expect a bigger win later. I don't like playing with those players.
I like playing with people who can find losing just as interesting as winning, who want their characters' actions to decide the fate of things rather than a GM's pre-plotted story, and who can bring just as much creative energy to the table as me.
But that's just me.