First of all, I need to thank you for this post man. I think I really needed to hear that.
I think I'm too focused on the competitive aspect of it because I've never made a game that was fun while working alone. I'm primarily a Game Programmer, but I've learned programming to make games I've dreamed about in the first place. Not having made any games that were interesting for a player base (not even like 10 players), that really hurts the morale. It's not about the money, it's about pride. "My games are trash". That's a pretty sad though to have really.
Maybe I don't enjoy this game because it's far from all the features I had in my head if I had more time, but if you say that you've enjoyed it, than I'm glad I could at least distract you for a bit. 😁