Any time I see someone referring to souls likes as self-flagellation or something else along those lines, I gotta wonder: have you ever overcome something difficult? The satisfaction it gives most people should make it easy to understand without just going "you must love to torture yourself".
The fact that you can find tons of souls players who are constantly complaining about unfun, bullshit bosses (cough Bed of Chaos or Micolash cough) just shows that's we aren't all just in it for the punishment.
The natives who lived there for thousands of years would disagree. There are ways to live sustainably in the desert.