No Tragedy in Games?

“How do we express the irreparable losses of life with appropriate solemnity within a shape-shifting world?...I mean a story of a single worthy individual’s fall from a worthy life to a desperate ending through some choice or flaw of his own, a story that focuses on this irretrievable loss, arousing our feelings of pity and terror and leaving us at the end in a state of purged emotion and heightened understanding.”

Janet Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck:
The future of Narrative in Cyberspace,
(New York: The Free Press, 1997), p.175

Whilst reading Janet Murray's chapter entitled 'Transformation' (sub heading: ‘Tragedy in Electronic Narrative’) it's struck me somewhat that no matter the ethical alignment of a character, be it good/evil/in-between, played in a computer game you'll always end up 'winning'.

What separates the gamer from the reader of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the viewer of James Cameron's Titanic; well aware they won’t find a happy ending? Would losing be so bad if the game's story was compelling enough to continue or is the gamer to stubborn to play on?

Perhaps the closest thing to such a game is Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic's deleted ending where after following the dark path of the Sith you redeem yourself under the advice of a lover by remaining on board a Space Station with him as it's destroyed. (video below) It's interesting such a narrative turn point was removed from the game.

Will we see the emergence of tragedy based games in the future or find this is the one media form this narrative cannot exist in? I feel I wouldn't mind playing such a game myself as for me its not about winning as much as its about the experiences I play through.

An example for me is Sid Meiers Civilization IV. I play though constantly and have a great time building up an empire but rarely find myself playing through the whole of the game. The game's narrative is more user generated than a storyline so a tragic game isn't exactly comparable to an RPG such as KOTOR but the idea of enjoying without needing a happy ending still remains somewhat. In this sense I feel I wouldn't mind playing through a game with a narrative deemed to be tragic. Would you?