Catharsis is only one of the parts of a sequence of things that happen in drama. You should also look up hubris and nemesis which precede catharsis. It is far too easy to draw conclusions based on isolated assumptions of dramatic precedent otherwise.

In many ways, the pre-emptive catharsis we engage in in the industry of entertainment without active knowledge of our hubris and no visible act of nemesis would reinforce the notion of entertainment as self-gratification in vain.

It is entirely possible that you may not be aware of the moment in time at which you commit hubris and even more so unaware at the moment at which you engage in nemesis, but you cannot experience catharsis without having engaged in the previous acts.

In other words, how did you fail in the first place and are you worthy?

Do you mean nemesis and hubris by drama terms or just imply humanity in general? I'm very lost about what you said. And probably your understanding of Catharsis is far more in depth than what I got. My take on Catharsis is simply based on the definition, and here's my take if you ask me what Cartharsis do I think it is:

"An experience you get after overwhelmed by a strong emotion. The emotion can be happy, revenge, sad or any specific feeling. But the key is it needs to be strong so that it is able to totally move its audience, and leaves a very unique and potentially entertaining impact on them."

Taking some words plainly on definition is a bit of a fetish in western-style teaching of how to write english language composition. The system has some merits of course and some downfalls. It forces people to look things up. But at the same time they can gain little insight of context from a dictionary. It is like being able to recognize one word in a sentence and claiming to know what the sentence is.

I go on the defensive when a greek word is used since I know the language well, just as you would if someone tried to construct a theory around a chinese word in a vacuum.

Definitions of words should be used as a jumping board, but cannot be interpreted in a larger context without further understanding. In other words, you can't take a loaded word such as catharsis in a vacuum and apply it to such a grand question and expect the light to go on. You can of course, and you did. And it is fun to try. But it is a spring board. You just fell into a pool of water and feel elated. That is perhaps a cathartic moment in time. But I want to know more about your journey to falling into the pool, your hubris and your nemesis.

I am asking you to learn what it means in dramatic context and apply it to your question and even your quest to the answer.

Like you said, I have read more about cathrasis in terms of how to evoke it through a drama and narrative perspective. But I'm more interested to find inspirations of how to evoke powerful emotional experience in games which doesn't totally rely on narrative or drama.

I'm very excited to share my first step onto something not necessarily true but inspiring, and worth discussing. I would be very sorry if my excitement of finding and learning insulted you and I somehow become hubris and nemesis. Because that is not why I write these thoughts here for.

Jenova, I did not feel insulted. I am playing the devil's advocate and I am just initiating a debate.

All right, so I want to share my experience here in which I considered a Cartharsis like feeling while I played a video games when I was a kid.

It was an RPG game in Chinese. But if you would find a western comparison, it will probably be Final Fantasy VII. I have heard many people felt so moved when the female lead died in both games. If I look at both games from today's perspective. The emotions embedded in the plot are no different from typical Shakespear love story plot, and the executions of both game are somewhat naive from the modern standard.

However, by the time I experienced it, I was still very young, and I have never been exposed with such strong emotional content from any of the media I was allowed to access. Yes, video game is actually the first media that brings me such strong emotions.

It was so overwhelmed to me, just like what I quoted about Cartharsis "...extreme change in emotion that results in the renewal, restoration and revitalization for living" I felt purified and becoming a much better person after experiencing the game at my age. At that time, I was not a good child, I felt depressed and isolated. But the game made me a lot warmer and attached to these positive emotions. This ended to be the root of why I want to make video games. My love and devotion to this media started by something very raw and naive, but a true Cartharsis experience.

I think this kind of story happened to a lot of the movie makers too. They are so overwhelmed by something they saw when they were very young and wanted to reproduce it as they grow up. And the challenge for both movie and game makers today is that, now you have to give this feeling to both kids and adults who are much harder to overwhelm.