the more I play games, the more I realize that winning is only one small part of what makes gaming interesting,

This is very true in my gaming experience aswell. There are so many small moments that build up the end result (either win or lose). There are gaming stories I have that are iconic but many of them are not of 'grand victory' for the team but a personal victory in the moment. Either I fragged the player with the highest score by some ridiculous method or during combat I barely managed to escape with my life whilst my team got slaughtered. Not ideal moments but very key for me because the way things got that point were ridiculous.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and story! Very fun to read.