I've found it to be generally true, especially for activities one finds leisurely. For instance, understanding a game deeply enough to create a hyper-optimized "min-maxed" strategy ends up stripping the joy from it.
Wonderful reference and a piece of writing I've always held dear to my heart, thank you. Absolutely true about min/maxing the fun out of a game as well, although for some people, I don't doubt that is the fun. Unfortunately, it becomes a playstyle everyone thinks they have to do to have fun and it ironically does the opposite - thinking of WoW classic here specifically.
I've found it to be generally true, especially for activities one finds leisurely. For instance, understanding a game deeply enough to create a hyper-optimized "min-maxed" strategy ends up stripping the joy from it.