Games should be fun. If you are having fun, you're playing it right. If you are using a feature they put into the game, you can't be doing it that wrong.
It's perfectly fine to be a masochist, but it doesn't make anyone better'n anyone else, or the games better than anything else. Knowing what you like, managing game difficulty, knowing its features and "optimizing" your enjoyment are just another kind of gaming skill. You should never feel pressure to play at harder difficulties than you want, because... why would you? I know "souls culture" is full of screeching 13-year-olds with infinitely long lists of things that make you "nOt a ReAl GaMeR" despite being literally designed and implemented as part of the game, but fuck it: that's why nobody listens to screeching 13-year-olds.
... no.
This is how you end up with people going "hey, what should we call a Metroidvania style game - oh yes, unlocking world games." Sounds like a shit translation from 2005