User blog comment:Flutterbutter/Another Thought~/@comment-6697950-20140914073347

Although they don't feel actual pain, they do still feel numbness. And not all games have the pain aboserber setting on max. The creators of the game can choose to decrease it. A sense of discomfort + imagination is all it takes. So yeah, like Kai said, people just imagine that they're in pain because that's what they expect on reflex. Kind of how Klein kept reacting to being kicked in the crotch, even though he did not actually feel any pain.