> tailored to someone with my neurological makeup that causes this dislike of useless exertion
Quite a lot to unpack here. I would argue the advice given is really good and valid for most people and so that's a good thing. I am sorry you feel under-represented and hope you find something valuable for yourself elsewhere.
Additionally I think lots of people find that they have to force themselves to start and finish a workout and only some eventually come to learn to like it. But for many it starts as a chore like preparing food or doing laundry or taking a shower. It costs time and effort and often hurts. And people can go for a while without any of those but it usually has consequences which are usually worse in the long run than the initial invest.
You seem to have a fairly static view of who "you" are. I used to be in the camp of "my body is just a vehicle for my brain" camp and did not understand why I would exercise at all since I was always skinny (but also super weak) and my mind was what I was working with. And then my grandpa told me: "A healthy mind likes to reside in a healthy body" and that took a few years to really sink in. And now I realize that pushing myself through regular workouts and making myself deliberately suffer exhaustion, fatigue and pain makes me more happy, stable and relaxed in general and I even think of myself as a fit athletic person now and made that part of my identity.
And lastly I am kind of curious about a thing: You said that you only want to do it when it's attached to a game. So if you share the notion that exercise is good and you already know that this is how it's easier for you to do it, then why not focus on exercises which are also games. There are so many of them. And for everyone else who does not need or want a game, meditating or doing yoga seems to be another great venue to start.