For a long time, I actively avoided the Roguelike genre. Based on my limited understanding of how these games worked, the threat of losing all of your progress upon death had no appeal to me whatsoever.
Two aspects of the genre got me to change my tune. One, the advent of Rogue-lites made punishment less severe. Instead of losing everything when you die, your hero would gain permanent upgrades during each run, making successive runs a bit easier while also providing value to failed runs. Two, the Rogue-lite format has permeated beyond the dungeons of yesteryear. From action games, to turn-based strategy tiles, and even card games have caught the Rogue-lite bug. Having Rogue-lite elements incorporated into game genres I love has gone a long way towards me appreciating Rogue-lites and Roguelikes as a whole.
Here are some of my favourites!
In Third Person 