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The people who study this tend to talk about it as if it were an aspect of health. It requires daily maintenance. It isn't like if you get x, y, and z then you will be happy and happy until death.
To your point it's not a video game objective. Happiness is being mostly happy and an inside job. It's not external. However happy people create other happy people.
It isn't very fun being around miserable ones. Especially when they decide that you are the reason why their life is terrible.
Plenty of people will make you pay for the sin of being in their general area.
Knowing that family is safe sound and happy and wants to see me as much as I want to see them is a pretty big boost, as is working towards a thing that I value and respect. It's not very exciting but it is happy.