In my experience, PvEers play for the earned power fantasy, not the challenge, while PvPers enjoy the challenge of fighting someone of equal power.
When a PvPer nukes a PvEer, their power fantasy is shattered. All their preparation, farming, armor, weapons, abilities, and PvE experience are worthless against a player. Their experience is ruined and they are no longer having fun in the digital simulation that they joined to escape reality. The only thing they can do to try to salvage the situation is run, because if they escape, they can congratulate themselves on the success and pretend that they are still a main character.
If they try to fight, they lose, for a multitude of reasons, and their power fantasy is irrecoverable.
Now people will laugh because of the negative connotation of a power fantasy, but it’s just as ridiculous yet fulfilling as ‘fighting’ other people in a lego fantasy video game. Not all people enjoy challenges, and not all people enjoy ease.