You've got it right, if I understand your sentence. If the player-character dies in DR, the player has a choice of re-loading the previous save slot and (by nature of the reload) losing all the experience gained since that previous save slot, or keeping all the experience but starting over from the beginning of the game with that much more added FRANK BEEFINESS.
The main problems people with it were that there was only a single save slot, and there was a perception that games could only be saved at the Security Room HQ. The game is at fault for two things: really not making it clear that there were additional places in the game which the progress could be saved, and presenting the lost experience as though "reloading from save" is any different than any other game.
I also think there are some people who want to play a game one time, like watching a movie or TV show, and don't plan to "sit through" the same content again.
