Seems that there's a fine line between useful fantasy, as in the capacity to understand how good something might be to such a level that you go out and strive for the opportunity to have a certain experience--the experience being much better than the fantasy, in that case--and the possibility that fantasy can fuel huge levels of delusion and misdirected efforts which hurt the person who has the fantasies.
I'm willing to believe that all fantasies hold some essential qualities though.
For starters, they must be social. I don't buy that people simply strongly fantasize about things when they're alone in the fantasy. I think most fantasies are about impression management to some degree.
Also, I'm willing to bet that many fantasies' set up are fueled by specifics. As in, the pay off might not be clear, separate from a good feeling of some sort, but the set up to get to the good feeling is crystal clear.
Third, I think all fantasy involves a bit of secrecy.
There are probably countless other qualities I've missed.
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