I will put a question out here: Do you think that tactics are easier to spot in games, or in problems?

The popular answer will probably be problems, because after all you KNOW there is a tactic during a problem, but I actually feel the opposite. It has actually been my experience that, after lots of practice so that I'm familiar enough with tactics, looking for tactics in my own games seems so easy compared to Tactics Trainer.

I think it's because in a game I know the context of the tactics very well: I'm planning every single piece placement and naturally go through the nuances of them (most likely unconsciously) on each move. I get used to what the pieces control -- I know my knight on e7 will always control c8, g8, d5, f5, and my bishop will always be able to go here and here. In Tactics trainer, the position is totally irrational because you don't know what to look for yet; you have to get right to the point of the position in a minute or so, whereas people actually playing the game got used to the piece placements likely for hours!

If you have been calculating attacks during a game for many moves, but never found anything, it would be easy to say "ok, let's do something else," and play a more subtle tactic. But if instead you faced that same position in a different environment -- in Tactics Trainer, you may see all those pieces aiming at the kingside and fail to consider anything else.

Basically, I think the level of familiarity you get about any position; that natural feel you develop about what your pieces can and can't do, while playing in a game overpowers the uncertainty of a tactic's existence. It may depend on how comfortable you are at tactics though, because if you are really bad at them then obviously you will never find them in a game.

I enjoy doing chess puzzles more than playing the game

i agree with you to some extent