How often do you want to play a game?

I like being able to play games as much or as little as I want. I often get fixated on a game like Diablo 4 and play it for hours and hours on end, and then just as quickly I switch to a completely different game, or just don’t play any games for a while. Then I switch back. It’s something that I’ve done my whole life — back in the early 2000’s I had a Neverwinter Nights streak that lasted close to a year.

Because of this tendency of mine, I often find myself a trifle intimidated when it comes to games that seem to schedule activities. Right now, I’m very much wanting to be raiding in WoW again, but I’m behind and missed a lot of the expansion because I was playing Diablo 4, then Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty, followed by Starfield and Baldur’s Gate 3. As a result, even when I wanted to come back, and right now I really would, it just feels too daunting to try and get caught up. It just ends up feeling like if I don’t log  on every day for multiple hours a day I just can’t get anywhere.

Now, this might be silly of me. It’s entirely possible that I could likely get caught up in a couple of days, or at least close enough to not be a burden on a run. But it’s still a sensation that daily repeatable systems cause in me and I don’t have a real answer to how to get around it. It’s one of the things I like about Diablo 4 — I never feel like I have to be playing any more than I actually want to. I don’t feel like I have to adhere to a rigid schedule, or like my character is clocking in for their 8 to 7 shift in Dragonflight. 

So, how about you? How often is too often, or not often enough? Do you feel overwhelmed is the game seems to demand a set schedule to keep up with other players?