How do you deal with game burnout?

I used to try and fight it when I got burned out on World of Warcraft. I would struggle to keep raiding, keep active, doing my dailies and so on. And then I realized that for me, at least, WoW is a game I love but is absolutely one I can leave along for extended periods of time. Not because I don’t like the game — far from it.

But I like a lot of things. That doesn’t mean I never want to take a break from them. With Christmas and New Years finally over, I can admit to y’all that after the past two weeks I need a break from turkey. I enjoy turkey, I have been eating turkey for years and years, but once you’ve had turkey every single day for weeks it’s okay to say “Right, I’m really craving something else right now” and that doesn’t mean you’ve suddenly decided you hate it. And so it is for me and World of Warcraft — I am almost always there on the launch day of an expansion, ready to go, and I often find myself raiding with friends for extended periods of time.

But eventually I have to stop. Sometimes it’s as simple as a week or two off. Sometimes Diablo 4 launches and I end up obsessively playing that for months and months and really it’s your own fault, Blizzard. Especially considering that I also had Baldur’s Gate 3 and Phantom Liberty and Starfield on my plate this year — honestly, it was kind of irresponsible of you to put out Diablo 4 like that. Sometimes, I just crave variety.

So how about you all? Do you ever feel burned out on a game, whether it’s a single player experience (I played Starfield for weeks and weeks and then suddenly I stopped) or a big social multiplayer one like WoW or some other MMORPG or MOBA or what have you? If so, do you try and fight it, or do you just accept that it’s time for a break? How do you deal with game burnout?