Open almost any game today and, before you've played a single second, it asks for something: Enable notifications. Check out today's rewards. Don't lose your streak!
That's not an accident. The main business goal of most modern games isn't fun — it's retention. Keep the player coming back every day, every hour, by any means necessary. Daily quests, login bonuses, limited-time events, energy timers, streaks that punish you for having a life.
I understand the temptation. But somewhere along the way, the industry massively overdid it. A game can simply be fun — and then, days or weeks later, you can come back and it's fun again. There is no reason to chain a person to a monitor or a phone screen for a month, checking in every hour on the hour.
The game I'm imagining works the other way around
Your time is your time. Your achievement is your achievement. No daily chores, no streaks to protect, no notifications begging you to return, and nothing to check every 30 seconds.
And here's the funny part: the game I have in mind wouldn't need any artificial retention tricks, because your own body would set the limit. Picture a game you play standing up — flapping your arms, moving the whole time. Not that hard to win, but genuinely hard to play for more than 20 minutes straight. I'm pretty sure that if this game existed, I'd eventually pick up a couple of dumbbells and play with ten pounds in each hand, just for the challenge.
And that's exactly the point. You play for a bit, you get your heart rate up, you land a better run than yesterday — and then you take a break. You feel better. You achieved something real. The game would be right there, happy to see you, whenever you decide to come back.
No guilt. No streak lost. Just fun, on your schedule.