50 to 75 sessions = 9th to 11th level?

         I recently rediscovered my CD collection of Dragon Magazines.  Here are some timeless comments from Gary Gygax.

        "While adventurers in a D & D campaign must grade their play to their referee, it is also incumbent upon the Dungeonmaster to suit his campaign to the participants. This interaction is absolutely necessary if the campaign is to continue to be of interest to all parties. It is often a temptation to the referee to turn his dungeons into a veritable gift shoppe of magical goodies, ripe for plucking by his players. Similarly, by a bit of fudging, outdoor expeditions become trips to the welfare department for heaps of loot. 

       Monsters exist for the slaying of the adventurers — whether of the sort who “guard” treasure, or of the wandering variety. Experience points are heaped upon the undeserving heads of players, levels accumulate like dead leaves in autumn, and if players with standings in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s of levels do not become bored, they typically become filled with an entirely false sense of accomplishment, they are puffed up with hubris. As they have not really earned their standings, and their actual ability has no reflection on their campaign level, they are easily deflated (killed) in a game which demands competence in proportionate measure to players’ levels.

It is reasonable to calculate that if a fair player takes part in 50 to 75 games in the course of a year he should acquire sufficient experience points to make him about 9th to 11th level, assuming that he manages to survive all that play."

Does anyone really have the time to play that many sessions as an adult? Again, I am an outsider looking in on a system I never played. Does it really take that long to advance to that level? When I was in High School I may have had that kind of time to waste, but not now. 400 to 600 hours of game play in the course of a year seems like a lot.   I did chuckle at his comments about trips to the welfare department.