I could see myself using something like this (a simulated-not-actual infinity animation) if I knew something else was guaranteed to happen within 20 turns, like

I could see myself using something like this (a simulated-not-actual infinity animation) if I knew something else was guaranteed to happen within 20 turns, like a timeout/reconnect error/message/something. It stopping eventually would actually help that cause, acting as an indicator for the user that things are truly fubar. In some contexts, a "do something for a long time" is fine. Doing something for literally forever isn't always necessary, especially if you have a human user.