Pretty much title. It is annoying when you are playing some online co-op game (where time matters) and you cannot pause it. Server pause option would amazing in case you have to deal something in real life. I found this issue annoying in Peak and most farming games.
Stardew Valley has this to pause game in online and I hope more games would add this option.
Have you ever tried playing a multiplayer game where other players can pause the game? Stellaros has this feature and it is an immense annoyance. In fact, it is considered BM to pause the game when playing with anyone other than your real life friends that you inform in a voice call.
I grew up playing NES, where it was super common for either player to be able to pause the game. Pausing and unpausing right as someone is making a jump will never get old.
Like any other game mechanic, there are times it makes sense to have it as an option, and times it doesn’t. If it’s a 100% PvE cooperative game you’re playing with a close friend you know well, sure; why not? Let either player pause the game for everyone. At least some of Hazelight Studios’ games feature this (A Way Out, It Takes Two, Split Fiction).
But for competitive fighting games or ones with many players, it could be abused, or just be too annoying to enable. Maybe in the latter type an in-game voting system where everyone has to agree to pause the action?
An easy solution to this problem is to allow any player to unpause the game.