Even though there is a toggleable setting (F3+P), GUIs being open inconsistently override the pause on lost focus setting. This means that if you have pause on lost focus turned on, the game will sometimes not pause on lost focus regardless. What is the point of a setting if a large part of the gameplay overrides a setting?
Note that this is only for singleplayer. For multiplayer, the setting is obsolete.
The list may be incomplete:
GUI | Obeys pause on lost focus | Obeys pause on lost focus |
|---|---|---|
No GUI | ✔ | ✔ |
Sign | ❌ It used to, but it is broken as of 23w12a. | ✔ (MC-261292) |
Book | ✔ | :info: No, but that's intended |
Command block | ✔ | :info: No, but that's intended |
Structure block | ❌ See MC-112580. | ❌ Yes, but it shouldn't. (MC-112580) |
Lectern | ❌ | ✔ |
Containers | ❌ | ✔ |
Inventory | ❌ | ✔ |
Villager trading | ❌ | ✔ |
Sleeping in a bed | ❌ | ✔ |
Chat | ❌ | ✔ |
Non-container blocks | ❌ | ✔ |
Being in a nether portal | ✔ Used to not work, but now it does. (MC-2071) | ✔ |
Beacons | ❌ | ✔ |
*This is not the bug, this column is just for comparisons.
Some of these seem more important than others. The inconsistency between lecterns and books sticks out particularly.
Being in a nether portal is not an issue, but was included to bring up the fact that this was once considered a valid issue and was fixed.
Note
The issue is NOT that the game doesn't pause when in the mentioned instances. The issue is that the game doesn't pause when the game is tabbed out of in the mentioned instances.
This may be intended.
Can confirm.