As a sort of "casual" player, I'm curious to know how pausing would work. I like to progress my game very gradually. Putting in a few hours here and there, a mission or two, then maybe going a day without opening the game again. Real life keeps me busy.Assuming a server that's set up for a "space race" scenario (if MP ends up being like that). I imagine the easiest way to deal with it is to not worry about it. Those who have the time to pour tons of hours into the game progress much faster. And those who can't go more slowly. This is fine if you trust your team mates (and they too are approaching the game in a more casual style), but it gets more messy if the competition is taken more seriously. One option that could force equality (that I hope they don't implement) is alloted time slots. If player A is up to 20 hours, but player B is only at 10 hours, then A has to wait for B to catch up. This would be more "fair", but a lot more annoying for the long-running players.