Suggestion: ESC key should pause the game (or at least exist as an option in the Settings).

[MARL_Mk1]

I've been an advocate of Esc = Pause for KSP2 ever since I got it the very first day of Early Access.
I've heard many people position themselves against my claim with fair reasons and opinions.

The problem isn't the lack of pause when pressing Esc.

The problem is that, in order to pause the game, the user currently only has two options. One is almost never considered, and the other one is highly unintuitive:

1) Manually reach with your mouse and click the pause button at the bottom of the UI.

Pros: -It exists as an option, I guess?

Cons: -It's slow. Most players will never, ever bother manually pressing that button.

2) Use comma  '  ,  ' 

Pros: -None

Cons: -The use of this key directly conflicts with the user every single time you have to manually slow down timewarp, often (literally 8-9/10 times) overshooting and pausing the game by mistake
              -Unintuitive. No other game in existence based on a simulation of any kind uses this key. Why would they?

That said, everyone's opinions have their reasons and a middle ground that benefits both can always be found, specially on this regard.

- SUGGESTION TO DEVELOPERS: Provide players a toggleable option under the "Accessibility" menu that allows the user to enable/disable simulation pause when pressing Esc., as the example image below shows:

This method satisfies the need of both groups within the playerbase and doesn't conflict with any other inputs in the game, so unless there is a more pressing reason as for why this wouldn't be considered, I don't see a reason for it to not exist

Edited December 21, 2023 by MARL_Mk1