According to Kate Cox, the key to progress is flexibility. In her commentary over at Kotaku, she reflects on the pains of growing up with video games during an era of less accomodating play:
If I could have hit a single key at any time, and paused any game in progress no matter what was going on at the time, I could have avoided a great deal of adolescent strife. The more we can halt a game in progress, the better off all future generations of gamers will be.
Cox points out that, though perhaps less glamorous than bleeding-edge graphics or intricate play systems, cutscene-pause options and auto-save features are some of our greatest innovations in what she describes as “an emerging sense that games should fit my life, rather than making me reshape my world around their demands.” After all, we are their makers and masters… right?