This is possibly the single most annoying feature of the otherwise great game client: The game window constantly insisting on staying on top of other windows.

Unsure of precisely what events trigger it, but it happens quite frequently - like every couple minutes or so (may be whenever the info/ad form in the upper right part of the window is updated)

This both grabs focus, pops the window on top, AND removes focus from the chat input field if you happened to be typing anything. Needless to say, all three factors are a major pain in the rear, since it both interferes with viewing other windows as well as in-game typing. No idea how many characters have gone in /dev/null because of lost focus - it's plenty.

Also, it would been a great improvement if the Create/Join game/room window wasn't modal.

(doubt OS, browser or Java version having any relevance, it happens on windows, linux and solaris, in firefox, opera and IE, and 3 different Java versions)

Edited at 15:34 Mon 7/04/08 (BST)

It doesnt happen to me.....maybe its something in your settings

I get it but more for PM windows. Annoys me.

Hmm, it's a bit weird if it doesn't happen to you AT ALL.... It isn't by any means constant for me either, sometimes it happens a lot (like several times a minute) and other times it can take several minutes between each instance.

Having a hard time seeing what could cause it tho since I'm using quite a lot of different computers with entirely different operating systems, web browsers and java versions. The only real common denominator is really my user and/or its settings.

if i get a pm then that will pop up at the front but i can honestly say if i minimise the game window or just switch to another window i cannot remember it coming back to the front ever without me clicking it!

At least this more or less confirms this being a bug or glitch somehow related to my user or settings, as opposed to a bad game implementation.

I've never seen this happen either. As anyone who's tryed to talk to me when i'm in chat will know, i'm constantly wandering off surfing forums etc.

Might be good if the focus could revert every now and then!

I do know what you mean though. I have this same problem using browser access to work servers (they run a java based client also) - they have often cost me shots by taking focus from the funkypool game window, ironically.

This does lend weight to it being java related though.

Edited at 17:20 Mon 7/04/08 (BST)

It happens to me some days but not all days. If I minimize the game window it sometimes pops up randomly, but not often.

Edited at 16:32 Mon 7/04/08 (BST)

It never happens to me either, probaly depends what browser your using.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure about that much at least. Have never had any issues with other, passive windows trying to grab focus like that. As for the fact that the window is also brought to the top is just a consequence of standard windows behaviour I guess, the focus itself is the root issue here.

Most of the time, I'm running the following setup (but as previously stated, I see the same behaviour on several other systems too)

Your java properties:
Java version: 1.5.0_01
Java vendor: Sun Microsystems Inc.
Operating system: Windows XP
VERDICT: success

Browser: Firefox 1.5.0.12


I'll try to run the game in IE for a while on the same system and see if that behaves the same.

Tried running a rather ancient IE (6.0.xxxx) with the same Java version and that does not seem to suffer from the attention mania, so this might be a case of Java in Firefox I guess. Know I've seen it on newer IE versions tho.

As for the chat input cursor, that's a problem as simple as clicking the mouse on the pool table (typically to make a shot) removing focus from the chat field. I'm not even gonna consider the option of Nick not being aware of this one, so probably a matter that's hard to resolve. Overriding basic focus rules from both Windows and Java isn't necessarily easy or realistically possible at all.