This is an issue with these specific applications, not with the PowerBook computer or the operating system. Owners of Macintosh Performa and other desktop Macintosh and Power Macintosh computers have had to deal with these types of issues for a while.
The volume control problem is caused by applications that do not allow background processing. This situation occurs more often with games because the processor speed they require to run properly.
Pressing the volume buttons actually generates events that the system processes. Since the game does not allow background processes to run, the events are either not processed or remain in the queue until you quit the game.
The only choice you have is to change the volume through some other means. Sometimes the game applications have volume control as one of their options.
This article was published in the Information Alley on 26 February 1997.
Article Change History:
28 Feb 1997 - Added keyword.