I posted this in the mega thread, but I feel like that one has died down quite a while ago, so I'm posting it here again (I hope thats ok)
This has probably been suggested before but forgive me if I won't read through the dozens of posts in this thread (just adding my voice I guess): There could be specific 'time-phases', e.g. morning, afternoon, night, and these only progress to the next phase when a short rest is done.
Let's say you just finished a long rest. Its morning now; you do a short rest, then it's afternoon. You do another short rest, then it's evening/night. At this point, you do a long rest, and the cycle repeats.
There is no passing of time in real-time, which eliminates the problem of time progressing differently in multiplayer for each player due to turn-based mode/real-time mode. This could be a good compromise between no day/night cycle at all, and a fully fleshed out cycle with real-time progression.
The game would need to force you to do both of your short rests before you can do your long rest with this system, but I think that's acceptable.
Edit: Even though I understand little about game development, I do understand that implemeting a day/night cycle, even at it's most simplest form, will be a lot of work from the development team, and it will be time consuming and it will cost money. I do however think that the benefit gained would be huge, for the reasons many others have stated before.
Edit: One thing I want to add is that this system has another advantage over the progression of time in real-time (other than being simpler): I don't know about you, but I always feel stressed when I know there is a clock ticking in the background. And I don't want to feel stressed when I'm playing; it makes me explore less and generally reduces my enjoyment. If time would progress only when a short rest is done, I could 'waste time' as much as I want; for exploration, conversations etc., without feeling stressed.
