I had this happen the other day on mint as well, I just waited a few minutes till I thought it would be done and restarted (force power off). Everything was fine after that.
The only reason I know how many hours I have is because steam & other stores track how many hours you have in games. Minecraft is one game that doesn’t global counter, however & I agree its nice to just get lost and enjoy playing with friends.
Mainly Trackmania and Rocket League as of recent, but also diving deep into Snowrunner again as of this week, planning to actually get far into a save this time.
Good explanation! When I had this issue that he has, I was unable to switch between tty’s because there was no output at all. Should only need to force restart for it to come back and be fine. But always a good reminder to have backups, time shift is my best friend!