Minecraft wiki entry for Ticking_area, associated text: Normally, only the chunks closely surrounding a player are updated by the game. These chunks are said to be in the player's chunk update range. As the player moves through the world, new chunks that come into range are added to the list of updated chunks and older chunks that pass out of range are removed. Only the chunks in the list are updated to reflect the passage of time. This means, for instance, that if a player spends time exploring or in another dimension, crops won't grow and any smelting, or automated farming underway when the player left remains unfinished when the player returns.