Lately, there’s been a strangely hostile underbelly developing in super-cozy life simulations Palia — and I’m not talking about the cartel’s hidden gambling den beneath the inn. Developer Singularity 6 recently added a cute and simple card game for players to enjoy called Hot Pot. What should have been another fun distraction in the Stardew Valley-style game has instead revealed a split in the player base.
Palia Set in the bustling Kilima Village, players can hang out with the townspeople, farm, cook, or venture out to explore the nearby bustling Bahari Bay. At night, an underground market opens up beneath the town shop. The shopkeeper, a cheerful cat-man smuggler, runs the night market from 6pm to 3am
Here players can find new, fancy toilets, carpets and paintings for sale, or go fishing with friends. The main attraction, however, is playing the Hot Pot card game. Playing gives you one coin, winning gives you two, and after the games are over players can queue up to spend their coins on a prize wheel. One spin of the wheel costs two coins and players can win high-quality cooking ingredients, cute stuffed animals or cool pirate decorations.
Many players enjoy visiting the underground market as a relaxing social stop. After hunting in Bahari or talking to all the villagers in Kilima, it can be nice to relax with a bit of Hot Pot. The minigame isn’t particularly demanding or competitive; you go around a table of four, swapping tiles, until one player has collected three sets of three matching tiles.
Image: Singularity 6 via Polygon
However, a certain group of players prefer to play “fast” games, where they move around the table as quickly as possible. When a player is about to win, they call out the card they need, and someone else at the table trades it. This style of play is designed to produce as many coins as possible. When people are dealing tiles, there are no lengthy endgame standoffs, and everyone earns more coins. And when a fast table sets up and the chat at the tables starts to fill up with callouts, it can lead to a fight.
Over the past few days, I’ve had multiple Hot Pot sessions interrupted by arguments between adjacent tables. The dialogue usually boils down to “Hey, you’re cheating!” and “No, we’re working together.” Of course, a public argument is unproductive at best; an argument in an online game where everyone is exposed to the back-and-forth chatter due to the proximity of chat rarely goes well. Everyone in Palia is polite on the surface, during the day. But at night, rapid table debates can break out, and before you know it, the chat is full of accusations and unwelcome insults.
This argument is part of the tension of Palia; it’s an online sandbox meant to foster a community, but it’s also a very laid-back and low-key experience that’s often best enjoyed solo. Most of the time, this works, and the player base is very well-behaved. After Hot Pot games, players queue up to spend their coins and spin the wheel, and it’s considered a faux pas to rush to a table and join a game with four players already there. But the fast table debate has ruptured the usual etiquette and civility, and I’m curious to see how – or if – Singularity 6 will address these clashing priorities between players.