One player-made rule that new players don't necessarily know, with veteran players apparently unfairly expecting new players to be aware of it.

Reddit and Palia player Individual-Phase8181 has written a heartfelt request to the community on Reddit to be kinder to newcomers to newcomers. They share that their friend tried Palia after they recommended it, but quit after just a week because other players were harassing her for not following the unwritten 3 AM rule. Instead of informing her of her mistake, players on her server were "extremely unforgiving and they told everyone to block/report her after they had already berated her."

The negative experience has discouraged the friend from playing the game, as she "now views the Palia community as toxic." The Redditor ends their post with an appeal to fellow players: "If we want Palia to continue to grow as a community, we can't just immediately resort to being toxic to newbies."

Palia's Unwritten Rules Are Meant To Make The Game Fair For All

The Rules Backfire When Players Assume Malicious Intent

Palia centers around collaboration, rewarding teamwork in many activities, including resource gathering. As a result, players will often call out the location of rare material spawns and give others a chance to get to the spot before beginning to harvest the material. Every in-game day, a grove consisting of a group of flow trees grows somewhere in Bahari Bay. Flow trees produce flow planks, which are needed for many quest items and higher quality furniture, so the resource is highly sought after.

According to the rule, players who find a grove call it out to all other players on the map. They are then supposed to give others a chance to get to the trees, by waiting until 3 AM before beginning to chop it down. In theory, this makes it possible for anyone to come the resource gathering, no matter where they are on the map.

However, this is not a real rule and new players have no way of knowing that this is the way things are done in Palia. Assuming malicious intent from anyone who doesn't follow the rule is unfair to new players. As the original poster writes, "please don't just assume people are chopping groves early to be malicious, they could be new and have no idea about the 3am etiquette."

Many Palia Players Are Unaware Of The Game's Unwritten Rules

The Rules Vary A Lot, Making Them Hard To Follow

By the time players get to Bahari Bay, they are no longer true beginners to the title. The Bay is the first place where it begins to be necessary to chat with other players. As a result, it's quite possible to play the game for several hours before being exposed to the game's unwritten rules.

The fact that the rules vary so wildly makes it extra difficult for everyone to be on the same page. Some servers adhere strictly to the 3 AM rule. Others simply call out the flow tree grove when they see it, and wait for everyone who responds (omw, on my way) to make it to the site.

Multiple attempts to "standardize" the rules have failed, for exactly the reason noted in this post: Having rigid rules goes against Palia's community ethos and can backfire when adhered to too closely. As Reddit celosia89 notes in a post about in-game etiquette, "As much as player-created norms can be wonderful, they can also be harmful when treated as a stick to beat people with." Even rules created for the best reasons can lead to abuse when anyone not "in-the-know" breaks the unspoken guidelines.

Palia's Cross-Platform Presence May Hinder Communication

Switch s Are At A Disadvantage

Communication is at the core of the Palia experience. In fact, gathering rare resources like chopping down flow trees and mining palium ores can be difficult to accomplish for solo players, especially lower-level ones. Doing a server-wide callout to see who's around to help gather is a common courtesy, and many newcomers quickly catch on to this. However, how well or quickly a player can communicate depends largely on which platform they're using to play.

The free MMO is currently available for Windows PC and the Nintendo Switch, and players find it much more difficult to communicate using the Switch. Typing on the Switch requires players to select letters from an on-screen keyboard, a process that's longer and more tedious than simply typing on a keyboard. The pop-up keyboard also blocks the chat, making it hard to keep up with the conversation. This may discourage players from trying to speak to others, or even make it seem like they're being inconsiderate or slow when in reality they're just struggling to type.

Our Take: Palia's Future Relies On The Community

The Indie Cozy MMO Can't Continue Without Its Fanbase

It's disappointing to hear of toxicity plaguing a game that's supposed to be a cozy and wholesome, collaborative experience. Being negative to new players goes against everything that the game stands for. The entire idea behind the game is to create a space for players to help and each other. My own experiences have been extremely positive, with many players eager to help newbies and answer questions. Hopefully, the Redditor's friend just had bad luck with an unusually mean server.

A few months ago, Palia was struggling to stay afloat. Since Singularity 6 was bought out by the more experienced Daybreak Games (the studio behind LOTRO and EverQuest), the game has continued to grow. Still, the game needs the community in order to be a success. My faith in the community is restored by the comments on the Reddit thread, where questions from new players are being met with patient and helpful responses. This is the kind of interaction I expect to see in a game like Palia, and I hope that new players aren't put off by a few bad apples.

Source: Individual-Phase8181/Reddit, celosia89/Reddit