Aidan, Game Director: The core vision and target experience for Palia centers around creating a collaborative, cozy, and safe multiplayer experience. An inherent part of providing that safety is that players know that they exist in a world largely devoid of physical, social, and emotional threats. As such, we feel that player versus player (pvp) combat is antithetical to our core experiential goals.
Additionally, this is an area that many great games we love have invested in deeply, and since it’s not our core, we’re unlikely to produce an experience that measures up to player expectations were we to divert our focus into this area as well.
Having said that, we do believe that there are some competitive play opportunities that can make sense in our world, in large part because they’re the kind of light hearted competitive experiences we expect to find amongst family or close friends. A Sunday afternoon card game can be cozy. Racing on the beach can still feel like vacation.
Additionally, many of our core systems ladder up quite naturally into an option for a little competitive play. I know I’ve spent a lot of time with my family watching cooking competitions, and maybe you’re eager to be recognized for your interior design skills?
Regardless, the thing that will remain consistently true is that competition is not our core, and any competitive options we add will not impinge on the core game experience, and we will strive not to tempt you into engagement with their rewards.
We want to provide an experience to our community sim audience first, and there are exciting possibilities to go beyond that. It’s helpful to remember that while Palia is a community sim MMO, it is not an MMORPG. MMORPG’s are typically about slaying foes and getting stronger, but Palians spend the majority of their time engaging in gathering and crafting activities, developing relationships with NPC’s, and building up their plot of land.
We have absolutely heard the feedback from players that they want some form of combat gameplay in Palia, and have a few plans in the works. Currently, our Hunting skill is closest to this in feel. (More details soon) Players can hunt Palian wildlife with a bow and arrow for their hides, meat, and other valuable materials to craft and cook.
Our first goal is to provide a stellar experience to the community SIM audience, and then anything is possible for expanding the game in the years (and hopefully decades) that we will be adding to the game!