Chicago State University

Frictions in Cozy Gaming: Power, Race, and Cultural Flattening in Palia

Frictions in Cozy Gaming: How Dynamics of Power, Race, and Cultural Flattening Shape World Building in Palia STEPHANIE T JONES∗†, Northwestern University, USA and Chicago State University, USA ANGELA D. R. SMITH∗‡, University of Texas at Austin, USA and University of Rochester, USA The emergence of "cozy games" represents a…

• The 'cozy' game framework functions as an affective barrier to critique, using an aesthetic of warmth and low-stakes interaction to embed and mask ideological reproduction.
• Palia’s governance system naturalizes surveillance as a core condition of narrative progression, reinforcing social hierarchies through institutional and informal policing.
• The game employs a racialized economy of innocence and guilt, where character design cues—such as blonde hair and 'virtuous' tropes—determine whether rule-breaking is viewed as a sympathetic necessity or a criminal act.