Karma Meter: Difference between revisions

Occasionally the Karma Meter isn't visible in the stats screen, making it difficult to assess grayer actions. May be paired with [[Video Game Caring Potential]] and/or [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]], making players more inclined to select one side.

 

{{examples}}

 

** Believe us when we say that not killing every civilian in the game is [[Dronejam|harder than it sounds]].

** ''Jedi Academy'', meanwhile, ''seems'' to have a karma meter, based on what Force powers you pick—after each "upgrade" between chapters, Luke Skywalker muses on your future—but even if you go all [[Dark Side]], it comes down to a single choice -- {{spoiler|whether or not you decide to kill [[The Scrappy]]}}.

** Harvest? Try ''didn't save''! Have to rush out of an area because you suddenly find yourself with very little health, no medkits, and don't want to have to track back from that last vitachamber? Well you better not make a choice like that again, you horribly selfish monster... And that includes just not being able to find the last little <s>hideously mutated bitch with a freakish protector</s> sister in an area...

** There are two v/o files recorded for the bad ending in ''Bioshock''. Both have the exact same text, but the tone of voice is entirely different; if you only gave in to your lust for ADAM once, Dr. Tenenbaum sounds weary and resigned when describing your descent into evil, but if you've killed multiple Little Sisters she's filled with righteous fury at you.

** This is also played on smaller scales at various points in the games, with generals betraying you if you perform specific, horrible actions during missions. This also comes into play during modes like DW4's Xtreme Mode. It does take a somewhat larger amount of bad acts, but constantly doing things like capturing girls hostage to be taken as sex slaves, or randomly killing your allies [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything|(that usually don't do any fighting anyway)]] will cause your recruited party members to gradually lose respect for you, [[Video Game Cruelty Punishment|until they eventually get sick of you and turn.]] Of course, [[Video Game Caring Potential|saving peasants from monsters and generals from bandit raids]] will make them love you, and it's generally it's these good deeds that nab you more party members and good items to begin with.

 

* The canceled ''[[Ultima]] X'' was planned to use an eightfold karma system similar to ''Ultima IV'' (see below in RPG) where the different morals would frequently conflict. An example the developers gave is a quest where you are tasked with hunting down a thief, and learn that he stole to buy food for his starving family. You could then follow Compassion or Justice by letting the thief go or have him face the punishment for his crime. To further muddle the issue, if you returned the stolen item you would learn that the quest-giver is not the legitimate owner, which in turn gives the choice between Honor in sticking to the original agreement or Honesty in delivering the item to its proper place.

* [[Star Wars: The Old Republic]], much like [[Knights of the Old Republic|its predecessors]], will allow players to play light, dark, or grey, with each karmic allignment allowing the players to equip certain kinds of gear, as well as showing that the Republic and Sith in this world have [[Grey and Grey Morality]] at best.

 

=== [[Puzzle Game]] ===

 

=== [[Real Time Strategy]] ===

* ''[[Lords Of The Realm]] 3'', a real-time strategy game, introduced three types of karma meter: chivalry, Christianity, and honor. Using knights, building churches, and fighting honorably will build the meters, allowing you to attract champions, templars, and even four archangels to your cause. Using mercenaries, burning churches, and executing captured knights will make the meters plummet, allowing you to recruit various villainous types, and eventually some friendly chaps named [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse|Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death.]] Do try to go one or the other, because [[No Points for Neutrality|being neutral gets you nothing.]]

 

* ''[[Ultima]]'' [[Trope Codifier|catapulted this concept into the mainstream]]. In ''[[Ultima IV]]'', there were ''eight'' Karma Meters, one for each virtue. The Path of Virtue was a type of Secular Humanism. Remarkably, this first use of a karma meter is still one of the very few where the choices are not just between good/evil, but also between different ''types'' of good, as all virtues weren't entirely compatible with each other. The later games in the series played around with this concept some more, introducing alternate virtue systems that were incompatible both with the original one and each other, yet ''still'' all being good.

** Becoming an avatar was extremely hard for some virtues, as fleeing even one battle was considered a cowardly act (hurts courage meter) and looting killed monsters was considered bad as well!

* ''[[Valkyrie Profile]]'' had a Seal Rating and an Evaluation Rating that affected certain aspects of Lenneth's personality. While the Evaluation Rating didn't have any major effects, having the Seal Rating at a certain level at a certain point in the game unlocked the best ending, if certain other actions were also done. This was so specific and non-intuitive, that many complained that one could only get the best ending by [[Guide Dang It|reading how to do it]].

** However, this has less to do with good and evil and more to do with how subservient/rebellious Lenneth is to Odin.

* ''[[Jade Empire]]'' had "The Way of the Open Palm" and "The Way of the Closed Fist" stand in for good and evil. They were presented as based on more subtle moral principles: the Open Palm stood for harmony, accepting one's position in life and helping others accept theirs by supporting them, while Closed Fist stood for chaos, seeking to rise above one's station and encouraging others to do the same by teaching them self-sufficiency (harshly if necessary). However, with a few exceptions, this still comes down to being a goody two-shoes or an amoral bastard. Not to mention that your final karma score [[Last Second Karma Choice|depends on a single action near the end of the game...]]

* ''[[Skies of Arcadia]]'' has the "Swashbuckler Rating", which measures not just your karma in the traditional sense but also your adventurousness and leadership skills. The rating was underused in the game itself, as it only affected one or two sidequests.

** It's also possible to change your alignment without altering your reputation, in the Hell demiplane you go to at the end of the second game, which may exist primarily in your own head. For example, yelling at Sarevok that you'll transform into the Slayer turns you evil - even if you don't actually do it. And this doesn't have the same effects as reputation. You can spend the entirety of the Throne of Bhaal as an officially Lawful Evil paladin, retain all paladin abilities against the rules of the universe, had a reputation of twenty, and have never really done anything evil.

** ''Throne Of Bhaal'' also has another, minor karma meter going on when the Solar tests you in the demiplane and the sum of your answers to her determines what one of your two alternative ending options means in practice.

* ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' 1 and 2 had a [[Order Versus Chaos]] Karma Meter that affected how the story unfolded and which demons you could recruit. Later games in the metaseries tend to either only keep the latter aspect or a variation thereof, or drop the Karma Meter entirely.

** ''[[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne]]'' had ''five'' endings, each based upon a different philosophy. At certain points in the game, the main representative of each philosophy straight-out asks if you agree with them, and later asks for a confirmation. Answering in the affirmative twice locks you into that ending, unless you do it with more than one path, in which case the game looks at how you answered certain questions posed throughout the game and tallies up your affinity score for each philosophy. There is also a sixth ending that you get locked into if you complete the [[Bonus Level of Hell]].

* ''Nethergate'' had a few spots where you could perform good or evil acts and eventually be granted a reward based on your choices.

* ''[[Geneforge]]'' has a karma meter that determines what the factions think of you based on your words and actions. It essentially comes down to whether you support creation rights/the Rebels or creation control/the Shapers. Factions that share your view will be helpful to you and let you join them. Factions that don't will distrust you.

** ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' fixed this problem in all three official campaigns.

* There's a slight Karma Meter in ''[[Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World]]''. Throughout the game there's a few choices, choosing wrong nets you points on the meter. 9 points and you can't get the "[[Happy Ending|Good Ending]]". Of course, there's other ways to get points added... like getting hit with lightning in the temple of lightning. You'll know if you can't get the good ending if [[Rogue Protagonist|Lloyd]] gets a core besides Lumen. You can always get the "[[Bad End]]" though.

*** Sin-Eaters have it even worse than most. If they die, they come back to life, but lose one point of Synergy, and two points of ''maximum'' Synergy. If their maximum Synergy is reduced to 0 by this, they're either subject to [[Final Death]], or go through the above, but worse; a geist who chooses to linger in its host body after the Sin-Eater's soul has been shredded is sooner or later invariably driven homicidally insane by the tortured remnants of its former host's soul—and given that they're already [[Anthropomorphic Personification]]s of Death fused with human ghosts, this is a very, ''very'' bad thing. For some reason, both these and the more moderate version above are referred to as "The Wretched."

** "Minor" supernaturals, like Psychics, Thaumaturges, and Immortals also use Morality. This is not good for Blood Bathers, one of the forms of Immortal—their method of immortality, at best, with a particularly forgiving and not especially vile [[Blood Bath]]ing ritual, involves being permanently camped at the low end of the Morality Meter, just waiting for a ''really'' atrocious act to send them into sociopathic depravity. More commonly, it sends them unavoidably screaming off the Evil end of the Karma Meter, sooner or later. Unsurprisingly, the game recommends that [[Player Character]] Blood Bathers be constructed so they're at the former end.

* White Wolf's other main game line ''[[Exalted]]'' has a variant of this: acting against your Virtues costs willpower and gives you Limit which when full makes you go crazy for a little while. However as the virtues [[Blue and Orange Morality|don't really correspond to modern morality]], and resisting magical [[Mind Control]] also gives you limit, it almost doesn't count as this trope.

* The old ''Marvel Super Heroes'' RPG has Karma points. The main problem with this is that it rewards [[Honor Before Reason]] almost obsessively, and saving a life is worth only 20 Karma, while knocking down a given area of city is worth -5. So if you save a life by knocking down four squares of city, you come out even. It essentially made a Punisher character unplayable, because you lost ''all'' your Karma if you killed, ''even to save lives''. You also take a Karma ding for mind control, owning a gun, [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|jaywalking]]...

=== [[Web Animation]] ===

* The animated webshow [[Unforgotten Realms]] has "Sins of the Unforgotten," which the main character, Sir Shmoopy of Awesometon, gets two of. {{spoiler|The secret behind them is that he gets one for every time he cheats. Whenever Rob (the person controlling Sir Shmoopy) cheats in the game, his character has a heart attack and a mark is made on his wrist. After three marks, his character dies.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Karma]]

[[Category:Video Game Interface Elements]]