InterView with Gamestop manager about Karma Systems

Introduction:

The local Gamestop manager TJ took some time outto answer a few of my questions. specficallyi was interested in game karma systems. the questions asked were:

• Do you believe karma systems work in games?
• Why do u believe this to be true
• What would you change about the karma systems?

Do you believe Karma Systems work in games?

TJ thought for a few minutes and then said "I believe that karma systems work in some games but not others." as he elaborated abit he further went to explain that most karma systems wer ebased on the game developers and tthere vison for the game plot. He Also explained that he doesnt believe there is a "perfect" karma system out there as of yet.

Why do you believe this to be True?

Tj started in on specfic examples to explain what he meant. the first one he though was good was the Fallout series karma. He explained this was becuase it impacts the game in ways that are seen and unseen so it can still throw curve balls at the players. while he went off on a tangent about his thoughts on fallout eventually he got back to his other example.  for one he didnt like he used Starwars force unleashed. he believed it was too similar to the knights of the old republic karma system and that one didnt work. he explained that the star wars karma system only affected player appearance and really nothing else and that it didnt really affect gameplay too much.

What would you change about the karma systems?

Tj thought there need to be a clear effect on gameplay so that players could have a different experience based on the choices they made. he also would keep the karma quests as they do in infamous and fallout have. as well as a clear difference in character appearance or attitude as the choices affected the gameplay .

Philosophy Behind Game Karma System

Explanation of karma

Karma is the religious belief that each persons actions have consequences and that these choices will affect you in the next life. In Buddhism however, karma mainly refers to one's intention or motivation while doing an action.(http://viewonbuddhism.org/karma.html) Accirding to Buddhism there are 4 laws of karma.

The Four Laws of Karma

1. Results are similar to the cause. Simply said, when I cause other people harm, I will harvest suffering myself. It is important to note here, that "positive" actions are defined as actions that have happiness as a result; "negative" actions are defined as actions that lead to suffering as a result.
2. No results without a cause. As is obvious within science, things do not just appear out of nothing.
3. Once an action is done, the result is never lost. Similarly as above, things do not just disappear into nothing.
4. Karma expands. Once we have an imprint of an action in our mind, it tends to be habit-forming. As is often said in wars for example, killing the first enemy is tough, but after a handful, one quickly loses count and it becomes "normal". Also psychology often stresses a similar point when e.g. explaining actions of adults from their childhood experiences.

In conclusion karma is just a belief more then anything so its more accurate to call it a morality.


Designer intent with morality/karma system

Game designers intended for players to make their own choices as they would in real life situations. there is no strict moral code to be followed.  The karma system is designed on what most of society has deemed good or bad decisions.  As their is no strict moral code to be followed playing through the game then its all based on players choice alone and them accepting the consequences.

Sources:

Parker, L. (2009, November 17). Black or White: Making Moral Choices in Video Games - Features at GameSpot. GameSpot is your go-to source for video game news, reviews, and entertainment. Retrieved November 17, 2011, from http://www.gamespot.com/features/black-or-white-making-moral-choices-in-video-games-6240211/

Karma. (2011, September 11). View on Buddhism: (Tibetan) Buddhist practice and philosophy. Retrieved November 17, 2011, from http://viewonbuddhism.org/karma.html 

Schulzke, M. (n.d.). Game Studies - Moral Decision Making in Fallout. Game Studies - Issue 1102, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2011, from http://gamestudies.org/0902/articles/schulzke

Character Alignment - Television Tropes & Idioms . (n.d.). Home Page - Television Tropes & Idioms . Retrieved November 30, 2011, from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CharacterAlignment

Adkins, N. (2011, November 28). Morality in Games. 1UP.com: Video Game Reviews, Cheats, and More. Retrieved November 30, 2011, from http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9091877

Starwars Knights of the Old Republic Karma/ alignment

Basics

StarWars Knight of the Old Republic is a game set in the StarWars universe.  The player takes on the Role of a brainwashed sith lord know as Darth Revan. The main character has limited customization options. (gender and then your standard traits and talents setup) in starwars all jedi control a mysterious power know as The Force. The Force has two sides: a light side (good karma for the purposes of the game) and a Dark side (bad/evil karma).

Karma System and Gameplay

Gameplay rules are "The game's system is based on Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Roleplaying Game, which is based on the d20 role-playing game system derived from the Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules. Combat is round-based; time is divided into discrete rounds, and combatants attack and react simultaneously. However, the number of actions a combatant may perform each round is limited. While each round's duration is a fixed short interval of real time, the player can configure the combat system to pause at specific events or at the end of each round." (http://www.search.com/reference/Star_Wars:_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic) Game developer Bioware uses an alignment system(which for the purposes of most games is a karma system). the two sides are light or dark.  "The alignment system tracks actions and speech — from simple word choice to major plot decisions — to determine whether the player's character aligns with light or dark side of the Force. Generosity and altruism lead to the light side, while self-serving or violent actions will lead your character to the dark side, which will alter the character's appearance, turning their skin gray and scarred." (http://www.search.com/reference/Star_Wars:_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic)

Dark Side/ Bad Karma

Light Side/ Good Karma

Sources:

Reference for Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic - Search.com. (n.d.). Metasearch Search Engine - Search.com. Retrieved November 17, 2011, from http://www.search.com/reference/Star_Wars:_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic

Dark side picture from http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i135/phenormenon/jadzian_kurr.jpg

Light side picture from http://images.wikia.com/swgames/images/2/25/Light_Side.JPG

Infamous 2 Karma System

Basics

Infamous 2 is a followup to Sucker punches hit game Infamous.  The same factors that contributed to karma in the first infamous still apply in Infamous 2. Although there are few additions and changes.

Improvements

Brian Fleming of Sucker punch said in his blog "When we spent time thinking and designing the improved Karma system, we ultimately concluded that there was a way to make these choices both clearer and much more believable: to make your Karma decisions more about relationships and less about the specific choice at hand. So instead of a question that really didn’t relate to our primary gameplay (e.g. “should we take this food or give it away?”), in I2 we let the player decide who to ally with on a quest, or choose between Kuo’s surgical strike or Nix’s no-holds barred assault. You aren’t just choosing a mission, you’re choosing an ally and alienating another person. This was both clear for players, and more real." After playing Infamous 2 i can agree that the karma choices aqnd affects are much clearer then in Infamous.  They also updated there quest icons to let the player know concisely which way your karma will go from doing this quest.

Evil/ Bad karma from quest

Good karma from quest

Sources:

Fleming, B. (2011, February 11). What Goes Around Comes Around: More on the inFAMOUS 2 Karma System. Playstation Blog. Retrieved November 17, 2011, from blog.us.playstation.com/2011/02/11/what-goes-around-comes-around-more-on-the-infamous-2-karma-system/

Bad karma icon from http://images.wikia.com/infamous/images/8/86/Badmission.png

Good Karma icon from http://images.wikia.com/infamous/images/a/a1/Goodmission.png

Infamous Karma System

example of Bad Karma

This is an example of good karma

Infamous Basic plot and factors that contribute to Karma

infamous is an open world game where the player is thrown into the role of Cole MacGrath.  the back ground on Cole is not very detailed but the game does give you information that builds the character.  Cole is a bike messenger in Empire City (fictional city though does bare some resemblance to Chicago and New York City morphed together).   Game starts with Cole delivering a package to an unknown person, where e then recieves a phone call from someone name Kessler who instructs Cole to open the package.  COle opens the package and pulls out a device known as the ray-sphere.  COle closes the sphere causing an explosion and imbueing himself with new electrical powers.

Karma System

All of Cole's karma is solely based on how he uses his powers through out empire city.  Good actions such as helping injured citzens or using Cole's powers to live capture enemies grants you good karma. Evil actions such as draining an enemies life force or using Cole's powers to kill civilians grants you bad karma. Also as you progress through the story there will be points where it requires the player to make a choice one way or the other that grants the respect good or bad karma. The end of  Infamous is based on the Cole's karma level at the end.  If it was good then Empire City praises Cole as a hero and rebuilds. However, if Cole's karma is bad Empire City falls into chaos.

Karma levels:

Good

• Guardian
• Champion 
• Hero

Evil/Bad

• Thug
• Outlaw
• Infamous (which is also the game title)

 References

1.  Infamous (video game). Wikipedia. Retrieved October 10, 2011. from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infamous_(video_game)
2. Bad Karma Picture from http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/yIrxfaahPto/0.jpg
3. Good Karma picture from http://www.cheatcc.com/imagesps3/infamous_000c.jpg

Fallout 3 Karma Meter

picture from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KarmaMeter

Several games implement some kind of morality into their gameplay.  The purpose of this morality system is to affect the gameplay.  You may ask: "How does it affect gameplay?" The answer is not as clear cut as you might think. Below is a list of games that have a morality system some are more clear cut then others. However, i am going to detail the Fallout 3 morality system.

Games with some type of morality system:

• Fallout 3
• Fallout New vegas
• Starwars Knights of the Old Republic
• Starwars Knights of the Old Republic 2: Sith Lords
• Infamous
• Infamous 2

Basic information about the game

Fallout 3 is a role playing game that is set in Washington DC after a nuclear attack(hence the name Fallout). During the attacks several people hid in various places throughout the area. You take of the role of a wander who has been living in and underground vault for years now. (Warning next part will contain a plot spoiler for those who haven't played the game). The reason you leaave the vault is to find your father who has a mysterious past that you have to unravel while playing.

Morality System

As the gamer plays through Fallout 3 You make choices along the way.  These choices made within the game affect the player in a number of ways. (listed below) If a player happens to have extreme karma one way or the other, it can lead to multiple endings of a game. To quote a section of text from tvtropes.org "To undermine the concept even further, games with a Karma Meter often include a Golden Snitch decision that will heavily push you towards (or even lock you permanently in) one extreme of the morality gauge regardless of your actions up to that point. This means that in a game with Multiple Endings, your ending is decided more by that one single choice rather than an accumulation of all of your deeds and misdeeds."  As tvtropes.org explains this Golden Snitch "A competition involving a series of events or activities, in which the final round counts for a disproportionately large percent of the team's total score — and in fiction, will tend to be worth more than all previous events combined. Thus, whoever wins the final round earns enough points to win the entire match, regardless of just about everything else that happened before it."

Ways choices affect the game:

• Choices affect how plot npcs treat the player
• Choices often lead to one extreme side of the karma meter.
• Choices sometimes lead to a grey area where there is no real karma affect

References: 

1. Karma Meter - Television Tropes & Idioms . (n.d.). Home Page - Television Tropes & Idioms . Retrieved October 28, 2011, from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KarmaMeter 
2. san, a. (. (n.d.). Golden Snitch - Television Tropes & Idioms . Home Page - Television Tropes & Idioms . Retrieved October 28, 2011, from http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoldenSnitch 

History of Karma Systems

There's only been a few games that have any notable karma system in them.  A karma system can sometimes be called a reputation system fro the Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing games (MMORPG).  MMORPGs like World of Warcraft will call the non-playable character (NPC) groups factions.  As well call your karma rep or reputation.  When your actions please the faction u game rep or positive karma.  when you r actions displease the faction you lose rep or gain negative karma. 

The two most noteable game karma systems are Infamous and Fallout 3.  I will detail each game in a later post.  Infamous basic plot is about a man named Cole.  He is a carrier for a some company in a city the game doesnt detail any of that.  one day he is requested to deliver a package and its a mysterious object that he is instructed to open and infuses him with electrical powers.  The way the karma system works is if you use your powers to help the city or nselfish reasons you gamin karma the max positve karma is Champion.  on the contrayery if you use your powers for evil or selfish reasons you gain negative karma upt to the Infamous rank. 

Fallout 3's is more extensive but its basiclly good and evil deeds gain respective karma, the Fallout 3 post will detail it better.

Karma systems are a way to engage the player into a moral choice and can enhance the game play