The Karma System

Giving karma is an immediate way to let someone know that you appreciate, or don't appreciate his or her action. Karma given to someone fades over time, and each time you give out karma it usually takes a few minutes to be able to give karma out again.

Levels of Karma

Karma effects how other players react to you, what price you pay to NPCs for items, and how long you spend in purgatory? (purg) when you depart. The higher your good karma the cheaper items are and the less time you spend in purg when you depart, conversely the higher your bad karma, the more you spend on items and the more time you spend in purgatory when you depart.

Some even believe your karma affects you luck in general: everything from fighting to skinning/teeth-pulling. However this is speculation, and I do not recall if anyone in authority (a Game master (GM) or Joe) every confirmed or denied this rumor. Another rumor to add, is that the frequency at which you give out good karma also increases the speed at which you regenerate the ability to give out good karma.

If a person has a significant amount of bad karma, their name tag will turn red. If you'd like to check how much good and bad karma someone has, simply type /karma <name>.

Generally you will see these levels as you gain karma which hasn't decayed. The same naming system is also applied to the karma you give.

From smallest to largest...

• Drop
• Spoonful
• Phial = the level at which an exile's name turns red for bad karma received. (Requires 8 bk)
• Cup
• Goblet
• Flagon = Once an exile has 4 Good Karma past the start of Flagon their name will turn blue.
• Tureen
• Barrel
• Vat
• Unknown number of other levels
• Shipload

You may also use /anonthank and /anoncurse to attach a reason without revealing your identity. The person may still figure out who thanked or cursed them if th BK or GK was received right after they did something.

Good Karma (GK)

If you like what someone has done for you, such as hunting with you, rescuing you, saving you from falling, healing you, or simply giving you information, it's polite to thank that person by typing /thank <name> (or select them (cmd {apple} -click) on that person either in the main game window or click on that person in the player window, and then press cmd-t). This gives them one point of good karma.

If you'd like to attach a reason for the GK, you can type /thank <name> <reason>. For example, say an exile named "Bana'toth" just saved you from certain death by stepping in between you and a creature that was chasing you and obviously about to kill you, and killing it instead. You'd type /thank Bana'toth for saving me from certain death. Bana'toth will hear a pleasant sound and see "<your name> gave you good karma for saving me from certain death." in his status/message side bar and his text log. If the person isn't on the same snell, they won't get the reason you attached, but they will still see who the karma has come from.

Unless you use /anonthank <reason> or /anoncurse <reason> whenever you attach a reason to a /thank or /curse, the person you thanked or cursed will see who it came from. Let's say you're standing in town center and someone does something that amuses you and you type /anonthank <person> for being funny. In this case the person would see, "You received good karma for being funny."

Decay Message

If you are frequently giving the same exile Good Karma or Bad Karma eventually you will get the 'decay' message. This message simply states that you must wait for a period of time (perhaps 4 CL hours or more), before you can give them good karma again. Note that this does not stop you from giving anyone else good karma. Which is what I do when I get that decay message for my friends. Trying to get the decay message can be a fun contest too.

Bad Karma (BK)

If you don't like what a person has done, such as running up and attacking a creature you were soloing without asking, killing your kudzu farm, insulting or offending you, dropping creatures on you when you weren't ready or able to handle them, or anything else that you don't like that person doing (whether it is in character (IC )or out of character (OOC) ), then you can type /curse <name> to let them know they've displeased you. This gives that person one point of bad karma (BK).

For example, let's say you were standing there obviously soloing the beast, and in no danger of falling, and Bana'toth, ran up and attacked the beast he could have easily avoided, without a word or even sharing with you first. If you'd like to attach a reason for the BK, type /curse Bana'toth for leeching off me or for breeching fighter etiquette.

If you sign BK, and don't use /anoncurse, the person will see who it came from, and some people will curse you back just to spite you. This can lead to Karma Bombing wars. (See below about Karma Bombing.)

Using BK

Below is how I handle BK, though you may handle it anyway you like. Some people, like Prue, believe all Karma is deserved and don't hesitate to curse someone for the slightest offense. Some people never curse others, no matter what the offense. Others will only use BK in character, while others only used BK for out of character offenses. Everyone is different in their use of Karma. I'll give my general guidelines, because BK can detract from a person's fun — especially if they've had a bad day and only logged on to clan and relieve stress.

When cursing people, most people — including myself — tend to give some people the benefit of the doubt if their action might have been unintentional. Often, I'll ask that person if they meant to do that. If he or she didn't, I'll often forgive them and not give them BK. If they did, seem unremorseful, I'll usually give them one warning not to do it again. If that person does it again, I'll often /curse them. Often I won't sign it, but it should be obvious it was me. If I sense that a person lied about unintentionally doing something, I'll often /curse them once for lying and maybe twice for the initial offense.

Abusing Karma/Karma Bombing

When people start /curse-ing each other back and forth, this is known as a karma war. If a person or multiple people curse the same person multiple times, this is know as "karma bombing." Karma bombing and wars often go hand in hand. Often karma bombing and wars end when one person gets tired of it, or when it's obvious to one party that they are out matched and surrender. Some people are above bombing and wars, and some people aren't. DT has a policy of not getting involved in these sorts of disputes, and often it is useless to take someone to court over karma bombing because the population at large has decided these cases are frivolous and don't want to be bothered by people who can't settle their differences, or are too immature or oversensitive and BK.

Karma Bombing Ends?

Karma was changed to have all karma after the first three, to require a message and tell the karma target who is BKing them. This has largely cut down on karma bombing by single individuals.