History Main / KarmaMeter

*** Of course, the whole 'moral dilemma' doesn't exist if a player was smart and bought most or all properties beforehand. If you practically own the entire kingdom, your generate enough rent money to [[GoldenEnding finance your army ''and'' keep all your promises]]. If a player did that and ''still'' chose to break their promises, it's probably because they're an evil bastard.

Except for the GoldenSnitch event, typically no act is more than three or five times more evil or good than any other. This leads to the odd situation where a character with a perfect record of finding lost pets and helping old ladies with their groceries can [[NoKillLikeOverkill bludgeon a school bus of Girl Scouts to death and pour napalm on their corpses while singing hymns to Satan and scarfing down a stack of Kitten Burgers]] and at worst go from "saintly" to "very good" on the Karma Meter. And unless the Karma changes are limited to plot events, go right back to "saintly" by killing some monsters or giving money to beggars.

** ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' has Clarity, which isn't so much a Karma Meter as it is a SanityMeter, representing how easily you can keep yourself centered and distinguish fantasy from reality after getting [[MindRape the mother of all mind rapes]] from TheFairFolk. Murder and theft are still sins, but so are things such as taking psychotropic drugs, spending too much time away from humanity, and experiencing unexpected life changes.

** For completion's sake, it's worth mentioning ''TabletopGames/DemonTheDescent'', which has a truly bizarre variation on the nWoD Karma Meter -- instead of representing karma, sanity, or any more standard facet to be measured, it covers the demon's ability to hide from the God-Machine and convincingly appear to be an ordinary mortal. As such, hitting zero with it ''doesn't'' mean the character is automatically forfeit, but it is extremely dangerous, and a demon that can't establish a new cover quickly probably won't survive. It's also mechanically based on Integrity, as introduced in ''The God-Machine Chronicle'', rather than Morality, leading to it functioning substantially differently in important ways.

* In a rare sports game example, ''NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup'' has a career mode with a KarmaMeter ranging from Hero to Villain. Where you land on the scale depends on your actions during races- for instance, deliberately crashing other drivers will move you to the Villain end. This has the effect of royally pissing them off and making them want to take you out when they get the chance. However, if you can win enough races, the fans won't care whether you're a Hero or a Villain.

** 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.

* ''Galactic Civilizations II'' features a unique example of a Karma Meter in a [[FourX 4X Game]], with a 100-point scale measuring alignment (0 is Evil, 50 is Neutral, 99 is Good). Each race starts out with a default value (although this can be adjusted by the player in the ExpansionPack), and throughout the game the player's choices in random events will allow him to "tweak" it towards his alignment of choice. Eventually you're able to choose your ultimate alignment permanently from among the three options, with each one receiving its own unique bonuses as well as boosted relations with other races of that alignment. You can choose your alignment no matter what actions you've taken. However, choosing an alignment contrary to your actions costs more.
** Somewhat oddly the random events stop happening once you choose your alignment. All in all it seems as if it were some kind of HumanityOnTrial event you can end by either admitting to your apparent alignment or bribing the PowersThatBe to change it.

** 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 [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything (that usually don't do any fighting anyway)]] will cause your recruited party members to gradually lose respect for you, [[VideoGameCrueltyPunishment until they eventually get sick of you and turn.]] Of course, [[VideoGameCaringPotential 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.

* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' has Fame Points as part of its ''Going Rogue'' system. Characters receive fame for completing tip missions, and each point of fame pushes them toward one of the four alignments ([[TheCape Hero]], [[AntiHero Vigilante]], Villain, or [[AntiVillain Rogue]]). Upon accumulating 10 points of fame toward an alignment, one can complete a morality mission to finalize the change. Interestingly enough, contacts have no effect on alignment. A Vigilante can team with a villain and run [[ForTheEvulz Westin Phipps's]] story arc without a blip on his alignment meter, despite the fact that he's [[MoralEventHorizon poisoning children]] and murdering school teachers.
* The canceled ''Franchise/{{Ultima}} X'' was planned to use an eightfold karma system similar to ''VideoGame/UltimaIV'' (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.

** Or this would be the case were it not for the fact that 'light side' for Sith tends towards 'kill painlessly' or 'not be racist' compared to the Republic side's 'take blame for missing supplies to help villagers' or 'give up credits to feed the hungry'... making Sith come off as being evil still.

*** It's also worth bearing in mind that the light/dark system in this game doesn't always reflect current real-life ideas of morality, especially as far as the Jedi are concerned. Help two padawans who have fallen in love hide it from their elders? Dark side points, Jedi aren't allowed to fall in love. And then we have the choices where the concept of there being a moral dilemma that fits neatly into light or dark doesn't even make sense, like the mission where you have to decide whether to give medicine to dying soldiers or sick civilians.

* Each level in ''ShadowTheHedgehog'' has its own Good, Neutral, and Evil goals, and which you complete determines your path through the game and your ending. Also, there are power meters for good and evil that fill depending on which enemies you defeat in the level, and once they are totally filled Shadow will be able to use a special ability (Chaos Control if the good meter is filled, Chaos Blast if the evil one is.) Not only that, but there are separate point scores for each alignment- when you reach the good or evil goal, that side's points are added to your score, and the other side's points are ''subtracted'' from it.

* ''Medieval: TotalWar II'' gives a Karma Meter to each general in your army. The good side, Chivalry, is cultivated by things like freeing prisoners and keeping cities happy. This is rewarded by increasing happiness and population growth of a city when the general is managing it, and increasing the morale of all soldiers under his command. The evil side, Dread, comes from executing prisoners, excessively taxing populations, arranging many many assassinations and more. This increases public order when garrisoned in a city and decreases the morale of all troops fighting against him. Given that soldiers that flee are likely to be captured and executed when facing an evil general, you'd think it would be the other way around...
** Unfortunately, DumbIsGood is in effect here. "Chivalrous" tactics seem to consist of sending your army head-first against the enemy, but if you decide to skirmish, out-flank, or God forbid attack your enemy from the rear, your generals will quickly pick up "Cruel and Cunning" or similar traits. And for some reason using Spies to keep tabs on your enemy's movements is also evil. Even more annoying is how your diplomatic reputation works on the world map -- you can go the entire game without starting a single war, but if you fight back against your enemy or take their cities in retaliation, you'll quickly be saddled with a reputation as an untrustworthy monster.

* ''KnightsOfHonor'' has Kingdom Power, a scale that roughly translates to your reputation, popularity with the people, and the grasp you have on your kingdom. Actions like breaking alliances (both political ones as ones formed through marriage), attacking nations with the same religion, spies being found out have a negative influence. Increasing your Kingdom power is only possible by spending gold and piety on it. If your Kingdom Power is very low, rebels will emerge, marshals will revolt, and if it's low for a long time, entire provinces can declare independence or join other nations.

* ''VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery'' has a Karma Meter that is only partially visible -- your alignment can change and the game display will reflect this, but unless you have the (otherwise useless) Law skill at a fairly high level, the game won't tell you whether a certain act was considered lawful/chaotic ... and that skill only informs you ''after'' you've committed the act. Shuffling around within an alignment (for example, NL to N+ to N= to N- to NC are all considered Neutral) isn't much of a problem, but woe betide the player who accidentally changes alignment (such as from NC to CN -- you're now considered Chaotic) late in the game... because the nicer you've been to one god, the more the other two will hate you. There is also an artifact which is only granted to players that reach the bottom of the Caverns of Chaos without ever committing one chaotic act OR letting one lawful creature die. Since there is no indicator for this, the artifact is nearly impossible to get.

*** The only option to earn cash quickly was to [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption die on purpose]], take the default amount of cash Lord British gave you to buy a sword, die again and repeat. When all your character inventories are filled with swords, sell them all for cash. You can further increase benefit from method by killing yourself using the stat increasing orb that killed you for using it.

*** In ''VideoGame/FableII'', purity versus corruption are added on. Based on the foods you eat and the rent you charge... okay... It gets sort of odd when you own all the property in Albion though- essentially running a feudal state.

*** The game still sees these choices as Good and Evil respectively, so you can end up with odd situations where people will worship the ground you walk on if you've ensure their annihilation, yet loathe your guts if you've done everything in your power to save their lives no matter the cost.

*** If you play a Dark Side character all the way through the game to reach the very base of the meter, go through the vital conversation mostly dark side but make the ONE vital light-side choice that pushes you up into low neutral, you can get back into deep Dark Side during the endgame and still get the Light ending with a pale, evil-looking character... not to mention [[spoiler:Bastila apparently coming back from the dead, despite being killed in the Star Forge for DS points]]. Likewise, you can play through the whole game on the Light Side, make the one Dark Side choice, and get the Dark Side ending as a Happyshiny Jedi.

*** ''[=KOTOR II=]'' was on the whole a lot more ambiguous than its predecessor with the Light Side/Jedi = Pure Good and Dark Side/Sith = Pure Evil dichotomy. While in the first game you were pretty much either a paragon of virtue or a complete monster, it was a lot easier to play a flawed, almost antiheroic light side character or a dark side character who was closer to being a magnificent bastard. Or really pretty much anything on the scale.

** ''KOTOR II'' also features a mild [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]]: If Kreia is with you on a certain level, a beggar approaches you, and asks for a few credits. You may choose to give him a small amount of cash, or threaten him [[note]]It's implied that Kreia's influence is preventing you from just blowing the beggar off[[/note]]. A brief dialogue with Kreia about unintended consequences follows; if the player chose to give the beggar money, the player sees the price of his benevolence (the beggar is now a target for a mugging). You still get light side points for giving the beggar. A similar scene, in reverse, plays out if you threaten the beggar; he's frustrated by the way you treated him, and when another beggar talks to him he snaps and attacks the guy.

*** Not to mention that numerous of the supporting characters in ''KOTOR II'' have their own Karma meter that is influenced by the protagonist's own... with special events unlocked for pushing theirs to the extremes. The funny thing is that if you make them hate the protagonist, their karma meter pushes to the opposite extreme of the protagonist's which can ALSO unlock the special events... [[spoiler:i.e. Force sensitive characters like Atton Rand can be trained to be Light Side Jedi if you're Dark Side, or vice versa... which allows for a much more varied array of skills in the party]].

* ''ValkyrieProfile'' 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 [[GuideDangIt reading how to do it]].

* ''JadeEmpire'' 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 [[LastSecondEndingChoice depends on a single action near the end of the game...]]

** It's an interesting example even though it's underused, as it's not really a decision between "good" and "evil" so much as "good captain" or "bad captain". The game encourages a balance between daring and consideration of your crew-you have to consider each question carefully because too far along the scale of "bold and daring" becomes "foolish and reckless", but too cautious becomes "cowardly".

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}'' only offers a general karma meter. ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' has the karma meter, plus an AllianceMeter. They also feature a series of status elements such as "grave robber", "child killer" and "slaver", depending on the choices made. Certain characters will react differently to different combinations of these -- for example, some stores will only sell to people with negative karma, [[EvenEvilHasStandards but still balk at selling to a child murderer]]. The only truly bad effect of negative karma turns up in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'', in which towns will pay for bounty hunters to attack the player -- but killing bounty hunters results in a further drop in karma, creating an unstoppable downward spiral...
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' has drawbacks for both negative AND positive karma - Talon Company Mercenaries will begin randomly spawning to attack you if your Karma hits Very High, while Regulators will start gunning for you if your Karma hits Very Low. Talon Company mercs are rather nasty, spawning with energy weapons, Combat Armor, and high-quality assault rifles, even if you're level 4.

** ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'' returns to the classic OrderVersusChaos KarmaMeter, though it only affects how easy it is to recruit certain demons (it is no longer impossible to recruit demons of the opposite alignment, just harder) and the Demon Co-Op feature. If you're heavily tilted towards Law or Chaos then you're locked into that ending; otherwise, you get some questions at the end of the game to determine your ending (which basically boil down to, "Hey, you want this ending or what?").

** Renegades tend to be more [[AntiHero edgy]], [[BadAss tough]] and [[ChaoticNeutral morally]] [[NeutralEvil ambivalent]], preferring [[MightMakesRight to go in all guns blazing]], [[HumanityIsSuperior and a "humans come first" view to galactic politics]], favouring the Alliance and [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters Cerberus]]. Renegades are [[{{Determinator}} ruthless]], [[CombatPragmatist pragmatic]] and they get the job done [[IDidWhatIHadToDo no matter what]].
** ''Franchise/MassEffect'' is unique (so far) among the Bioware games for having a Karma Meter where the meter's opposites do not exclude each other: you can be ''both'' Paragon and Renegade to a separate extent. Individual choices will still either advance your Paragon or Renegade status alone, though[[note]]Except for one of the last choices in the first game, where the middle choice advances both. May have something to do with it being the exact same action as the Renegade option, but without the pro-human slant to the motivation.[[/note]]. Although "playing both sides" leaves your character weaker overall in the Charm and Intimidate departments than if you'd specialized, the choice is there, unlike the games which effectively penalize you for not picking one side all the way.
*** This means you can play your Shepard to all kinds of moral models. You can be [[FantasticRacism a moral xenophobe who is nice to humans but a complete dick to aliens]], a [[ByronicHero "Para]][[GoodIsNotNice gade"]] who mostly picks Paragon options along with some lighter Renegade options when angered, and it's opposing sister [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold "Ren]][[NobleDemon egon"]], where you pick mostly Renegade options with some lighter [[PetTheDog Paragon options]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards when the situation calls for it]], or you could be [[ChaoticStupid entirely]] [[BlueAndOrangeMorality random]] in your actions.

** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' does away with non-combat skills and makes your ability to intimidate or charm people based entirely on your Renegade and Paragon points, respectively. This has the unfortunate side effect of penalising you heavily for not always picking the same thing, or even taking a more neutral approach. It still does mean, though, that unlike most other games, you can take ''occasional'' opposite-alignment action without any problem whatsoever. Dedicated Paragon players, particularly, tend to have a few favorite Renegade choices that are just too satisfying to miss.
** The point of the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' system is to provide what is felt to be a more "realistic" approach to the KarmaMeter - people won't forget about those Batarian [=POWs=] you executed just because you help someone find their missing brother.
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Paragon and Renegade occupy the same meter, unlike the previous 2 games. This allows morality choices to be made purely based on situational personal preference without penalisation. However some scenarios, especially late in the game, require you've filled the meter to certain extent to access the paragon/renegade responses. In essence if you haven't done enough missions, the meter sometimes won't be high enough for you to talk your way out of trouble.

* ''[[{{Arcanum}} Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura]]'' has a Karma Meter ranging from -100 to 100, with the protagonist starting out at 0. Many different things within the game affects this meter, mostly your actions in regards to quests and other similar things, like killing evil monsters or going on a rampage through some town. Depending on the value, certain characters might want to (or refuse to) join you, you might get offered different responses in dialogue, and if you commit certain acts (such as attacking a Good aligned creature with a Good character in your party) may result in them getting upset and eventually leaving the group. For some reason, evil actions include killing people in self-defense, fighting dirty cops who just murdered a civil rights activist, and honoring a demon-possessed man's request for you to kill him before he goes on another homicidal rampage.

** This interacts with the SanityMeter in interesting ways as well. The Shapers are opposed to shaping yourself and using the Geneforge or canisters, and although the games give them reasons to come to an accommodation with your protagonist some of them will still treat you with loathing, disdain, or fear if you show up with the characteristic GlowingEyesOfDoom of a canister user.

* There's a slight Karma Meter in ''TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld''. Throughout the game there's a few choices, choosing wrong nets you points on the meter. 9 points and you can't get the "[[HappyEnding 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 [[RogueProtagonist Lloyd]] gets a core besides Lumen. You can always get the "BadEnd" though.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' is one BioWare game that notably ''doesn't'' apply a KarmaMeter--it applies a friendship meter for each party member. Doing bad things causes the [[LevelUpAtIntimacy5 approval ratings]] of bad characters to rise, contributing to stat bonuses, and, for romancable characters, the increased liklihood of sleeping with them, and vice versa. That's your motivation for this game.

*** There is more to it. Certain things only happen if you've picked "good" or "bad" choices. Just, there is no general meter that you get good or bad "points" towards - it's handled per decision made. There's still at LEAST three ways to do pretty much anything in the game, and which way you choose (They're only sometimes the standard good-neutral-bad options) can change the way things go later.
*** One can also see the Approval as a kind of Karma. Gaining approval from some characters, means you are doing something more traditionally seen as good, where as the characters of a more "evil" mindset tend to disapprove. You can get around this, however, by simply excluding some characters from your party.

* ''{{Uplink}}'' has a 'neuromancer' rating, which starts at neutral and ranges from revolutionary (the best) to morally bankrupt (worst), and are analogous to PlayfulHacker and TheCracker, respectfully. Actions that destroy or steal data will push you towards Hacker, while actions that hurt ''people'' (especially fellow hackers) or mess with their personal data push you towards Cracker. The meter has little actual effect on the game itself, beyond affecting how clients think of you (people interested in data theft won't hire Crackers, while people interested in hurting people won't hire Hackers). There's also one action you can take [[spoiler: (stealing the data containing the identities of your fellow Uplink agents and selling it)]] that will mark you as a Cracker no matter what actions you take thereafter.

* ''RomancingSaGa'' uses KarmaMeter to determine one of the three area before the final dungeon you can access. Being good locks you with the Trial of Elore. Being evil lets you get to hell. And being neutral sends you to a giant village.

* ''Darkstar One'' rates you on trader vs. smuggler, bounty hunter vs. pirate and so forth.

*** Also, as seems to be the case with a lot of these games, your "good and evil" rating ended up depending on one action: [[spoiler: whether you kill your old friend and handler Lambert or the somewhat sympathetic but still entirely evil new friend in the JBA.]]

* The ''VideoGame/SilentHill'' series has always had multiple endings (Known as Good+, Good, Bad, Bad+, and an extra, silly ending). In the first game, which you got was based on your choices in two key scenes, one of which required an unintuitive SideQuest to achieve the Good endings. In later games, it was based on your performance throughout the game.
** ''VideoGame/SilentHill2'' took into account a number of factors during the game to deduce your ending, including (but not limited to) how often you ran around injured, how long you stayed around Maria and whether or not you looked at certain items. It is the only game in the series that lacks a GoldenSnitch event that will push you heavily towards one of the endings.

* The ThirdPersonShooter ''TheSuffering'' has a Karma Meter which depends on whether the main character, Torque, helps the less hostile {{NPC}}s he encouters or guns them down in cold blood. This rating determines which of three endings (Good, Neutral, or Evil) you get. While the meter isn't shown explicitly, the player can to some extent gauge their karmic state by the reactions that the ghost of his wife and children have to his actions. Not only that, but the player can see what their karma is at any time in two ways: looking at Torque, and looking at a photo of his family. If the player is good, Torque is nice and clean (save for the blood he got on him from previous fights) and looks fine, while the photo is fine. If the player is neutral, they are a bit dirty and have a couple scratches on them, and the photo is somewhat damaged. If the player is evil, torque is covered in scars and sores, and the photo of his family is burned or something. Torque will also change appearance based on your actions. A third way to tell is to listen to the Infernas the several times you meet them before they start showing up as enemies. If you're on the good route, they'll be relatively friendly and compassionate. If you're on the evil route, they'll be insulting and mocking, pretending to be afraid of you. The sequel, ''The Suffering: Ties That Bind'' has a similar system, though this time actually visible in the pause menu and having concrete bonuses, and even includes an OldSaveBonus that changes the opening depending on which ending you got in the first game.

* ''VideoGame/ReservoirDogs'' has a meter that determines whether you're merely an amoral, businesslike Professional like the movie's Mr. Pink, a Career Criminal like Mr. White, or a psychopath like Mr. Blonde. This is affected by whether you shoot people at random or try to take hostages and escape peacefully. While all the other characters' fates are sealed, the karma meter determines what happens to Mr Pink - [[spoiler: psychopaths get shot by the cops, career criminals get arrested, but professionals KnowWhenToFoldEm and escape scot-free!]]

* ''OgreBattle'' has three Karma Meters. One is the standard good-vs-evil Alignment trait, and each soldier has it. Each soldier also has Charisma, which represents how {{Badass}} they look (kill enemies above your level, you look awesome, kill much weaker foes, you just look like a thug). These traits are used to determine what classes a unit can change into. The third meter, called Chaos Frame is your revolution's reputation as a whole, is affected by a whole raft of things, and determines what characters will join you and what ending you'll get.

* ''[[HeroesOfMightAndMagic Might and Magic: Heroes VI]]'' uses a blood/tears alignment system, where a hero earns blood points if they use aggressive tactics, overwhelm opponents with sheer force and solve problems with violence whenever the opportunity arises, while tears points are earned for showing mercy, using diplomacy and endeavoring to keep the soldiers in their army alive. Eventually a hero will be offered the chance to devote themselves to a philosophy, which will earn them unique abilities; for example a warlock who pursues tears will become a demonist who can support their army through summoning, while a blood warlock becomes a pyromancer who gains unique destruction spells.

* ''VideoGame/{{Spore}}'' has a kind of karma meter for each stage based on your species' behavior. Typically, the green choices are "friendly/social", the blue choices are "flexible/mixed", and the red choices are pretty much "aggressive/violent" depending on how the player decides to reach the goals for stage completion.
** In cell stage, you start out as either an herbivore (green) or carnivore (red), Later, by using both herbivore and carnivore mouths or an omnivore mouth, you can become an omnivore (blue) creature, or you can switch to the other extreme.

** In civ stage, you start out defaulting to whichever color you had at the end of tribal stage, and can shift up or down to the other ones from there- an aggressive civilization can become religious simply by capturing a religious city and using religious vehicles to convert other cities. The choices here are religious (green), economic (blue), and military (red).

* NipponIchi games (''LaPucelle Tactics'', ''{{Disgaea}}'', ''PhantomBrave'' and ''MakaiKingdom'') have invisible {{Karma Meter}}s that are affected by killing off your own teammates, an action that can easily be accidentally done, and a source of "easy" experience. This affects the ending in some of the games. The latest game allows you to follow a different path of the story after beating the game to be a bad guy. (Oddly, only demons are actually punished by the plot for doing this; humans get power-ups.)

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* Perhaps surprisingly for a game where [[VillainProtagonist the entire premise is being evil]], ''{{VideoGame/Overlord}}'' has a karma meter in the form of the "corruption" meter, which essentially gauges whether you're a totally self-serving, AxCrazy, ZeroPercentApprovalRating madman or a NobleDemon VillainWithGoodPublicity who helps out the public to earn their support while on your quest for revenge.

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* ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'' has Obligation, representing the [[MadScientist Genius's]] personal connection to "normal" humanity. Treating humans as disposable or replaceable (Mengele gets quoted) damages it; at the highest levels, ''surgery'' calls for a check. Hit zero and you start cackling.

** ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken'' has 'Harmony', which determines the situations in which a werewolf enters "Death Rage", where he or she turns into a ferocious monster who kills foes and friends nearby or runs for a safe location. All werewolves risk it during combat, but those with lower Harmony risk the violent version every time they are insulted, have their authority challenged, or even if they burn themselves on the stove trying to cook. ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'' and its Rage metric could also be seen as this, although while it punishes you for being too violent, it's also an important attribute to not let fall too low. 10 points of rage might result in a character killing and cannibalizing allies, but 0 points means that the character's healing ability and ability to shapeshift is minimal.

** "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 [[BloodBath Blood Bathing]] 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 PlayerCharacter Blood Bathers be constructed so they're at the former end.

* White Wolf's other main game line ''TabletopGame/{{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 [[BlueAndOrangeMorality don't really correspond to modern morality]], and resisting magical MindControl also gives you limit, it almost doesn't count as this trope.

* ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiI'' and 2 had a OrderVersusChaos KarmaMeter 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.

** ''StrangeJourney'' returns to the classic OrderVersusChaos KarmaMeter, though it only affects how easy it is to recruit certain demons (it is no longer impossible to recruit demons of the opposite alignment, just harder) and the Demon Co-Op feature. If you're heavily tilted towards Law or Chaos then you're locked into that ending; otherwise, you get some questions at the end of the game to determine your ending (which basically boil down to, "Hey, you want this ending or what?").

* ''VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery ADOM'' has a Karma Meter that is only partially visible -- your alignment can change and the game display will reflect this, but unless you have the (otherwise useless) Law skill at a fairly high level, the game won't tell you whether a certain act was considered lawful/chaotic ... and that skill only informs you ''after'' you've committed the act. Shuffling around within an alignment (for example, NL to N+ to N= to N- to NC are all considered Neutral) isn't much of a problem, but woe betide the player who accidentally changes alignment (such as from NC to CN -- you're now considered Chaotic) late in the game... because the nicer you've been to one god, the more the other two will hate you. There is also an artifact which is only granted to players that reach the bottom of the Caverns of Chaos without ever committing one chaotic act OR letting one lawful creature die. Since there is no indicator for this, the artifact is nearly impossible to get.

* ''[[VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery ADOM]]'' has a Karma Meter that is only partially visible -- your alignment can change and the game display will reflect this, but unless you have the (otherwise useless) Law skill at a fairly high level, the game won't tell you whether a certain act was considered lawful/chaotic ... and that skill only informs you ''after'' you've committed the act. Shuffling around within an alignment (for example, NL to N+ to N= to N- to NC are all considered Neutral) isn't much of a problem, but woe betide the player who accidentally changes alignment (such as from NC to CN -- you're now considered Chaotic) late in the game... because the nicer you've been to one god, the more the other two will hate you. There is also an artifact which is only granted to players that reach the bottom of the Caverns of Chaos without ever committing one chaotic act OR letting one lawful creature die. Since there is no indicator for this, the artifact is nearly impossible to get.

* ''[[AceCombat Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War]]'' has a literal Karma Meter in the form of a sliding gauge (called your Ace style) depicting you as one of three types of aces: Knight, who faces combat honorably and protects the innocent; Soldier, who can adjust his flying and combat strategy according to the tides of battle; Mercenary, an ace who flies solely for money. In game terms, this means the Knight will never attack yellow (neutral or fleeing) targets, while the Mercenary will '''always''' attack them, with the soldier striking a balance in between. Your wingmen and enemy pilots will have various things to say about you depending on your position on the gauge, certain missions have different ace enemies based on your Ace style, and it's even given a nod in the NewGamePlus by your first wingman commenting on your Ace style at the start of the first mission.

* ''{{Hydlide}} [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydlide_II:_Shine_of_Darkness II]]'' is yet another early example of the Karma Meter, released in the same year as ''Ultima IV'' and ''Xanadu'' ([[NoExportForYou in Japan only]]). In ''Hydlide'', the player can be [[CharacterAlignment Aligned]] with Justice, Normal, or Evil. Killing humans or good monsters can lower the player's morality, while fighting only evil monsters can help them increase it. If the player has an Evil alignment, the townsfolk will ignore the player, denying access to certain clues, dialogues, equipment, and training.

* ''[[HeroesOfMightAndMagic Might and Magic: Heroes VI]]'' uses a blood/tears alignment system, where a hero earns blood points if they use aggressive tactics, overwhelm opponents with sheer force and solve problems with violence whenever the opportunity arises, while tears points are earned for showing mercy, using diplomacy and endeavoring to keep the soldiers in their army alive. Eventually a hero will be offered the chance to devote themselves to a philosophy, which will earn them unique abilities; for example a warlock who pursues tears will become a demonist who can support their army through summoning, while a blood warlock becomes a pyromancer who destroys their foes with sheer destructive force.

** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' does away with non-combat skills and makes your ability to intimidate or charm people based entirely on your Renegade and Paragon points, respectively. This has the unfortunate side effect of penalising you heavily for not always picking the same thing, or even taking a more neutral approach.
*** It still does mean, though, that unlike most other games, you can take ''occasional'' opposite-alignment action without any problem whatsoever. Dedicated Paragon players, particularly, tend to have a few favorite Renegade choices that are just too satisfying to miss.

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Paragon and Renegade are the same meter, unlike the previous 2 games. This allows morality choices to be made purely based on situational personal preference without penalisation.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' included a clever [[ReconstructedTrope reconstruction]] on the karma meter with the Paragon/Renegade system. Rather than [[BlackAndWhiteMorality good and evil]], the meter represents [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVSCynicism idealism and cynicism]]. As [[ZeroPunctuation Yahztee]] put it, Paragon represents [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Captain Picard]] and Renegade represents Film/DirtyHarry. Certain actions and dialogue choices can gain you Paragon points or Renegade points. Depending on where you are, you're given points in either the Charm or Intimidate skills, and your choice towards the end of the game affects what ending you receive.

** [[ZeroPunctuation Besides, you know, morality.]]

** ''KOTOR II'' also features a mild [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]]: If Kreia is with you on a certain level, a beggar approaches you, and asks for a few credits. You may choose to give him a small amount of cash, or threaten him [[hottip:*:It's implied that Kreia's influence is preventing you from just blowing the beggar off]]. A brief dialogue with Kreia about unintended consequences follows; if the player chose to give the beggar money, the player sees the price of his benevolence (the beggar is now a target for a mugging). You still get light side points for giving the beggar. A similar scene, in reverse, plays out if you threaten the beggar; he's frustrated by the way you treated him, and when another beggar talks to him he snaps and attacks the guy.

** ''Franchise/MassEffect'' is unique (so far) among the Bioware games for having a Karma Meter where the meter's opposites do not exclude each other: you can be ''both'' Paragon and Renegade to a separate extent. Individual choices will still either advance your Paragon or Renegade status alone, though[[hottip:*:Except for one of the last choices in the game, where the middle choice advances both. May have something to do with it being the exact same action as the Renegade option, but without the pro-human slant to the motivation.]]. Although "playing both sides" leaves your character weaker overall in the Charm and Intimidate departments than if you'd specialized, the choice is there, unlike the games which effectively penalize you for not picking one side all the way.

** The point of the MassEffect system is to provide what is felt to be a more "realistic" approach to the KarmaMeter - people won't forget about those Batarian [=POWs=] you executed just because you help someone find their missing brother.

* A literal one in ''TenraBanshoZero'': It goes up whenever you do certain things, and goes down only rarely, when you willingly give up your character's Fates. If it goes above {{108}}, you become an Asura.

* ''{{Uplink}}'' has a 'neuromancer' rating, which starts at neutral and ranges from revolutionary (the best) to morally bankrupt (worst), and are analogous to PlayfulHacker and TheCracker, respectfully. Actions that equate to corporate espionage (stealing data, altering someone's educational or government history, and so on) push you towards Hacker, while willfully destructive actions (deleting data, crashing systems, falsely imprisoning someone, etc) will push you towards Cracker. The meter has little actual effect on the game itself, beyond affecting how clients think of you (people interested in data theft won't hire Crackers, while people interested in data destruction won't hire Hackers). There's also one action you can take (stealing the data containing the identities of your fellow Uplink agents and selling it) that will mark you as a Cracker no matter what actions you take thereafter.

* ''RomancingSaGa'' uses KarmaMeter to determine one of the three area before the final dungeon you can access. Being good locks you with the Trial of Elore. Being evil lets you get to hell. And being neutral sends you to a gaint village.

[[caption-width-right:205: So, what will it be? The [[TheMessiah Stairway to Heaven]], or the [[VillainProtagonist Highway to Hell]]?]]

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Paragon and Renegade are the same meter, unlike the previous 2 games.