History Main / KarmaMeter

* ''VideoGame/Metro2033'' and its sequel have a Karma system that will affect the ending that you get. This system is influenced by how you interact with [=NPCs=]; for instance, giving a beggar some extra money will net you good karma, while seeking revenge on an [=NPC=] that has wronged you will net you bad karma. Interestingly, the sequel [[spoiler:confirms that the bad karma ending is the canonical one]].

* ''VideoGame/TrueCrimeStreetsOfLA'' has a karma meter that plays on the concept of GoodCopBadCop. Simply arresting random criminals (you may incapacitate them to make it easier) will raise it towards the "Good Cop" side, while shooting them dead leans you towards "Bad Cop"[[note]]Unless they're armed and shooting at you, in which case you get neither good nor bad points[[/note]]. In order for you to advance beyond a certain point, you needed to be at "Good Cop", which meant there was no separate path or ending for playing as a Bad Cop. Not to mention that if you got carried away, it would be almost impossible for you to return to good cop without grinding for arrests in order to score some Good Cop points.

* ''VideoGame/TrueCrimeStreetsOfLA'' has a karma meter that plays on the concept of GoodCopBadCop. Simply arresting random criminals (you may incapacitate them to make it easier) will raise it towards the "Good Cop" side, while shooting them dead leans you towards "Bad Cop"[[note]]Unless they're armed and shooting at you, in which case you get neither good nor bad points[[/note]].
** Somewhat annoyingly, in order for you to advance beyond a certain point, you needed to be at "Good Cop", which meant there was no separate path or ending for playing as a Bad Cop. Not to mention that if you got carried away, it would be almost impossible for you to return to good cop without grinding for arrests in order to score some Good Cop points.

* Nippon Ichi games (''VideoGame/LaPucelleTactics'', ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'', ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave'' and ''VideoGame/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.)

*** 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 FinalDeath, 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."

In some games, it doesn't matter whether you're good or bad but how far you lean to one side is rewarded -- [[NoPointsForNeutrality there are bonuses for being very good or very evil but not moderate]]. This has the annoying side effect of rewarding [[DickDastardlyStopsToCheat if not forcing]] the doing of [[EvilIsPetty completely pointless acts of malice, killing beggars and robbing empty houses]] just to be [[CardCarryingVillain "more evil"]], and punishing an evil player for doing good quests or deeds (depending on how harsh the meter is) and vice versa, stifling any real choice altogether.

May be paired with VideoGameCaringPotential and/or VideoGameCrueltyPotential, making players more inclined to select one side. Compare RelationshipValues and AllianceMeter. If your position on the karma meter is displayed on the player character, it's CharacterModelKarmaMeter. See also CharacterAlignment, SanityMeter and HundredPercentHeroismRating.

** ''VideoGame/OverlordII'' switches over to a Tyranny system with the extremes of "Destruction" and "Domination." Destruction is AxCrazy mass murderer again, but Domination is less NobleDemon and more cruel slavemaster, treating those around you as tools and pawns -- while using mind control to ensure they ''love you for it''. Either route is balanced in an appropriate fashion; Destruction usually gives an large one-time payout, while Domination grants a continuous flow of income and equipment for your Minions. It's the difference between pillaging a town and leaving it a smoking crater, or enslaving all the townsfolk and forcing them to slave for your Evilness for the rest of their lives.

* ''VideoGame/TheWhiteChamber'', an indie adventure game, has an interesting karma meter that isn't actually explicitly noted as such. In the lab, there is a blackboard, with chalk lines on it. The number of lines depend on your character answering three particular questions in certain ways, and your character's actions regarding three other things. A blank blackboard gets you the worst ending, one or two gets you the slightly less bad ending, three or more gets you the "good" ending... Getting the max of six? [[spoiler:You get a damn hilarious bonus ending where everyone lives.]] Sorta...[[spoiler:RocksFallEveryoneDies]].
* In the InteractiveFiction game ''[[https://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=j61yaux1cqbptxyb Metamorphoses]]'', you play as a slave girl who needs to complete a series of tasks to obtain a MacGuffin for her master. Each task has multiple solutions, and the hidden Karma Meter is based on whether you choose to solve them by destroying things or placing yourself in harm's way, or in more creative ways. The Karma Meter doesn't really affect any of the MultipleEndings, but it does noticeably change the tone of these endings, as well as the girl's overall attitude after claiming the ultimate MacGuffin: a girl who solves all problems in non-destructive ways is happy to return home to her master and travels to other places only because of wanderlust, a girl who solves some (but not all) problems with violence and/or self-harm is more conflicted between returning home to her master or flee to a place where she won't be a slave, and a girl who uses destruction all the time hates having to return to her servitude and is all too glad to escape to another world or even commit suicide.
* In ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'', acting heroically will maintain Mickey's modern form, while acting like a Jerk Ass will cause him to revert to his original design... at least, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen that's what would have been]]. Instead, Mickey will attract "Guardians". A sort of FairyCompanion. Mickey will also become more blotty and drippy if you work toward the "evil" side of the Karma Meter, and will drip less if you work toward the "hero" side. The characters walking around also change mannerisms depending on how "Good" you are.

* ''VideoGame/{{Zork}} III'' has a very primitive karma system designed to test your worthiness; your accessible score shows only how many times you've been tested, while a hidden second score records how many times you've passed. A perfect score is required to even ''access'' the last puzzle. This is particularly odd, since the player is only required to display trust, patience, compassion, mercy, etc. in ''this'' part of the dungeon -- in the previous two games following these virtues would be suicide.
* ''VideoGame/KingsQuest2015'' features three possible routes for karma which could be summed up as the virtues of "[[NervesOfSteel bravery]]", "[[NiceGuy compassion]]" and "[[GuileHero wisdom]]". There's usually more than one way to resolve a problem during the game's flashback sequences, leaning towards one of these virtues, and the one Graham chooses most often influences how characters react to him (some characters are more receptive to displays of a particular virtue and others less so), and also influences Gwendolyn, his granddaughter, and how she behaves in her own story. Notably, around the 3rd chapter, the morality ''choices'' become less frequent, as Graham is more set in his ways, disappearing entirely in the 4th chapter, preventing you from making further changes.

-->'''Daniel''': "If it's bad, then.. why did ''you'' do it?"

* 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.

** ''VideoGame/JediAcademy'', 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 DarkSide, it comes down to a single choice -- [[spoiler:whether or not you decide to kill TheScrappy]].

*** The aforementioned gifts actually render the karma meter meaningless, because it actually makes the choice mathematical rather than ethical -- killing the Little Sisters gets you more ADAM ''now'', but freeing them gives better rewards in the long run, in the form of more ADAM, plus plasmids and tonics you either no longer have to buy, or couldn't buy to begin with. Not to mention you can also break the system by [[GoodBadBugs causing a pair of extra Little Sisters to spawn]], allowing you to reap the immediate rewards of harvesting two of them and still go for the good ending.
** In the sequel, ''VideoGame/BioShock2'', your Karma Meter gets a bit of an upgrade. Your ending/alignment is determined by your decisions with the Little Sisters (whether you saved them all, killed them all, or mixed) and with several key {{NPC}}s. Rescued Little Sisters will provide gifts similar to the first game, while only one of the other {{NPC}}s will give you a (comparatively minor) reward for sparing her. [[spoiler:Your karma ends up affecting not only the player character, but Eleanor as well.]] This also affects [[spoiler:Sophia Lamb's fate, as it will determine if Eleanor will rescue her mother or drown her.]]

* ''VideoGame/CryOfFear'' more or less uses this idea, in the same manner as ''Franchise/SilentHill'', to determine which ending you get. There are technically two endings, one good and one bad. In any case, the bad ending has [[spoiler:Simon killing himself]], and just ''how'' bad it gets depends on two choices. If Simon chooses to avoid fighting Carcass after it [[spoiler:apparently influences Sophie into [[DrivenToSuicide committing suicide]], Simon kills Sophie [[IfICantHaveYou so nobody can take her away after he's gone]], and apologizes to his doctor Purnell for being too far gone to be saved.]] If Simon chooses not to trust the Doctor, who has so far done nothing but get in the way, [[spoiler:with the only gun he can find after [[BagOfSpilling losing all his items in a train crash]], Simon kills Doctor Purnell in the ending, [[YouHaveFailedMe realizing that all Purnell did was give him the push he needed to end it all]] but asking whoever finds their corpses to not let Sophie know what happened.]] If Simon [[spoiler:both avoids fighting Carcass ''and'' refuses to trust the Doctor, he kills both Sophie and Purnell, hoping that the scene he leaves behind traumatizes whoever discovers it.]] If, however, Simon [[spoiler:chooses to stay and fight Carcass and trust the Doctor, he staves off of suicide - but he still suffers a horrific hallucination and guns down a pair of police officers during it.]] It crosses over with EarnYourHappyEnding as well, as the "good" choices in both cases make something more difficult about the game. The former is the more immediately-obvious one, as Carcass is [[ThatOneBoss one of the most difficult bosses in the game]], so it's nice for you to be able to skip it. The latter takes a while to fully play out, as the Doctor [[spoiler:shoots Simon in the shoulder after he makes his decision, permanently cutting the player's total health. If you refused to give him the gun, you lose less health from it, and you get to use it after defeating him in a boss fight. If you trust him, though, he cuts your health bar further, and deals greater damage per hit in the later fight, but you get his .357 Magnum revolver after the fight instead of the gun he wanted you to give him, which deals twice the damage.]] There's also a joke ending you can get in a NewGamePlus for finding a package early on and setting it in a mailbox, which locks you into that ending regardless of your choices - [[spoiler:Simon ends up going through the normal finale from the dev's previous release ''VideoGame/AfraidOfMonsters'', and learns that the person behind the wheel of the car that crashed into him in the introduction and set off the entire series of events was none other than ''[=AoM=]'''s protagonist David Leatherhoff - [[{{Retraux}} still appearing]] in his ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' style and speaking in text rather than voice, [[MythologyGag having gotten stoned before heading out to drive]].]]

* VideoGame/Metro2033 and its sequel have a Karma system that will affect the ending that you get. This system is influenced by how you interact with [=NPCs=], for instance giving a beggar some extra money will net you good karma, while seeking revenge on an [=NPC=] that has wronged you will net you bad karma. Interestingly, the sequel [[spoiler:confirms that the bad karma ending is the canonical one.]]

* ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors 5: Empires'' has the ability to use certain cards to do good or evil. Giving money to the people or at least going around listening to their concerns makes your character good, while taxing them excessively makes your character bad and unlocks further bad options like robbing graves. If you are attacked and sufficiently good or evil, peasants will rise up to protect you if you were good to them or help your attacker if you were bad to them. This doesn't affect gameplay much, since the peasants are weak and most of the player's battles will likely be on the offensive where it is the other side's good or evil that matters. 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 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.

* In ''VideoGame/NexusClash'', every character has a Morality score, adjusted in small or large ways by most of the actions they can take. The Elder Power [[KnightTemplar Namm]], the god of justice and morality, maintains the Karma Meter and requires that Angels stay on the side of Good to keep using their powers. His archrival [[ManipulativeBastard Tlacolotl]] ''also'' pays attention to it, requiring that Demons remain Evil to use ''their'' powers. [[spoiler:It's a trap. Namm defines "Good" as whatever will help him win the war no matter who gets hurt, and Tlacolotl is all too willing to egg his enemy on so long as Namm's zealotry produces an unending stream of wounded souls willing to turn demon for vengeance. Player characters have shed a great deal of blood, ink and tears trying - often unsuccessfully - to find definitions of good and evil that don't simply play into the agendas of the aforementioned deities.]]
* {{VideoGame/Warframe}} adds a Karma Meter in the form of the White and Black meters once [[spoiler: the player Operator begins to be personally active during ''The War Within'']]. Rather than good and evil, the meters tend to more fit the distinct natures of Yin and Yang in fitting with the Japanese Space Opera feel of the game. White tends to be more optimistic, empathetic and poetic, but sometimes the choices can be hot headed and poorly thought out or place moral superiority over pragmatism. Black on the other hand is more cynical, realistic and pragmatic, but can also be prone to making power hungry decisions and being merciless when mercy is an option. At the moment though, there's no usage of the karma meter besides changing minor details at the moment of the choices.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Oddworld}}'' series (except for ''Stranger's Wrath''), "Qarma" has only one variable - whether or not you save the NPC Mudokons, Fuzzles, etcetera. Its only plot impact is on the ending, but in the later games, Abe would act and sound depressed if he'd failed to save enough of them.
* Each level in ''VideoGame/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.

* ''VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar'' 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. You certainly can have multiple generals throughout your forces, so there's nothing wrong with having your maximized Dread general sweep aside your opposition while a maximized Chivalry general arrives on his heels to build the new territory up. 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.
* ''VideoGame/KingArthurTheRoleplayingWargame'' has the two axes of Religion (Christian versus Old Faith) and Morality (Rightful versus Tyrant) representing yourself along the alignment compass, which is changed based off the actions that the knight in your stead is performing within it. Naturally, actions reflective of or favoring a particular religion increase it respective. Rightful is increased from merciful or even-handed actions while Tyrant is increased through brutality and under-handedness. The two axes together progressively make more units, spells and bonuses available to the player, so [[NoPointsForNeutrality one should generally avoid taking actions contrary to one end of each axis they're choosing to go down]].

* ''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.
* ''VideoGame/LordsOfTheRealm 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 [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death.]] Do try to go one or the other, because [[NoPointsForNeutrality being neutral gets you nothing.]]

* 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. Not to mention that, ironically, it got there because of your capitalist supremacy.

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' 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 anti-heroic light side character or a dark side character who was closer to being a MagnificentBastard. Or really pretty much anything on the scale. It also features a mild [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]]: On Nar Shaddaa, 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 to 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. Additionally, [[RelationshipValues your crewmembers 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]].
* The ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'' games have Mega Man's armor turning light or dark through certain actions. Kicking pigs and donating to the church were the biggest ones. It doesn't affect the plot, except for some dialogue and weapon opportunities. This was later elaborated on in the ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' games from ''4'' onwards, where Dark Chips ("evil" Battle Chips) darkened [=MegaMan=]'s soul and lowered his HP by one point for every time he used one, in return for making them more readily available the more you use them (at positive karma they only appear when you're really in a bind; at sufficiently low levels, they're available whenever you want) and making them ''incredibly'' powerful, on par with [[LimitBreak Program Advances]].

* ''VideoGame/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...]]
* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' 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 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, as 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 ''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/Fallout3'' 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 (then again, having better equipment means better loot to pilfer off their corpses.) If there's a single subversion in ''Fallout 3'' of this trope, it's the Impartial Mediation Perk that offers +30 Speech...so long as you are Neutral. This is the ''only'' benefit offered in the game for staying Neutral, if you don't count the ability to recruit a few Neutral-only companions and avoiding energy weapon death at the hands of Talon Company Mercs or Regulators. Of course, any given trip through the subways of DC is going to result in some unintentional added saintliness for the simple fact that killing Feral Ghouls, which are everywhere in the metro stations, adds a little bit of positive karma.

** The ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' campaign setting has a variation in the form of Dark Powers Checks: If you perform an evil deed that the GameMaster feels deserving, he rolls a percentage die to judge if it attracts attention from the Dark Powers, and, should the RandomNumberGod dislike you, they start turning you into a [[OneWingedAngel monster]]. Should you perform a deed of ''exceptional'' evil, you may eventually find yourself a [[EvilOverlord darklord]] of your own domain-too bad in both cases it's a [[BlessedWithSuck true curse]]. Also rather unforgiving-although it has reservations for PayEvilUntoEvil, there are just some deeds the baddies don't deserve.

* The Honor Meter of ''[=RDR1=]'' returns in the prequel, ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2''. High Honor brings rewards like increased payments for hunting, cleaner killcams, and discounts at merchants. Low Honor players get more money from robberies and gorier killcams, though even at maximum honor they're quite bloody. And not only that, but the honor system actually plays a role in the story beyond being a gameplay mechanic, [[spoiler:with several late-game cutscenes and conversations, [[AlignmentBasedEndings including both endings, having low and high honor variants]]. Depending on which path you take for the ClimaxBoss fight with the traitorous Micah Bell toward the end of Chapter 6 (either "Go with John Marston" or "Go for the loot"), Micah will kill the low-honor Arthur, while at high honor he simply leaves the wounded Arthur to [[DyingAlone die alone]] from tuberculosis while [[CueTheSun watching the sunrise]], at peace with himself for having helped John and his family secure a better future.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'': In "Power Mad," where Timmy wishes up a challenging virtual reality game in which you can die if you lose your three lives and Chester and A.J. get stuck in it, Timmy sacrifices his own last life to save theirs. The game rewards him for his HeroicSacrifice with enough points for a 1Up.In "Power Mad," where Timmy wishes up a challenging virtual reality game in which you can die if you lose your three lives and Chester and A.J. get stuck in it, Timmy sacrifices his own last life to save theirs. The game rewards him for his HeroicSacrifice with enough points for a 1Up.

* A very primitive one exists in the old sword and sorcery game ''Miracle Warriors'' from the original Sega Master System. In addition to running into monsters in the field, the player could also encounter Merchants, White Mages and Travellers (as well as evil counterparts of the same). The characters were subject to the same "Attack" and "Talk" commands available in the player's menu. Under normal conditions, talking to said characters yielded beneficial results such as the merchant selling you monster items, the White Mage healing the hero and his party, and the travellers offering up advice. Surprisingly these characters were also fountains of exp if the player could kill them, something that starts out easy because said characters will waste turns demanding to know what you're doing. The catch was, the more you did this, the more word of your misdeeds gets around, causing the in game population to question how much you and your crew can be trusted. This results in the good characters attacking you on sight (the White Mage packs a wallop) and the towns actively tossing you out on your axe. While the evil counterparts do become friendlier (the actual monsters could care less either way) their boons are often just less useful versions of the good guys' (with the evil merchant even taking advantage of your inability to enter towns to gouge you for more mundane items). The only way to restore your karma to good is to go on a very long killing spree against the bad characters (and like his good counterpart, the Black Mage packs a wallop, but only offers up a tenth of the exp) and there is an overlap where neither side is willing to help you.

* ''VideoGame/KingsQuest2015'' features three possible routes for karma which could be summed up as the virtues of "[[NervesOfSteel bravery]]", "[[NiceGuy compassion]]" and "[[GuileHero wisdom]]". There's usually more than one way to resolve a problem during the game's flashback sequences, leaning towards one of these virtues, and the one Graham chooses most often influences how characters react to him (some characters are more receptive to displays of a particular virtue and others less so), and also influences Gwendolyn, his granddaughter, and how she behaves in her own story.

* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' has a two-dimensional meter based on the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' [[CharacterAlignment alignment]] concept (the familiar Good-Evil and Lawful-Chaotic scales). The hero begins as a TrueNeutral and adjusts depending on your actions. The most notable feature in Torment was perhaps that dialog options had such diverse elements as "Truth: 'Tell me, or I'll kill you!'" and "Bluff: 'Tell me, or I'll kill you!'" which would affect alignment differently, but [=NPCs=] similarly. The next-most notable feature was how evil you could actually be.

* A literal one in ''TabletopGame/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 OneHundredAndEight, you become an Asura.

** ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' retains the karma meter from ''3'', and it adds a faction system similar to ''2''. The karma meter, however, really doesn't do much; one companion will leave you if it gets too low, and it influences the ending cutscenes, but that's it. The AllianceMeter is far more important. It actually takes a considerable effort (generally through stealing owned items or repeatedly using an owned computer) for your karma to be anything besides "Very Good", as you get loads of good karma for killing feral ghouls and Fiends, [[HardcodedHostility which always attack you]], and Powder Gangers, which you're likely to be on the bad side of.

* Warframe adds a Karma Meter in the form of the White and Black meters once [[spoiler: the player Operator begins to be personally active during ''The War Within'']]. Rather than good and evil, the meters tend to more fit the distinct natures of Yin and Yang in fitting with the Japanese Space Opera feel of the game. White tends to be more optimistic, empathetic and poetic, but sometimes the choices can be hot headed and poorly thought out. Black on the other hand is more cynical, realistic and pragmatic, but can also be prone to making power hungry decisions. At the moment though, there's no usage of the karma meter besides changing minor details at the moment of the choices.

* ''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 [[WebAnimation/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. 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 [[NoPointsForNeutrality effectively penalize you for not picking one side all the way]].

** The game's save files have hidden "Murder Level" (MDR) flags that range from 0 to 16. They indicate the player's progress through a [[KillEmAll Genocide Run]] if one had been started during the saved game. They also indicate story branches for aborted Genocide-type Neutral runs, including [[spoiler:the Near-Genocide a.k.a. Alphys ending which is achieved if less than 40 Hotland encounters are killed before moving on to Mettaton NEO, therefore MDR stops at 14. In this ending, [[{{Adorkable}} Alphys]] picks up the phone right after Sans starts the call. She states that she takes care of what is left of the underground, hates the protagonist yet has been made a better person because of them, still doesn't want to talk about [[GoneHorriblyWrong her past mistakes]], then ends by saying "[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness I should have killed you]] [[TookALevelInBadass when I had the chance!]]"]]