TL;DR: Karma works by "tagging" the ship/cmdr for their previous behaviour. Negative karma can be "worked off" by participating in community goals.
******
So I'm a new-ish player (~300 hrs) and, when I post, I usually try to do it in character. But, I've been reading the forums, following the Reddit threads, and listening to various concerns of the C&P/Karma system FD are trying to develop. I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but I love the game, really enjoy the sandbox FD have given to us, and would like to offer my two cents. I personally don't PvP, but enjoy how dangerous open play can feel at times. I also enjoy how the galaxy is a place for the ruthless and peaceful alike. The galaxy is populated with bunnies and wolves, and I wanted a system that respected that.
My concerns for the karma system:
The premise is pretty simple. Whatever behaviours FD is looking at tracking, have those behaviours tagged to the CMDR's ship. CMDR's could get a notification when they acquire karma, but can check their karma from the statistics or reputation panel in the HUD. Karma can track TOS infractions (combat logging is one, right?) as well as in-game choices (e.g. "merchant killer" when you are farming chemical manipulators for Felicity Farseer ;-) ). Community goals would offer an opportunity to remove some negative karma tags and acquire positive ones, but would allow FD to restrict that market so certain infractions have fewer opportunities than other ones.
I think this system would meet all the above concerns.
1) Players armed with useful knowledge.
Karma tags would show up in the contact details for any pilot scanned. Red (negative) tags first, then green (positive). Players would know if they were talking to a merchant killer, or a combat logger, or a hero of the Federation, etc. As you'll see in the next section, they might also get information about the other cmdr's ship that could help them decide whether to engage in dialogue, prepare for combat, or escape the encounter.
2) The system should be extensible.
The tagging system allows for FD to be creative in their approach, and implement the system piecemeal. Tags for various behaviours can be introduced only when FD feels they are ready. This allows FD to introduce karma features with project management concerns already accounted for by the system. The systems itself would also be extensible in terms of new features. One compelling idea is that the contact details could include general information about a ship's outfitting (i.e. ship scanning would tell you a bit about the ship itself). Ships with hardpoint emplacements could acquire the tag "armed" for instance. Or, vice versa, ships without hardpoint emplacements could acquire the tag "unarmed". Tags could display themselves in yellow in the contact details pane. Tracking these elements would naturally lead to the following.
3) Consequences should be logical and understandable.
Firing on ships of a particular power should accumulate negative karma from that power. Firing on unarmed ships should accumulate persistent karma. Stations should be reluctant to allow ships from rival powers to land. A tag system has the advantage of supporting the BGS in making logical decisions through a series of on/off switches. Station security scans your ship. Any tags for a rival power? Docking privileges revoked. Any persistent negative karma tags? They open fire (security, not the station itself). Want to go where you aren't wanted? Work on that stealth build -
which flows into...
4) Allows players to play their own way.
The galaxy hosts psychos, pirates, and pacifists alike. Some players are collectors, some crave immersion, and some look to exploit systems to their breaking point. A tagging system for karma would support all those playstyles in one degree or another. Some persistent karma could be difficult to acquire, so players would have to work if they wanted to "collect them all." Roleplaying gamers would interact with a galaxy where choices have consequences. System-breaking players would have a whole new feature to explore, and might enjoy the challenge of collecting nonsense tag combinations (e.g. "Hero of the Empire" and "Enemy of the Empire). Persistent karma tags would still mostly reflect TOS violations, which FD could regulate via...
5) Correcting karma
No system is infallible, so a robust system would allow both players and FD to make choices that allow cmdrs to correct the karma tags they carry. Community Goals are already public events that support persistent changes in the BGS, and they have a "public works" feel to them. Allow participation in these events to also support cmdrs who have made the choices to remove any negative karma they have acquired. Common community goal rewards (beyond the credits) could include removing negative superpower karma. Less common rewards could include removing "criminal" types of karma (e.g. the "Pirate" or "Slaver" tags). The least common rewards could remove TOS violations. FD could regulate the market for karma correction not just through the frequency of the various rewards, but also through levels of participation. This could include needing to participate at the 75% contribution level, or having to sacrifice the community goal credit reward. Whatever the means, community goal participation would reflect a "good works" approach to karma correction, and I believe that aspect alone makes it worth consideration.
******
Long wall of text, sorry about that. I would normally try to be much briefer or more entertaining, but this was just one of those ideas that got stuck in my head and I kept coming back to. The more I thought about it, the better the idea got. I believe there's something in here for everyone and, while it certainly doesn't address every issue that's come up in the discussion, it provides an adaptable and modular framework that would make FD's job integrating it much easier. It's easy to build on, supports logical consequences, fosters an aware player base, has robust correction, and caters to multiple playstyles.
I got excited by this idea when I started looking at it. What do other players think?
******
So I'm a new-ish player (~300 hrs) and, when I post, I usually try to do it in character. But, I've been reading the forums, following the Reddit threads, and listening to various concerns of the C&P/Karma system FD are trying to develop. I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but I love the game, really enjoy the sandbox FD have given to us, and would like to offer my two cents. I personally don't PvP, but enjoy how dangerous open play can feel at times. I also enjoy how the galaxy is a place for the ruthless and peaceful alike. The galaxy is populated with bunnies and wolves, and I wanted a system that respected that.
My concerns for the karma system:
- Players should be armed with useful knowledge about other commanders so they know what they are getting into.
- The system should be extensible for FD.
- Consequences of karma should be logical and understandable.
- Players should be allowed to "play their own way" within reasonable expectations.
- Karma should be "correctable" - namely, you should be able to work it off.
The premise is pretty simple. Whatever behaviours FD is looking at tracking, have those behaviours tagged to the CMDR's ship. CMDR's could get a notification when they acquire karma, but can check their karma from the statistics or reputation panel in the HUD. Karma can track TOS infractions (combat logging is one, right?) as well as in-game choices (e.g. "merchant killer" when you are farming chemical manipulators for Felicity Farseer ;-) ). Community goals would offer an opportunity to remove some negative karma tags and acquire positive ones, but would allow FD to restrict that market so certain infractions have fewer opportunities than other ones.
I think this system would meet all the above concerns.
1) Players armed with useful knowledge.
Karma tags would show up in the contact details for any pilot scanned. Red (negative) tags first, then green (positive). Players would know if they were talking to a merchant killer, or a combat logger, or a hero of the Federation, etc. As you'll see in the next section, they might also get information about the other cmdr's ship that could help them decide whether to engage in dialogue, prepare for combat, or escape the encounter.
2) The system should be extensible.
The tagging system allows for FD to be creative in their approach, and implement the system piecemeal. Tags for various behaviours can be introduced only when FD feels they are ready. This allows FD to introduce karma features with project management concerns already accounted for by the system. The systems itself would also be extensible in terms of new features. One compelling idea is that the contact details could include general information about a ship's outfitting (i.e. ship scanning would tell you a bit about the ship itself). Ships with hardpoint emplacements could acquire the tag "armed" for instance. Or, vice versa, ships without hardpoint emplacements could acquire the tag "unarmed". Tags could display themselves in yellow in the contact details pane. Tracking these elements would naturally lead to the following.
3) Consequences should be logical and understandable.
Firing on ships of a particular power should accumulate negative karma from that power. Firing on unarmed ships should accumulate persistent karma. Stations should be reluctant to allow ships from rival powers to land. A tag system has the advantage of supporting the BGS in making logical decisions through a series of on/off switches. Station security scans your ship. Any tags for a rival power? Docking privileges revoked. Any persistent negative karma tags? They open fire (security, not the station itself). Want to go where you aren't wanted? Work on that stealth build -
which flows into...
4) Allows players to play their own way.
The galaxy hosts psychos, pirates, and pacifists alike. Some players are collectors, some crave immersion, and some look to exploit systems to their breaking point. A tagging system for karma would support all those playstyles in one degree or another. Some persistent karma could be difficult to acquire, so players would have to work if they wanted to "collect them all." Roleplaying gamers would interact with a galaxy where choices have consequences. System-breaking players would have a whole new feature to explore, and might enjoy the challenge of collecting nonsense tag combinations (e.g. "Hero of the Empire" and "Enemy of the Empire). Persistent karma tags would still mostly reflect TOS violations, which FD could regulate via...
5) Correcting karma
No system is infallible, so a robust system would allow both players and FD to make choices that allow cmdrs to correct the karma tags they carry. Community Goals are already public events that support persistent changes in the BGS, and they have a "public works" feel to them. Allow participation in these events to also support cmdrs who have made the choices to remove any negative karma they have acquired. Common community goal rewards (beyond the credits) could include removing negative superpower karma. Less common rewards could include removing "criminal" types of karma (e.g. the "Pirate" or "Slaver" tags). The least common rewards could remove TOS violations. FD could regulate the market for karma correction not just through the frequency of the various rewards, but also through levels of participation. This could include needing to participate at the 75% contribution level, or having to sacrifice the community goal credit reward. Whatever the means, community goal participation would reflect a "good works" approach to karma correction, and I believe that aspect alone makes it worth consideration.
******
Long wall of text, sorry about that. I would normally try to be much briefer or more entertaining, but this was just one of those ideas that got stuck in my head and I kept coming back to. The more I thought about it, the better the idea got. I believe there's something in here for everyone and, while it certainly doesn't address every issue that's come up in the discussion, it provides an adaptable and modular framework that would make FD's job integrating it much easier. It's easy to build on, supports logical consequences, fosters an aware player base, has robust correction, and caters to multiple playstyles.
I got excited by this idea when I started looking at it. What do other players think?