Do we 'request' the karma?

[zztri]

I have an older player who had been playing the game for long but stopped about 7-8 years ago.

Today, while chatting about an unrelated topic he asked me if I had karma yet and I said I didn't request a review. He said; "Pfft, they're always reviewing you. If you deserve some, you get some. Only if you believe you're overlooked you mail the staff."

Now I'm confused. In the helpfiles it says the staff members may add/dock individual karma for exceptional RP but you're ought to pass a review. Searching the forum reveals... hundreds of unrelated posts.

Could someone clarify? I was planning to ask for a review when/if (immortality should be possible somehow) my first character dies to see what's going on, but I don't think I'm overlooked at all, just new. Shouldn't I waste my time on a request?

[Bushranger]

Sometimes staff will add karma to you if they see you do some awesome things with your characters. This was more prevalent in the past before they standardized karma as you can now read in help karma. It took me a few years to get any karma and it was just added by staff.

You can also request a Karma Review and I think planning to ask for a review after your first character dies is a great plan. Staff can sometimes provide you with tips and tell you what things you're doing well. I have also put in a Karma Review after playing some particularly noteworthy or complicated characters.

All in all I don't think you're being overlooked either Zztri

Additionally you can also make a special request to play a character with up to three Karma even if you don't have any!

[whitt]

Could someone clarify? I was planning to ask for a review when/if (immortality should be possible somehow) my first character dies to see what's going on, but I don't think I'm overlooked at all, just new. Shouldn't I waste my time on a request?

You can request a karma review every six months.  It's not a waste of time and is the only sure way to have the staff check your play for karma award.

[Reiloth]

Definitely don't just assume Staff is watching you and is going to award you Karma somehow out of the blue. I can tell you before there was Karma Review, and you sort of -had- to do that or be in a high visibility role, it took me maybe 2-3 years to get my first point of karma. Sanvean noted 'Long Overdue'.

My best advice is request karma when you are really in the groove with a PC -- When you log in and it really just feels natural, and you are doing thinks/feels and just getting into the PC, the PC is involved in some plots, and you think Staff might benefit from watching you. I don't think putting in a karma review every 6 months will benefit, unless you have something to show for it.

[LauraMars]

Staff used to award karma without any kind of process, which resulted in uneven distribution. Some players got a lot more karma a lot more quickly than others.

Now, they have a whole system for awarding karma, how often they can do it, and what the points actually mean, but to really keep accumulating it at a steady pace you need to request a karma review every six months. The onus is more on the player to establish that they're trying to get karma (otherwise, staff may not know unless you're highly visible in your roles), but it is also much more fair.

I'd recommend checking out these helpfiles:

http://armageddon.org/help/view/Karma
http://armageddon.org/help/view/Request%20Tool

[seidhr]

I would advise waiting until you have played for a significant number of played hours (read as:  days - not necessarily all on the same PC) before requesting a karma review.  A lot of players die quickly on the first several characters.  If you request a karma review after your first character, a 10-hour ranger, died, I can guarantee you that no karma would be granted.

As a point of reference, the first karma point given is almost always for "longevity" which (in a very simplified nutshell) is for having stuck around the game long enough to know basic societal norms and that sort of thing.  It means that you know that elves aren't Legolas, that magick is not Harry Potter, that templars are scary dudes and dudettes, and so on down the checklist.

It takes time.  This is almost never given before six months real time since account inception.

Other good habits to get into are sending in a character report once a month so we know what your PC's up to, or ad-hoc if your character is involved in something that you think we ought to know about.  This increases our visibility into your PC, which is a good thing.  No one ever got karma for flying under the radar.

As has been previously noted by players, there is a formalized system in place now, for how karma can be granted.  You can see that in the links LauraMars posted or checking out "help karma" in game.

[WarriorPoet]

What if there is no more room for more karma but I request anyway? Does staff buy me a car or a nice flower arrangement? Sausage platter?

Ooooooooh!

[Synthesis]

I can't help but read this thread title in Starfire's voice from the Teen Titans Go! cartoon.

[zztri]

I can't help but read this thread title in Starfire's voice from the Teen Titans Go! cartoon.

My older daughter calls me 'Starfire'... Point on, I confess.

[650Booger]

part of me worries that karma will be diluted now that the system for gaining it is more transparent.  in other words, we'll start seeing fewer and fewer mundanes.

[Raptor_Dan]

part of me worries ... we'll start seeing fewer and fewer mundanes.

Who doesn't love playing mundanes for fun? Listen, High Karma players, when your favorite special flavor of guild/subguild dies, make two or three throwaways non-special-app chars before your next one, with the expectation you'll DIE before you can get a special approved, to play mundanes that seem like FUN instead of a burden due to fear of death. Problem solved.

Edited to add: Do we still have that review flag option? Or was it a rolpeplay flag? Some flag you could turn on that told staff, hey, check me out, I'm novel, watch me?

Re-edited to add important qualifiers.

[Akaramu]

part of me worries ... we'll start seeing fewer and fewer mundanes.

Who doesn't love playing mundanes for fun? Listen, High Karma players, when your favorite special flavor of guild/subguild dies, make two or three throwaways chars before your next one, with the expectation you'll before you can get a special approved, to play mundanes that seem like FUN instead of a burden due to fear of death. Problem solved.

High karma players can create karma throwaways without special app.