Let's face it, Karma is real no matter how you believe. You know that everytime you do something bad to someone it comes around and bites you in the bottom. Why shouldn't the sims be any different? I'd love to see a Karma system added to the sims. To explain how it would work on the surface:
Sim Donalds is walking across the street and notices an elderly sim trying to walk across the street. He rushes to her and does the offer interaction, she accepts and he helps her cross the road safely. Later that day Sim Donalds is now combing the beach for a perfect shell, a little child sim sees him doing this and the karma system registers he did something nice for someone earlier and the ai tells the child to help Sim Donalds find a perfect shell or give him one she had just found. This adds a +moodlet that lasts the rest of the night because Sim Donalds has the Good trait.

How it works underneath:
Sim Donalds did a good interaction that was accepted, a hidden number then adds up an extra 2 points. This number is examined at random by the AI and that is when a good thing equal to the hidden number happens to the sim. While the number is not always evaluated it is added and subtracted to based on "good" or "bad" interactions.

Whether or not the moodlet is recieved as good or bad is based on the traits of that sim. Using the above example, lets say that Sim Donalds was actually evil and just happen to do one good thing. Him receiving help or even a shell from the little child sim actually becomes -moodlet instead of the +moodlet.

Maybe go as far as to add an option to turn Karma off for those who don't want to deal with the consequences of their actions on this level.

I actully like this idea to take a very small role in the game. Not so much so big like getting a promotion but possibly finding a sea shell or big would be ur favorite store is having a discont or something.

LOVE this idea.

I think the idea would need to be tweaked a little bit, but you've certainly got it thought out quite well!

I love the karma system. It's more like reputation system in TS2. If you always kind with other sims, you will gain good reputation, vice versa. I don't know if EA will implement the feature in TS3 base game, if not, I think they will add in the future expansion pack.

I also hear, it's official, that being evil sims and do some criminal things will get you to jail. A real jail, and staying there for couple of days.

I think Apartment Life kinda addressed that with the reputation--if you were mean to someone then other people were more likely to be mean to you. I have a feeling that reputation will be one of the features that EA will eventually include in Sims 3 through an expansion pack, but I hope it's more detailed. Like, if you are mean to a sim, that sim's best friend will hate you but that sim's enemy will respect you more, or something. As far as actions go, it would be kinda hard to figure out which actions are "good" or "bad" beyond socials, but maybe helping that charity that was mentioned would be a good example of something "good".

i don't really believe in karma, but the reputation thing sounds cool. i don't have Apartment life and now i wish i did :(

Reputation would actually work in Sims 3. It never did much for me in 2 since all my sims were agoraphobic. I hope they included it.

^ Reputation was the phailiest thing EA has ever introduced in a game ever.
Useless, annoying and impossible to make it go up unless you become BFF's with every frickin' sim in the town.
...BFF's were the second most phaily thing.

really? i enjoyed the BFF's because it made it easier to keep friends. Now, I agree with you about the reputation system. I was not about to go to community lots constantly and have to have them load every time.

This idea is really good!

Never got AL, but BBFs was really good for relationships cause "Tell Inside Joke" was pretty much the best interactiion ever. It gave so much relationship ++

They've already said they don't want to make value judgements about behaviour, but to just let each behaviour stand on its own merits rather than let some "cosmic force" tell us which is good behaviour and which is bad. I have nothing against doing a bad thing equals a bad consequence, but I would prefer the consequence to relate directly to the thing you did, for example, you steal money from work, you get fired from work if it's discovered, rather than having some invisible force reward you in ways that aren't a direct result of the initial action.

Having karma is the programmers enforcing on us what "good" behaviour is and what "bad" behaviour is and imposing their value judgements on us, and in a subtle way, has an implication on the way we should play the game. Might be fine in games like Fable, but I don't want it in The Sims.

Besides, I don't believe in karma, although I do believe in taking responsiblity for your choices and the effect they have on others.

i think you watch too much 'my name is earl'.

Just a little close-minded. I don't believe in karma, personally. I have too much experience with people who never get what they have coming to them, and never have. You have to admit that there are people who barely deserve to breathe the same air as the rest of humanity, and still get everything handed to them on a silver platter.

Honestly, I think including something like that in the came would be limiting for people that wanted to have "alternative" methods of gameplay, and would make having the 'evil' or 'mean-spirited' traits moot considering that they would become unusable should you want to use them on a Sim that gets away with having these traits. Most of the traits that make the Sims more 'human' would become very difficult to use enjoyably should some sort of 'karma' system be in place.

Hmmm... I don't know so much about the Karma idea but I love the reputation thing. I hope they bring that back and keep adding onto it.

Just a note, the point of Karma is to be good in this life so you can live a btter life in the next (when you get rencarinated) so it actaully wouldn't make sense to feature it at ALL. I would like to see the return of reputation though. Mabye something sorta like Karma, but with a more approprite name.

A lot of people confusing between "karma" and "reward/punishment".

Karma is more like cause and consequences. If you study hard, the consequences is you get a good grade. If you good with your wife, your wife will even love you. If you post a evil thread here, a lot of people angry with you. It's the cause and consequences.

So, what happen to you today, or fate/condition, you can actually see what you have done in the past that lead to your today condition. What happen in the future is depend on what you do now.

Actually TS3 it self is already using karma system. Like your sims will get fired if he do not go to work for 3 times. Or your child have A+ grade because he always do his homework and never miiss go to school everyday.

I don't really believe in karma, in the sense that if you help an old lady cross the street you'll be more likely to win the lottery, but I would love a deeper, more complex system of cause and effect in the Sims 3. For instance if your sim loses their job, it should be hard to get the exact same job back again, maybe your sim would be twice as likely to get fired in a job they've been previously fired from.

This makes complete sense, I like it. It was a bit moronic to have your sims be fired one day but get back the same job and get a promotion as soon as they reach home at the end of the first day.