Karma System
Technical documentation of the Renegados points system
Overview
Karma is a scoring system that reflects the quality and consistency of your participation in Renegados. Unlike other systems, we implement mechanisms to prevent manipulation, ensuring that karma reflects real contribution.
Key features:
- Diminishing returns on viral posts
- Progressive reduction of old content to incentivize continuous activity
- 500 karma limit per individual post
- Recent activity bonus to reward consistent participation
System Mechanics
Posts
- Base karma per upvote: 10 points
- Diminishing returns: After 10 votes, logarithmic factor log(n+1)/log(11) is applied. This prevents a single viral post from generating disproportionate karma, incentivizing multiple quality posts. For example, 100 votes generate ~233 karma (not 1000), and 1000 votes generate ~289 karma (not 10,000).
- Bonus for received comments: 1 point per comment (max 25)
- Maximum limit per post: 500 karma
- Posts cannot receive negative votes
Comments
- Upvote: 5 base points
- Downvote: -1 point (minimum 0 total karma per comment). Downvotes have less impact to protect against downvote brigading.
- Diminishing returns: Same as posts, after 10 votes
- Bonus for received replies: 1 point per reply (max 12). Incentivizes comments that generate constructive conversation.
Activity Bonus (last 30 days)
Consistent participation is rewarded with additional points to incentivize users who contribute regularly, not just those with one-time successes.
- Posts: 3 points each
- Comments: 1 point each
- Votes cast: 0.1 points each (voting also helps curate content)
- Maximum limit: 50 points
- Example: 5 posts + 20 comments + 100 votes in the month = 45 bonus points.
Age Decay
Karma from old content decreases progressively to incentivize continuous participation and prevent inactive users from maintaining high karma indefinitely. The system applies these multipliers based on content age:
| < 1 month: 100% |
| 1-3 months: 95% |
| 3-6 months: 90% |
| 6-12 months: 80% |
| 1-2 years: 70% |
| > 2 years: 50% |
A post from 18 months ago that generated 100 points now contributes 70 points to your total karma. New votes received will also be calculated with this multiplier.
Levels and Multipliers
Upon reaching certain karma thresholds, your level increases. When you vote on other users' content, your level grants a small multiplier that slightly increases the karma they receive:
| Level | Required Karma | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| Novice | 0 | 1.0x |
| Apprentice | 200 | 1.0x |
| Contributor | 1,000 | 1.0x |
| Expert | 4,000 | 1.0x |
| Mentor | 16,000 | 1.05x |
| Sage | 40,000 | 1.10x |
| Legend | 100,000 | 1.15x |
Practical Examples
Example 1: Viral Post
System without diminishing returns: 1000 votes × 10 = 10,000 karma
Current system: 1000 votes = ~289 karma + bonuses
Incentivizes creating multiple quality posts instead of chasing virality
Example 2: Age Decay
A post with 20 upvotes (200 base karma):
Recent content (< 2 weeks): 200 karma (100%)
Old content (> 3 months): 100 karma (50%)
The system incentivizes creating new content constantly
Example 3: Deleted Content
A post receives 10 community reports and is deleted by moderators
Author loses all karma earned from that post (~100-200 karma)
Also receives a strike. 3 strikes = temporary suspension
The system heavily penalizes content that violates rules
Progression Projections
Estimates based on different monthly activity levels:
Casual User
2 posts, 15 comments, 50 votes/month
~450 karma/month
Legend (100,000) in ~18.5 years
Active User
10 posts, 50 comments, 200 votes/month
~3,300 karma/month
Legend (100,000) in ~2.5 years
Power User
30 posts, 150 comments, 500 votes/month
~12,500 karma/month
Legend (100,000) in ~8 months
Troll/Spam User
Posts 20 contents/month, but 15 are deleted due to reports
Loses ~1,500-2,000 karma/month + 15 strikes
Permanent suspension after 3 strikes
Figures assume average content quality (8-10 votes per post, 3-5 per comment). Comments have a minimum of 0 karma regardless of negative votes.
Technical Details
Karma por Publicación:
karma_post = min(500, (diminishing_returns(upvotes) × time_mult + comment_bonus)) × age_decay
Karma por Comentario:
karma_comment = max(0, (diminishing_returns(upvotes - downvotes) × time_mult + reply_bonus) × age_decay)
Karma Total:
karma_total = Σ karma_posts + Σ karma_comments + activity_bonus
Función de Rendimientos Decrecientes:
diminishing_returns(n) = n ≤ 10 ? n × base : base × 10 × log(n+1)/log(11)
Multiplicador Temporal:
time_multiplier = 1.0 (currently no temporal effect)
Bonificación de Actividad:
activity_bonus = min(50, posts×3 + comments×1 + votes×0.1)
Calculations are performed in order: diminishing returns → time multiplier → bonus → cap → age decay