Kjun’s Letter – January 23rd, 2026

Hello,

I’m writing this in a bit of a hurry today because I really want to share a video showing how hard the inZOI team has been working. And I’d also like to discuss one thing we’re currently working on.

As we build the new Reputation system, we’d like to share in advance how we’re revising the existing Karma system. Back in October, many of you felt disappointed when Karma was hidden due to how difficult it was to organize and present clearly. We’ve collected feedback again, and we’d like to improve it in a clearer, better direction.

Unlike Reputation, Karma is a value that quietly accumulates behind the scenes—separate from visible public evaluation. It’s designed so the overall direction of your actions over time can function like “luck” during play. We want to express that feeling with the concept: “Instead of picking up luck, you pick up karma.”

The core of Karma is not to forcibly change outcomes, but to slightly twist the results of certain actions and choices. In particular, we’re designing it so Karma can gently influence areas where Reputation is hard to apply—events that normally feel like coincidence or probability. That means even in the same situation, with the same result check, the kind of life you’ve lived could very rarely create a “miracle” reversal.

For example, if you’ve built up enough “good Karma”, even if you accidentally enter shark-infested waters and receive a “death” outcome, there could be an extremely small chance for that result to flip and you survive. A pregnancy attempt judged as a “failure” might unexpectedly succeed. Even a serious accident that results in a “death” outcome could, on rare occasions, turn into survival. Beyond major events, good Karma would also show up in everyday life: slightly more customers visiting your business, negative feedback nudging subtly in a better direction, a higher chance of good dreams, and tiny advantages in things like sales rating, gathering, fishing, romance success rates, and more.

On the other hand, if “bad Karma” accumulates, the same structure works against you. Even if you receive a “survival” result in shark-infested waters, there could be an extremely small chance it flips to death. A pregnancy “success” could turn into failure. In daily life, you might see slightly fewer customers, good feedback tilting subtly negative, a higher chance of nightmares, and small disadvantages in sales rating, gathering, fishing, romance success rates, and so on. We’re also considering situations where, even with high skill, you may very occasionally get a lower-grade result.

Karma will not always move in the same way as Reputation. Most of the time they’ll likely align—but what we care about most is the moment they separate. For instance, refusing to give someone an autograph might lower Reputation while leaving Karma unchanged. Anonymous donations might not affect Reputation at all, but could increase Karma. Also, if a major one-time event happens—such as Karma actually flipping fate in death or pregnancy—then Karma itself may shift afterward, leaving behind a meaning like: “You were spared once—so live better from here on.” Meanwhile, the smaller everyday effects (business, dreams, sales, gathering, etc.) are planned to reflect Karma’s direction in a gentle way, rather than directly changing the Karma value itself.

All probabilities, numbers, and conditions are still in the tuning phase—this is only a direction-sharing step. But because this system depends heavily on player experience and fairness, we want to hear your concerns early, and also collect ideas like “this should be reflected in Karma,” so we can incorporate them into the design as soon as possible. Please feel free to share feedback anytime.

Your feedback is truly important to this design. If you have any concerns or hopes for where it should go, please let us know.

Have a great weekend! Thank you.

– Hyungjun ‘Kjun’ Kim on the InZOI Official Discord