Barotrauma Karma System Guide
Learn how to enable and configure the Barotrauma karma anti-griefing system on your dedicated server.
The karma system is Barotrauma's built-in anti-griefing tool. Each player has a karma score (0–100, starting at 50). Harmful actions lower it; helpful actions raise it. Players who consistently grief will be automatically kicked or banned.
Enabling Karma
In serversettings.xml, set:
KarmaEnabled="true"
KarmaPreset="Default"⚠️ Important: Stop the server before editing
serversettings.xml— the server overwrites it on shutdown.
Two presets are available:
- Default — lenient, only severe offenses (like triggering a reactor meltdown) result in bans
- Strict — lower thresholds, much less tolerant of griefing
What Lowers Karma
| Action | Notes |
|---|---|
| Shooting/damaging crew members | Most common griefing method |
| Flooding the submarine (opening valves, breaking reactor rods) | |
| Starting fires | |
| Triggering a nuclear reactor meltdown | Largest single penalty |
| Destroying submarine items or hull | |
| Feeding crew members to hostile creatures |
What Raises Karma
| Action | Notes |
|---|---|
| Healing crew members | |
| Repairing hull breaches and flooding | |
| Extinguishing fires | |
| Fixing the reactor | |
| Completing round objectives |
📝 Note: Traitors and players with a Husk Infection gain karma instead of losing it when harming crew — the system recognizes their assigned role.
Penalties
Penalties escalate as karma drops:
| Karma Level | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Below 40 | Restricted job selection |
| Below 20 | Automatic kick |
| Below 10 (repeated) | Automatic temporary ban |
All penalties are removed once karma returns to 50 or above.
Auto-ban duration is set by:
autobantime="60"
maxautobantime="360"(Values in minutes. First offense = autobantime, escalates up to maxautobantime for repeat offenders.)
Karma Immunity for Admins
Admins can be made immune to karma penalties by adding KarmaImmunity to their permissions:
<Client name="AdminName" steamid="76561198000000001"
permissions="ManageRound, ConsoleCommands, KarmaImmunity, ..." />Or use the Admin or God preset which includes immunity by default.
Console Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
togglekarma | Enable or disable karma mid-session |
showkarma | Display all players' current karma values |
setkarma [name] [0-100] | Set a specific player's karma value |
resetkarma [name] | Reset a player's karma to 50 |
togglekarmatestmode | Enable test mode (see below) |
Test Mode
Before enabling karma on a live server, use test mode:
togglekarmatestmodeIn test mode:
- Players are notified in chat whenever their karma changes and why
- Auto-bans are disabled — players won't be banned even if karma hits 0
- Great for calibrating settings and making sure the system behaves as expected
Configuring karmasettings.xml
For advanced configuration, edit Data/karmasettings.xml. This file contains all threshold values and penalty magnitudes for both presets. Stop the server before editing.
Key values you might want to adjust:
- Per-action karma gain/loss amounts
- Kick/ban threshold levels
- Escalation multipliers for repeat offenders
💡 Tip: Enable karma test mode first to observe how players' karma changes before enforcing penalties on your server.
💡 Tip: Need help configuring karma for your server? Join our Discord.
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