 The Karma system in the game came about as a result of the team wanting to include the " judicious use of power " within the game . Fox commented that they wanted to lead the player along a path of doing the harder tasks believing that these actions were the right things to do . However , without the contrast of " evil " tasks that were simpler to complete , there would be no means of motivating the player to be a " selfless hero " . The team wanted to encourage players to think about the results of not only large decisions — Karma moments in the game where Cole thinks of which option to select — but also every moment @-@ to @-@ moment action , such as considering the presence of civilians in the area around a battle . They arranged for the first major use of Cole 's powers to turn the city 's inhabitants against him , to encourage players to consider both sides . In this mission , Cole is given the option to keep a drop @-@ supply of food for himself or to give it to the people ; they found that most players would give it to the people , but very shortly after this event , the population turns against Cole due to evidence linking him to the explosion , forcing the player to run or to attack them . Fox compared the Karma dichotomy to the differences in styles of Batman versus the Punisher ; the former using precision attacks to avoid harming innocents while the latter would hurt anything in his path to complete his goal . To that end , they designed the powers in the game to reflect this nature ; powers acquired with Good Karma would be more precise while Evil Karma powers were more destructive . 
