When I first made my way South of Primm, I killed two or three feral ghouls around the Nevada Highway Patrol station with no messages other than the XP reward. Tonight I was walking back up to Primm and right around the same area I killed one ghoul, then another one comes out of nowhere from behind a rock. I got a lucky and took its head off with one shot and I get the message that I have gained karma.

I quick saved, and used the console command "player.getav karma" to check my karma and it was exactly zero. I loaded a save from before this moment, used the console command again, and my karma was -100. I resume the game and while exploring the area just Southwest of Primm I killed another feral ghoul wandering out in the open, and once again I get the message that I gained karma. The console command showed that my karma was now at 100, so killing these Feral Ghouls is giving me +100 karma. What is going on? Is this supposed to be happening?

Well, im on the ps3, but some ghouls that i kill give me good karma.... maybe it is ridding the world of their evil.... :unsure:

I noticed that as well and thought it was kind of weird. I am playing a goodie 2 shoes so the positive kharm is a bonus but i can see how if you playing an evil bastard it could get annoying. I mean i can see the point you spend all day kicking puppies and pushing old ladies over, pop one ghoul and you have undone all your nefarious deeds. I to do wonder as to why that is. Could the karma boost be determined by your alingment so if your an evil bastard you get bad karma? We shall have to wait and see if an evil bastard will answer this for us.

Asai

I've noticed this too, but I haven't encountered nearly as many ghouls as you have. In about 10 hours of playing I've only seen 2 feral ghouls, so I never really thought much of it.

I've just been killing ghouls at the rocket factory and I can confirm that some do give positive karma. I am - or at least was - neutral.

same here dude im on ps3 & i get good karma

What's the point of karma in NV? Different dialogue? Nope. NPC disposition? Nope. Character trait changes? Nope. Just roll with it and know that your getting positive karma for ridding the NV world of ugly bastards.

I'm only at level 7 and I've already seen half-a-dozen Reavers! (Needless to say, I turned around and went the other way!)