so I have played and played and played through new vegas. everytime I look at my karma, it has always been good. i have not looked alot but I always end up MESSIAH.

I don't kill non hostile characters but I do steal. ALOT. but for some reason, that seemed to even out with my other deeds.

so I hit level 8 (doing GRA runthrough) and saw that I am a very evil betrayer. I just saved Goodsprings! maybe every run through I have evil karma early on.

also, do you only get good karma for sneak kills of fiends? or any kill?

The wiki is your friend.............

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Karma_(Fallout%3A_New_Vegas)

already read the wiki. The basic wiki info does not help. I read the talk page and it did not confirm that non sneak kills work. Someone asked and was was never answered I just killed 4 fiends and saw no karma message. Also, I know stealing gives bad karma but why does this playthrougj seem different in karma? By level 10 I am usually super good even as thief.

I am not playing the game significantly differently from before, yet my karma seems different.

I have noticed that sometimes I don't get good Karma for killing Fiends as well. I "think" you need to do it in sneak mode or at least kill them before they see you. That's odd, maybe your new game was started with a patch that made karma different? Probly not, but just a thought. I really don't steal anything so I can't help you with that.