“What if the mistake which you've made ages before, when you were young, foolish, and inexperienced with the game, ends up slowing down all of your progress and frustrating you when you've become more comfortable”

That’s almost impossible with this game. You know you are going to die and get back as something else. As in my example, you are going to get back to one of your earlier life forms at some point. So in the future you will always have the ability to fix previous mistakes.

This is also why I’m not very comfortable with Kroc’s Spore comparison. In Spore there is a linear evolution: you always go from the lowest/simplest form to a more advanced form. In Opwika this wouldn’t be the case. Losing Karma will actively make you fall down to a less superior state.