There's no total karma for a user yet, yes. So the perverse incentive to make number go up at all costs isn't quite as wild as it is in Reddit.

As I wander around Lemmy more I'm also noticing that there's a lot of opportunity for instances to have their own subcultures, which goes against the "It doesn't matter which Lemmy instance you use" advice I've seen in a couple places. It definitely seems prudent to choose an instance that has an admin team and/or a theme you like, because instance-local content is going to be the easiest to find. The instance I chose is decently small and chill, but I've seen some other instances with a big focus on memes. To each their own!