Infamy
Infamy is a measure used to see how much of a criminal you are. The higher your Infamy score, the more likely you are to be attacked on sight by law-abiding warriors, bounty hunters, and patrolling guards.
Gaining Infamy
You can accrue Infamy by committing any criminal acts, this could be entering restricted areas, theft, attacking innocents and of course murder. Committing illegal acts and becoming increasingly infamous will turn the Kingdom against you, which will disbar you from entering Kingdom towns and cities, it may also result in npcs and player bounty hunters coming after you.
The amount of Infamy you gain is based on the severity of your acts, if you illegally kill someone who is of equal or higher level than you, you will gain a flat amount without a modifier, however if you kill someone who is lower level and therefore weaker, you will gain Infamy based on the flat amount with a modifier.
If you commit acts as a group, i.e a few people attack and kill one weaker person, then all of you will gain Infamy, potentially at a higher rate considering the nature of the crime.
As an Infamous person, you have to live in the Wildlands, which are areas within the game world that isn't under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom, the laws do not apply. This also means that your fellow denizens of the Wildlands can take advantage of you, if they see you running around with low HP, they can attack you, kill you and take your items without having to worry about any stuffy Kingdom laws.
If you kill someone while in the Wildlands, you will not gain Infamy.
Threshold
The more Infamy you gain the higher you climb the 'Infamy ladder', if you gain enough Infamy to become an Outlaw you've achieved a new base level of Infamy and you cannot go back, you will be permanently branded an Outlaw and will not be able to use Kingdom services.
Losing Infamy
Financial contributions can be made to the Kingdom to lower your Infamy status. Note that this can be done only before reaching Outlaw status.
Benefits vs Risks of Infamy
At launch the benefits of Infamy will be next to none. Being an outlaw in the Wildlands will have some advantages and might give you access to particular areas of the world that would otherwise be unavailable. But in exchange for this you are giving up access to ALL services in the kingdom including Banking, merchants, quests, class trainers, etc. You also will be hunted by Bounty hunters, NPC at launch and player bounty hunters later on.
Notes and references
- Devlog: PVP & Infamy System (https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1277920/view/4743988126466080893)