Reputation

Reputation is the opinion of a certain public toward a person or a group of people. There are tons of factions, big and small, within the wasteland. Your reputation with factions will be tracked, and you will be given access to new areas. As you perform tasks for a group, you gain fame. If you perform tasks against that group, you gain infamy. Reputation is not black and white, however. You can acquire special titles, like pacifist or desperado. In the end, the actual benefits and drawbacks really depend on the group themselves. You may receive discounts from merchants, provoke attacks from hired thugs, or simply be treated differently.

Faction members can be killed with no loss of reputation, as long as its a successful sneak attack and you manage to get away with nobody suspecting you. If faction members see you putting on clothes of their faction, or walk into or near their holdout with enemy faction clothing, they'll become hostile.

Title
If you perform enough tasks for a faction, you may acquire a special title, which has its own benefits and penalties. For example, if you perform enough missions for a crime family, you can become a Made Man of that family. You wouldn't be allowed near any other crime families' comphounds and some townsfolk might be afraid of you, even if you have very good karma.

Karma
The nuclear wasteland has an abstract system of morals, and performing certain actions can raise and lower a person's karma. Karma is a numerical value that shows just how good, bad, or neutral someone is. The karma value also shows how renown you are throughout the entire wasteland..