Opinion

Opinion is a factor that allows you to see what a guard or inmate thinks of you. If an inmate has an opinion of above 80, you can recruit them to fight with you by pressing 'Q'. If an inmate or guard has a red or orange name tag, it means they have a low opinion of you. A yellow name tag (black in The Escapists 2) means they are neutral. A green name tag means they have a high opinion of you. The statistic can be seen on another inmate's factor list however, the player doesn't have the factor. Inmates with a extremely low opinion of you may randomly attack you. On Console and Mobile they will attack you much more frequently with special dialogue. Inmates will also sell items at higher prices if their opinion of you is low. For example, an inmate might sell duct tape for $30 when their opinion of you is low, but if it were high, they may sell it for $17 instead.

Inmates will call the guards if they catch you chipping a wall, digging, or anything the guards would punish the player for. If inmates have a high enough opinion of you, they will not call the guards when you are doing something bad. It is worth getting a high opinion of other inmates in prisons such as Jungle Compound and Stalag Flucht, as they will turn you in if they catch you doing something illegal.

It is also worth getting high opinions of guards. For example, if you put bed sheets on your cell bars, and a guard sees them, if their opinion is less than 30, they will remove them. It may also be worth getting a high opinion on the guard who calls out cell searches. A guard is more likely to call your name for shakedown when their opinion of you is below 40.

To increase the dogs' opinion of you in The Escapists 2, you have to successfully do the Kennels Job. By increasing it to 100%, you get the "Man's best friend" Achievement. Note that the opinion of a dog cannot be seen.

Increasing Opinion
A character's opinion of the player can be improved several ways:
 * Giving them certain items or money increases opinion depending on what item/quantity of money given. About ten money yields one OPN point in TE1, one coin is worth one OPN in TE2. Note that items can't be gifted to guards on the PC version.
 * Chatting with guards/other inmates boosts their opinion by one every two quotes they say. The mood of the quote doesn't affect opinion gain. (TE1 only)
 * Completing favours gives a large boost to opinion.
 * Opinion increases by up to 2.5 per day if it is under 50 (TE1 only).

Decreasing Opinion
An NPC's opinion of the player can deteriorate in several ways:
 * Denying a favour. This can be avoided by clicking the "Maybe" button instead of the "No" button. This will save the opinion, and the favour will still be available.
 * Stealing from that inmate's desk while they're watching.
 * Fighting with that inmate or guard. (On Console and Mobile this will instantly drop their opinion into the red unless their opinion is green then it will drop into yellowish-orangish. Because of this, beatdown favours are usually not worth it on those versions).
 * Pushing them off of their chair during mealtime or off of their workout machine during workout (TE1 only, not possible in TE2).
 * Giving them undesirable items such as dead rats and underpants.
 * In Console and Mobile versions of TE1, giving guards money will decrease their opinion of you. Reasons of that are unknown though the guards may think you are trying to bribe or tease them as they may scream "Not enough!". Inmates will like you more if you give them cash.
 * If nothing is done to increase opinion, it will very slowly drop to as low as 49 (TE1 only).

Gifting
To open up the gifting menu, press [interact] near an NPC. This will open their profile and cause them to stand in place, facing you (inmates with low Opinion may attack you, closing the menu). On the top, there will a few tabs. One is the profile tab, which displays stats. Sometimes there will be a green shopping cart or a green exclamation mark (only with inmates). Click on the tab with the present to show the gifting menu. The plus and minus buttons allow you to add or remove money to give, while the item slot is where any item selected will be placed. Pressing "give" gives the character the selected gifts.