Seems like a few want villains to have their 'own' currency: cigarettes, infamy, et al.
Hasn't it occured to anyone that there's such a thing as a bad influence?
I think what will most likely happen in CoV regarding currency will be the simplest solution: continue using influence.
Be it bad or good, influence doesn't care.
instead of experience debt, lets have "Debt to Society".
You dont gain any exp til its paid off, and cannot engage in PvP. Its in the form of community service, x# hours (missions) required (based on level). you go around the city (in the form of "Missions", reporting back to a parole officer) cleaning up the trash bins, removing graphitti, and generally helping beautify the place a bit. It would also serve to insentiveize the criminals, if they were marked in some way so everyone could see that they were on community service, and all those missions were located in Atlas/Galaxy 
I know I would be pissed after one or two of those, really want to get some heroes back too i bet.
Liberty:
proud member of the LEGION, SISTERHOOD
@Doctor Photon
Instead of the hero system, where they awaken in the hospital and exit out, the villians should "awaken" and exit from a Courtroom. Your punishment (i.e. debt) could be considered the fines assessed against you.
Livestock: The most honorable way for a cat to die is by purring so hard that it explodes and literally transfers its warmth and affection into pure light and energy that heals all nearby skin rash sufferers.
WELL...
If you actually read up on how the current hospital system works you'd know that there are nodes placed throughout the city which monitor transmitters that heroes all wear. When their vital signs become unstable, such as when they are when a hero is laying face first on the pavement, they are automatically teleported to the nearest hospital for treatment.
The villain side of this is that they wouldn't want to go to a hospital where heroes go to, where law enforcement would be waiting, or any sort of prison area. An injured villain might find a street clinic instead, preferably one that wouldn't ask questions. Say one of these street docs set up a system that shunted fallen villains into his clinics, perhaps piggybacking the existing hospital nodes. He'd be a very powerful villain in his own right.
I thought the reason all the villians kept getting out of jail was that bail bonds company that I always see the posters for in Perez?
Perhaps your debt could be to one of the larger villainous organizations...
If there's an overlap between COH zones and COV zones, then perhaps the jail should apply to the zones where villains are poking about where they shouldn't be, or are involved in PVP, or whatever. Then they should have a chance or getting sent to the "jail" map instead of where-ever they go normally, like they were a hero dying on a "jail map".
This would have the benefit of not introducing the jail to "normal" COV play on the Island o' Villainy or whatever, so that people who are inexperienced at the game/don't want to deal with this don't get pounced by it.
@Mindshadow
The official website defines influence as this...
"The last reward is Influence. The more a player accomplishes in the City, the more sway he has with various personages in the city."
I think it boils down to how you look at the nature of influence. If you consider influence just public knowledge of your persona (recognition), as an item that is really about fame instead of morality, then I can see how a villain could trade influence to a hero.
I can accept the explanation and wouldn't protest if villains used influence, too. (It will probably be so, since heroes can allegedly turn evil).
However, when I think of influence, I see it as deed-based. I.E. you get influence because you did a good deed, and not because you just got your name on another pair of lips. As an example, I looked at an imaginary baseball player. Suppose he hit the game winning homerun. Then if he enters the bar afterwards, folks may cheer him and buy him a round. He has gained influence. However, if he misses and thus causes his team to lose. Perhaps the bar owner decides to not even let him in the club to begin with.
With this example in mind, it seems unlikely that a hero and villain would gain the same kind of influence for doing vastly different deeds.
Suppose the above ball player was actually two players. Suppose the one that struck out could lend his influence to the hero? Wouldn't that lower the public's estimation of the hero?
I think they should have different "currency," and if your hero turns, his/her influence should be 0 regardless of whether they or going bad-good (assuming this is possible) or good-bad
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I thought the reason all the villians kept getting out of jail was that bail bonds company that I always see the posters for in Perez?
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Same here. I always assumed those signs were a clue to CoV. Figured you would reappear in the Bail Bondsman office. It's something you can have in every zone, and can be pretty non-descript, much like the first floor of the hospitals.
But, looking a Recluse's response, I'm now thinking they haven't decided yet. Interesting.
I'm sure that when CoV comes out it will have it's own set of maps where perhaps heroes have control of the city and the villians are trying to take over, so there could be small 'county' jails everywhere.
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Suppose the above ball player was actually two players. Suppose the one that struck out could lend his influence to the hero? Wouldn't that lower the public's estimation of the hero?
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Unless the hero that struck out had done something good previously, he wouldn't HAVE any influence to lend to someone else.
But this begs the question of how it is that heroes exchange influence anyway. I had always assumed it was sort of a media or public event. It's pretty easy to imagine one hero lending a sort of overt social support to another:
"Statesman says Doctor Why may be one of Paragon City's bravest heroes!" being worth lots of influence, while, "Doctor Why seen in same room as Statesman." being worth much less.
For villians, influence exchange could easily work identically, we just imagine an opposite transaction instead:
"Lord Recluse declares that he would have destroyed Paragon City numerous times if not for Doctor Why's meddling!" or "Lord Recluse seen giving Doctor Why a dirty look."
I'm not sure whether influence (for consistency) or infamy (for evil sound) works better for me.
___
I'm Doctor Why and I approved this message.
Influence could be traded by heroes and villians.
Influence = a persons ability to get what they want simply because they are such and such.
When you give influence to someone, hero or villian, you are saying you would use that amount of your sway to get them what they want.
Hero to hero?
Spiderman asks the fantastic four for a device to attack carnage...expending influence in the process.
villian to hero..
Venom asks spiderman to get the device from the fantastic four.
So, Spiderman uses his influence to help a villian.
Conversely, a Villian could help a hero.... using their influence in the criminal underground to find out information, or provide whatever.
How about just real money? Although it might be confusing for those players in Europe.
Don't mess with Texas!
--moo
the "busting out of jail" idea would be insanely lame especially after your 100th time of doing it.
And after youve got your debt your already pretty pissed no need to add insult to injury.
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villian to hero..
Venom asks spiderman to get the device from the fantastic four.
So, Spiderman uses his influence to help a villian.
Conversely, a Villian could help a hero.... using their influence in the criminal underground to find out information, or provide whatever.
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I think the point of people discussing how Infamy/Influence would not be tradable (ie, a Hero would not be able to provide Influence to a Villain) is more of an out-of-game concept.
I know that personally, I do NOT want to see a Hero and a Villain fighting one another, while six Heroes (who out-of-game, are friends with the person playing the Villain) standing around tossing healing inspirations, damage inspirations, and whatever else to the bad guy. Likewise, I don't want to see a level 50 Hero spending millions of influence on a full set of enhancements for a Villain when that Villain is going to end up fighting against a Hero, too.
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An injured villain might find a street clinic instead, preferably one that wouldn't ask questions. Say one of these street docs set up a system that shunted fallen villains into his clinics, perhaps piggybacking the existing hospital nodes. He'd be a very powerful villain in his own right.
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Heheee, I can see the doc now..half drunk and weaving around the clinic in his stained scrubs.
But if he were TRULY a powerful villian, couldn't ask for a better front. He'd be raking in the dough while doing who knows what to his patients. 
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Heheee, I can see the doc now..half drunk and weaving around the clinic in his stained scrubs.
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... Oh, the possibilities inherent in -that-...
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"Mirror... Mirror!"
"I did all that I could, but when you see what I have to work with..."
"Hehhehhhehhehheh... aheehheeheeheeheeheeh... MwwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhahahahahahahaaaAA!"
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... yeah... yeah, I can see a lot of potential with that as a setup. ^_^ I like it!
--
This has been an obscure ramble of... Ojin!
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If there's an overlap between COH zones and COV zones, then perhaps the jail should apply to the zones where villains are poking about where they shouldn't be, or are involved in PVP, or whatever. Then they should have a chance or getting sent to the "jail" map instead of where-ever they go normally, like they were a hero dying on a "jail map".
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I like this idea. More likely, though, it'd be the Police Station, not the prison. No one goes right to prison, and what self-respecting villian will get dragged around by the feds long enough for proper incarceration? Much easier to escape from a Police Station, too. Plus, prisons are usually in rural, more remote places, of which there really are none CURRENTLY available. PD's are everywhere.
Maybe even, if you get killed by a Hero, or Police Drone, you get sent to Jail, otherwise, somewhere more peaceful. Maybe even the Police would be given AI scripts to actually FIGHT BACK, and could be low level enemies for villians, equivalent to Minions.
Besides, who doesn't want to beat the $#!+ out of some cops...
Just want to say that the Fallen Isles won't have a prison since they're run by Lord Recluse and its full of criminnals. If and when they come near to Paragon City then I'd expect defeated villains to straight to prison and need to pay bail or something.
Jail is wack
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My bet is that Villains won't have Influence, but Infamy as their currency.
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I like it.