Oops, turns out I'm a criminal

[Krystalfoxfire]

So after a day or two of exploring the area I've settled in, I discover I have a neighbor and they've left their gate open. Wasn't sure if it was an active player, couldn't tell by all the stuff on the claim, so I left it alone. A week or so later (passing this claim daily), the gate is still open and nothing has moved/changed on the claim. I (stupidly) decide I'll waltz in and have a look around, lo and behold there are many valuables on the claim! Still not sure if the player is active though, so I decided not to steal anything, but racked up a huge Crime! Debuff (trespassing) in the process!
So, uhhh, I hear walking as far from the crime scene as possible will lower the amount of time on the debuff...It's got a 6 on it, is that 6 hours? How far am I walking? Does anything else get rid of that thing? Guess I'll be making a crime alt next time I decide to rifle through someone else's stuff...oops.

[Trismegistus]

The number is how many crimes were committed. If you were only trespassing you may think it means 1 crime, but looking in a container or entering a house/mine adds another number. It doesn't change anything for you. Each time someone sniffs a new exclamation(6 in your case) it will add to the amount of time that someone can search for your homestead. The crime debuff lasts 2 hours and once you get 2500 squares away, it will be 30 minutes. You will know that you've gotten 2500 squares away, because the bar under the crime debuff will decrease.

As far as punishment, if you only trespassed then all anyone can do is find your homestead. Maybe you can leave a sign or be online when they show up in order to smooth this over. However, if it is as you say, the place's owner is inactive, I'd suspect you get nothing. Maybe 10,000 to 1 odds some deranged justice lover trespasses onto the claim in order to track a "criminal" and finds you, but even in that case, they can do nothing within the game mechanics to get justice since trespass is not summonable.

[Nikixos]

If you steal people can kill you offline or put you in the stocks. Trespassing and ko another player is okay.

[Krystalfoxfire]

The number is how many crimes were committed. If you were only trespassing you may think it means 1 crime, but looking in a container or entering a house/mine adds another number. It doesn't change anything for you. Each time someone sniffs a new exclamation(6 in your case) it will add to the amount of time that someone can search for your homestead. The crime debuff lasts 2 hours and once you get 2500 squares away, it will be 30 minutes. You will know that you've gotten 2500 squares away, because the bar under the crime debuff will decrease.

As far as punishment, if you only trespassed then all anyone can do is find your homestead. Maybe you can leave a sign or be online when they show up in order to smooth this over. However, if it is as you say, the place's owner is inactive, I'd suspect you get nothing. Maybe 10,000 to 1 odds some deranged justice lover trespasses onto the claim in order to track a "criminal" and finds you, but even in that case, they can do nothing within the game mechanics to get justice since trespass is not summonable.

Ah, ok, that makes sense seeing how many crates I checked and how the bar went down when I wandered off! Looks like it might be an hour still before it wears off, but thats better than 6! Thanks for the explanation.