Real Gamemasters have Z icon next to their name...

shezof

This tip actually got me thinking, been playing since Orsinium, has anyone actually seen a GM in-game ? EU player btw.

ApoAlaia

Nope, but again I don't remember seeing a GM ever in FFXI either and I played it for 5 years with enough time and effort devoted to it that it was pretty much a 2nd job.

The only MMO I remember seeing - and interacting with - a GM is UO.

adriant1978

ApoAlaia wrote: »

The only MMO I remember seeing - and interacting with - a GM is UO.

It's probably an indication of how far online games have evolved since those days; likely support can do almost everything they need to do now by interacting directly with the backend and database, without needing to actually use a client and enter the game world.

Given how ... vocal this community can be sometimes too, I'm also not surprised they don't want to make themselves more visible in-game.

starkerealm

shezof wrote: »

This tip actually got me thinking, been playing since Orsinium, has anyone actually seen a GM in-game ? EU player btw.

Yeah, years ago in a delve.

Iluvrien

During the first month after PC release. To deal with an in-situ progress halting big.

Folkb

Actually yeah. I remember there was a quest on coldharbour where you got turned into a monkey to go through some rubble. The quest was bugged and you couldn't progress so a gm was getting players who showed up passed that point.

Marto

I've never seen one myself.

But friends that played in 2014-2015 have, and they told me horror stories of how Gamemasters would try to mediate in fights and arguments between guilds in the community, and they'd inadvertently make things worse.

They'd end up picking a side, and the side that won would feel vindicated, and argue for years that whatever they did was fine, because "ZOS approves of it"

Gamemasters just seem to create more problems than they solve. Same with forum moderators, if they end up actively participating in the discussion. It seems all MMOs are using them less and less over the years.

So, I'm not surprised ZOS has changed their policy to be a lot more closed. It's healthier for the community.

Alucardo

There's footage of one seven years ago decimating some bots in a delve. They had an ethereal appearance and told the humans to stand back and enjoy the carnage as he wiped one bot at a time.
It showed that ZOS cared about the community and wanted to ensure they had fun, free from bot farmers and cheaters. Even just seeing their presence was a big deal, because you knew they were around and watching.
In my old MMO the GMs would actually participate in events. One of them would join each of the 3 factions during large pvp events and it was so much fun. They'd randomly turn people into mobs and it was just a great time. I don't expect that kind of interaction from ESO GMs of course, but just knowing they were there to take care of problems would be huge.

Fischblut

I saw staff member in GW2. They have special red symbols over their characters and can be seen on the map as well
I came to look what's going on, because if was the first time I saw such icon in the game. GM was just idling and chatting with some veteran players about difficult achievements from recent Fractal (aka dungeon in ESO) and they were showing off their titles. I am casual player and my most proud title comes from flying on Griffon during holiday event So I felt unwanted in that company, and continued doing my simple dailies. I am not the one to stalk other player, and the fact that other player is staff member makes no difference for me.

It would be interesting to see staff member character in ESO I would come to look at their character, but if they would offer no interaction or dialogue, I would leave them alone and continue my daily routine.

Paha_Vaatturi

This is slightly off-topic, but I remember playing Rainbow Six Siege on PS4 (EU) and playing against a team that had some funky R6-tag in their names. This was years ago; pretty much when the game was published. I’m not a hundred percent sure if they were actual Ubisoft employees and/or some beta testers, but this was a easy-to-remember experience anyways.

I can imagine that someone has seen a Zenimax worker somewhere in PC US server, but including the same loading screen info on PS4 EU is a cruel joke.

WeerW3ir

Ive seen once. Like 5 years ago in reapers.

Anyway we all know that they let this go. The amount of people bothered them were uhm... Endless. So now they not have the logo in their name. So they play as any other of us. So you cannot know with who you can meet 😛

Brrrofski

Nope, never seen one in 6 years of playing.

Danikat

I'm on PC EU and I've never seen one. As someone else said these days MMOs have better monitoring tools so staff don't have to be visibly standing in the map to read chat or identify bots or bugs (kind of like how the IT staff at my work usually don't need to come and look at my PC to fix things, unless it's user error) so it would be mostly a PR move.

As someone else said I've seen staff in Guild Wars 2 doing that sometimes, especially when new content comes out they'll hang around nearby chatting to players about it, but it's just a way for them to be seen interacting with the community, anything practical gets fixed behind the scenes.

I think the tip on the loading screen is mainly there so if you see someone in ESO claiming to be a GM you know it's not true. Back when I played Ultima Online (which had players as volunteer GMs as well as the company's staff) quite a few common scams centred around tricking other players into believing you were a GM. It ranged from getting free carries by claiming they could trigger a rare drop you haven't been able to get, but they needed to see you complete the dungeon or whatever first, to claiming they could fix bugged items or upgrade them for free if you traded it to them (then taking it and teleporting away), or even persuading people to give up their login details.

waterfairy

I've only ever seen 1 in DCUO years ago...never in ESO, BDO or other mmo's I've dabbled in...they're unicorns

Alucardo

Vigarr wrote: »

I've only ever seen 1 in DCUO years ago...never in ESO, BDO or other mmo's I've dabbled in...they're unicorns

I've seen a few in WoW. They actually have their own island in the game. One of them even helped me out in game after I submitted a support ticket which was really cool.

starkerealm

Vigarr wrote: »

I've only ever seen 1 in DCUO years ago...never in ESO, BDO or other mmo's I've dabbled in...they're unicorns

If we're expanding the list to other MMOs, I've seen 3 total, ever. One of the Bot clearing incidents in a delve in ESO. A Funcom Community Manager on a GM account in Secret World Legends, and another community manager, also on a GM account in Star Trek Online.

waterfairy

Alucardo wrote: »

Vigarr wrote: »

I've only ever seen 1 in DCUO years ago...never in ESO, BDO or other mmo's I've dabbled in...they're unicorns

I've seen a few in WoW. They actually have their own island in the game. One of them even helped me out in game after I submitted a support ticket which was really cool.

their own island? [snip]

[edited for baiting]

Alucardo

Vigarr wrote: »

Alucardo wrote: »

Vigarr wrote: »

I've only ever seen 1 in DCUO years ago...never in ESO, BDO or other mmo's I've dabbled in...they're unicorns

I've seen a few in WoW. They actually have their own island in the game. One of them even helped me out in game after I submitted a support ticket which was really cool.

their own island [snip]?

Yeah, but us normies can't access it

[edited to remove quote]

VaranisArano

Yes, but it was a couple years ago. He was nuking bots in Rivenspire, and I told him that he's missed one.

Phanex

ApoAlaia wrote: »

Nope, but again I don't remember seeing a GM ever in FFXI either and I played it for 5 years with enough time and effort devoted to it that it was pretty much a 2nd job.

The only MMO I remember seeing - and interacting with - a GM is UO.

Hi, I've actually seen a GM in FFXI, they looked cool and we were able to check out their gear and everything.

Most of the time they were invisible and that's how they were able to "Watch people", but once in a while they'd pop up in the the cities just standing around.

I've never seen one on this game, but I'm assuming its similar to FFXI and they are invisible.

starkerealm

Phanex wrote: »

ApoAlaia wrote: »

Nope, but again I don't remember seeing a GM ever in FFXI either and I played it for 5 years with enough time and effort devoted to it that it was pretty much a 2nd job.

The only MMO I remember seeing - and interacting with - a GM is UO.

Hi, I've actually seen a GM in FFXI, they looked cool and we were able to check out their gear and everything.

Most of the time they were invisible and that's how they were able to "Watch people", but once in a while they'd pop up in the the cities just standing around.

I've never seen one on this game, but I'm assuming its similar to FFXI and they are invisible.

When they're around, they have a unique, "Ghost" skin applied to them. From what I understand, most of the GM duties are handled from outside the game client, though. (Could be wrong about that.)

TwinLamps

starkerealm wrote: »

shezof wrote: »

This tip actually got me thinking, been playing since Orsinium, has anyone actually seen a GM in-game ? EU player btw.

Yeah, years ago in a delve.

Did you kill it? Did you mistake it for delve boss?

Odovacar

Pretty sure a lot of folks on here have seen this video but this was one from back in 2014...I love their ethereal looking character...god what I would do to have a chance to earn something that looks like this GM, lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bll9maEJtDA

WiseSky

^^ so this is not the GM of ESO?

Vevvev

I never have and I never knew they also looked different than us till I watching that video.

Odovacar

Vevvev wrote: »

I never have and I never knew they also looked different than us till I watching that video.

This was so early on too...this may of been an isolated/temporary GM look or if this in fact is what they look like still to this day. @ZOS_Kevin Can you confirm they still look this bad***??

AlnilamE

Not personally, but when the guild traders first came out and they were bugged, a friend submitted a bug report and a GM showed up at the guild trader he was at to check what was going on.

Sylvermynx

Alucardo wrote: »

Vigarr wrote: »

I've only ever seen 1 in DCUO years ago...never in ESO, BDO or other mmo's I've dabbled in...they're unicorns

I've seen a few in WoW. They actually have their own island in the game. One of them even helped me out in game after I submitted a support ticket which was really cool.

Yeah - I had some issues on a couple of different servers; had nice interactions with the GMs as they took over my problem girls to sort things out. I spent years posting on the CS forum there, even got to meet one of my buddies from those forum reps once - he was the one from whom I got the best pumpkin pie recipe EVER!

starkerealm

TwinLamps wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

shezof wrote: »

This tip actually got me thinking, been playing since Orsinium, has anyone actually seen a GM in-game ? EU player btw.

Yeah, years ago in a delve.

Did you kill it? Did you mistake it for delve boss?

Couldn't even see the boss, there was a swarm of bots standing there one shotting it with killer's blade as soon as it spawned. Then the GM attacked...

JamieAubrey

A very very very very long time ago

Alucardo wrote: »

There's footage of one seven years ago decimating some bots in a delve. They had an ethereal appearance and told the humans to stand back and enjoy the carnage as he wiped one bot at a time.

Like Alucardo said but it was somewhere in the wild, I can't recall but was fun to witness

BlackTearsOfHope

I've never seen one in ESO, kind of would be neat though.
The last game I used to play a lot, they were invisible with an icon above where they were.
Unless you were specifically were looking for them, you knew they were there though, they'd type in the chat and would kick cheaters/spammers.