Any chance we could add a Lock/Password option to secure our toons?

Mascen · September 26

Back in college I got into a pretty nasty argument with a roommate after I threw out his moldy Chinese food he left in the fridge for a week. As revenge he messed with my instagram account enough that it took a while to fix.

Point is ever since I started playing ESO this has been something on my mind for a while but I would like the option to secure one or more of our characters behind a lock similar to the ones we can put on our ingame equipment to prevent them from being accidentally or maliciously deleted by a roommate, spouse, hacker, etc. Many of us have invested alot of time and money into ESO so something small like a character lock preventing deletion is a little peace of mind.

Necrotech_Master · September 26

you already need a username password to login to your acct, unless your using auto authentication from something like steam (which is another reason i wont use steam to play this game lol)

if the feature was added but optional, i wouldnt use it because i wouldnt want to have to basically double enter authentication information just to play a game

Syldras · September 26

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

if the feature was added but optional, i wouldnt use it because i wouldnt want to have to basically double enter authentication information just to play a game

I think OP means there should be an extra password to delete a selected character (or even mark one as permanently undeletable - makes sense for people who have been playing one main for almost a decade), so as long as you only want to play, but not delete it, nothing would change for you.

Necrotech_Master · September 26

Syldras wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

if the feature was added but optional, i wouldnt use it because i wouldnt want to have to basically double enter authentication information just to play a game

I think OP means there should be an extra password to delete a selected character (or even mark one as permanently undeletable - makes sense for people who have been playing one main for almost a decade), so as long as you only want to play, but not delete it, nothing would change for you.

if thats what they are talking about, would make more sense, i was interpreting it as a password to do anything to the character including log in to play it, because they were mentioning protecting its equipment and such

ive heard of the cases where someone could control the acct and they log in and strip the acct but dont delete the characters which is what i was interpreting their post as trying to prevent

Mascen · September 26

Syldras wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

if the feature was added but optional, i wouldnt use it because i wouldnt want to have to basically double enter authentication information just to play a game

I think OP means there should be an extra password to delete a selected character (or even mark one as permanently undeletable - makes sense for people who have been playing one main for almost a decade), so as long as you only want to play, but not delete it, nothing would change for you.

Yup! Thats what i meant.

Essentially character protection. But i have been working on alts yet i wanna protect my main/crafter since thats where all my furniture/motif/cooking recipes are for the other toons.

ApoAlaia · September 26

It should be achievable for them to implement a prompt for the answer to one's security question upon trying to delete a character.

However (master of the obvious moment) this doesn't necessarily mean that they have the resources available to make it happen.

Sarannah · September 26

Though I think the code sent when you log in from another location is enough, there does need to be something to secure an account even further if a player wants to. The problem is though, if players themselves get locked out by this feature, which happens with the login code for some already, they won't have access to their entire account anymore.

Another MMO I used to play, which was only protected by username+password, as it was in the early days of the internet. This game later added a simple 4 digit passcode which you had to enter after login once, to access your bank or do something with your inventory/equipped gear. This worked great. But there were cases where players forgot their code, and support had to reset the code manually for them. To me this 4 digit passcode was a great thing, as I never had to worry about anything on my account, even if I were to ever get hacked or something. Personally I wouldn't mind if ESO added something like this too, before being able to use/move around any currency, alter the inventory, use the crownstore, or alter your equipped gear, you get asked the four digit passcode. Only once, to unlock it all for your entire playsession.

Maybe an extra security feature for ESO and character deletion could be a code similar to the login code sent to the e-mail, being asked for confirmation when trying to delete a character. Seems like a simple step to add this same login code system to a character deletion.

PS: If someone you know and get in a fight with does something like delete/harm your hobbies or personal stuff, I'd get rid of them! No matter how angry you are, you should be able to trust this other person. And if they cross a line like that, they can't be trusted with anything.

JavaRen · September 26

If I thought someone might access my account for malicious purposes I'd be more concerned about my acct being permabanned for sending mass hate-speech death threats.

jaws343 · September 26

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

you already need a username password to login to your acct, unless your using auto authentication from something like steam (which is another reason i wont use steam to play this game lol)

if the feature was added but optional, i wouldnt use it because i wouldnt want to have to basically double enter authentication information just to play a game

While this may be true for PC. Console you just have to turn on the device and open the game to access your account. Your console account is the "login" point for the game.

wolfie1.0. · September 26

jaws343 wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

you already need a username password to login to your acct, unless your using auto authentication from something like steam (which is another reason i wont use steam to play this game lol)

if the feature was added but optional, i wouldnt use it because i wouldnt want to have to basically double enter authentication information just to play a game

While this may be true for PC. Console you just have to turn on the device and open the game to access your account. Your console account is the "login" point for the game.

You can password protect accessing the console though right?

SilverBride · September 26

Maybe they could provide an authenticator like WoW has for those that would like an extra layer of protection. Or have the player enter a code that was sent to them by text as a lot of sites do now. As long as it's optional.

code65536 · September 26

Different platforms have different levels of security.

For example, for regular PC (not Steam, not Epic), you need to enter a username and password each time you log in, no exceptions, and there's no way to save your password. And if you log in from a computer with a different hardware signature, you're asked for an e-mail code as well.

But if you're on PC via Steam or Epic, there is no username and password to enter. All the authentication and hardware validation is offloaded to Steam/Epic, but those services do let you save your credentials and do let you log in automatically without having to re-enter them, and most people leave that enabled. And there is never an e-mail code to enter if you log in via Steam or Epic.

So it's MUCH easier for a roommate, sibling, spouse or anyone else in the same household can access to your computer to log into your ESO account if it's a Steam or Epic account.

The OP's profile indicates that they're on Xbox, and I have no idea what the security situation looks like on console, but my guess is that it's weak like Steam/Epic.

Mascen · September 26

code65536 wrote: »

Different platforms have different levels of security.

For example, for regular PC (not Steam, not Epic), you need to enter a username and password each time you log in, no exceptions, and there's no way to save your password. And if you log in from a computer with a different hardware signature, you're asked for an e-mail code as well.

But if you're on PC via Steam or Epic, there is no username and password to enter. All the authentication and hardware validation is offloaded to Steam/Epic, but those services do let you save your credentials and do let you log in automatically without having to re-enter them, and most people leave that enabled. And there is never an e-mail code to enter if you log in via Steam or Epic.

So it's MUCH easier for a roommate, sibling, spouse or anyone else in the same household can access to your computer to log into your ESO account if it's a Steam or Epic account.

The OP's profile indicates that they're on Xbox, and I have no idea what the security situation looks like on console, but my guess is that it's weak like Steam/Epic.

Extremely weak yes.

I've considered going PC but ESO isnt crossplay functional yet. If it ever did it would be a major incentive to switch over.

AnduinTryggva · September 26

Syldras wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

if the feature was added but optional, i wouldnt use it because i wouldnt want to have to basically double enter authentication information just to play a game

I think OP means there should be an extra password to delete a selected character (or even mark one as permanently undeletable - makes sense for people who have been playing one main for almost a decade), so as long as you only want to play, but not delete it, nothing would change for you.

I think considering how much time went into some of my characters and imagining that a malicious person out of pure malice would just delete it or play it and delete the entire crafting bag (if you are an ESO+ player) and your bank then it makes sense to have the option of a double lock.

As an option that you have to activate if you feel like needing it. Nothing would change for anybody else.

NordSwordnBoard · September 26

A friend of mine once had characters deleted, and he got them back through support. It wasn't easy though. On console, you have to password protect your user login to the game system/profile. It's tedious, but that's relative to the danger posed. You wouldn't leave your bank accounts sitting there for this person to view or access, so same goes for ESO.

Currently you have to hold down all the controller buttons to delete to prevent "accidents". You can add another layer or PIN, but its unlikely this would really serve a purpose for the community as a whole.

Dragonnord · September 26

If your character gets deleted, ZOS can restore it back by just opening a CS ticket.

It has happened before, ie, with people deleting wrong characters by mistake.

Although in some extreme situations it's not possible.

Twohothardware · September 26

Whether you're on PC or console you can require a password/login when you turn on your system. Problem solved.

tom6143346 · September 27

If ZOS ever put something like this in the game , the bugges this functionality would most likely cause , would be even much more problematic and annoying, then the process you would have to go trough if someone deleted one of your chars trust

. Right now sometimes they will send you a code when you try to log in from a unknown ip, and guess what most of the time you wait an eternity and nothing happens. Be careful wat you wish for

Vulkunne · September 27

Dragonnord wrote: »

If your character gets deleted, ZOS can restore it back by just opening a CS ticket.

It has happened before, ie, with people deleting wrong characters by mistake.

Although in some extreme situations it's not possible.

Exactly. It's probably safe to conclude most of the time they probably could recover the character however its risky, it's never guaranteed. I had a wild night one time and woke up with two of my characters gone, (which actually was in part due to the UI jumping around but anyways) one they were able to recover and the other they basically said 'no'.

This was reported to them like less than 12 hrs after the fact and was done thru two separate tickets. Very very risky and it also depends on 'who' gets the ticket. Def don't want to leave your fate in the hands of anyone else. Though let me just say, for the time and money spent upgrading the other character you would think they would have jumped thru hoops to get it back for me. I had a service level job one time and can just imagine straight telling someone who needed my help to basically 'get lost'.