A friend of mine got censored on ESO Steam Forum by ZOS dev team. And it's unacceptable.

JiubLeRepenti · May 17

Greetings,

A few days ago, a friend of mine who used to play ESO saw his thread on the ESO Steam forum get removed. I'm not sure if he also got banned or what exactly happened, but he was "warned."

Here was his message:

Reason for the warning: "inappropriate publication"

I'm personally very outraged that his thread was removed... Even if I disagree with him, his post:

doesn't contain any out-of-rules content
doesn't flame or troll anybody
doesn't threaten anybody

My personal guess is that he got warned because of the SteamDB link... But hey ZOS, guess what... SteamDB figures are purely factual! Censoring and warning someone because they show figures that don't go your way won't change reality. Also, I wonder which part of the TOS on the Steam forum says you can't share a SteamDB link?

I already knew this forum had a certain point of view regarding freedom of speech. But what I saw here simply baffles me.

This is very disappointing. Sharing factual figures shouldn't be a reason to get warned.

JiubLeRepenti · May 17

Bonus information:

Even the Steam support who replied to his complaint said they didn't understand the reason for this warning. And simply said he should reach ZOS team directly...

Athory · May 17

https://youtu.be/UKJ_OieUCn0

Psyphiman · May 17

I know posting on forum moderation is not allowed on the ESO forum. But since this was on Steam maybe the rule doesn’t apply.

imPDA · May 17

Steam support vs ZOS support - let the battle begin

This is refined Steam statistics, as you can see, during covid, it was massive spike in online and then massive layout - they are both expected, but now we are near 2018 online and online (of players playing via Steam) continue decreasing. It can be because people choose other platform over Steam, since we have no other statistics to analyze. No will ever publish complete statistic, or they will lose investors

So, this is hard to interpret directly, but there is one interesting detail I found - A LOT of people go online for anniversary. Look at seasonal component, it has 2 peaks, one near the start of the year - anniversary jubilee (April) every year, +5-6k online for a week.

And second peak on seasonal chart is big update at the end of May/ start of June. It used to attract +2k players for a couple of months, but now timings are different, so peak in April is wider, it retains players better, but peak in May is sharper, meaning players coming to see changes, playing for a week and leave.

I was lazy to analyze it further; it is really simple description with no statistical significance because there are many details missing

I don't want to say population decreasing constantly, because you have to make a remark (*in Steam), meaning you might be missing increasing trend in official launcher, etc. But it can be used to show seasonal changes (which month is more popular and why, which day of the week), because they should appear identical on Steam, EGS, ESO official launcher stats, etc.

licenturion · May 17

Playstation is also testing player counts now in beta in the launcher but sadly for the 10 most successful games on the platform.

I wonder if playercounts are up or down. I know I played way more when night market came out and also play more every Tuesday when new challenges rolled out.

But since I got everything I wanted from the Tome and from the Night Market I play way less (an hour a week) until the next content drop in season 1 where my playtime probably ramps up again.

So in the end I will probably have played less, but longer and more condensed.

Tandor · May 17

Psyphiman wrote: »

I know posting on forum moderation is not allowed on the ESO forum. But since this was on Steam maybe the rule doesn’t apply.

The fact that it relates to the Steam forum probably means it'll be closed on the ZOS forum, not least as it's mostly in the wrong language for anyone to make any sense of it here anyway.

Also, the post isn't from a current player on this forum, it's about someone other than the poster who used to play the game but got warned on another company's forum - the fact that the company is a partner for the provision of the game doesn't mean each partner is responsible for the other partner's forum. The fact that he was warned is a clear indication that he wasn't banned.

Where is the indication that this action on the Steam forum was taken by a member of the ZOS dev team?

There are so many reasons why this post won't go anywhere here.

JiubLeRepenti · May 17

Where is the indication that this action on the Steam forum was taken by a member of the ZOS dev team?

Here:

Confirmed by a Steam mod:

LootAllTheStuff · May 17

Looks like your friend was not banned - "This is not a banishment, but a letter of concern..."

JiubLeRepenti · May 17

LootAllTheStuff wrote: »

Looks like your friend was not banned - "This is not a banishment, but a letter of concern..."

The thread was deleted, though. For expressing a simple opinion, without any transgression of the TOS/rules

LootAllTheStuff · May 17

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

LootAllTheStuff wrote: »

Looks like your friend was not banned - "This is not a banishment, but a letter of concern..."

The thread was deleted, though. For expressing a simple opinion, without any transgression of the TOS/rules

It's quite possible (and seems to be implied in the letter, although there are bits my high school French is too rusty to translate) that developer/producer-run forums can have additional content rules beyond those set by Steam, without having all the same rights when it comes to actions that would affect user accounts. I can't see Steam allowing a dev/prod team to ban Steam users, for example, but I can see them allowing them to clean up threads/posts on their own sub-sections.

It's awkward all round, though. And it's not just this game - I've seen similar things play out elsewhere.

Silaf · May 17

I know how you feel at times moderation enter censure territory. Sadly the moderation rules and reasons at times are really abstract and interpretable.

One of my messages here in the forums got censored because i was criticizing Gina Bruno competency as a player... Apparently this is not a critique but a new ting that exist only in America called bashing.
So if you disagree with a member of zos staff is not critique but bashing.

I hope we will not degenerate like for Avowed steam or reddit. Obsidian died for eccessive and crazy moderation.

Gabriel_H · May 17

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

I already knew this forum had a certain point of view regarding freedom of speech. But what I saw here simply baffles me.

Freedom of speech is the right to the legitimately criticize the government without retribution, or fear thereof.

You're talking about freedom to speak, which is not a right, has limitations, and is entirely within the hosters pervue to restrict as it wants.

spartaxoxo · May 17

Steam has additional rules about things like brigading. It could also be a simple mistake. Take it up with ESO support if you don't yet know the reason? That should be your friend's first step.

JiubLeRepenti · May 17

Gabriel_H wrote: »

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

I already knew this forum had a certain point of view regarding freedom of speech. But what I saw here simply baffles me.

Freedom of speech is the right to the legitimately criticize the government without retribution, or fear thereof.

You're talking about freedom to speak, which is not a right, has limitations, and is entirely within the hosters pervue to restrict as it wants.

“Restricted as it wants”? So what’s the point of making TOS/rules if you can take actions against a message that didn’t transgress any of those rules?

If the ZOS dev team has total and unlimited power to warn/sanction a user who follows the rules he has accepted, what are these rules made for?

Same questions about “limitations”? Why would you limit a user’s possibility to take part in a discussion on a forum if he doesn’t transgress any of the rules you’ve established?

spartaxoxo wrote: »

Steam has additional rules about things like brigading. It could also be a simple mistake. Take it up with ESO support if you don't yet know the reason? That should be your friend's first step.

I told him to. Not sure he will do it tbh.

agelonestar · May 18

They do the same thing here - I’ve been sanctioned myself, and they just make up some garbage about “trolling” or something equally vague and subjective - something they can define or redefine in whatever way works for them today.

They say they’re listening, and this time they really mean it. I’m afraid there’s a lot of evidence to the contrary.

ZOS_Icy · May 18

Greetings,

With this thread mainly discussing disciplinary actions which is against the Forum Rules, we're going to go ahead and close it down. We suggest working with support to appeal this decision and find information on why an action was made on the account.

Discussing Disciplinary Actions: If you ever have questions or concerns about a disciplinary action or decision we have made on the ESO forums, or wish to appeal a forum warning or infraction you’ve received, we ask that you please contact https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/ to do so (please specify that you are contacting about a forum-related inquiry or appeal). We are happy to discuss and review specific moderation-related actions with you, but we do not allow discussion of any moderation actions or decisions on our forums. If you have questions or concerns about an in-game disciplinary action, please contact https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/ to ask about a suspension or ban, and any other support-related feedback. We cannot assist with in-game violations on the forums.

The Elder Scrolls Online Team