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Ability to report players for spying and held accountable for treason
sshogrin
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There is a big problem with spying in Cyrodiil and IC.
We need a way to report these players and accounts for spying, then hold them accountable for treason like in the real world.
I understand that people argue that spying is a part of war, and so is holding spies accountable.
We can use the in-game report for a player/account, but nothing is done about that.
I have noticed players standing around in the ladder room in IC watching players go up the ladders to a city zone, then "magically" players from another faction show up. When a player hasn't moved in 10 minutes, we know something is up, and they're telling their friends, or even using another account, where players are going. This is spying and the account/player needs to be held accountable. That is how real war works when a spy is found, they are either imprisoned or held for treason and removed from the world. The same thing should happen. The spy accounts should be either banned from any and all PvP action or have their account banned completely.
We have spying going on in Cyrodiil also. The same thing should apply to that zone also. People will spy and while they're in Discord with their friends on a different faction, so nobody is really grouping up solo players looking for group, and zone chat has nothing but social discussions going on, so it's hard for solo players to actually know what's going on and where to go.
This is a problem that needs to be addressed ASAP. If players know they will be banned in all PvP activity for spying, or have their accounts banned, things will change.
We need a way to report these players and accounts for spying, then hold them accountable for treason like in the real world.
I understand that people argue that spying is a part of war, and so is holding spies accountable.
We can use the in-game report for a player/account, but nothing is done about that.
I have noticed players standing around in the ladder room in IC watching players go up the ladders to a city zone, then "magically" players from another faction show up. When a player hasn't moved in 10 minutes, we know something is up, and they're telling their friends, or even using another account, where players are going. This is spying and the account/player needs to be held accountable. That is how real war works when a spy is found, they are either imprisoned or held for treason and removed from the world. The same thing should happen. The spy accounts should be either banned from any and all PvP action or have their account banned completely.
We have spying going on in Cyrodiil also. The same thing should apply to that zone also. People will spy and while they're in Discord with their friends on a different faction, so nobody is really grouping up solo players looking for group, and zone chat has nothing but social discussions going on, so it's hard for solo players to actually know what's going on and where to go.
This is a problem that needs to be addressed ASAP. If players know they will be banned in all PvP activity for spying, or have their accounts banned, things will change.
0
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Umbracat449✭✭✭If this is a wargame, and scouting and spying is part of war, you can't ban a player for doing gaming things. That's like banning a player for killing another player and taking their loot.
It's the game.
If you see a spy, tell people, so they can go fight it.8 -
DenverRalphy✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭So enter and form up via the sewers instead of up the ladders, then gank the gankers.
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sshogrin✭✭✭✭✭Umbracat449 wrote: »If this is a wargame, and scouting and spying is part of war, you can't ban a player for doing gaming things. That's like banning a player for killing another player and taking their loot.
It's the game.
If you see a spy, tell people, so they can go fight it.
If you actually read what my post, you'd see that I already addressed your "counter point". Holding a spy for treason and taking them out of existence is part of war also. Lots of times spies are killed by the government they were spying on. Banning the account from PvP activities or the game itself is the same thing as deleting the person in real life.
You argument doesn't hold water at all.1 -
sshogrin✭✭✭✭✭DenverRalphy wrote: »So enter and form up via the sewers instead of up the ladders, then gank the gankers.
Read my comment again. The spies are in the sewers in the ladder room.
Most of the time people don't actually group up anymore. It's sad.1 -
DenverRalphy✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭DenverRalphy wrote: »So enter and form up via the sewers instead of up the ladders, then gank the gankers.
Read my comment again. The spies are in the sewers in the ladder room.
Most of the time people don't actually group up anymore. It's sad.
Yes, they're in the ladder room. So enter through the sewers instead of up the ladders.
And quite honestly, it's not hard to gather the troops and all go up a ladder together. Going it alone is rarely the greatest idea. PvP-101.Edited by DenverRalphy on 10 August 2026 23:492 -
LennaTheRussian✭✭✭✭If it's not in the TOS or implied in it, then it's not bannable. Really not that serious.5
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Erickson9610✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭Something seriously needs to be done about the spying in faction-locked campaigns like Gray Host. There are people who relay zone chat to the other factions, sometimes by streaming it on Twitch. Some people even have multiple accounts and play on multiple factions at the same time with multiple game clients.
Faction lock isn't doing enough. Nobody trusts zone chat because faction lock is so insecure. If you want people to cooperate and act like they're on the same team, you have to make sure spying is outright impossible.
Is it really so much to ask that people don't try to bypass faction lock? Zone chat is limited to your faction only for a reason, and any way to show zone chat to the other factions should be considered an exploit. It's absolutely shameful that people will go as far as livestreaming your faction's zone chat for all to see, and even more embarrassing that ZOS does nothing about it.
If it requires external tools like Discord or Twitch to do, it's likely unintended and should not be endorsed by ZOS. On that note, we should have the ability to directly communicate with players on other factions (such as by mail, by guild chat, and by whispering directly) while in a faction-locked campaign disabled. Make sure that we can't send messages while in Gray Host to anyone not locked to that same faction on Gray Host. We already can't group with people on opposing factions, and this change would further reinforce the idea that communicating with your enemies is off limits. There was once a bug on consoles that accidentally enabled cross-faction proximity voice chat that ZOS fixed, so we know that ZOS would not approve of cross-faction communication.PC/NA — Lone Werewolf
Werewolf Should be Allowed to Sneak Prowling added in Update 50!
Please give us Werewolf Skill Styles (for customizing our fur color) Added in Update 50!, Grimoires/Scribing skills (to fill in the holes in our builds), and Companions (to transform with).4 -
reazea✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭LennaTheRussian wrote: »If it's not in the TOS or implied in it, then it's not bannable. Really not that serious.
The ToS specifically forbids talking real world politics and religion in game. But ZOS doesn't enforce section 2.8 of the CoC with any kind of consistency or even handedness.2 -
moderatelyfatman✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭Umbracat449 wrote: »If this is a wargame, and scouting and spying is part of war, you can't ban a player for doing gaming things. That's like banning a player for killing another player and taking their loot.
It's the game.
If you see a spy, tell people, so they can go fight it.
Players have been banned for having multiple accounts open at the same time in order to spy on the other side.4 -
katanagirl1✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Erickson9610 wrote: »Something seriously needs to be done about the spying in faction-locked campaigns like Gray Host. There are people who relay zone chat to the other factions, sometimes by streaming it on Twitch. Some people even have multiple accounts and play on multiple factions at the same time with multiple game clients.
Faction lock isn't doing enough. Nobody trusts zone chat because faction lock is so insecure. If you want people to cooperate and act like they're on the same team, you have to make sure spying is outright impossible.
Is it really so much to ask that people don't try to bypass faction lock? Zone chat is limited to your faction only for a reason, and any way to show zone chat to the other factions should be considered an exploit. It's absolutely shameful that people will go as far as livestreaming your faction's zone chat for all to see, and even more embarrassing that ZOS does nothing about it.
If it requires external tools like Discord or Twitch to do, it's likely unintended and should not be endorsed by ZOS. On that note, we should have the ability to directly communicate with players on other factions (such as by mail, by guild chat, and by whispering directly) while in a faction-locked campaign disabled. Make sure that we can't send messages while in Gray Host to anyone not locked to that same faction on Gray Host. We already can't group with people on opposing factions, and this change would further reinforce the idea that communicating with your enemies is off limits. There was once a bug on consoles that accidentally enabled cross-faction proximity voice chat that ZOS fixed, so we know that ZOS would not approve of cross-faction communication.
I don’t know how it works with text chat groups since you aren’t supposed to be able to group up with someone in another faction when in Cyrodiil, but a lot of times you see callouts come up in zone chat that are definitely intended for another faction and then you see the player say, “oops wc”. I have no idea what ZOS considers inappropriate, it seems like all is fair in war from what I’ve seen.
PS5 NA0 -
SeaGtGruff✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I have noticed players standing around in the ladder room in IC watching players go up the ladders to a city zone, then "magically" players from another faction show up. When a player hasn't moved in 10 minutes, we know something is up, and they're telling their friends, or even using another account, where players are going.
How do we know whether a player whose character is standing motionless for 10 minutes is spying as you claim, or is simply AFK doing something else in the real world? A few examples might be a streamer chatting with their viewers, or someone who is taking a bio break, making a snack, talking on the phone, feeding a pet, or seeing to anything else that might need to be dealt with. Note, I'm not questioning whether spying actually occurs on occasion; I am just wondering how I'm supposed to know that someone who's just standing around is spying, so I don't inadvertently report an AFK player for spying when they really weren't.I've fought mudcrabs more fearsome than me!4 -
Luneca✭✭✭✭✭Some of you guys take this too seriously. It's not like what you are planning isn't an extremely predictable subset of moves.
It's exactly why I am able to devastate people with siege at KC and Farra alone. Because everything about the enemy is predictable, even their movmements and reactions to being hit with siege.
The value of a spy is far overstated, unless there's already a massive difference in population. At that point, spying is the least of your worries with how unbalanced the game is on a micro and macro scale.
But let me guess, the counterpoint will consist of an argument that basically amounts to this:
Somewhere on the internet people are dying. Mothers are crying. People are surviving. War torn, chaos born. Lives snuffed out before their first experience of morning light. Spies cast into Oblivion back to take the revenge they swore. It isn't a game anymore, it's real life! We're in a war! A real war! Cyrodiil is a real war! We are playing for keeps...8 -
aetherix8✭✭✭✭✭There is a big problem with spying in Cyrodiil and IC.
We need a way to report these players and accounts for spying, then hold them accountable for treason like in the real world.
I understand that people argue that spying is a part of war, and so is holding spies accountable.
We can use the in-game report for a player/account, but nothing is done about that.
I have noticed players standing around in the ladder room in IC watching players go up the ladders to a city zone, then "magically" players from another faction show up. When a player hasn't moved in 10 minutes, we know something is up, and they're telling their friends, or even using another account, where players are going. This is spying and the account/player needs to be held accountable. That is how real war works when a spy is found, they are either imprisoned or held for treason and removed from the world. The same thing should happen. The spy accounts should be either banned from any and all PvP action or have their account banned completely.
We have spying going on in Cyrodiil also. The same thing should apply to that zone also. People will spy and while they're in Discord with their friends on a different faction, so nobody is really grouping up solo players looking for group, and zone chat has nothing but social discussions going on, so it's hard for solo players to actually know what's going on and where to go.
This is a problem that needs to be addressed ASAP. If players know they will be banned in all PvP activity for spying, or have their accounts banned, things will change.Umbracat449 wrote: »If this is a wargame, and scouting and spying is part of war, you can't ban a player for doing gaming things. That's like banning a player for killing another player and taking their loot.
It's the game.
If you see a spy, tell people, so they can go fight it.
If you actually read what my post, you'd see that I already addressed your "counter point". Holding a spy for treason and taking them out of existence is part of war also. Lots of times spies are killed by the government they were spying on. Banning the account from PvP activities or the game itself is the same thing as deleting the person in real life.
You argument doesn't hold water at all.
My opinion is based mostly on my Cyrodiil perspective. Spying has been part of warfare since ancient times. It is simply a part of existence even in times of peace (e.g., corporate spying). And although I can understand the frustration to a certain degree, banning accounts is just an extremely unfair proposition.
The fact that there are spies to deal with in Cyrodiil adds an extra layer of challenge to the activity. Factions have to find other ways to coordinate their objectives, since the zone chat is insecure (e.g., create specific guilds meant exclusively for coordination, and where members are selected very carefully). Just like IRL, war plans are classified and accessible only to players who have the clearance; nobody publishes their war objectives in tabloids IRL either. You can also use the zone chat to deceive and mislead your enemies.
That makes the game more interesting; it reflects the real world accurately, and so it makes Cyrodiil more immersive. Without spies, Cyrodiil gameplay would be much more dull, trivial, and boring.
Also, asking for banning accounts isn't demanding that the government solve the issue. ZOS isn't the government; your faction leaders, zone commanders, and guild masters are the government. What you are asking for is equivalent to requesting a divine intervention—you're demanding that the heavens strike your enemies with fireballs out of existence.PC EU - V4hn1
If you care about the future of ESO PvP, then help the devs test their ideas on how to improve it.2 -
Ferrym4n✭✭✭Spying is a part of warfare. Yes it's low and dishonourable, and a bane on any historic war.
Misinformation is a part of warfare. It can counter spying.
Misdirect, see what happens.
Fog of War as a usable concept would be great to have as in game mechs, not sure how you can implement it.
Build friendships wheres there's trust with guilds or players, and try to stick with that and try strategies privately.
A Treason mechanic would be interesting, I would worry about how it might get abused rather than serve its intended purpose.
This is probably the majority issue with any game mechanic. It's not what it is intended to do that is the issue - it's how players can use it in ways it is not intended to do, and ignore theme.
Example: Subclassing, and Devs having to implement nerfs to restrict ultimate building amongst passives.
Example: Subclassing, and Devs having to support pure class builds to level the playing field.
Example: Subclassing, should have added a dash of flavour (one class skill to be changeable) and not destroyed class identity.0 -
karthrag_inak✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭LOL. Khajiit wants to start spying now. Such srs bzns. EP toons, prepare to launch!PC-NA : 19 Khajiit and 1 Fishy-cat with fluffy delusions. cp3600
GM of Imperial Gold Reserve trading guild (started in 2017) since 2/2022
Come visit Karth's Glitter Box, Khajiit's home. Fully stocked guild hall done in sleek Khajiit stylings, with Grand Master Stations, Transmute, Scribing, Trial Dummies, etc. Also has 2 full bowling alleys, nightclub, and floating maze over Wrothgar.(Pariah's Pinacle)
"Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?' -famous khajiit philosopher0 -
Luneca✭✭✭✭✭karthrag_inak wrote: »LOL. Khajiit wants to start spying now. Such srs bzns. EP toons, prepare to launch!
Please keep it secret that I am waiting for AD at Farra and DC at KC. And I have sige. Lots of it. Don't tell them to bring a siege shield and healers, thanks!0 -
Umbracat449✭✭✭Umbracat449 wrote: »If this is a wargame, and scouting and spying is part of war, you can't ban a player for doing gaming things. That's like banning a player for killing another player and taking their loot.
It's the game.
If you see a spy, tell people, so they can go fight it.
If you actually read what my post, you'd see that I already addressed your "counter point". Holding a spy for treason and taking them out of existence is part of war also. Lots of times spies are killed by the government they were spying on. Banning the account from PvP activities or the game itself is the same thing as deleting the person in real life.
You argument doesn't hold water at all.
Taking them out of things WHILE IN THE GAME. Not in real life. Dude. You can't penalise someone from playing a game by the rules of the game, by banning them from the game.
Have players able to shove them in some cell they have to crack a code to get out of, or something IN GAME. Or, just fight them yourself instead of trying to get zos to stop them for you.
But you can't seriously think irl actions are appropriate for in game playing, that's within the rules.4 -
Ei8htba11✭✭✭✭✭How exactly do you prove that a member of your team is spying for the other side? Should ZoS start spying om Discord chat?
I don't PvP often, but your suggestion confuses me. If they're using multiple accounts as mentioned above, maybe you can catch them but a single player feeding info to the opposite team via a completely separate app?
Not gonna work, for lots of reasons0 -
YffresTrill✭✭✭✭It sure is a crazy take wanting people literally banned from the game for playing differently than one likes. I got a chuckle out of this, thank you.
@ Yffre'sTrill - PC/EU (No Steam)4 -
Sylosi✭✭✭✭✭
✭You are playing a game mode where:
- each team has a different number of players.
- you have new players vs players with thousands of hours.
- casuals vs tryhards.
- 16 year olds vs 60 year olds.
- there is no matchmaking, so you can stack one faction not just in terms of numbers, but in terms of experienced / tryhard players.
- it is three way, so is fundamentally broken as a PvP mode.
- it is 24/7 so people can just PvDoor when the other teams have no one / very few on.
- you get nothing of value for "winning".
Hence no one that is sensible cares about "spying", because as a competitive (or even functioning) PvP mode Cyrodiil is beyond laughable, which makes "winning" meaningless.
Edited by Sylosi on 11 August 2026 10:362 -
SerafinaWaterstar✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭Are there really people sad enough to livestream or share zone chat with other alliances, just to have a slight advantage when running around Cyrodiil?
That’s a whole new level of desperation. And hope they enjoy the absolute idiocy of the zone chat in PSEU AD. Some vaguely tactical, but a lot just having fun. Or telling people to go to 3 different places. (Getting AD to do anything together is like herding cats).
With regards to the OP, no. Banning someone for spying? Bit of an overreaction. Perhaps discuss on an out of game media, like Discord, to a least give them a chance of self defence.0 -
Goregram1✭✭✭Umbracat449 wrote: »If this is a wargame, and scouting and spying is part of war, you can't ban a player for doing gaming things. That's like banning a player for killing another player and taking their loot.
It's the game.
If you see a spy, tell people, so they can go fight it.
spys get shot when caught u know2 -
SeaGtGruff✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I often get up and go AFK just after queuing into IC from Cyrodiil, to go grab a coffee, attend to a cat, take a bio break, etc. If I was running around in the sewers and got killed, releasing will plop me down in the area by the banker and ladders, and I may need to go AFK while standing there. If I'm going to have to start worrying about being falsely reported as a spy because of a few overly-suspicious players in my own alliance, then that's just stupid and insane. And I gotta tell you, as a "true blue" PvPer who hates red and yellow with a passion (in PvP), there is no bleeping way I would ever feed information to those sides. They go out of their way to home in on me and kill me every chance they get, even if there are dozens of other blues around. If you think I'm ever going to do anything to help their sides, you're out of your freaking mind.I've fought mudcrabs more fearsome than me!1 -
L_Nici✭✭✭✭✭
✭I would actually like an ingame mechanic like that. No report to ZOS or anything, but an ingame system to bring down spies, that would be fun.PC|EU1
