Harassment in Area Voice Chat (unable to mute or filter)

dashx73

Hello Zenimax Online,
My name is Dash X73 I'm an Xbox Ambassador and enjoy the Elder Scrolls Series on Xbox, and have recently begin to play Online.

While traveling throughout Tamriel I have discovered the Area Voice chat and the abusive, bullying, harassment, profane language and behavior that takes place frequently in some specific areas in the game. ( The Vampire and Werewolf shrines, on all Alliance sides)

I have been specifically hanging out in the daggerfall covenant side of things monitoring the chat and recording the behavior that takes place. Many users loiter in these areas and engage in profane language and behavior encouraging others to participate without expecting any consequences. I have also been monitoring players attempt to sell "vampire and werewolf" bites for in game currency or services, while this may not be a violation of the code of conduct of Xbox many of the behavior surrounding these sales /scams are.

Over the last two days I have found the following gamertags to be harassing, bullying, using profane language and specifically violating the Xbox Code of Conducts policy on harassment and voice and communications:
*many users have even gone as far as changing their gamertags to avoid being reported, or receiving negative feedback.


Here is a quote of Xbox Live Code of Conduct States that players who play on the service,.

- Do not harass, abuse, bully, spam, scream at, threaten or stalk other users or encourage other players to do so.
- It further states that players should create content that other users may be offended by,
This includes without limitation, anything related to or suggestive of:
Profane Words or Phrases, Topics or content of a sexual nature, hate speech, illegal drugs or controlled substances, illegal activities, controversial religious topics, notorious people or organizations, sensitive current or historical events, any "sound-alike" or "lookalike" words, phrases, or puns that reference these topics.

You can read the rest of the code of conduct here - http://www.xbox.com/en-us/legal/codeofconduct

I have passed by reports to the Enforcement team of Xbox Live, but wanted to also make a post here to discourage others from continuing in this abusive behavior in the Area Voice channel of the Elder Scrolls Online.

[Moderator Note: Edited per our rules on Naming and SHaming]

dashx73

I have passed my reports onto the Xbox Enforcement team but wanted to also leave a post here to discourage others from continuing in this behavior.

Turv3y

Use the report feature on your xbox one. Being an ambassador you would think YOU of all people would follow the proper way of reporting someone. But apparently you think it makes you special. Get over it. Selling in game stuff for in game money is part of this game. Get over it. People can change their gamertags all they want it won't stop your report from going against their login for their account.

dashx73

The in game user reporting feature on Xbox one gives me the error, "unable to submit report" please try again later. I was advised by Microsoft support staff to make a post on the forums. As I stated earlier this is a public post to state there will be consequences for profane behavior in area chat, and to discourage others from continuing in this behavior. It is not specifically about buying or selling bites or attempting to scam others out of in game currency of elder scrolls online. Enforcement teams have been notified specially in regard to the violations of Xbox code of conduct and consequences will follow.

And yes as an Xbox Ambassador, and Twitch streamer and veteran gamer I would like think I am at least a little special

Pman85

As an ambassador, you should be helping people with their problems, not breaking the rules on other forums about something that surely isnt new to you.

dashx73 wrote: »

And yes as an Xbox Ambassador, and Twitch streamer and veteran gamer I would like think I am at least a little special

..................are you going to be the first "ambassador" to get banned from these forums? #popcorn

anywho, seems like a lot of players need help on the xbox forums. You know, needing help from all those "special" ambassadors.

I was thinking about linking to what an Ambassador to Xbox is supposed to be, but I dont think I will. I feel like being nice today.



SOMEONE TELL THIS AMBASSADOR HOW TO LEAVE VOICE CHAT. The "helper" need help!

Dragoe

This is kind of funny...

I'm assuming you're trying to beg for a free vampire or werewolf bite and people are trying to sell them and you're taking offense to that? Or people don't want to listen to begging within the vicinity of the shrines and trash talking is ensuing? Either way I don't think I would consider it harassment unless certain players are specifically being targeted. As in they're doing more than just talking to each other, like spamming invites, or sending hate mail thru the games mail etc.

I don't really think the role of the "Xbox Ambassador" is intended to be out there monitoring players bad language. It's more to assist new players on the forums, answering simple support questions, i.e. tech support that Microsoft can pay in avatar item unlocks.

I would imagine that you're getting an error in trying to report because the report function has been way overused and they are blocking future frivolous reports. Nonetheless I would say that posting of the individuals gamertags could be considered an act of bullying. Essentially you're calling them out on a public forum for not playing the game the way you want them to play it, or the way you think it should be played. Which apparently the way you think it should be played is by standing around for hours eavesdropping and telling the teacher.

Also, there's nothing wrong with selling bites, they're probably up towards 10-20k in value right now. Going out and rushing to get infected to sell bites is no different from going out and farming crafting materials or motifs and selling them.

But yes congratulations on applying to be an Xbox Ambassador and doing free labor for Microsoft. Also I'm in complete awe that you are a Twitch streamer, I imagine only the top 3% elite xbox players can earn the honor of Twitch streaming as a "Veteran Gamer". Can I please have your autograph?

xoxo

[Moderator Note: Edited per our rules on Trolling & Baiting]

slandshark_ESO

Pretty sure name and shaming is against the rules on this forum. As an ambassador it's probably embarrassing to be breaking such a blatant rule (which like 99% of forums on the internet share).

Also, nothing you've mentioned in your post sounds like it's against any rules anyway.

starlizard70ub17_ESO

Whoever from Xbox support that told you to name and shame in this forum was wrong. Maybe they meant for you to post in Microsoft's forum. In any event, none of the other player's activities you'd posted about, violates ESO's ToS. However your naming and shaming of other players, does violate ESO's ToS.

ThePeskyCrow

I don't know about this naming and shaming business but everyone should be able to use area chat without worry about being harassed none of this if you don't like it don't use it business. We had a guy in Dominion NA playing *** loudly his kinect was picking it up. While for the most part we are all adults here and some may be more mature then others. Not everyone appreciated hearing your crap though kinects/mics. On a side note please mute your mics whe not in use. No one wants to hear you argue with your spouse or your kid/pets/illness/weird damn sounds/ghost of the guy who lived in your house before you/ Music of all varities. This happens in Guild Group Area and even Party Chats.

In Short Mute Your Mics When Not In Use Please! :v

SirAndy

Pman85 wrote: »

#popcorn

@Pman85
Here you go:

AlexDelta

ESO wouldn't be ESO without people trying to sell vampire and werewolf bites. Just saying.

DoubleShot27

i understand were your coming from but dam man i think you take videos games to seriously

dashx73

The replies to this post clearly show the bullying and rallying nature of harassment and personal attacking of others in the community, and yes I do take it seriously, it is a public space and harassment of others isn't tolerated at work, school, or even on the internet, or video game. You are behind a computer screen and think you can do and say as you please but I assure you there will be consequences to your actions.

dashx73

ThePeskyCrow wrote: »

I don't know about this naming and shaming business but everyone should be able to use area chat without worry about being harassed none of this if you don't like it don't use it business. We had a guy in Dominion NA playing *** loudly his kinect was picking it up. While for the most part we are all adults here and some may be more mature then others. Not everyone appreciated hearing your crap though kinects/mics. On a side note please mute your mics whe not in use. No one wants to hear you argue with your spouse or your kid/pets/illness/weird damn sounds/ghost of the guy who lived in your house before you/ Music of all varities. This happens in Guild Group Area and even Party Chats.

In Short Mute Your Mics When Not In Use Please! :v

Many of those people whos gamertags I had listed for harassing others have now come to the forums to publicly mock attack the topic poster and further harass because their name was listed. Mockery is another form of harassment and regardless if they think its name and shaming.

dashx73

slandshark_ESO wrote: »

Pretty sure name and shaming is against the rules on this forum. As an ambassador it's probably embarrassing to be breaking such a blatant rule (which like 99% of forums on the internet share).

Also, nothing you've mentioned in your post sounds like it's against any rules anyway.

Mockery of others is another form of harassment

dashx73

Dragoe wrote: »

This is kind of funny... and I really can't tell if its trolling or if the guy is serious.

I'm assuming you're trying to beg for a free vampire or werewolf bite and people are trying to sell them and you're taking offense to that? Or people don't want to listen to begging within the vicinity of the shrines and trash talking is ensuing? Either way I don't think I would consider it harassment unless certain players are specifically being targeted. As in they're doing more than just talking to each other, like spamming invites, or sending hate mail thru the games mail etc.

I don't really think the role of the "Xbox Ambassador" is intended to be out there monitoring players bad language. It's more to assist new players on the forums, answering simple support questions, i.e. tech support that Microsoft can pay in avatar item unlocks.

I would imagine that you're getting an error in trying to report because the report function has been way overused and they are blocking future frivolous reports. Nonetheless I would say that posting of the individuals gamertags could be considered an act of bullying. Essentially you're calling them out on a public forum for not playing the game the way you want them to play it, or the way you think it should be played. Which apparently the way you think it should be played is by standing around for hours eavesdropping and telling the teacher.

Also, there's nothing wrong with selling bites, they're probably up towards 10-20k in value right now. Going out and rushing to get infected to sell bites is no different from going out and farming crafting materials or motifs and selling them.

But yes congratulations on applying to be an Xbox Ambassador and doing free labor for Microsoft. Also I'm in complete awe that you are a Twitch streamer, I imagine only the top 3% elite xbox players can earn the honor of Twitch streaming as a "Veteran Gamer". Can I please have your autograph?

xoxo

Mockery of others is another form of harassment

dashx73

starlizard70ub17_ESO wrote: »

Whoever from Xbox support that told you to name and shame in this forum was wrong. Maybe they meant for you to post in Microsoft's forum. In any event, none of the other player's activities you'd posted about, violates ESO's ToS. However your naming and shaming of other players, does violate ESO's ToS.

Mockery of others is another form of harassment

ngillan

You find it offensive and I find it funny. That is why I'm a happier person than you.

xaraan

I never got complaining about cussing on a mature game. XBox terms may be different, but you aren't on their servers, which is probably why they referred you to ZoS to deal with it. The harassment is what I'd be concerned about, but watching what you quote in the thread and label as harassment worries me that you aren't being very accurate with that either.

But at least the text zone chat on PC lets you filter out some of that and ignore people. Dealing with this stuff using voice only might suck a bit more - can you put those players on ignore and then not hear them? Seems like if you could, that would solve it right there.

side note: It does not break the ToS to sell vampire/ww bites (it's pretty normal actually).

Again, I didn't see many specifics in your post to describe the harassment, but there is a difference between what you view as harassment and what legally is harassment - because many people have many different thresholds for what is harassing behavior. I'd hope you are focused on what is legally harassing and not your own beliefs or opinions on what is harassing. But that's how I feel, you do your thing.

Dragoe

Just let this thread die its kind of getting sad.

dashx73

xaraan wrote: »

I never got complaining about cussing on a mature game. XBox terms may be different, but you aren't on their servers, which is probably why they referred you to ZoS to deal with it. The harassment is what I'd be concerned about, but watching what you quote in the thread and label as harassment worries me that you aren't being very accurate with that either.

But at least the text zone chat on PC lets you filter out some of that and ignore people. Dealing with this stuff using voice only might suck a bit more - can you put those players on ignore and then not hear them? Seems like if you could, that would solve it right there.

side note: It does not break the ToS to sell vampire/ww bites (it's pretty normal actually).

Again, I didn't see many specifics in your post to describe the harassment, but there is a difference between what you view as harassment and what legally is harassment - because many people have many different thresholds for what is harassing behavior. I'd hope you are focused on what is legally harassing and not your own beliefs or opinions on what is harassing. But that's how I feel, you do your thing.

All games played on Xbox live are including servers for these games are subject to Xbox's cod. The players found to be harassing others as defined by the code of conduct, even vulgar language is not tolerated regardless of the rating of the game. This was never about selling or buying items in game it was merely about the Xbox's community inability to communicate in public voice channels in a mature and constructive way. "players Yelling profanity repeatedly , over a public channel that can't be muted is not something I want to have in the games I play on Xbox, and currently there is no way to mute these players. Even blocking their gamertag on Xbox still doesn't prevent them from continuing in a vulgar or harassing way in the in game voice channel, and the players can still be heard. I didn't go into all of the specifics of what was going on in the voice channel, but it included repeated use of sexual slang, in coordination with emotes to act out these sexual behaviors, as well as selling of "sexual favors" drugs or other illegal and profane transactions, even in mockery. There was also racism based upon perceived nationality based on tone of voice, and racist slurs slang, and threats of violence. Then bullying and attacks based on age and gender of players who were deemed female, or children. One player repeatedly yelled the n word, while another screamed f her right in the female sexual organ. *word replaced but I think you get the idea, all of these them set the tone of the voice chat and everyone just seems to escalate the profanity and profane behavior as more and more of these "communications" occur. There has been arrests in the past and legal action taken because of similar interactions in games like call of duty, and I think players need to understand how they communicate in a video game with others has some rules even if the experience is not rated.

dashx73

Dragoe wrote: »

Just let this thread die its kind of getting sad.

This is a serious issue and it needs to be given proper attention.

Pman85

xaraan wrote: »

The harassment is what I'd be concerned about, but watching what you quote in the thread and label as harassment worries me that you aren't being very accurate with that either.

This..

dashx73 wrote: »

All games played on Xbox live are including servers for these games are subject to Xbox's cod. The players found to be harassing others as defined by the code of conduct, even vulgar language is not tolerated regardless of the rating of the game. This was never about selling or buying items in game it was merely about the Xbox's community inability to communicate in public voice channels in a mature and constructive way. "players Yelling profanity repeatedly , over a public channel that can't be muted is not something I want to have in the games I play on Xbox, and currently there is no way to mute these players. Even blocking their gamertag on Xbox still doesn't prevent them from continuing in a vulgar or harassing way in the in game voice channel, and the players can still be heard. I didn't go into all of the specifics of what was going on in the voice channel, but it included repeated use of sexual slang, in coordination with emotes to act out these sexual behaviors, as well as selling of "sexual favors" drugs or other illegal and profane transactions, even in mockery. There was also racism based upon perceived nationality based on tone of voice, and racist slurs slang, and threats of violence. Then bullying and attacks based on age and gender of players who were deemed female, or children. One player repeatedly yelled the n word, while another screamed f her right in the female sexual organ. *word replaced but I think you get the idea, all of these them set the tone of the voice chat and everyone just seems to escalate the profanity and profane behavior as more and more of these "communications" occur. There has been arrests in the past and legal action taken because of similar interactions in games like call of duty, and I think players need to understand how they communicate in a video game with others has some rules even if the experience is not rated.

No way to mute players? Surely as an ambassador for xbox you know what a gamer card is. Blocking their gamer tag isn't the same as muting them. Blocking them works, but not when you are already with them, once again, this ambassador thing is looking rather suspect. If you block them, the next time you encounter them, you will have no communication. This is the way it has always worked. Blocking communication isnt instant with voice chat, muting is.

Here is another idea, double tap the home button (you know what that is being an ambassador right?) and hit X. You can record the last 30 seconds of any game play on the xbox. I bet you didnt forward that to the "Xbox Harrassment Enforcement Team" did you?

Arrests in the past for communication over a video game? The supreme court just ruled that even comments on facebook are free speech. All you talk about are legal actions and how these players will get what is coming to them.. is that a threat...from an ambassador of the xbox community? Come on maaaaaaan.

Just let this thread die. There isnt anything you can do about it. I guess you werent around when Xbox was in an actual legal battle over this. There is no way they could regulate the voice chat, so there is nothing that they took action with.

If I may, how old are you?

Dragoe

This whole post is BS. I watched about 10 minutes of a prerecorded twitch stream you have. Linking to the video isn't working but if you go to his profile on Twitch go to Past Broadcasts. Watch the one titled Vampire and go to 6:46:00 and watch a few minutes from there. He goes to the wayshrine near the ritual site and says "Time to go make some money." Then runs over to the ritual site and spams chat laughing and going "who wants it." Then he runs what he calls a live auction.

His whole original premise is that people are breaking TOS by selling bites and calling them scams and then complains people are using "naughty language". It looks like he has multiple prerecorded videos where he's hanging out there. But the 10 minutes or so I watched he's yelling on area "I'M STARTING THE VAMPIRE BIDS AT 10K! I HEAR 10K DO I HEAR 20K? I AM LIVE ON TWITCH DOT TV SLASH DASH X SEVEN THREE" just constantly repeating that.

His twitch feed doesn't pick up what other people are saying but you can see names pop up so obviously people are talking. He responds with "stop harassing me. I've told you twice now. Stop harassing me or I will report you to enforcement services. YOU ARE HARASSING ME. I'm reporting you right now." Then goes on to tell people he's an Xbox Ambassador, and to go look at his profile. Obviously trying to abuse the name of Xbox Ambassador to try to make people believe that he has some power in Microsoft.

Then he starts yelling "Anyone else want to be reported?"

Dashx73 people like you are the reason why support takes so long because they have to wade thru all the frivolous reports before they can get to the real ones. And you also give both Microsoft and their legitimate Ambassadors a bad name by flaunting it like you have some sort of power.

Dragoe

And then I watched a few minutes from another video titled #xbox vampire bites. Looks like I was correct, he runs around going "Can you please bite me? Can you bite me? Bite me please? Caaaaaan sooooommmeeeonnneee pleeeaaseee biiiteee meeeeeeeeeee?" Also the gross one of "Can you bite me I'll give you a kiss?" which he follows up with extremely loud kissing noises that seriously made me cringe. He kept flaunting the fact that he's a twitch streamer and if someone bites him they'll be on youtube and be famous.

Total chat spammer that I would imagine is on hundreds of people's ignore and block list. Just utterly pathetic, I'm done spending anymore time on this as this guy is just depressing.

NotSo

Nevermind watching the stream, the op is cringeworthy on its own.

Pman85

Dragoe wrote: »

Dashx73 people like you are the reason why support takes so long because they have to wade thru all the frivolous reports before they can get to the real ones. And you also give both Microsoft and their legitimate Ambassadors a bad name by flaunting it like you have some sort of power.

this my friend... is probably the truest words on this thread

Heathenpride

NotSo wrote: »

Nevermind watching the stream, the op is cringeworthy on its own.

Not just the OP, he also ripped out not a double post, not a triple or quadruple post but a VERY rare quintuple post... That's enough for a whack with the banhammer on more than one forum!!

@dashx73 lift your game son, you're making yourself look bad.

hotol71

i don't know where the issue is... I never use the Area chat, always the first i switched off.. Why? A lot of people have a kinect and play with the default settings, means -> Kinect is on and is sending stuff out if available.

So the first day's i played ESO i got people eating chips, watching xxx Movies, crying babys or crying babys where the mom is eating chips (combo bonus), people talking together in what ever language (in the room and not the ESO Area), people open a beer, people getting angry if they fight as level 10 agains a level 20 enemy group and die (..a couple of times). So on every hot spot (cities, shrines and so on) per default: Area chat off.

Nobody is forced to listen to this...

Can i be ironic a little bit.. Xbox Ambassador? Should i know this? I got my first Xbox 2003 than i moved to Xbox 360 and now iam on Xbox One (and still have all generations). In 12 Years no Xbox Ambassador provided me any support so it seams to be only a "nice" title for none paid work or what ever. So please unterstand that you will not get "respect" for free or only for a simple title... I don't unterstand the stress...

Cheers
Michael

Pman85

Turv3y

Sad day when someone thinks being in a community program whom anyone with an xbox gamertag can be a part of and streaming on twitch makes them special. Kid has to be 15-17, Trying way too hard for no reason like people think he's saving the day.

PS: Open a party = no more in game voices