Ignoring a player should make your messages invisible to them

ThePrinceOfBargains

Who cares? I’ll never understand the use of the ignore function period. Just type “lol” and move on. It’s not that big of a deal. Especially if you do decide to ignore them. Why would you care if some idiot is still talking crap after they’ve been ignored?

idk

Your ignoring them. It's not the other way around.

Even in other games you can still see messages of those that have you ok ignore. No reason ESO should be different.

ViciousBunnii

I have to agree with this. When I cut someone out of my life, they don't hear from me, period. Why should it be any different in a game?

Belegnole

Take screen shots of what's being said and post it on Twitter if nothing is done. Considering the current climate around harassment I guarantee something will happen.

cbdfarm

Even though this year is a year old, and guys brought it back to life, I wouldnt mind this feature. I block so many dumb ass COD trolls that friends end up saying "he charges too much" etc and continue trolling after being blocked. Blocking really needs to go both ways so that player never sees what you type again and you never see them again.

Balamoor

Belegnole wrote: »

Take screen shots of what's being said and post it on Twitter if nothing is done. Considering the current climate around harassment I guarantee something will happen.

That was tried in my friends case and didn't work, but who knows given the focus on harassment this week.

zyk

The ignore function isn't a restraining order or a tool to keep someone 'out of your life'. It is a function that mimics the option we have in real life to tune someone out if we don't want to read or hear what they have to say.

Zone chat and public forums are akin to any public place where people may gather such as, for example, a cafeteria. You may choose to tune someone out, but you can't control what they talk about and you can't prevent them from hearing what you have to say. If you don't want them to hear what you have to say, you have the option to whisper, stay silent or go somewhere else. People are allowed to respond to what you say publicly, even if you choose not to hear it and/or don't want them to.

Ignore is not a function to prevent harassment. It is, at best, a deescalation tool. Furthermore, just because one feels harassed does not mean the other parties involved are guilty of harassment. Like any accusation of wrong-doing, it must be adjudicated by someone who has authority over the space. In the case of ESO, that's ZOS customer service staff and possibly the legal system.

The problem with a two-way ignore is that it gives you power that you should not have over another individual. You cannot and should not be able to unilaterally impede another person's ability to participate in a public discussion. You can choose to opt out, but you cannot choose to opt them out.

Personally, all of my ignores are short term. My list is usually empty. I use it as a tool to end private conversations I do not wish to continue at that time.

notimetocare

Epona222 wrote: »

notimetocare wrote: »

You could also grow some thick skins... I know this is a dead concept these days but it really works. Words got as much power as you give them.

Buy also, you cant see it so does it really matter? Is knowing that harmful?

The other concept that seems dead these days is basic manners - I keep seeing people saying get a thicker skin, but a bit of basic politeness and behaving in ways that wouldn't shame your parents and grandparents is also called for.

Id love every one to be polite. That isnt realistic. What hurts one person's feelings and offends them is highly subjective. People are much better served by gaining thick skin then pretending that we can make everybody nice

notimetocare

kissesandbunnies wrote: »

I have to agree with this. When I cut someone out of my life, they don't hear from me, period. Why should it be any different in a game?

Not close to true. Easy for people to see what u say irl

notimetocare

Balamoor wrote: »

Belegnole wrote: »

Take screen shots of what's being said and post it on Twitter if nothing is done. Considering the current climate around harassment I guarantee something will happen.

That was tried in my friends case and didn't work, but who knows given the focus on harassment this week.

That is a poor solution that is quite similar to what harassers do... Lol

notimetocare

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

Woeler wrote: »

LOL all these thick skin comments. You are totally missing the point of this topic. I'm suggesting a change to the ignore system based on my experiences with it. In all honesty, reporting does not help at all. A friend of mine has received death threats from another user and those were sent to ZOS with screenshots and all the information. Nothing happened. I'm asking for one of two things. A ) Actually do something with the reports or B ) Make ignore work 2 ways. Either will most likely solve almost all problems.

I'm not crying in my bed because this person is writing *** lol. I'm annoyed by the fact that people I have blocked are still able to see everything I write. This is the same nonsense that I can block person X so he can't whisper me, but I can still whisper person X. This does not make sense at all.

Welcome to the internet. You shouldn't be able to avoid the consequences of your behavior IRL, and you can only do it so much here.

The system we have in place now usually works the way it does because completely altering it is usually more trouble than it's worth, on top of all the ethicanl questions of 'should we block your chat to them and hamper their ability to respond to what you say, thus restricting their speech'. It's worked for generations.

ZOS's response team should do alot more things, and the death threats are horrible, yeah. And they need consequences. But based on your annoyance alone? Your annoyance, is not enough to justify the speech law violation, which ZOS has to uphold. (I believe since their a US company their game abides by US law. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.)

To an extent. They can violate free speech on their forums and ingame all they like. You agreed to such. But it is a fine line where they will and won't.

notimetocare

ParaNostram wrote: »

SisterGoat wrote: »

Usually there are 2 sides of the story when somebody goes out of their way to harass someone like that. I'm not saying it's okay to harass, but you also need to be careful not walk into situations that may provoke bad people like that. Take precautions, limit your use of zone chat, where everyone can see what you typed. You need to create your OWN safe space at what you have available to you. If all else fails, make use of the report function.

I wouldn't say usually. I mean everyone always likes to think they're in the right but friend you wouldn't believe some of the things that can happen to some people for just existing. There gaming community, and this community in particular (though nowhere near as bad as shooters) have rampant problems with racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia. It's embedded even into a lot of the language (I.E. using words such as "gay" as a negative descriptor).

You my friend need to learn why certain insult are used. Most 'x-ists' on the internet use those insults because they are effective on the target not because they actually are that type of bigot (side note: being gay I have never cared about how the word is used. It is up to the individual to be offended by the term)

Jpk0012

Thicker skin isn't the solution. Acting like you are in a public place with common sense and decency is. Anything less is not tolerable by a majority of players.

A lot of us come to unwind here, and we are good people. We don't need those with no self-control to ruin our time with diarrhea of the mouth.

Nerouyn

I can appreciate why the OP wants this but I can also see how it could be abused.

Some nasty piece of *** puts the person they intend to abuse on their ignore list, then go to town on them in zone chat. Their victim never hears the abuse and chances are good that no-one else will bother to report it.

Truly I sympathise and I've been on the receiving end of nastiness like this but report them, except ZO to do absolutely nothing about it, add them to your ignore list, and put them out of your mind.

Karma will do its thing. This kind of *** is immediately bad for ZO. Arsehats spewing hateful rubbish in zone chat makes the community seem toxic and unwelcoming and that will cost them money.

Elusiin

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

Fine the way it is. Dont *** people off if you dont wanna deal with the consequences.

You mean by calling out someone for being racist, homophobic, sexist, etc. And then being harassed by 90% of the community for being a decent human being? Ignore should block communication bidirectionally, and reporting people for being bigoted donkeys should also DO SOMETHING.

Elusiin

Cinbri wrote: »

Also please increase ignore list limit.

Or ZOS could do something about players who make crude remarks in zone chat when people use report... I don't know, maybe ban their account, or at the very least mute them(do not allow them to use chat altogether for a period of time).

Balamoor

DanteMR1995 wrote: »

Cinbri wrote: »

Also please increase ignore list limit.

Or ZOS could do something about players who make crude remarks in zone chat when people use report... I don't know, maybe ban their account, or at the very least mute them(do not allow them to use chat altogether for a period of time).

Yeah that is what baffles me.

Arenanet and Square Enix (With SE a forum ban equals a in game ban) will ban you in very public very brutal ways, the payoff are the two most welcoming friendly communities. ZoS for whatever reason just looks the other way while someone is being harassed. It's like living in a virtual New York City.

Nerouyn

Balamoor wrote: »

Yeah that is what baffles me.

Arenanet and Square Enix (With SE a forum ban equals a in game ban) will ban you in very public very brutal ways, the payoff are the two most welcoming friendly communities. ZoS for whatever reason just looks the other way while someone is being harassed. It's like living in a virtual New York City.

I have seen this in one other game, Horizons / Istaria. Back in its early days they were so desperate for subscribers that they'd just let them say or do anything. All public channels were prone to being extremely toxic.

Maybe ESO's public chat arsehats are subscribers and / or big spenders in the crown store.

Doctordarkspawn

notimetocare wrote: »

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

Woeler wrote: »

LOL all these thick skin comments. You are totally missing the point of this topic. I'm suggesting a change to the ignore system based on my experiences with it. In all honesty, reporting does not help at all. A friend of mine has received death threats from another user and those were sent to ZOS with screenshots and all the information. Nothing happened. I'm asking for one of two things. A ) Actually do something with the reports or B ) Make ignore work 2 ways. Either will most likely solve almost all problems.

I'm not crying in my bed because this person is writing *** lol. I'm annoyed by the fact that people I have blocked are still able to see everything I write. This is the same nonsense that I can block person X so he can't whisper me, but I can still whisper person X. This does not make sense at all.

Welcome to the internet. You shouldn't be able to avoid the consequences of your behavior IRL, and you can only do it so much here.

The system we have in place now usually works the way it does because completely altering it is usually more trouble than it's worth, on top of all the ethicanl questions of 'should we block your chat to them and hamper their ability to respond to what you say, thus restricting their speech'. It's worked for generations.

ZOS's response team should do alot more things, and the death threats are horrible, yeah. And they need consequences. But based on your annoyance alone? Your annoyance, is not enough to justify the speech law violation, which ZOS has to uphold. (I believe since their a US company their game abides by US law. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.)

To an extent. They can violate free speech on their forums and ingame all they like. You agreed to such. But it is a fine line where they will and won't.

I'm going to bring this thread up again to say this:

There are intentionally ambiguous parts of ZOS's terms of service that they leave intentionally vague. They do this so that they can enforce them when they need to, and drop it when they dont.

Currently, that's been geting flack with recent incidents such as a banning that's happening in the Magic the Gathering community, and people shining a light on unreasonibly vague TOS. But until something happens to shift the TOS, expect this behavior more and more. We 'agreed to such' yes but ZOS wont ever enforce it, because it opens up a bigger legal can of worms.

Doctordarkspawn

DanteMR1995 wrote: »

Doctordarkspawn wrote: »

Fine the way it is. Dont *** people off if you dont wanna deal with the consequences.

You mean by calling out someone for being racist, homophobic, sexist, etc. And then being harassed by 90% of the community for being a decent human being? Ignore should block communication bidirectionally, and reporting people for being bigoted donkeys should also DO SOMETHING.

You could also be a complete *** and get told to go suck it every day for the rest of your life.

The street is two way. And 'bigot' is subjective, exempting extreme circumstance. Offensive is never given, friend. Consider not taking it, once and a while.

Elsonso

Jpk0012 wrote: »

Thicker skin isn't the solution. Acting like you are in a public place with common sense and decency is. Anything less is not tolerable by a majority of players.

A lot of us come to unwind here, and we are good people. We don't need those with no self-control to ruin our time with diarrhea of the mouth.

A carry-over from the libertarian era of the 1950's is a simple set of rules that I think a lot of our modern society could learn from. Today, it is best reflected in the phrase, "can't we all just get along", but it is really more than that. It is simply not caring what other people say and do, when they say or do something that they shouldn't, and when it doesn't really affect us one way or another.

Don't offend, and don't be too easily offended.

Our culture seems to take offense at everything, and spends an inordinate amount of time governing and nurturing that offense.

We could certainly do worse than to have "thicker skin" when it comes to what others say in Zone chat.

Nerouyn wrote: »

Balamoor wrote: »

Yeah that is what baffles me.

Arenanet and Square Enix (With SE a forum ban equals a in game ban) will ban you in very public very brutal ways, the payoff are the two most welcoming friendly communities. ZoS for whatever reason just looks the other way while someone is being harassed. It's like living in a virtual New York City.

I have seen this in one other game, Horizons / Istaria. Back in its early days they were so desperate for subscribers that they'd just let them say or do anything. All public channels were prone to being extremely toxic.

Maybe ESO's public chat arsehats are subscribers and / or big spenders in the crown store.

Personally, I don't really care for totalitarian regimes running the games. The studios mentioned above sound like they effectively deal with things, but that is only a good thing when something bad is actually happening and the person gets banned. Things are not always black and white, and enforcement people in Studios make mistakes just like people playing the game. While I am sure that a lot of the people banned by those companies deserve it, I do feel sorry for the ones that should not have been banned. I am sure they are out there.

I actually prefer the approach that ZOS takes. At least, in theory. Not so much in practice.

While ZOS says that they will immediately ban people for certain things, this is not the standard procedure for everything. They do like to do a "three strikes" thing where they start with a warning, then move to a suspension, and end with a ban. They also have an appeals process for most of their actions which allows for any corrections to be made.

In practice, there are frustrating things about how ZOS handles stuff.

More specific to this discussion, they depend on reports for most social and in-game issues. This means that unless someone is reported, and in the proper numbers for what they are being reported for, ZOS will not take action. Someone who was warned or suspended, but continues to do it, might not get banned until someone reports them. Again. From the perspective of the people who are reporting, it appears that ZOS does nothing. In fact, ZOS might be doing something, but we cannot tell. ZOS needs to follow up and monitor people when they are warned or suspended for social (chat) infractions.

While I use the term "ZOS" here, in fact, it looks like Bethesda has taken over support from ZOS. All the email I get back when I report a bot now comes from "The Elder Scrolls Online Team" at "Bethesda Support". I don't know if ToS enforcement goes back to ZOS to be handled, but I wouldn't be surprised if Bethesda handles it. I use the term "ZOS" because it is shorter and more immediately recognized as being on target.

PS4_ZeColmeia

people actually read zone chat?

A_G_G_R_O

My favorite someone ignores you and goes into offline mode.

Can still whisper you.... lol wut

Rohaus

Honestly, if you message someone and you have them blocked OR you are Offline... the person should be able to message you back.

If you are too skurd to read what someone has to say to you... then you shouldn't be messaging them to begin with.

I can't count the number of times someone from an opposing faction messages me talking smack and yet they are either offline or they have blocked me before messaging me. Cowards.

newtinmpls

Nerouyn wrote: »

I can appreciate why the OP wants this but I can also see how it could be abused.

Some nasty piece of *** puts the person they intend to abuse on their ignore list, then go to town on them in zone chat. Their victim never hears the abuse and chances are good that no-one else will bother to report it..

This is the problem. If all public harassment was reported by all who saw it, I think that problems like this would be solved much faster.

Isn't there a saying about evil flourishes if the good do nothing?

Prof_Bawbag

Rohaus wrote: »

Honestly, if you message someone and you have them blocked OR you are Offline... the person should be able to message you back.

If you are too skurd to read what someone has to say to you... then you shouldn't be messaging them to begin with.

I can't count the number of times someone from an opposing faction messages me talking smack and yet they are either offline or they have blocked me before messaging me. Cowards.

I wouldn't really say they're cowards, just how it is nowadays with the "must get the last word in" mentality that is rife on the net and in MP games. You see it so many, many times on here too. People who were morally in the right to begin with end up losing all credibility and being no better than the baboons they are arguing with all because they have to get the last word in. We've all been guilty of it. It's actually embarrassing looking back on some of the little spats I've had.

The best part about it, you're doing it to save face, yet no one will remember you or the argument you had 5 seconds after the event never mind 5 mins after the event. Hell, you'll even forget it come the next day.

Ostacia

Maybe say something like, "Thanks to those of you relaying what X is saying but it'd be much more helpful if you'd report them instead."

newtinmpls

Wintergreen wrote: »

Maybe say something like, "Thanks to those of you relaying what X is saying but it'd be much more helpful if you'd report them instead."

excellent!!!

jaschacasadiob16_ESO

starkerealm wrote: »

Here's the thing, if someone annoys you, or you don't want to see what they say... that's what ignore's for.
If someone is harassing you constantly in chat, that's what the report function is for.

But if you report someone you only get a standard email suggesting you to block the player.

Elsonso

jaschacasadiob16_ESO wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

Here's the thing, if someone annoys you, or you don't want to see what they say... that's what ignore's for.
If someone is harassing you constantly in chat, that's what the report function is for.

But if you report someone you only get a standard email suggesting you to block the player.

Actually, I think that if you report someone for harassment, the game now automatically adds that person to your ignore list for you. (The report is still sent, though)