Social Bans--I do not play ESO to be frustrated. I play to have fun.

Argleblaster

After having been a paying member of ESO since beta ended, I have finally given up my ESO+ membership.

Eight days ago our guild won our trader back in Mournhold. Since we were going to be in an expensive bidding war to maintain the trader, I used MailR (an add-on) to send out a guild-wide mail encouraging everyone to stock up their stores. I am sure that I encouraged my fellow guildees to take the opportunity to make a good amount of gold. MailR was stopped after sending only 8 mails.

I was hit with what has become known as a social ban. Initially, I was unaware of what that entailed and so I submitted bug reports for not being able to send mail, etc. As I went along, I understood that this was something that ZOS deliberately put in place to combat gold-sellers. While I whole-heartedly approve of the intent (I remember the annoyance of gold-selling spam in my mail), ZOS has not implemented this well. At no time did ZOS inform me of what had occurred or why. Unsurprisingly, my bug reports have not been responded to and only fellow players have responded to me in the bug forum. (They have done ZOS' job and have helped me out a great deal)

For almost half of the New Life Festival, I have been under the following restrictions:
- Cannot send mail
- Cannot send whispers (they never get sent even though it appears so)
- Cannot access guild store
- Cannot access guild bank
- Cannot speak in group chat (although it appears to function from my end)
- Cannot execute a trade

What this means:
I have been running a Psijic fragment-exchange service for some of the guilds I belong to. Fellow guildees send me one of their duplicates and tell me which fragment they want, and I send it back. For the most part, the frequency of the fragments balance out and so it did not require a significant outlay--just a bit of organization. Unfortunately, I have been unable to return the

As a 9-trait crafter across the board, I usually start my ESO day crafting research equipment for fellow guildees. If they provide the mats and planned 24 hours out, we ensured that their research slots never went empty.

I have been unable to stock my items to sell in guild stores. This means that I lost out on the last eight days--and judging by my recent experience, the foreseeable future.

I have been unable to trade motif chapters, recipes, runeboxes, etc. for the New Life festival. I have not even been able to hand out Twice-something ale (no, I did not charge for it)

I have been unable to manage the guild I am responsible for, nor support the other guilds where I am an officer.

While I can group, I do not have the ability to interact with the group in game. If I get a neat piece of equipment that someone needs and it can only be exchanged for an hour, I cannot send it to them. I can communicate with my fellow groupies if I go outside of ESO to TeamSpeak or discord.


In short, I am prohibited from taking most social interactions. We are punished for trying to run guilds. I do not think that is why I play on ESO. I have found it very frustrating. I do not play ESO to be frustrated.

Since I do not know how long this ban will last, I am adjusting my expectations from ESO. I will hand off guild leadership, drop my guilds, and treat this as a solo game. (as soon as I can, I will send guild material to the appropriate people). And after a couple of years of enjoyable gaming, I have cancelled my subscription (I will certainly miss my crafting bag). Fortunately, I used my subscription crowns to purchase the DLCs (I was trying to encourage ZOS to create more content) so you will still see me out and about in Tamriel (at least for a time).

Heh--I can't even send all my stuff to anyone else right now.

Jeremy

Argleblaster wrote: »

After having been a paying member of ESO since beta ended, I have finally given up my ESO+ membership.

Eight days ago our guild won our trader back in Mournhold. Since we were going to be in an expensive bidding war to maintain the trader, I used MailR (an add-on) to send out a guild-wide mail encouraging everyone to stock up their stores. I am sure that I encouraged my fellow guildees to take the opportunity to make a good amount of gold. MailR was stopped after sending only 8 mails.

I was hit with what has become known as a social ban. Initially, I was unaware of what that entailed and so I submitted bug reports for not being able to send mail, etc. As I went along, I understood that this was something that ZOS deliberately put in place to combat gold-sellers. While I whole-heartedly approve of the intent (I remember the annoyance of gold-selling spam in my mail), ZOS has not implemented this well. At no time did ZOS inform me of what had occurred or why. Unsurprisingly, my bug reports have not been responded to and only fellow players have responded to me in the bug forum. (They have done ZOS' job and have helped me out a great deal)

For almost half of the New Life Festival, I have been under the following restrictions:
- Cannot send mail
- Cannot send whispers (they never get sent even though it appears so)
- Cannot access guild store
- Cannot access guild bank
- Cannot speak in group chat (although it appears to function from my end)
- Cannot execute a trade

What this means:
I have been running a Psijic fragment-exchange service for some of the guilds I belong to. Fellow guildees send me one of their duplicates and tell me which fragment they want, and I send it back. For the most part, the frequency of the fragments balance out and so it did not require a significant outlay--just a bit of organization. Unfortunately, I have been unable to return the

As a 9-trait crafter across the board, I usually start my ESO day crafting research equipment for fellow guildees. If they provide the mats and planned 24 hours out, we ensured that their research slots never went empty.

I have been unable to stock my items to sell in guild stores. This means that I lost out on the last eight days--and judging by my recent experience, the foreseeable future.

I have been unable to trade motif chapters, recipes, runeboxes, etc. for the New Life festival. I have not even been able to hand out Twice-something ale (no, I did not charge for it)

I have been unable to manage the guild I am responsible for, nor support the other guilds where I am an officer.

While I can group, I do not have the ability to interact with the group in game. If I get a neat piece of equipment that someone needs and it can only be exchanged for an hour, I cannot send it to them. I can communicate with my fellow groupies if I go outside of ESO to TeamSpeak or discord.


In short, I am prohibited from taking most social interactions. We are punished for trying to run guilds. I do not think that is why I play on ESO. I have found it very frustrating. I do not play ESO to be frustrated.

Since I do not know how long this ban will last, I am adjusting my expectations from ESO. I will hand off guild leadership, drop my guilds, and treat this as a solo game. (as soon as I can, I will send guild material to the appropriate people). And after a couple of years of enjoyable gaming, I have cancelled my subscription (I will certainly miss my crafting bag). Fortunately, I used my subscription crowns to purchase the DLCs (I was trying to encourage ZOS to create more content) so you will still see me out and about in Tamriel (at least for a time).

Heh--I can't even send all my stuff to anyone else right now.

Sounds very annoying.

This is one (of many) reasons I don't use add-ons.

Runs

Everyone I know who has gotten this has had it taken care of pretty fast by making a support ticket. Have you made a support ticket? If so maybe support is a little slower now due to the holidays(extra tickets fewer staff).

idk

@Argleblaster

MailR has a warning on their page at ESOUI that using it to send out bulk mails can get you banned. I would suggest reading it.

Wollust

Rekt by zos

SanTii.92

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

@Argleblaster

MailR has a warning on their page at ESOUI that using it to send out bulk mails can get you banned. I would suggest reading it.

Well in that case Zos should really work on their communication and explain WHY and in which situations you will get or not banned, because this seems awfully arbitrary. Sersiously, Zos needs to step up their godamn level of communication already, it's frankly disrespectful.

Op you have my sympathy, that seems really harsh.

starkerealm

SanTii.92 wrote: »

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

@Argleblaster

MailR has a warning on their page at ESOUI that using it to send out bulk mails can get you banned. I would suggest reading it.

Well in that case Zos should really work on their communication and explain WHY and in which situations you will get or not banned, because this seems awfully arbitrary. Sersiously, Zos needs to step up their godamn level of communication already, it's frankly disrespectful.

Op you have my sympathy, that seems really harsh.

Yeah... that's a great idea. We should inform the goldsellers immediately what words they can and cannot use to sneak past the autoban.

The game does not support mass mailings. This was a deliberate choice by ZOS. I know it's onerous, but, really... those are the systems provided. Skipping past this using an addon might seem fine, but when it's frequent enough that the addon you're using says, "hey, be careful with this, you could get banned..." maybe you should read that warning, and weigh the value of what you intend to do next.

Argleblaster

Yes, I submitted tickets eight days ago.

Giles, I understand, but had been using MailR once a week for the past couple of years without a problem. I will no longer use it. But I also do not know how to organize a guild without communicating with my guild-mates. So I will not try to do that either. (I do not appreciate half-measures--if I cannot have the tools to do a good job, I will find another project to work on where I can do well)

SickDuck

If you want to send all your... I can wait for you

It's a sad thing that happened to you, especially that it could not be lifted by CS. Seems harsh.

Almost 3 years of ESO and guilds are still totally weightless and useless. Mostly just a glorified marketplace with very little functionality. No wonder people playing this as a solo game.

SanTii.92

starkerealm wrote: »

SanTii.92 wrote: »

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

@Argleblaster

MailR has a warning on their page at ESOUI that using it to send out bulk mails can get you banned. I would suggest reading it.

Well in that case Zos should really work on their communication and explain WHY and in which situations you will get or not banned, because this seems awfully arbitrary. Sersiously, Zos needs to step up their godamn level of communication already, it's frankly disrespectful.

Op you have my sympathy, that seems really harsh.

Yeah... that's a great idea. We should inform the goldsellers immediately what words they can and cannot use to sneak past the autoban.

The game does not support mass mailings. This was a deliberate choice by ZOS. I know it's onerous, but, really... those are the systems provided. Skipping past this using an addon might seem fine, but when it's frequent enough that the addon you're using says, "hey, be careful with this, you could get banned..." maybe you should read that warning, and weigh the value of what you intend to do next.

it's not on addon author end to disclaim potential actions taken by zos, neither ours to be guessing what's zos actual stance on automated addons is. It's on them, to come clear on what we can or can not do, and if so the enforcements should be fair and equal for everyone.

idk

SanTii.92 wrote: »

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

@Argleblaster

MailR has a warning on their page at ESOUI that using it to send out bulk mails can get you banned. I would suggest reading it.

Well in that case Zos should really work on their communication and explain WHY and in which situations you will get or not banned, because this seems awfully arbitrary. Sersiously, Zos needs to step up their godamn level of communication already, it's frankly disrespectful.

Op you have my sympathy, that seems really harsh.

I did not see the communication Zos has provided OP. Zos could improve their communication, however, do not expect the message to state it is because one sent to many letters. It would be more generic such as stating spam of excessive communication since no one chose to give OP a social ban. He got it because he breached preset levels and received and auto ban.

vyndral13preub18_ESO

starkerealm wrote: »

SanTii.92 wrote: »

Giles.floydub17_ESO wrote: »

@Argleblaster

MailR has a warning on their page at ESOUI that using it to send out bulk mails can get you banned. I would suggest reading it.

Well in that case Zos should really work on their communication and explain WHY and in which situations you will get or not banned, because this seems awfully arbitrary. Sersiously, Zos needs to step up their godamn level of communication already, it's frankly disrespectful.

Op you have my sympathy, that seems really harsh.

Yeah... that's a great idea. We should inform the goldsellers immediately what words they can and cannot use to sneak past the autoban.

The game does not support mass mailings. This was a deliberate choice by ZOS. I know it's onerous, but, really... those are the systems provided. Skipping past this using an addon might seem fine, but when it's frequent enough that the addon you're using says, "hey, be careful with this, you could get banned..." maybe you should read that warning, and weigh the value of what you intend to do next.

You dont have to tell them anything. Just that they were banned for odd activity. Im all for combating gold sellers, but to drive away paying customers because you cant send a simple email?

At this rate the people who were actually hacking the game Had their punishment removed faster then this fella.

SickDuck wrote: »

If you want to send all your... I can wait for you

It's a sad thing that happened to you, especially that it could not be lifted by CS. Seems harsh.

Almost 3 years of ESO and guilds are still totally weightless and useless. Mostly just a glorified marketplace with very little functionality. No wonder people playing this as a solo game.

Working as intended. Horrible guild design to combat gold sellers, poor communication to combat gold sellers.

Acrolas

Why send spam email when you can just change the guild message of the day which creates a notification for the entire guild? There's very little reason anyone needs to send the same message to hundreds of inboxes anymore.

Argleblaster

Acrolas,
Unfortunately most guild members do not read the MOTD--also, your space for any comments there is very limited. Once you list any teamspeak data, guild events, raffle comm.....oh, you are out of room. Too bad you never got around to highlighting your biggest sellers of the week.

Updating the MOTD on a daily basis is even more of a spam than a weekly mail.

JasonSilverSpring

I know it is not in game but one of my guilds setup a Facebook group to get messages out to the guild. There are other ways to communicate outside the game that are much more feature rich. I actually prefer them as I can learn about guild events while away from the game.

SirAndy

Guild leaders/officers should be able to mail all guild members.

That is an essential feature and should have been provided by ZOS from the start.

SanTii.92

Argleblaster wrote: »

Acrolas,
Unfortunately most guild members do not read the MOTD--also, your space for any comments there is very limited. Once you list any teamspeak data, guild events, raffle comm.....oh, you are out of room. Too bad you never got around to highlighting your biggest sellers of the week.

Updating the MOTD on a daily basis is even more of a spam than a weekly mail.

Besides that's not the point at all, but why there are countless of players using such addons indiscreetly without repercussion whatsoever while others get harshly punished.

code65536

ZOS's customer support usually doesn't take this long to respond to this sort of issue. What they've done in the past is whitelist people, if they claim to be a guild leader, so that they will no longer be snagged again. What category did you submit your ticket under? Some categories will not reach the right people and will never get a response (e.g., don't submit it as a bug report or feedback entry).

bottleofsyrup

ZOS doesn't respond to bug reports. You need to submit an actual ticket.

jwboudreau1b16_ESO

SanTii.92 wrote: »

Argleblaster wrote: »

Acrolas,
Unfortunately most guild members do not read the MOTD--also, your space for any comments there is very limited. Once you list any teamspeak data, guild events, raffle comm.....oh, you are out of room. Too bad you never got around to highlighting your biggest sellers of the week.

Updating the MOTD on a daily basis is even more of a spam than a weekly mail.

Besides that's not the point at all, but why there are countless of players using such addons indiscreetly without repercussion whatsoever while others get harshly punished.

It was probably triggered by something in the subject line or body. It likely works in a similar fashion to a SPAM filter in that regard.

alexkdd99

What I think would be great is a send all button available to guild leaders and officers. It would send all guild members mail, but would only count as sending one message. That way they could still combat gold sellers while not hampering guild activity.

bebynnag

wouldnt it of just been easier to update the message of the day if you wanted to get a message accross to your whole guild? rather than install an add on to send them all mail?

Royaji

SirAndy wrote: »

Guild leaders/officers should be able to mail all guild members.

That is an essential feature and should have been provided by ZOS from the start.

But they already gave us this feature, it's even called "Message of the Day". Every guildy gets an announcment once the message is changed and it's the first thing you see once you open guild window. There really is no need to spam everyones inboxes with mails.

The problem is people don't use it properly. They fill it with stuff like teamspeak/discord links, events schedule and run out of space. Since most of the infromation there never changes noone even looks at it. And that's the feature we are actually lacking. Guild Info page. Not a part of the message of the day, but a different page, with no space limit to put all the important but mostly constant information. Then we will be albe to use message of the day as a way of communication and not just a substitute for the info page.

Acrolas

Argleblaster wrote: »

Acrolas,
your space for any comments there is very limited.

There's more than enough room to add "Guild trader updated, see left icon."

But I can also edit your original post down to a paragraph, so I'm not sure text limit is entirely the issue.

Bryanonymous

Wow, this is *** up, however it is possible the support team were given the holidays off. Hang in there. They'll respond to your ticket when they come back.

starkerealm

Acrolas wrote: »

Argleblaster wrote: »

Acrolas,
your space for any comments there is very limited.

There's more than enough room to add "Guild trader updated, see left icon."

But I can also edit your original post down to a paragraph, so I'm not sure text limit is entirely the issue.

"We have a new guild trader; list everything; raffle to follow on Saturday."

Elsonso

starkerealm wrote: »

Acrolas wrote: »

Argleblaster wrote: »

Acrolas,
your space for any comments there is very limited.

There's more than enough room to add "Guild trader updated, see left icon."

But I can also edit your original post down to a paragraph, so I'm not sure text limit is entirely the issue.

"We have a new guild trader; list everything; raffle to follow on Saturday."

Sorry, what time on Saturday? Also, is there a deadline for buying raffle tickets? While I am on the subject, how do I buy raffle tickets? What are the raffle prizes?

Cryptical

Most of the constant stuff can be moved to the 'about us' area.

Does the Facebook page change? No? Put it in the About Us part, because it's rightfully there.

I'm the sole person updating our pve guild's motd for a guildmaster-in-absentia, and because he put the constant stuff in the About Us space I have the entire motd to talk about anything coming up - like all of how to get started on new life festival including 6 item images (hat1, hat3, elk, gift3, mudball pouch, snowflake, stahlrim shard)and a background image. That's 7 entire filenames of space.

Motd has the space, if it is used efficiently.

AlnilamE

Royaji wrote: »

SirAndy wrote: »

Guild leaders/officers should be able to mail all guild members.

That is an essential feature and should have been provided by ZOS from the start.

But they already gave us this feature, it's even called "Message of the Day". Every guildy gets an announcment once the message is changed and it's the first thing you see once you open guild window. There really is no need to spam everyones inboxes with mails.

The problem is people don't use it properly. They fill it with stuff like teamspeak/discord links, events schedule and run out of space. Since most of the infromation there never changes noone even looks at it. And that's the feature we are actually lacking. Guild Info page. Not a part of the message of the day, but a different page, with no space limit to put all the important but mostly constant information. Then we will be albe to use message of the day as a way of communication and not just a substitute for the info page.

Yeah, the "About Us" section is the one that's too short. If we could fit TS/website/Facebook info there along with the calendar of regular events, then the MOTD would be used for the stuff that actually changes (ie, Got Trader! Extra event on Saturday! Merry Christmas!). As it is, the "About Us" is too short to be useful.

Sheezabeast

Oh Argle I'm so sorry this happened to you, I had no idea.

Guys, Argle is the GM of an amazing crafting guild that I'm in, and he does not deserve this!

Argleblaster

After 10 days, problem resolved