Offline mode - Should it be changed?

Pumpkin_pants

The setting that allows players to mark themselves as "offline" ... Most often the only real reason I see players using this for is to send harassing/smack talk tells after they got owned in pvp, so that the other user may not reply to them. If a user really was away or just did not care to receive whispers, why not just un-check your whisper in the chat box? Either that, or maybe change it so setting yourself to offline, makes it so YOU are unable to send whispers? Just a thought. What do you guys think about it?

Edited to specify that it is only the "offline" setting that causes this.

Molydeus

When someone wants to play without being bothered.

LordGavus

It's not a big deal, but it would make sense that if you mark yourself as away or offline you can't chat.

Molydeus wrote: »

When someone wants to play without being bothered.

This is how I use it.

Pumpkin_pants

Molydeus wrote: »

When someone wants to play without being bothered.

I understand the point, but it often is not used that way. I guess it doesn't make sense that they can whisper other users while marked as either.

My post is more about the players who want to bother others and not be bothered back. The way it works now, is being abused by players who want to talk smack to people in PvP. This is the point of my post.

AcadianPaladin

1. As mentioned above, when you want to play and immerse yourself into a quest without being bothered by friends saying hi and stuff.

2. As a courtesy to your friends while doing 'chores' that involve quickly cycling through numerous characters. This spares them seeing a bunch of rapid log on / log off notifications as you quickly cycle through your characters to, say, get them all their daily horse training or such.

Cêltic421

Yeah if you set your self to offline then you are not able to send whispers unless they are on your friends list.
I appear offline sometimes when I just want to play solo or when busy in a trial or just hanging out with ESO friends. There are many reasons why people appear offline

Cêltic421

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

1. As mentioned above, when you want to play and immerse yourself into a quest without being bothered by friends saying hi and stuff.

2. As a courtesy to your friends while doing 'chores' that involve quickly cycling through numerous characters. This spares them seeing a bunch of rapid log on / log off notifications as you quickly cycle through your characters to, say, get them all their daily horse training or such.

You get notified when friends log on or off? Must be just a PC thing. Yea I can see this becoming annoying.

kargen27

If someone that has offline status sends harassing messages you can simply ignore them and depending on how harassing you can report them.

Like others have said there are some good reasons for using the offline status. Usually almost as soon as I get on I start getting requests to heal. During the day I like to try and sneak some writs or farming in between working. I am self employed but can't ignore the phone or people coming in. So I don't want to be in any group activities. Instead of having to turn down group requests I simply hide.

I also try to hide when I am going to be logging on and off many characters in a short time just so the notices do not spam my friend.

I know the just ignore them option isn't the most desirable solution, but for now it is what works.

Volrion

Pumpkin_pants wrote: »

Molydeus wrote: »

When someone wants to play without being bothered.

I understand the point, but it often is not used that way. I guess it doesn't make sense that they can whisper other users while marked as either.

How do you know?

If a player is toggled offline and isn't active on chat, how do confirm they are or aren't?

We could be surrounded by them right now!

**Sometimes I'll toggle if I'm chilling with my partner or listening to music while I play. I also get many trial/PVP invites from my guildies when I'm online so it's useful if I just want to solo without feeling like I'm letting the team down and ignoring invites lol

It is very rare that I will use it, but it's a nice feature to have. No need to change it.

disintegr8

It is easier to not be bothered by friends if you don't have any....... My friends list has 3 names on it, intentionally, and one of them is for my ESO mule account.

Pumpkin_pants

Volrion wrote: »

Pumpkin_pants wrote: »

Molydeus wrote: »

When someone wants to play without being bothered.

I understand the point, but it often is not used that way. I guess it doesn't make sense that they can whisper other users while marked as either.

How do you know?

If a player is toggled offline and isn't active on chat, how do confirm they are or aren't?

We could be surrounded by them right now!

**Sometimes I'll toggle if I'm chilling with my partner or listening to music while I play. I also get many trial/PVP invites from my guildies when I'm online so it's useful if I just want to solo without feeling like I'm letting the team down and ignoring invites lol

It is very rare that I will use it, but it's a nice feature to have. No need to change it.

You know because they are whispering you and you can not whisper back to them.

Pumpkin_pants

Cêltic421 wrote: »

Yeah if you set your self to offline then you are not able to send whispers unless they are on your friends list.

I get whispers constantly from players who are not on my friends list ( enemy faction players ), and am unable to reply to them though they are whispering to me over and over, sometimes.

Pumpkin_pants

kargen27 wrote: »

If someone that has offline status sends harassing messages you can simply ignore them and depending on how harassing you can report them.

Like others have said there are some good reasons for using the offline status. Usually almost as soon as I get on I start getting requests to heal. During the day I like to try and sneak some writs or farming in between working. I am self employed but can't ignore the phone or people coming in. So I don't want to be in any group activities. Instead of having to turn down group requests I simply hide.

I also try to hide when I am going to be logging on and off many characters in a short time just so the notices do not spam my friend.

I know the just ignore them option isn't the most desirable solution, but for now it is what works.

I understand the status, and how it is intended to be used. It just doesn't make a lot of sense though, that players who are marked as busy/offline can whisper to others who can not whisper back to them.

Pumpkin_pants

I just tested with a friend, and it is specifically when they are set to "offline" status.

Kammakazi

When someone is trying to sell stuff in chat and you're interested but they're set offline ._.

When someone whispers you a question and you can't message back because they're set offline ._.

Enodoc

I agree that people should not be able to send whispers if they are set to Offline.

Theodard

I would be fine if it was setup so that you can only whisper friends if offline. It would save myself a silly moment or two as well, since I've whispered others to reply to something they asked only to realize they cannot reply because I forgot to set myself as online again before doing such.

KerinKor

Pumpkin_pants wrote: »

What do you guys think about it?

It's fine, in fact in other games where there isn't such an option there are continual requests for it, people sometimes want to play 'anonymously' and should have that option.

Enodoc wrote: »

I agree that people should not be able to send whispers if they are set to Offline.

This I can agree with to prevent the abuse it currently allows.

orinthol

Molydeus wrote: »

When someone wants to play without being bothered.

Yes. Because this post was entirely about you. I imagine everything you purvey, in your mind, is completely you-centric. However, the post is obviously about people other than you, using a part of the system to harass other players. If that doesn't describe you, then (obviously) the thread has nothing to do with you. Thanks for your helpful two cents, though. It's an enormous contribution to the topic. As I'm sure you imagined it would be.

DRXHarbinger

When you were farming mol chests on a sorc and didn't want beggars asking for you to show them or share your loot with them.

IronCrystal

orinthol wrote: »

Molydeus wrote: »

When someone wants to play without being bothered.

Yes. Because this post was entirely about you. I imagine everything you purvey, in your mind, is completely you-centric. However, the post is obviously about people other than you, using a part of the system to harass other players. If that doesn't describe you, then (obviously) the thread has nothing to do with you. Thanks for your helpful two cents, though. It's an enormous contribution to the topic. As I'm sure you imagined it would be.

You are being incredibly rude when they are actually contributing to the topic.

The OP simply asked why do people use this feature and they gave the reason many people use it for.

You are being selfish in thinking your problems are the only problems and there is no positive to this feature.

Lord_Eomer

If CP will nerf with Morrowind then for sure this hame is heading in wrong path.

Instead of having new ideas they are keep nerfing this game!

I wish, i have not paid for 1 year ESO+ in advance, such mistakes​ should cost some money to Developers as they are not realizing failure! If this happens will boycott to crown store purchases!

Turelus

Molydeus wrote: »

When someone wants to play without being bothered.

Which is silly because there are busy options that just get ignored. I wish busy would block all communication but show I am in game.

I mean when I am doing vMSA and set busy, that's a clear sign I don't want you to whisper me asking things or invite me to groups, I shouldn't have to hide the fact I am even playing the game.

MissBizz

So I don't get bothered/distracted while working on a video.

IronCrystal

Turelus wrote: »

Molydeus wrote: »

When someone wants to play without being bothered.

Which is silly because there are busy options that just get ignored. I wish busy would block all communication but show I am in game.

I mean when I am doing vMSA and set busy, that's a clear sign I don't want you to whisper me asking things or invite me to groups, I shouldn't have to hide the fact I am even playing the game.

Maybe busy should give you a warning when you try sending a message to someone who is marked busy like "This person would rather not be bothered, are you sure you want to send this message"

Muramasa89

In RuneScape, if you messaged someone when set to offline, it'd force you out of it. Of course, you could just flick it back to offline before the other person got a chance to reply, but still.

seaef

I guess I'd rather it be more hardcore.

If you're offline then you should be completely offline. No send, no receive, and no chat activity visible. You want to communicate by talking or listening then go online.

Also add a waiting period so you can't repeatedly set yourself offline/online in a short period of time.

It would also eliminate lurker trolls who come online to respond to something they saw in chat and then go offline so they can't be called out. Cowards.

Katahdin

Not being able to whisper would make sense and cut the abuse. You should be able to talk in zone, group and guild chat though

Pumpkin_pants

IronCrystal wrote: »

orinthol wrote: »

Molydeus wrote: »

When someone wants to play without being bothered.

Yes. Because this post was entirely about you. I imagine everything you purvey, in your mind, is completely you-centric. However, the post is obviously about people other than you, using a part of the system to harass other players. If that doesn't describe you, then (obviously) the thread has nothing to do with you. Thanks for your helpful two cents, though. It's an enormous contribution to the topic. As I'm sure you imagined it would be.

You are being incredibly rude when they are actually contributing to the topic.

The OP simply asked why do people use this feature and they gave the reason many people use it for.

You are being selfish in thinking your problems are the only problems and there is no positive to this feature.

That is actually not why I asked "What is the point"... My asking that was to ask "What is the point in allowing players who use this feature to whisper other players, but not allow those players to whisper back"... Molydeus either misunderstood the question, or chose to respond in a dismissive way to my post.

orinthol

IronCrystal wrote: »

orinthol wrote: »

Molydeus wrote: »

When someone wants to play without being bothered.

Yes. Because this post was entirely about you. I imagine everything you purvey, in your mind, is completely you-centric. However, the post is obviously about people other than you, using a part of the system to harass other players. If that doesn't describe you, then (obviously) the thread has nothing to do with you. Thanks for your helpful two cents, though. It's an enormous contribution to the topic. As I'm sure you imagined it would be.

You are being incredibly rude when they are actually contributing to the topic.

The OP simply asked why do people use this feature and they gave the reason many people use it for.

You are being selfish in thinking your problems are the only problems and there is no positive to this feature.

Maybe you (and Molydeus) are just numb. The topic is people abusing the current function of the Offline flag to harass. It has nothing to do with whether or not you or your friend want to be bothered. Because so many people are bothering you guys. Because you're so important. I get it. Whatever. Completely irrelevant to the subject.

Judging by the number of trolly little Agrees that Molydeus' objectively extraneous remark has, I'd say it's obvious that a significant number of users are abusing the feature. Just for the lulz right? Because upsetting strangers is hilarious. Maybe to you and your friend and his click squad. However, it is likely that most players don't see it that way.

If the Offline flag blocked whisper communication both to and from a user, as well as hid their online status, then great. The fact that it allows an individual to squirt out harassing little tidbits at their leisure, knowing they are showing as offline and cannot be responded to, is indeed a tool for harassment. If you won't/can't acknowledge that then, I'm sorry but, you're numb.

Enodoc

Turelus wrote: »

Molydeus wrote: »

When someone wants to play without being bothered.

Which is silly because there are busy options that just get ignored. I wish busy would block all communication but show I am in game.

I mean when I am doing vMSA and set busy, that's a clear sign I don't want you to whisper me asking things or invite me to groups, I shouldn't have to hide the fact I am even playing the game.

A problem with that is if you already know someone's name and whisper them directly, you don't actually know that they're set to Busy. Setting Busy should be more than just an indicator; as you say, it should block invites, and do something to discourage whispers. Maybe not block them completely, but at least throw back a warning to the sender, and not highlight anything in the recipient's chat tabs.