Should ZOS make willing Class Reps. and Community Ambs. Game Masters?

Thormar

Should ZOS hand pick willing individuals among Class Reps. and Community Ambassadors
and make them Game Masters. Naturally NDAs will be signed.

Task:
They will focus on minimizing Botting.

Time commitment:
Given it's community work, each GM will only put in a maximum of say 30* minutes per week.
Lets say only four individuals chose to become Game Masters, their rotation schedule
will mean each GM puts in only 30 mins of Bot reporting per month.

On-duty Anonymity:
A GM will use dev codes to generate a random character and use it to carry out
their 30 minutes of bot reporting duty for that month.
Bots reported by a Game Master get accelerated processing by ZOS staff.

Locating Bots - a new forum category:
How will a Game Master know where to look for Bot activity?
A new forum category, open only to forum users with say 8 stars or more, will be created.
Each game zone will have one thread.
All posts reporting a sighting will follow a format of some kind, for instance:
type of botting sighted, number of bots, location in the zone and time of sighting.

Game Masters will note which threads are at the top, signifying recent bot activity,
and head there to begin reporting.
They won't need to waste their time randomly searching for bots in game.
It won't be known which GM is active on which week, on what day and on what hour.
An addon such as Bot Scanner could be used to speed up reporting or ZOS could grant them
access to internal tools to hasten mass reporting.

Will this eradicate the botting problem? Not likely.
Will it at least diminish the problem? Perhaps.

* 30 minutes is an example value.

Salvas_Aren

No.

It`s a matter of responsibility.

Now the class reps talk to Zeni representing us.

Make them GMs and they talk to us representing Zeni. Allow them to ban people and Zeni bans people. Allow them to make mistakes and the responsibility rests with ... ?

We have seen it in the current Fallout 76 disaster. When the customer support leaks unpleasent truth to the buyers seeking support, Zeni will blame it on those and refuse any responsibility.

I would not enjoy to act on behalf of Zeni for free. I would waste my time and have to pay my DAO for it.

Vote for NO and do the reps a favour.

Sylvermynx

No.

I don't see how this would help a thing, sorry. In fact, in thinking about all the stuff that could go balls-up WRONG - *shudder*.

Elwendryll

You know. They're not paid.

Chicharron

No.

I do not think anyone is stupid enough to accept to work for free.

Ertosi

No.

No because no player should ever be a Game Master as it creates a conflict of interest. Game Masters are very needed, but they should be specifically hired by ZOS to do that role as a job in order to eliminate any conflicts of interest.

VaranisArano

How hard can it be for ZOS' actual Gamemasters to follow up on bug reports and to check up regularly on known botting sites? Surely not as hard as their inaction would lead us to believe...

Sylvermynx

No.

VaranisArano wrote: »

How hard can it be for ZOS' actual Gamemasters to follow up on bug reports and to check up regularly on known botting sites? Surely not as hard as their inaction would lead us to believe...

Well.... it may be a matter of no oversight of their working activities and hours. And it may also depend on how many of them there are - even the largest MMO I played (WoW) didn't have all that many in-game GMs when I was playing (stopped in 2013, so no clue what they have now) for 10M+ players across dozens of servers.

ccmedaddy

No.

What do class reps and GMs have anything to do with each other? I don't get the logic behind this proposal at all.

ZOS just needs to man up and hire GMs as regular employees, not expand on their unpaid internship BS. ESO is a huge cashcow (as evidenced by ESO being one of the highest grossing games on Steam) for ZOS so there's no excuse for them to settle for anything less.

Tandor

No.

Ertosi wrote: »

No because no player should ever be a Game Master as it creates a conflict of interest. Game Masters are very needed, but they should be specifically hired by ZOS to do that role as a job in order to eliminate any conflicts of interest.

This.

But there's no reason why a simple direct contact point couldn't be put in place for Community Ambassadors to report bots for priority investigation. I wouldn't extend that to Class Representatives, no offence to them but they're not appointed in quite the same way and for the same reasons as Community Ambassadors.

That is, in fact, all that is needed rather than the more convoluted system the OP has proposed.

Elsonso

No.

No. This is something that a ZOS employee that is trained in how to handle in-game situations needs to handle.

Siohwenoeht

No.

I agree with others that having an unpaid position holding that much power is straight out. It lacks the accountability needed for banning accounts.

Separately though, I know bots are annoying when encountered, and PC might have the biggest issue with them, but for me camlorn before you liberate it is the only real annoying place and those have been there since console launch.

All in all, I'd rather zos concentrate on figuring out game performance, whether it's akamai or bottlenecked servers.

MaxwellC

No.

Hell no ***?
The most ZOS should do in regards to combating bots is to do what Runescape has done which trusted members get the ability to become a player moderator who can report players which have a direct/immediate consequence when regarding bot claims.
Ofc that was abused before as such an appeal system was already implemented just in case anyone would abuse their powers.

Girl_Number8

No.

This would be a horrible thing if they did this, especially after some of the discord issues. Players should not have power over other players as they did not make or own the game.

SirAndy

VaranisArano wrote: »

How hard can it be for ZOS' actual Gamemasters to follow up on bug reports and to check up regularly on known botting sites? Surely not as hard as their inaction would lead us to believe...

Since they don't actually have any in-game GMs (anymore), both answers "really hard" and "really easy" are equally useless ...

scholar666

Yes.

No. It will be a cluster****.

Accidentally voted yes 😭😭😭😭.

Thormar

VaranisArano wrote: »

How hard can it be for ZOS' actual Gamemasters to follow up on bug reports...

The impression any one gets regarding GMs is there's maybe an under staffing issue.
Efforts made by players to report botting seem to yield little as botting is still very active.
Appointing willing CR or CM was a middle ground of sorts,
however as many of you've pointed out it's not without it's problems.

Tandor wrote: »

But there's no reason why a simple direct contact point couldn't be put in place for Community Ambassadors to report bots for priority investigation.

Regarding CAs reporting bots, the reason for the bot-forum was so CAs only check one place for recent sightings and
head straight out to confirm and report.
That said, given views expressed so far, the idea obviously has deeper issues that can't be solved by simply fine tuning its implementation.

WuffyCerulei

No.

I say no because they could easily abuse the powers given to GMs and ban people they don't like. The class reps and ambassadors do seem like nice people, but you don't know if they'll let the power get to their heads.

Thormar

scholar666 wrote: »

Accidentally voted yes 😭😭😭😭.

But:

scholar666 wrote: »

No. It will be a cluster****.

reads like a yes.

scholar666

Yes.

Thormar wrote: »

scholar666 wrote: »

Accidentally voted yes 😭😭😭😭.

But:

scholar666 wrote: »

No. It will be a cluster****.

reads like a yes.

Sorry for the confusion 😊. Posting on the forums using my clunky phone can do that. I wanted to vote No. Letting players be game masters is not gonna end well.

Gilvoth

No.

.

Ohtimbar

If they were willing to pay game masters we would have them already.

imredneckson

Yes.

scholar666 wrote: »

No. It will be a cluster****.

Accidentally voted yes 😭😭😭😭.

Same Boat dude. Thought it would be cool but then saw the points being made in chat and well id like to change my answer.

BlazingDynamo

Like someone else said. Players would cause a massive conflict of interest. Zos should hire 1 person per server to handle bots. Any dedication at all towards botting when clear things up quickly.

Tasear

I got 3-4 different game master I know name to in three years. They already exist.

P.S CS clears bots daily.

jcm2606

Other.

Yes, there needs to be a GM role.

No, it shouldn't be class reps.

Community ambassadors might work, since their role is more general, but GM's should be paid employees.

idk

Other.

jcm2606 wrote: »

Yes, there needs to be a GM role.

No, it shouldn't be class reps.

Community ambassadors might work, since their role is more general, but GM's should be paid employees.

While I agree class reps and community ambassadors should not be GMs, there is an actual role of GM. They do show themselves in the game from time to time but they clearly do not keep up with what needs to be done, as is obvious seeing bots running the same path for weeks on end even after they have been reported.

Tasear

P.S if in game reporting system was better then this

idk wrote: »

jcm2606 wrote: »

Yes, there needs to be a GM role.

No, it shouldn't be class reps.

Community ambassadors might work, since their role is more general, but GM's should be paid employees.

While I agree class reps and community ambassadors should not be GMs, there is an actual role of GM. They do show themselves in the game from time to time but they clearly do not keep up with what needs to be done, as is obvious seeing bots running the same path for weeks on end even after they have been reported.

I think the issue is more the bad reporting system and third party consumer service.

idk

Other.

Tasear wrote: »

P.S if in game reporting system was better then this

idk wrote: »

jcm2606 wrote: »

Yes, there needs to be a GM role.

No, it shouldn't be class reps.

Community ambassadors might work, since their role is more general, but GM's should be paid employees.

While I agree class reps and community ambassadors should not be GMs, there is an actual role of GM. They do show themselves in the game from time to time but they clearly do not keep up with what needs to be done, as is obvious seeing bots running the same path for weeks on end even after they have been reported.

I think the issue is more the bad reporting system and third party consumer service.

Last time I bothered reporting the bots I sent videos directly to Gina, as was suggested by another member of Zos. Weeks later the same area was teaming with bots running the same path. I checked a few times during those weeks. Gave up and figured it was a lost cause.

I agree that the system is ineffective, which is unfortunate. I have seen some behavior recently that reminded me of the first month or two of this game being live. While it has not been to the same degree it is troubling seeing characters appearing at quest points then disappearing. That is a sign of a bot porting from point to point.

Tasear

idk wrote: »

Tasear wrote: »

P.S if in game reporting system was better then this

idk wrote: »

jcm2606 wrote: »

Yes, there needs to be a GM role.

No, it shouldn't be class reps.

Community ambassadors might work, since their role is more general, but GM's should be paid employees.

While I agree class reps and community ambassadors should not be GMs, there is an actual role of GM. They do show themselves in the game from time to time but they clearly do not keep up with what needs to be done, as is obvious seeing bots running the same path for weeks on end even after they have been reported.

I think the issue is more the bad reporting system and third party consumer service.

Last time I bothered reporting the bots I sent videos directly to Gina, as was suggested by another member of Zos. Weeks later the same area was teaming with bots running the same path. I checked a few times during those weeks. Gave up and figured it was a lost cause.

I agree that the system is ineffective, which is unfortunate. I have seen some behavior recently that reminded me of the first month or two of this game being live. While it has not been to the same degree it is troubling seeing characters appearing at quest points then disappearing. That is a sign of a bot porting from point to point.

idk wrote: »

Tasear wrote: »

P.S if in game reporting system was better then this

idk wrote: »

jcm2606 wrote: »

Yes, there needs to be a GM role.

No, it shouldn't be class reps.

Community ambassadors might work, since their role is more general, but GM's should be paid employees.

While I agree class reps and community ambassadors should not be GMs, there is an actual role of GM. They do show themselves in the game from time to time but they clearly do not keep up with what needs to be done, as is obvious seeing bots running the same path for weeks on end even after they have been reported.

I think the issue is more the bad reporting system and third party consumer service.

Last time I bothered reporting the bots I sent videos directly to Gina, as was suggested by another member of Zos. Weeks later the same area was teaming with bots running the same path. I checked a few times during those weeks. Gave up and figured it was a lost cause.

I agree that the system is ineffective, which is unfortunate. I have seen some behavior recently that reminded me of the first month or two of this game being live. While it has not been to the same degree it is troubling seeing characters appearing at quest points then disappearing. That is a sign of a bot porting from point to point.

Yep so we just got toake some noise for them to realize. I tried mentioning it before to rich but something is very wrong with reporting system. I will never forget how mazzutum jumping walls last almost a year after constant reports in game from myself and others...then one day I gave up and told Gina on forums not actually excepting a response at time.

I continue to complain as this seems be number one issue for community. It's not for a lack of trying just technology I believe wasn't cut out for this human work yet.

idk

Other.

Tasear wrote: »

idk wrote: »

Tasear wrote: »

P.S if in game reporting system was better then this

idk wrote: »

jcm2606 wrote: »

Yes, there needs to be a GM role.

No, it shouldn't be class reps.

Community ambassadors might work, since their role is more general, but GM's should be paid employees.

While I agree class reps and community ambassadors should not be GMs, there is an actual role of GM. They do show themselves in the game from time to time but they clearly do not keep up with what needs to be done, as is obvious seeing bots running the same path for weeks on end even after they have been reported.

I think the issue is more the bad reporting system and third party consumer service.

Last time I bothered reporting the bots I sent videos directly to Gina, as was suggested by another member of Zos. Weeks later the same area was teaming with bots running the same path. I checked a few times during those weeks. Gave up and figured it was a lost cause.

I agree that the system is ineffective, which is unfortunate. I have seen some behavior recently that reminded me of the first month or two of this game being live. While it has not been to the same degree it is troubling seeing characters appearing at quest points then disappearing. That is a sign of a bot porting from point to point.

idk wrote: »

Tasear wrote: »

P.S if in game reporting system was better then this

idk wrote: »

jcm2606 wrote: »

Yes, there needs to be a GM role.

No, it shouldn't be class reps.

Community ambassadors might work, since their role is more general, but GM's should be paid employees.

While I agree class reps and community ambassadors should not be GMs, there is an actual role of GM. They do show themselves in the game from time to time but they clearly do not keep up with what needs to be done, as is obvious seeing bots running the same path for weeks on end even after they have been reported.

I think the issue is more the bad reporting system and third party consumer service.

Last time I bothered reporting the bots I sent videos directly to Gina, as was suggested by another member of Zos. Weeks later the same area was teaming with bots running the same path. I checked a few times during those weeks. Gave up and figured it was a lost cause.

I agree that the system is ineffective, which is unfortunate. I have seen some behavior recently that reminded me of the first month or two of this game being live. While it has not been to the same degree it is troubling seeing characters appearing at quest points then disappearing. That is a sign of a bot porting from point to point.

Yep so we just got toake some noise for them to realize. I tried mentioning it before to rich but something is very wrong with reporting system. I will never forget how mazzutum jumping walls last almost a year after constant reports in game from myself and others...then one day I gave up and told Gina on forums not actually excepting a response at time.

I continue to complain as this seems be number one issue for community. It's not for a lack of trying just technology I believe wasn't cut out for this human work yet.

Remember how much it was mentioned GF was not fixed. The best thread on the subject detailed it happening with a full group queueing, tagged at least Gina, and then we have Rich saying they thought they fixed it. Willfully ignoring forum threads on the subject is all I can think happened.