How serious does ZoS take sexual harassment?

Scarletblaze

Just curious...how serious does zos take sexual harassment? Does zos ban people for that?

ZOS_Adrikoth

Greetings @Scarletblaze

We take reports of harassment very seriously and encourage you to submit a ticket with us at help.elderscrollsonline.com so that the proper team can investigate. Be sure to include any screenshots or additional information that you feel is relevant to the report. Our Customer Support team investigates every issue reported and takes appropriate action whenever necessary.

You can also find instructions on how to submit a report in-game here:

PC

Console

Scarletblaze

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_GinaBruno any insight?

Danikat

If someone has said or done something inappropriate report them to ZOS (either using the in-game function or by submitting a support ticket) and block them.

It's against the rules to discuss specific disciplinary measures on the forum, and I sincerely hope ZOS don't have the same response to absolutely everything which could come under sexual harassment since that covers a wide range of offences and problems which would need different approaches. So we can't say "yes they always do X" and can't give you specific examples.

Scarletblaze

i have a mountain of screenshots of a player sexually harassing players....just not sure how to go about getting any action done as this individual has been reported several times yet still plays the game

madrab73

You could add them to your block list?

Scarletblaze

Thank you for the fast response @ZOS_Adrikoth will submit today

Zer0_CooL

Is T-Baging of corpses sexual harrasment? Asking for a friend..

Pyvos

madrab73 wrote: »

You could add them to your block list?

That doesn't magically make the problem disappear. The harasser still exists and is still able to go around and harass others. Calling out sexual harassers, reporting them, etc. is in my opinion one of the most meaningful way to hold them accountable for their actions, and enables those with the capability of removing them from the game (ZOS) to made aware of the player's actions and address them.

Sylvermynx

Pyvos wrote: »

madrab73 wrote: »

You could add them to your block list?

That doesn't magically make the problem disappear. The harasser still exists and is still able to go around and harass others. Calling out sexual harassers, reporting them, etc. is in my opinion one of the most meaningful way to hold them accountable for their actions, and enables those with the capability of removing them from the game (ZOS) to made aware of the player's actions and address them.

Agreed. This is something that should always happen when proven to the company's standards.

Tigerseye

Can I ask what kind of thing they have been doing/saying?

Obviously, don't repeat any rude words, or mention names.

If it's definitely sexual harrassment, they should have been dealt with.

However, without knowing at least roughly what they are doing/saying, it's always possible it's a grey area (or even not, technically, considered to be sexual harrassment at all).

Scarletblaze

i dont want to post details as i hope zos will make a fair judgment...let's just say it's hardcore and obvious harassment towards multiple people. this person has been reported several times too....i am determined to make sure zos takes what i submit seriously.

Scarletblaze

the proof: no grey area at all...clear proof of disgusting/vulgar behavior/language

Vietfox

Zer0_CooL wrote: »

Is T-Baging of corpses sexual harrasment? Asking for a friend..

There's someone in this forum who actually thinks that teabagging should be considered as sexual harrasment 😂

Scarletblaze

rofl really?!
trust me...this is not like that

mairwen85

Vietfox wrote: »

Zer0_CooL wrote: »

Is T-Baging of corpses sexual harrasment? Asking for a friend..

There's someone in this forum who actually thinks that teabagging should be considered as sexual harrasment 😂

You could argue it's using a non-consensual, simulated sex-act for social ridicule. How grey that area is depends on the person its being enacted upon. It's not an activity I personally take part in because I see no point in it, but whatever people feel about it, it's not really something that's done for social graces, is it? Happens to me, it doesn't traumatise or haunt me, but I can understand it gets people's backs up--which is the point of it in practice.

mairwen85

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

mairwen85 wrote: »

Vietfox wrote: »

Zer0_CooL wrote: »

Is T-Baging of corpses sexual harrasment? Asking for a friend..

There's someone in this forum who actually thinks that teabagging should be considered as sexual harrasment 😂

You could argue it's using a non-consensual, simulated sex-act for social ridicule. How grey that area is depends on the person its being enacted upon. It's not an activity I personally take part in because I see no point in it, but whatever people feel about it, it's not really something that's done for social graces, is it? Happens to me, it doesn't traumatise or haunt me, but I can understand it gets people's backs up--which is the point of it in practice.

[Quoted post was removed]

Except they're not, not really. The grey area comes into it that it's a virtual world and a simulated act. It's an avatar crouching over another technically, nothing more. That people attach other connotations to it is another matter, and like I say, the real reason it's done at all. This is an ongoing bone of contention in many online games, and not a single one of them has ever taken an official stance on it to my knowledge. That said, it's an unpleasant practice intended to ridicule regardless.

crowfl56

T-bagging is just plain and simple stupid.

The people that tend to T bag are just little kids.

Mostly, LOL.

Don't worry, consider the source and play on.

mairwen85

[Quoted post has been removed.]

Which is the angle my bla bla bla took. I just tend to try and understand other people's views rather than simply dismiss them.

But, anyway, not to be accused of derailment, @Scarletblaze, as others have said, the best course of action is to report with as much evidence as you can provide; from experience (not me but a good friend) ZOS do take this type of behaviour very seriously. I hope whatever happened to you hasn't impacted your overall enjoyment and opinion of the community.

Dusk_Coven

mairwen85 wrote: »

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

mairwen85 wrote: »

Vietfox wrote: »

Zer0_CooL wrote: »

Is T-Baging of corpses sexual harrasment? Asking for a friend..

There's someone in this forum who actually thinks that teabagging should be considered as sexual harrasment 😂

You could argue it's using a non-consensual, simulated sex-act for social ridicule. How grey that area is depends on the person its being enacted upon. It's not an activity I personally take part in because I see no point in it, but whatever people feel about it, it's not really something that's done for social graces, is it? Happens to me, it doesn't traumatise or haunt me, but I can understand it gets people's backs up--which is the point of it in practice.

[Quoted post was removed]

Except they're not, not really. The grey area come into that it's a virtual world and a simulated act. It's an avatar crouching over another technically, nothing more. That people attach other connotations to it is another matter, and like I say, the real reason it's done at all. This is an ongoing bone of contention in many online games, and not a single one of them has ever taken an official stance on it to my knowledge. That said, it's an unpleasant practice intended to ridicule regardless.

Splitting hairs to defend vulgar behavior. The generally agreed upon intent -- "unpleasant practice intended to ridicule", if you want to put it mildly like that to try to strip it of all the vulgar sexual connotation of *** -- should be enough to put a ban on it.
The more vulgarity and assorted bad behaviors like exploiting that is allowed, the more a community will degenerate.

It's one thing to defend the right to do something when that something is essentially harmless. It's another to defend the right to do something (especially to someone else) when it's not harmless or when that person objects or is not able to object.

That's why legally, "assault" is any unwanted touch. That sets the bar low against people trying to exploit the law in order to actually attack others. Reasonable interpretation of the event by judge or jury prevents people from exploiting it the other way, claiming assault for frivolous reasons.

Tigerseye

Scarletblaze wrote: »

i dont want to post details as i hope zos will make a fair judgment...let's just say it's hardcore and obvious harassment towards multiple people. this person has been reported several times too....i am determined to make sure zos takes what i submit seriously.

Fair enough, then.

I hope they do, too.

zaria

Scarletblaze wrote: »

i dont want to post details as i hope zos will make a fair judgment...let's just say it's hardcore and obvious harassment towards multiple people. this person has been reported several times too....i am determined to make sure zos takes what i submit seriously.

I assume this is on console with group voice chat in game.
Her I can see it coming up although it would mostly be in the form of cursing them up and down and women don't work in dungeon group stuff.
On pc its no voice chat out side 3rd part applications and tend to be guild run and self controlling.
As around half the female characters are played by guys typing stuff like this in text chat is likely to fall pretty flat.

Now zone chat, here you can get some weird stuff but its mostly people cursing ZoS, Trump. EU or other stuff up and down.

karekiz

Member to follow up on the automates message. They won't do much other than say Ignore them if you don't respond to the email.

amapola76

Scarletblaze wrote: »

Just curious...how serious does zos take sexual harassment? Does zos ban people for that?

Not very seriously at all, in my experience, though they will say otherwise.

amapola76

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

That's why legally, "assault" is any unwanted touch. That sets the bar low against people trying to exploit the law in order to actually attack others. Reasonable interpretation of the event by judge or jury prevents people from exploiting it the other way, claiming assault for frivolous reasons.

Not to be too nitpicky here-- because I actually agree with your underlying point, and want to add to it, rather than detracting-- assault doesn't even require physical contact, just the threat of it. (Battery is the completed physical action.)

E.g., if you raise your hand to someone, that can be an assault, because of the implied threat. If you then proceed to beat the *** out of them, that's assault and battery.

ZOS_ConnorG

Greetings all,

After review we have had to remove or edit some posts for rule violations. Please remember that the subject of this thread is closely related to things that are against the Community Rules and Code of Conduct, mainly Inappropriate Content and Harassment. Please ensure that while you discuss this subject you do so in a civil, constructive manner, that is within the rules.

You are welcome to review the Community Rules here and Code of Conduct here.

Karmanorway

Is /pushups emote above a dead players corpse considered sexual harassment?

jm42

excuse me pls, but how it is even possible to sexually harass anyone in videogame?... I can't understand, you can not even send pictures through mail idk

Jeremy

Pyvos wrote: »

madrab73 wrote: »

You could add them to your block list?

That doesn't magically make the problem disappear. The harasser still exists and is still able to go around and harass others. Calling out sexual harassers, reporting them, etc. is in my opinion one of the most meaningful way to hold them accountable for their actions, and enables those with the capability of removing them from the game (ZOS) to made aware of the player's actions and address them.

Then others can add them to their ignore list as well.

This is a video game and you can make anyone's words magically disappear anytime you want. This is far more effective at stopping the alleged harassment then sending a ticket would be - unless of course the goal here is to punish the person instead of actually just stopping the harassment.

I'm more sympathetic to people who are being harassed at school or at their work - because they can't simply turn the offending person off. But on a video game you can. Besides, people need to understand that not everyone lives by the same standard of behavior. What you or someone else may consider "sexual harassment" might just be regular conversation for that person. Lord knows that if I were to post a single conversation I might ordinarily have with any of my friends on this forum board I would be banned for life. lol And I really don't want to see that kind of oppressive atmosphere transferred over to the game as well.

Jeremy

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

mairwen85 wrote: »

Dusk_Coven wrote: »

mairwen85 wrote: »

Vietfox wrote: »

Zer0_CooL wrote: »

Is T-Baging of corpses sexual harrasment? Asking for a friend..

There's someone in this forum who actually thinks that teabagging should be considered as sexual harrasment 😂

You could argue it's using a non-consensual, simulated sex-act for social ridicule. How grey that area is depends on the person its being enacted upon. It's not an activity I personally take part in because I see no point in it, but whatever people feel about it, it's not really something that's done for social graces, is it? Happens to me, it doesn't traumatise or haunt me, but I can understand it gets people's backs up--which is the point of it in practice.

[Quoted post was removed]

Except they're not, not really. The grey area come into that it's a virtual world and a simulated act. It's an avatar crouching over another technically, nothing more. That people attach other connotations to it is another matter, and like I say, the real reason it's done at all. This is an ongoing bone of contention in many online games, and not a single one of them has ever taken an official stance on it to my knowledge. That said, it's an unpleasant practice intended to ridicule regardless.

Splitting hairs to defend vulgar behavior. The generally agreed upon intent -- "unpleasant practice intended to ridicule", if you want to put it mildly like that to try to strip it of all the vulgar sexual connotation of *** -- should be enough to put a ban on it.
The more vulgarity and assorted bad behaviors like exploiting that is allowed, the more a community will degenerate.

It's one thing to defend the right to do something when that something is essentially harmless. It's another to defend the right to do something (especially to someone else) when it's not harmless or when that person objects or is not able to object.

That's why legally, "assault" is any unwanted touch. That sets the bar low against people trying to exploit the law in order to actually attack others. Reasonable interpretation of the event by judge or jury prevents people from exploiting it the other way, claiming assault for frivolous reasons.

What constitutes being "vulgar" is extremely subjective though.

As far as intended to ridicule it's very difficult to know someone's intent. For example: I've had my comments removed on this board before for supposedly being "rude" after I literally edited the comment so as to make sure there was no way to see it as rude. And that still wasn't enough.

That's why I think giving people the tools to moderate the conversation themselves and according to their own standards is the best way to handle it. Just give everyone a two-way ignore option - that way you can't see them - and they can't see you - so those who "offend" each other don't have to interact.

mairwen85

jm42 wrote: »

excuse me pls, but how it is even possible to sexually harass anyone in videogame?... I can't understand, you can not even send pictures through mail idk

It's unfortunately quite commonplace for people to be harassed in many forms in a videogame. Important is to understand that the setting isn't the key part here but the interaction, and that whenever you have a platform that provides the ability for social interaction, harassment can occur.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ab.21873

Sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome sexual advances or other conduct that targets someone based on their sex, inclusive of gender harassment, making suggestive or discriminatory comments, and sexual coercion, or thereby forcing someone to perform (simulated/actual) sex acts. Examples of sexual harassment in online video games include targeted sexist jokes, sexually fuelled insults, unwanted sexual advances, *** jokes or sexual violence threats, and comments about players’ appearances

The issue with just ignoring someone is that it leaves them to harass anyone else freely. If we want a safer, more respectful environment for ourselves, we achieve it best by seeking to provide it for others.