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Who to contact in case of emergency? (life threatening/person confides suicide attempt)

AliRay
AliRay
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A guildmate asked in a rather flustered manner earlier who to contact at ZoS or even HOW to contact ZoS in cases of extreme emergency such as a guildmate or gaming friend confiding they were going to kill themselves. @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BillE @ZOS_KaiSchober @ZOS_AntonioP @ZOS_Adrikoth I would just send a DM only but I feel like this should be made public knowledge. With the COVID pandemic and a lot of people being involved in the gaming community and isolation/illness being very real I can only imagine this isn't a rare occurrence and perhaps ZoS could address this within its community? (sorry for all the tags, I don't know if it even gets the attention of the Dev's or not but I had to try)
  • Watchdog
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    AliRay wrote: »
    A guildmate asked in a rather flustered manner earlier who to contact at ZoS or even HOW to contact ZoS in cases of extreme emergency such as a guildmate or gaming friend confiding they were going to kill themselves. @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BillE @ZOS_KaiSchober @ZOS_AntonioP @ZOS_Adrikoth I would just send a DM only but I feel like this should be made public knowledge. With the COVID pandemic and a lot of people being involved in the gaming community and isolation/illness being very real I can only imagine this isn't a rare occurrence and perhaps ZoS could address this within its community? (sorry for all the tags, I don't know if it even gets the attention of the Dev's or not but I had to try)

    Contact the police. Don't hesitate to do so. Do it immediately.

    They will contact the right persons to get the leads to the guildmate/gaming friend.
    Member of Alith Legion: https://www.alithlegion.com
  • Xebov
    Xebov
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    There are several Options.

    You can call the police and forward information about the situation. They are usually able to connect to the responsible police force and/or company. They of course need some extra information in order to do so.

    You can send a Ticket to the Service, i think they should even have a priority Tickettype for this, but im unsure. Every bigger online gaming corporation has contacts to local police forces for the countries.
  • ArchMikem
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    AliRay wrote: »
    A guildmate asked in a rather flustered manner earlier who to contact at ZoS or even HOW to contact ZoS in cases of extreme emergency such as a guildmate or gaming friend confiding they were going to kill themselves.

    You don't contact ZOS about it. There are national hotlines for these things that should be easy to search for.

    https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
    Edited by ArchMikem on September 11, 2020 9:48PM
    CP2,000 Master Explorer - AvA One Star General - Console Peasant - Khajiiti Aficionado - The Clan
    Quest Objective: OMG Go Talk To That Kitty!
  • Xebov
    Xebov
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    ArchMikem wrote: »
    AliRay wrote: »
    A guildmate asked in a rather flustered manner earlier who to contact at ZoS or even HOW to contact ZoS in cases of extreme emergency such as a guildmate or gaming friend confiding they were going to kill themselves.

    You don't contact ZOS about it. There are national hotlines for these things that should be easy to search for.

    That is only true if you have enought personal information and living in the same country, otherwise it gets complicated. Contacting the company is the right way because they usually have additional information and a direct line to local emergency forces. Things like this happened often enought in the last 10 years for everyone to adapt to this.
  • Elrond87
    Elrond87
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    Hard times/life, I just typed up a long story about myself but deleted it no one needs to see the mess of what i am heh. Lets just say hell is real it is in my mind.
    PC|EU
    cp2807
    20 characters
  • wishlist14
    wishlist14
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    Call the police as they deal with utube suicides or threats of violence on fb aswellbut the best way is to reach out to the person and listen to them if they will talk. There is a window of a few minutes whereby the suicidal persons feelings and desire to kill themselves will shift and the desires dessipitates.

    Sometimes all they need is for someone to listen and show they care. Many suicide attemptShow tgem they matters are due to depression afcourse but the person also experiences a sense that they dont exist that they are worthless.
  • Tandor
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    Xebov wrote: »
    There are several Options.

    You can call the police and forward information about the situation. They are usually able to connect to the responsible police force and/or company. They of course need some extra information in order to do so.

    You can send a Ticket to the Service, i think they should even have a priority Tickettype for this, but im unsure. Every bigger online gaming corporation has contacts to local police forces for the countries.

    Unfortunately, if ZOS had a priority ticket type far too many players would use it to report that they hadn't had a reply to their conventional ticket 10 minutes earlier about the twenty iron ore they'd accidentally destroyed.

    The OP has done the right thing by drawing the staff's attention to the issue, it's up to them to explain what course of action they would want taken in these circumstances - but speaking personally, if I was aware of a real emergency situation along these lines I would PM one or two of the staff and additionally ask my local police if they could assist in any way depending on the extent of personal information I had about the player concerned.
  • Nestor
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    Elrond87 wrote: »
    Hard times/life, I just typed up a long story about myself but deleted it no one needs to see the mess of what i am heh. Lets just say hell is real it is in my mind.

    For what it is worth, Life will get better. Stay Strong.
    Enjoy the game, life is what you really want to be worried about.

    PakKat "Everything was going well, until I died"
    Gary Gravestink "I am glad you died, I needed the help"

  • SilverBride
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    What if you don't know the person's real name? Or where they live? Which police station would you be contacting?

    Zenimax would have this information. They would be the ones I'd think you should call, because they could then contact the proper authorities.
    PCNA
  • Psiion
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    Hello,

    For reporting threats of harm in situations like these, there is a "Real World Threat" category for reports both in-game and on the Elder Scrolls Online Help site. To file a report under that category on the Help Site, select "Report Player" followed by the platform, then "Real World Threat". Please provide as much detail on the situation as possible. These reports are given the highest priority, and the Support staff make an effort to review reports in this category within the first hour.

    A new Support article will be posted with this information on Monday.
    Staff Post
  • MasterSpatula
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    If you're able to keep the person in chat with you BUT can't get enough personal info about them to track down their location to inform their local support structure, you might consider contacting a suicide prevention hotline yourself. Explain the situation to the person on the line; they might be able to talk you through what to say in chat.

    It's a little complicated, but it's better than nothing.

    I'm not sure the police would be my first resort considering, well, stuff...
    "A probable impossibility is preferable to an improbable possibility." - Aristotle
  • Elrond87
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    Nestor wrote: »
    Elrond87 wrote: »
    Hard times/life, I just typed up a long story about myself but deleted it no one needs to see the mess of what i am heh. Lets just say hell is real it is in my mind.

    For what it is worth, Life will get better. Stay Strong.

    Thank you
    PC|EU
    cp2807
    20 characters
  • ArchMikem
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    Xebov wrote: »
    ArchMikem wrote: »
    AliRay wrote: »
    A guildmate asked in a rather flustered manner earlier who to contact at ZoS or even HOW to contact ZoS in cases of extreme emergency such as a guildmate or gaming friend confiding they were going to kill themselves.

    You don't contact ZOS about it. There are national hotlines for these things that should be easy to search for.

    That is only true if you have enought personal information and living in the same country, otherwise it gets complicated. Contacting the company is the right way because they usually have additional information and a direct line to local emergency forces. Things like this happened often enought in the last 10 years for everyone to adapt to this.

    Companies aren't responsible for their customers well being. The first contact for that kind of situation is the person's local emergency service if no national hotline exists or is hard to find. I don't even understand why a video game developer would be the first people to reach out to.
    CP2,000 Master Explorer - AvA One Star General - Console Peasant - Khajiiti Aficionado - The Clan
    Quest Objective: OMG Go Talk To That Kitty!
  • Dark_Lord_Kuro
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    ArchMikem wrote: »
    Xebov wrote: »
    ArchMikem wrote: »
    AliRay wrote: »
    A guildmate asked in a rather flustered manner earlier who to contact at ZoS or even HOW to contact ZoS in cases of extreme emergency such as a guildmate or gaming friend confiding they were going to kill themselves.

    You don't contact ZOS about it. There are national hotlines for these things that should be easy to search for.

    That is only true if you have enought personal information and living in the same country, otherwise it gets complicated. Contacting the company is the right way because they usually have additional information and a direct line to local emergency forces. Things like this happened often enought in the last 10 years for everyone to adapt to this.

    Companies aren't responsible for their customers well being. The first contact for that kind of situation is the person's local emergency service if no national hotline exists or is hard to find. I don't even understand why a video game developer would be the first people to reach out to.

    They have some info about the player such as country other player dont have wich could be useful
  • ZaroktheImmortal
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    I'm not sure if ZOS would actually do anything if you know where and who they are you might be able to contact someone. Hope they're alright I know as someone who suffers depression and I have friends who also do who I worry about that it can be quite difficult and I know what it is to worry like that.
  • geonsocal
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    Elrond87 wrote: »
    Hard times/life, I just typed up a long story about myself but deleted it no one needs to see the mess of what i am heh. Lets just say hell is real it is in my mind.

    you are not alone...writing is an excellent way to help "get out" some of those thoughts and feelings...

    avoidance, distraction, self-medication are coping techniques - sometimes this stuff though requires professional assistance...

    mental healthcare is simply healthcare...it's really important stuff...
    Edited by geonsocal on September 12, 2020 3:12AM
    PVP Campaigns Section: Playstation NA and EU (Gray Host) - This Must be the Place
  • JKorr
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    ArchMikem wrote: »
    Xebov wrote: »
    ArchMikem wrote: »
    AliRay wrote: »
    A guildmate asked in a rather flustered manner earlier who to contact at ZoS or even HOW to contact ZoS in cases of extreme emergency such as a guildmate or gaming friend confiding they were going to kill themselves.

    You don't contact ZOS about it. There are national hotlines for these things that should be easy to search for.

    That is only true if you have enought personal information and living in the same country, otherwise it gets complicated. Contacting the company is the right way because they usually have additional information and a direct line to local emergency forces. Things like this happened often enought in the last 10 years for everyone to adapt to this.

    Companies aren't responsible for their customers well being. The first contact for that kind of situation is the person's local emergency service if no national hotline exists or is hard to find. I don't even understand why a video game developer would be the first people to reach out to.

    Okay. First contact is local. How can you find "local"? If you don't have any personal knowledge about the person who can narrow down their location, how do you contact "local"? "Local" can be in the States, or are they in Europe? England? South America?

    Guess who can narrow down that "local" to what is actually useful. Yep. Forum/game admins who have access to IP information. If the information can be acted on fast enough, it could prevent a bad situation from getting worse. Are the game/forum admins responsible for an active rescue/response? No. Can they help the situation by providing location information to local authorities? Yes.
  • 16BitForestCat
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    ArchMikem wrote: »
    Xebov wrote: »
    ArchMikem wrote: »
    AliRay wrote: »
    A guildmate asked in a rather flustered manner earlier who to contact at ZoS or even HOW to contact ZoS in cases of extreme emergency such as a guildmate or gaming friend confiding they were going to kill themselves.

    You don't contact ZOS about it. There are national hotlines for these things that should be easy to search for.

    That is only true if you have enought personal information and living in the same country, otherwise it gets complicated. Contacting the company is the right way because they usually have additional information and a direct line to local emergency forces. Things like this happened often enought in the last 10 years for everyone to adapt to this.

    Companies aren't responsible for their customers well being. The first contact for that kind of situation is the person's local emergency service if no national hotline exists or is hard to find. I don't even understand why a video game developer would be the first people to reach out to.

    It's actually extremely common for companies that provide any kind of customer service to contact help for their users in need, since the companies already have at least some user contact info on hand. One of the mods has already posted in this thread that ZOS does in fact provide such a service and gives such reports top priority.

    Signed,

    Someone who has periodically had to contact customer service to get help for people in crisis, on multiple websites and through many online services, for over twenty-five years now
    —PC/NA, never Steam—
    Getting lost in TESO Tamriel and beyond since Beta 2013!
    Alliance agnostic: all factions should chill the fetch out and party together.
    If you ever wonder why certain official fandom spaces are so often toxic and awful, remember: corruption starts from the top. ^^v
  • Shadowspawn42
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    I really hope that person is okay and got the help they needed. I know a lot of people are struggling with mental health right now (myself included), but please stay strong. You’ll be proud of yourself one day ❤️.
  • Dusk_Coven
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    ZOS_KageW wrote: »
    Support staff make an effort to review reports in this category within the first hour.

    Sorry I don't feel that's good enough. What you are saying is they MIGHT get to it at all, and if so, it MIGHT happen in one hour.
    "Make an effort" also implies "not guaranteed" that it'll even get looked at.
    Yes I understand that ZOS is not an emergency services company. But is your customer support system really 24/7?

    File a report but my recommendation would be that emergency services still be called:

    - person is local? same country? Call the police / emergency services for that location.
    - person is in another country? Call their embassy. Don't know their embassy number? Start looking it up but also call your local emergency services to get help.

    A call to ZOS from emergency services to get more information would probably get more and faster attention than a ticket that might get looked at maybe in one hour.
    Edited by Dusk_Coven on September 12, 2020 6:06AM
  • NecrosIX
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    Elrond87 wrote: »
    Hard times/life, I just typed up a long story about myself but deleted it no one needs to see the mess of what i am heh. Lets just say hell is real it is in my mind.

    Heaven, too, is real and it, too, exists in the mind.
  • d0e1ow
    d0e1ow
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    Don't call the police on someone experiencing a mental health crisis unless they pose a serious threat to the safety of people around them. Like an actual -credible- threat. Police kill people during "mental health checks" all the time. Stop putting people in even more danger. I say this as someone who deals with suicidal ideation and mental illness for my whole life. Stop "calling the cops". We're not committing a crime.
    "Her mystery was as essential to her as savagery was to Boethiah or treachery was to Molag Bal. To understand Nocturnal is to negate her, to pull back the curtains cloaking her realm of darkness." - Sigillah Parate "Invocation of Azura"


  • Shadowspawn42
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    (Deleted)
    Edited by Shadowspawn42 on September 12, 2020 6:16AM
  • Xebov
    Xebov
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    ArchMikem wrote: »
    Xebov wrote: »
    ArchMikem wrote: »
    AliRay wrote: »
    A guildmate asked in a rather flustered manner earlier who to contact at ZoS or even HOW to contact ZoS in cases of extreme emergency such as a guildmate or gaming friend confiding they were going to kill themselves.

    You don't contact ZOS about it. There are national hotlines for these things that should be easy to search for.

    That is only true if you have enought personal information and living in the same country, otherwise it gets complicated. Contacting the company is the right way because they usually have additional information and a direct line to local emergency forces. Things like this happened often enought in the last 10 years for everyone to adapt to this.

    Companies aren't responsible for their customers well being. The first contact for that kind of situation is the person's local emergency service if no national hotline exists or is hard to find. I don't even understand why a video game developer would be the first people to reach out to.

    Companies have data about their customers that many users usually dont have.

    Some years ago i read an interesting article about Blizzards support for WoW. They said that in the past they had cases where ppl threatened with suicide in tickets so they called local police forces on this. The police was at first suprissed but over time they established direct connections to deal with these situations. If you are in a different country and have little information their line is actually way shorter than yours.
  • d0e1ow
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    I get that they think police will help, and sometimes maybe they are correct. Maybe you'll get that mythical "good cop", but a lot of the times you do get treated like a criminal. When a cop shows up when you're going psychotic or manic or something it doesn't calm you down. It escalates the situation immediately. Frankly it is absolutely terrifying. It's a mixture of the mentally ill person already being volatile, and police just not being the ones who should be dealing with such situations. The issue is our society doesn't want to address the hard issue of mental health, and so the suffering just increases.

    I just wanted to give an opposing viewpoint as someone with personal experience in the matter. Sometimes I guess, yeah, you do have to call the police, but a lot of times it can really just escalate a situation. I can tell you I have never physically hurt another person or threatened another person in my life, and I pray that it always stays that way.
    "Her mystery was as essential to her as savagery was to Boethiah or treachery was to Molag Bal. To understand Nocturnal is to negate her, to pull back the curtains cloaking her realm of darkness." - Sigillah Parate "Invocation of Azura"


  • Watchdog
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    d0e1ow wrote: »
    Don't call the police on someone experiencing a mental health crisis unless they pose a serious threat to the safety of people around them. Like an actual -credible- threat. Police kill people during "mental health checks" all the time. Stop putting people in even more danger. I say this as someone who deals with suicidal ideation and mental illness for my whole life. Stop "calling the cops". We're not committing a crime.

    I don't know what a sad country you live in, but I feel sorry for you and your people.

    I am a police officer from the Czech Republic (EU) and I find such generalizing statements quite insulting.

    In my more than 15 years of service I have never done any such thing. Actually, I have helped quite a few people in very difficult situations. Some you may not even be able to imagine. The police has the means to locate the person in trouble and help them.
    Member of Alith Legion: https://www.alithlegion.com
  • d0e1ow
    d0e1ow
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    I live in the USA.
    "Her mystery was as essential to her as savagery was to Boethiah or treachery was to Molag Bal. To understand Nocturnal is to negate her, to pull back the curtains cloaking her realm of darkness." - Sigillah Parate "Invocation of Azura"


  • redgreensunset
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    Watchdog wrote: »
    AliRay wrote: »
    A guildmate asked in a rather flustered manner earlier who to contact at ZoS or even HOW to contact ZoS in cases of extreme emergency such as a guildmate or gaming friend confiding they were going to kill themselves. @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BillE @ZOS_KaiSchober @ZOS_AntonioP @ZOS_Adrikoth I would just send a DM only but I feel like this should be made public knowledge. With the COVID pandemic and a lot of people being involved in the gaming community and isolation/illness being very real I can only imagine this isn't a rare occurrence and perhaps ZoS could address this within its community? (sorry for all the tags, I don't know if it even gets the attention of the Dev's or not but I had to try)

    Contact the police. Don't hesitate to do so. Do it immediately.

    They will contact the right persons to get the leads to the guildmate/gaming friend.

    Contacting the police in the case of a mental health crisis is a very bad idea. Cops are not equipped and in many cases not even taught, how to deal with this and usually only makes a bad situation worse. Most civilized countries, and some not so civilized, these days have special units that deals with this. Assuming both you and the person in question live in the same country calling whatever your country's version of emergency number (such as 911) is and they should send out the correct team. If you're ot it gets tricky because you need to find out who exactly to contact in that country.
  • Minyassa
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    Re: those who are worried about the police not being appropriate for such crises (myself included)--if the player is in certain countries it might not even be the police that are called to respond to mental health crises. Some countries have special units that deal with mental health crises, like Sweden. So going directly to police might not be the way to go not only because of known issues in some areas but because they're just not the ones who would deal with it wherever the player is. I feel pretty confident that ZOS is keeping an eye on Real World Threat tickets; imagine if they didn't catch a terrorist threat in time, no company wants to deal with the fallout from something like that.
    Edited by Minyassa on September 12, 2020 6:38AM
  • Watchdog
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    Watchdog wrote: »
    AliRay wrote: »
    A guildmate asked in a rather flustered manner earlier who to contact at ZoS or even HOW to contact ZoS in cases of extreme emergency such as a guildmate or gaming friend confiding they were going to kill themselves. @ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_BillE @ZOS_KaiSchober @ZOS_AntonioP @ZOS_Adrikoth I would just send a DM only but I feel like this should be made public knowledge. With the COVID pandemic and a lot of people being involved in the gaming community and isolation/illness being very real I can only imagine this isn't a rare occurrence and perhaps ZoS could address this within its community? (sorry for all the tags, I don't know if it even gets the attention of the Dev's or not but I had to try)

    Contact the police. Don't hesitate to do so. Do it immediately.

    They will contact the right persons to get the leads to the guildmate/gaming friend.

    Contacting the police in the case of a mental health crisis is a very bad idea. Cops are not equipped and in many cases not even taught, how to deal with this and usually only makes a bad situation worse. Most civilized countries, and some not so civilized, these days have special units that deals with this. Assuming both you and the person in question live in the same country calling whatever your country's version of emergency number (such as 911) is and they should send out the correct team. If you're ot it gets tricky because you need to find out who exactly to contact in that country.

    Being in another country is merely a nuisance to the police, not a concrete wall today.

    Have you ever heard about organisations like Interpol, Europol, SIRENE, or maybe about liaison officers posted in other countries? PCCC's? Cybercime/emergency links to companies such as Google and Facebook allowing us to save lives without delay, such as kids in immediate danger?

    We do have the means and the knowledge on how to use them in exactly such cases. We have a whole functional and effective network of tools. And we do use them. Quite often.

    Actually, if the person is in another country, it may end up even better, because as soon as the warning reaches that other country, it will be forwarded to the proper unit, and won't be dealt with by a random patrol officer.

    You just need to contact the police, explain the problem, and provide as much information and as many hints about the person in danger and their location as you can. There are internal systems in place to take it from there.
    Edited by Watchdog on September 12, 2020 1:25PM
    Member of Alith Legion: https://www.alithlegion.com
This discussion has been closed.