ZOS: URGENT PLEA ABOUT ABUSIVE COMMENTS on ZONE CHAT ...extremely upsetting.

wishlist14 · 12:22AM

Zos team please adress this issue. I am a woman who loves playing eso and have been subbed for 5 plus years now and today zone chat crossed a line for me.
In a generation that is so dead set on treating people equally THIS abuse is unacceptable. I reported these players.

I had to be subjected to a tirade of disgustg, hurtful and derrogative comments about my gender. I cant imagine what negative effects it could have on younger girls.
The comments were extremely graphic about women's private parts.

Yes i can turn off zone chat but why cant i enjoy the nicer side of my eso community? These players are on ignore after being reported but they will do it again if you stop. That level of hatred towards females feels like violence and it seriously brought me to tears.

This is unfair and unacceptable. I always treat everyone with respect. I did not ay anything to them i just reported them.

Ty for reading. 😢❤

Also i need to say there are a lot nicer people in our eso community all genders afcourse....i want to protect our amazing eso community by reporting these disgusting few that think its ok to behave like that on zone chat

This occured in rivenspire zone chat 10 mins ago

Edited due to my many typos as i was upset at the time. Thank you to all that have been supportive.

idk · 12:38AM

Report them as you have done, and get SS of their comments. They are idiots but they are also trolls so do not respond to them in any way as that just feeds and energizes them.

In reality, with the stronger stance about harassment, Zos has recently taken those players that spout racist, sexist, and other intolerant and derogatory comments should be banned.

Ratzkifal · 12:41AM

Sorry to hear you had to go through that.
Out of curiousity, did this happen on console or PC?

karekiz · 12:44AM

GM's do exist. I know of a player who did report for similar issue and fully did everything <Also isn't a streamer> and a GM responded to him. Thats the best course of action.

Asdara · 1:37AM

Why post it on the forums?
Reporting and blocking was enough, you don't have to make this public.

newtinmpls · 1:39AM

Asdara wrote: »

Why post it on the forums?
.

If this is happening, people (and the ZoS employees) need to know about it.

Other people who might be hurt and unwilling to speak up need to hear that it's okay to protest abuse.

Other people who "saw something" and weren't sure if it needed to be reported need to be encouraged to do so.

idk · 1:40AM

Asdara wrote: »

Why post it on the forums?
Reporting and blocking was enough, you don't have to make this public.

Technically, and literally, they did not make much public. Besides, I think it is a good idea to bring this type of pathetic behavior to the forums to get more attention to what Zos needs to do. Really, not much to complain about in the OP.

VaranisArano · 1:47AM

Report it. Take screenshots and attach them to the "Thank you for doing your part to keep Tamriel civil" email ZOS sends as followup.

Then go on with having fun, because ZOS won't talk about disciplinary actions.

ArchMikem · 2:21AM

Just know the anonymity of the internet gives them power. Put them in your face and they'd most likely crumble.

tsaescishoeshiner · 2:49AM

It's also worth trying to derail the zone chat by bringing up other topics—the kind of thing loads of random people love to respond to, like what the meta builds are in PvE/PvP or what addons are essential or an easy lore question or how do guild traders work. For some reason, asking trolls how they make gold or whether they like PvE/PvP more can distract them. At the end of the day, they just want attention and to expeess themselves, and it's often 1 or 2 people "trolling" other people into responding to them. So neutralizing the 1 troll or drowning them out helps. Don't argue with them.

Reporting is easy and it works. I always quote the exact harassment exactly as they said it. People do sometimes get temporary or permanent bans. Sorry you had to go through all that

MyKillv2.0 · 3:05AM

Sorry you had a bad encounter. Whether in games or real life... these encounters suck.

Raideen · 3:20AM

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. I wish more people learned this valuable lesson.

Shadowspawn42 · 3:42AM

I am so sorry to hear you had a bad experience. And please don’t listen to people who say you shouldn’t let it bother you, they don’t understand what it’s like at all.

Jeremy · 3:44AM

wishlist14 wrote: »

Zos team please adress this issue. I am a woman who loves playing eso and have been subbed for 5 plus years now and today zone chat crossed a line for me.
In a generation that is so dead set on treating people equally THIS abuse is unacceptable. I reported these players.

I had to be subjected to a tirade of disging, hurtful and derrogative comments about my gender. I cant imagine what negative effects it could have on younger girls.
The comments were extremely graphic about womens private parts.

Yes i can turn of zone chat but why cant i enjoy the nicer side of my eso community? These players are on ignore after being reported but they will do it again if jot stop. That level of hatred towards females feels like violence and it seriously brought me to tears.

This is unfair and unacceptable. I always treat everyone with respect. I did jot say anything to them i just reported them.

Ty for reading. 😢❤

Also i need to say there are a lot nicer people in our eso community all genders afcourse....i want to protect our amazing eso community by reporting these disgusting few that think its ok to behave like that on zone chat

This occured in rivenspire zone chat 10 mins ago

You don't have to turn off zone chat. Just click the offending person's name - then choose ignore - and problem solved.

Shadowspawn42 · 3:45AM

True, but people still need to learn that this sort of behavior is unacceptable and will be punished

SteveCampsOut · 3:54AM

[snip] You did the right thing with the tools ZOS has given. You ignore and reported them. Thankfully you didn't name and shame them and get this thread deleted. While I admire your restraint in not speaking to them, bringing it up in the forums is just giving them the power they craved. If they see the post they will know they achieved their goal of getting under your skin. [snip]

[edited for baiting]

rpa · 3:54AM

Most important: Do not feed the trolls. Do not respond to a troll. Do not argue, or try to derail or troll back. Report them if they are breaking terms of service. Disciplinary actions - if any - are not your concern.

Trolls exist because too many people just can not pass a starving troll without giving them a snack of attention. It may be hard, but breathe deep, count to 10 and do not feed a troll.

Shadowspawn42 · 4:20AM

SteveCampsOut wrote: »

[snip] You did the right thing with the tools ZOS has given. You ignore and reported them. Thankfully you didn't name and shame them and get this thread deleted. While I admire your restraint in not speaking to them, bringing it up in the forums is just giving them the power they craved. If they see the post they will know they achieved their goal of getting under your skin. [snip]

So it’s wrong to inform people of the problem and wrong to try to get the attention of ZOS so they will fix it? Hmmm. Can’t say I agree with you there. It’s important to discuss issues like this so people know what to watch out for and people who have experienced similar things know they aren’t alone.
Edit: Also, you do realize this goes way beyond “being mean” right? Based on OP’s description, this sounds like legit hate speech meant to intimidate and degrade. So yeah, I don’t blame her for being upset.

SteveCampsOut · 5:21AM

Shadowspawn42 wrote: »

SteveCampsOut wrote: »

[snip] You did the right thing with the tools ZOS has given. You ignore and reported them. Thankfully you didn't name and shame them and get this thread deleted. While I admire your restraint in not speaking to them, bringing it up in the forums is just giving them the power they craved. If they see the post they will know they achieved their goal of getting under your skin. [snip]

So it’s wrong to inform people of the problem and wrong to try to get the attention of ZOS so they will fix it? Hmmm. Can’t say I agree with you there. It’s important to discuss issues like this so people know what to watch out for and people who have experienced similar things know they aren’t alone.
Edit: Also, you do realize this goes way beyond “being mean” right? Based on OP’s description, this sounds like legit hate speech meant to intimidate and degrade. So yeah, I don’t blame her for being upset.

[snip] I only pointed out that she gave the trolls what they wanted. A reaction that they can see clearly on the forums. That's just a simple fact. She can do with it as she likes.

[edited for baiting]

LadyNalcarya · 5:28AM

Raideen wrote: »

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. I wish more people learned this valuable lesson.

People should not put up with discrimination, though. Things like racism, sexism etc lead to much more than just "hurt feelings". Of course, harassment in games is only a small part of a big problem, but it doesn't mean that it's not a problem at all.

Shadowspawn42 · 5:40AM

SteveCampsOut wrote: »

Shadowspawn42 wrote: »

SteveCampsOut wrote: »

[snip] You did the right thing with the tools ZOS has given. You ignore and reported them. Thankfully you didn't name and shame them and get this thread deleted. While I admire your restraint in not speaking to them, bringing it up in the forums is just giving them the power they craved. If they see the post they will know they achieved their goal of getting under your skin. [snips]

So it’s wrong to inform people of the problem and wrong to try to get the attention of ZOS so they will fix it? Hmmm. Can’t say I agree with you there. It’s important to discuss issues like this so people know what to watch out for and people who have experienced similar things know they aren’t alone.
Edit: Also, you do realize this goes way beyond “being mean” right? Based on OP’s description, this sounds like legit hate speech meant to intimidate and degrade. So yeah, I don’t blame her for being upset.

[snip] I only pointed out that she gave the trolls what they wanted. A reaction that they can see clearly on the forums. That's just a simple fact. She can do with it as she likes.

Perhaps I came on too strongly. All I meant is that there are definitely good reasons to post something like this, and OP is NOT overreacting as this could be extremely upsetting.

Zer0_CooL · 5:42AM

I don't know how you report players on PC. But on console you have to type in the players name by hand and start a "support ticket". Which is often laborious.

I would highly apreciate it if ZOS could take an example on PSN, where you can select one specific message and directly create a tiket to report the player. Also these tikets get solved and the reported player gets warned in about 30 minutes. Whereas from ZOS there's coming absolutely no feedback.

newtinmpls · 5:43AM

Raideen wrote: »

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. I wish more people learned this valuable lesson.

Speaking from the perspective of someone employed for years in the mental health field, this is not accurate, and it is often used to defend bullying.

That being said, I think reporting was appropriate. I think the support shown by many here in the community is appropriate, and I especially appreciated suggestions to derail things.

I have a dear friend who, unless she is grouped with friends, goes "invisible" online so that no one can chat or annoy her, because it literally happens every darn time.

HorkerSlay3r · 6:12AM

I’m a girl, pretty much used to those comments. It’s the internet, yeah it’s bad but hey, nothing anyone can really do but ignore and report em.

volkeswagon · 6:27AM

Sorry that happened. Unfortunately zone chat is full of people from bad environments. [snip] Zone chat can get pretty nasty and vulgar at times. These people aren't usually in guilds because they would have been kicked for their behaviour so they take to zone for their social interactions. Reporting them is really all you can do then switch zones after reporting or turn off the chat hub temporarily.

[edited for baiting]

Raideen · 6:51AM

LadyNalcarya wrote: »

Raideen wrote: »

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. I wish more people learned this valuable lesson.

People should not put up with discrimination, though. Things like racism, sexism etc lead to much more than just "hurt feelings". Of course, harassment in games is only a small part of a big problem, but it doesn't mean that it's not a problem at all.

[snip]

I have delt with people making fun of me for physical imperfections for over 30 years. I learned a long time ago that the best way to deal with it, was to ignore their commentary...because what they were saying was not true, it was just being said to be hurtful. I stop letting it hurt me and life is better.

The biggest change any person can do to the world, is change themselves.

[edited for baiting]

Nairinhe · 6:55AM

1. Report
2. Put them on ignore
3. Learn not to care about every barking dog unless there is some real threat (no offence to dogs).

There always will be trolls and idiots. What do you expect ZOS to do? Make psychological profile of every player before letting them join? All that they can do is to act on your report or make profanity filter even more ridiculous, that's it. It's up to you to remember that, however disgusting, most of those idiots are completely harmless.

[snip]

I'm not defending real hate speech and derogatory comments of course, and I'm not saying that words can't hurt you, [snip]

[edited for baiting]

Ratinira · 7:01AM

I'm curious what zos should do? Monitor all zone chats 24/7? If such people are reported they may be banned, they may not be banned, you won't be told the result. But what result from them you expect from posting the well-known fact on forum (trolls always existed in Internet because some people are easily and eagerly swallowing bates)?

Ignore trolls, as if you answer you give them attention they wanted. [snip] Report them, close chat and continue playing. [snip]

[edited for baiting]

Umbro100 · 7:08AM

Raideen wrote: »

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. I wish more people learned this valuable lesson.

This is just wrong on so many levels.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/tech-support/201308/why-words-can-hurt-least-much-sticks-and-stones

Shadowspawn42 · 7:26AM

Wow. I actually cannot believe the comments on here. The people she encountered were using HATE SPEECH. That is completely different than just “saying something mean”. Yes, this is absolutely something to be upset about and yes, cry about if you need to. From what OP said, that was definitely a gendered attack. Admitting that you were upset by this doesn’t make you weak, and I honestly cannot believe people would come on here to imply that you are.
As to what ZOS should do, they should actually punish people who get reported for something like this.

Ectheliontnacil · 7:44AM

Shadowspawn42 wrote: »

Wow. I actually cannot believe the comments on here. The people she encountered were using HATE SPEECH. That is completely different than just “saying something mean”. Yes, this is absolutely something to be upset about and yes, cry about if you need to. From what OP said, that was definitely a gendered attack. Admitting that you were upset by this doesn’t make you weak, and I honestly cannot believe people would come on here to imply that you are.
As to what ZOS should do, they should actually punish people who get reported for something like this.

1. They shouldn't punish people who get reported, they should punish people who actually violate the ToS. Big difference.
2. You have to realise that zone is populated by edgy teens. These aren't personal attacks, it's mostly just 13 year olds writing anything that will upset people.
It would be more serious if people actually dmed her after they found out she was a woman and constantly harassed her. Regardless, report them and move on. Then zos will take the appropriate action and that's all they should do. I get that people can get really offended/hurt by things said ingame, but the issue has been around since the very beginning of online gaming - obviously there isn't a better solution.