Zone chat has become really antagonistic

Thechemicals

Ill buy bored hormonal teens for 500 .

mattgbrowneub17_ESO

Thechemicals wrote: »

Ill buy bored hormonal teens for 500 .

LadyInTheWater

TwistedRiddlesb14_ESO wrote: »

I had refused to pretty much talk in zone chat at all for all of yesterday anticipating this, and then today, after someone had said they hoped there was not a cap on the ignore list (because gold sellers) I said "An ignore list cap would be the dumbest thing."

So, let me get this straight...

You say people should be more respectful in chat, yet at the same time, you call someone's opinion dumb.

In my personal opinion, after reading your post, I feel like you're a part of the problem and not a part of the solution.

liquidhope

instead of turning off zone chat to ignore the harmful and do nothing to help
why not help the people the mean people are mocking

beowulfsshield

The animosity in zone chat has been growing steadily over the years, as has boorish behavior in general. One of the main reasons for this is that there is now very little downside to being a complete tool in an MMO. When MMOs were structured in such a way that individuals were forced to group to conquer any significant goal, generally people were at the very least more polite to others. Now that most MMOs are basically solo games there is no need to worry about offending the rest of the population. There really is no remedy now other than ignoring the creeps and the gits.

Like one of the other posters before, people who name their toons "Moose_Juice_pwner" or "manmeat26744" annoy me greatly, but they pay their monthly fee just like I do. All I can do is mentally tick the "idiot" box next to their name and press on.

Yankee

Wreaken wrote: »

Ebonheart Pact faction, US servers. I turned /zone and /yell chats off.

Best thing I ever did.

As I did, the first day of early start. Been nice and peaceful since.

beowulfsshield

blahgameblahb14_ESO wrote: »

They should add a 'Trade' channel. A lot of non-spammers are trying to sell or Trade in chat and while not 'offensive' it does fill up the channel. I'd rather leave /zone open to help folks.

Unfortunately that idea has had very limited success in other MMOs. People still tend to spam general chat with trade offers, or spam both general and trade because they know that general chat typically has far more people paying attention to it.

habs10

Best chat channel organization I ever saw was on LOTRO. Separate channels for advice, trade, etc, along with the general zone channel. Still had its problems, especially in starter towns but I found it saved a good deal of grief.

Gix

Falmer wrote: »

Well, the absolute very first thing I ever do when creating a new character is set up my "quiet" channel. Remove 'zone' chat. 90% of my game I play without the zone chat playing. I only move back to it should I call out for assistance with a world boss area.

Zone chat has always been filled with immature players and trolls in pretty much every game I have ever played. The key is to just simply not listen to it.

You realize that, if everyone followed your example, no one would be on zone chat to help you out, right?

stabbykitteh

Turning /zone off was probably the best MMO beginner advice I received

xramirez535b14_ESO

Here's what I did, and I only recommend it if you just dont want to deal with trolls for temptation of replying nastily yourself (I have those kind of days sometimes). I made a second tab called "Immersed" and only allowed /s, /g, NPC chat, and guild chat. I only click over to the other tab if I have a question or if I'm trying to sell something. It has paid off greatly.

You could also just ignore the trolls but I always like to think that they'll come around and be a decent gamer one day so I leave them be.

Knovah

I will agree zone chat can be horrid at times. I tend to avoid zone chats in most the mmo's I play or have played in the past. I turn it off or create a new tab with what I want to see only. Seems to make for a much more relaxing play time.

With that being said I don't like to say those that are behaving rude and obnoxious and just plain out childish are indeed a set age ( everyone calls them a kid) I have grouped with teens and young adults who are more respectful than some older players. Not everyone behind the avatar is an obnoxious teenager on mommy and daddies money. Some adults can be just as abusive and trollish, if not more so than any kid can.

I have my days where I can be rude or come across as a smart tushy at times and I am in no way a child or a teen on mommy and daddies dime. I am sure many if not most of the people on this forum adult and teen alike has posted something that could be took as trolling, obnoxious or just a smart a**..Imho age is not a requirement for bad behavior and vice versa.

AVCN

Chat has its uses - LFG and "XXX Dolmen or XXX boss is up", but its window is clogged with racist and homophobic garbage.

Quick question- How the [insert f-word here] people manage to play and type at the same time? I mean, even you are fighting NPC zergs, unless you are say, twice the level of your enemies, distraction can take you to the nearest wayshrine...

Or people are paying to troll at a tiny chat window?

I fear some may be that stupid. Others probably are farming bosses and chatting while waiting spawns. I also suspect some are actually managing farming bots...

Bhakura

Im pretty sure ill get flamed or laughed at to death once again, but zone is a simple reflection of what real life community is.
Theres no tolerance anymore, everyone wants to be the most important person ever lived which is quite impossible to obtain, hence people get angry. When someone is doing better theres always stuff people find to *** about it. Heck when something is done, theres always something people will *** about it.
Complaining is a trademark of the 21st century generation.
Of course zone chats in MMOs go down that way, lots of people disgruntled by not being so important yet all have opinions and all cry for acknowledgment of it. If you wanna fix zone chats, fix human thinking, good luck with that one

redwoodtreesprite

It is a shame. I like to help others when they ask for help in zone chat. Especially as they tend to get ignored by most others in chat. But between the gold spammers and the nastiness that often turns up in chat, I have to disable it.

Also, I have a child that likes to watch me play sometimes. (He has played Morrowind since he was quite young with our supervision.) And I don't want him to see some of the suggestive and highly offensive things that some players like to post.

Thechemicals

Had a poor fella asking how to leave Cyrodiil for a long and no one would help. I figured noones going to help so i went ahead and showed him how, but not before saying in zone chat how devolved you have to be socially to not even want to help someone.

Melian

Zone chat seems about the same as in WoW - which is somewhat disappointing. During my first beta in January I was impressed by the helpful, positive community but it's gone downhill ever since.
I guess that's just par for the course for MMOs, though.

LadyInTheWater wrote: »

TwistedRiddlesb14_ESO wrote: »

I had refused to pretty much talk in zone chat at all for all of yesterday anticipating this, and then today, after someone had said they hoped there was not a cap on the ignore list (because gold sellers) I said "An ignore list cap would be the dumbest thing."

So, let me get this straight...

You say people should be more respectful in chat, yet at the same time, you call someone's opinion dumb.

In my personal opinion, after reading your post, I feel like you're a part of the problem and not a part of the solution.

Someone said "I hope there isn't one" and he said "it would be the dumbest thing" - he agreed with them.
It does kind of look like he's calling someone dumb if you just skim it, though. I suppose that could be what happened with the person who called him a troll.

It doesn't seem quite as bad as it was in WoW when I played. The only thing I've seen that really annoyed me much was a bunch of dudes talking *** about female gamers (I play a game to relax and have fun, not to listen to a bunch of garbage about people like me who play games).

Inb4 "it's the internet". I've been on the internet for over 20 years, and it has never been the exclusive realm of sexist dudebros in that time, much as they might like to pretend it is.

stabbykitteh

Thechemicals wrote: »

Had a poor fella asking how to leave Cyrodiil for a long and no one would help. I figured noones going to help so i went ahead and showed him how, but not before saying in zone chat how devolved you have to be socially to not even want to help someone.

I think many times pleas for help get buried under all the other 'stuff' in zone chat. Might be better off using /say or /yell. Most questions I've seen and answered were local or shouted.

LunaRae

I only have zone chat open if I'm not actively participating in guild chat. And when I have zone chat open I'm only looking to help players, answer questions or buy stuff from WTS players. Any attempt at provoking me gets ignored, though I really don't usually post in zone chat unless I feel a strong urge to do so. +1 to being nice though.... unfortunately we're a small representation of the people who play ESO (and other games)

RubyTigress

I dip in and out of zone chat, depending on my resistance to the vileness sure to be found.

The main reasons I do keep going back in are these:

1. I report *** who are race or genderbaiting.
2. I answer questions where I can, and pushback on folks who give people just asking a question a hard time.

It will never go away completely, but to a large extent the health of an MMO community depends on not conceding to the lowest common denominator.

Catches_the_Sun

I don't think ESO is worse than any other MMO I've played in terms of how bad public chat can be. They're always worse in the beginning too, since people who would rather have their eyes pulled out with a spoon than play ESO...are right there playing ESO & talking about how bad it is.

So far in Zone chat, I've heard that *** had it right, heard the N-word several times (even people with that in their character name), witnessed people chastising our soldiers that were advertising a military guild, seen guild advertisements with F-word in their actual title, casual talk about ***, people telling each other to go kill themselves, and many other fun discussions.

This is why I have Zone chat on it's own tab. I only flip to it when I'm in town, looking to buy or sell something.

SirAndy

I really hope that after the first 30 days are over, the zone chat will clear up a bit.

Khandi

Or maybe they could put a chat timer on it so people can't spam.

Svann

Yea, some games are worse than others unfortunately.

fredarbonab14_ESO

"... because the weird aggressively antagonistic nature of people in zone chat is pretty much the major downside to this game, as far as I'm concerned."

THIS game? This is the reality in every MMO game, in varying degrees of course. And has gotten meaner over the years. We don't live in a peach of an American society you know; too many 'rights', without any responsibilities. Fortunately, there is still some 'freedom of association', associate and exchange with your 'own kind' and let the rest find their own social niche.

LOTRO in general and DAoC (Gaheris server in particular) were the best I have seen, after those games settled down. I have found the players in ESO IN the game outstanding; friendly and always willing to help, even in zone chat. Perhaps just ignore the imbecile and the moronic and act like they don't even exist, which most of us wished they really didn't actually, but they do unfortunately.

Alurria

This morning was pretty disgusting in zone chat
sexually explicit talk, we all know young people play and no doubt some children it was more than I could bear to watch. When I chose to speak up I was attacked for it. Gotta ask why someone would say those things knowing a child maybe reading

foxsyd

Person may of misread your statement, as I just did at first then, took a re-read to realize my mistake. Eyes go to "dumbest thing" first, and chat can fly by fast. The context might of been lost, and someone might of mistaken what you said as if you were saying something someone said as "dumbest thing".. people are sensitive.

As for zone chat, except for annoying goldsellers now and then, I've not seen rude behavior at times I've been playing. Have seen the usual "WoW comparisons" discussion I've seen in every zone chat in every MMO I've ever played in, which is a really boring conversation in my opinion.

RubyTigress

pieceofyarnb14_ESO wrote: »

This morning was pretty disgusting in zone chat
sexually explicit talk, we all know young people play and no doubt some children it was more than I could bear to watch. When I chose to speak up I was attacked for it. Gotta ask why someone would say those things knowing a child maybe reading

This is a mature game with themes-not a children's game, in all seriousness.

Though the flashing titty emotes in zone chat do undermine the maturity thing...

My point here being that the subject matter of sex isn't so concerning to me as the bashing of various groups. Often the sexually explicit talk contains that as well, though, and we need to push back, and have a thick skin when that happens.

Alurria

You are right about a think skin...usually I ignore but it was pretty perverted and disgusting. I think being the age I am I can tell the difference between innuendo and sexually explicit though. This game is rated M not XXX

pokebreaker

I always leave zone chat on. I like to be as helpful as possible to those asking legitimate questions. Those positive interactions they receive in a place where it's least expected (General Chat), tend to give people hope for humanity, lol. I also leave it on to call people out on pointless sharpshooting. If I detect someone is genuinely trolling, I just put them on the ignore list.

However, there are those who are just being ***, because nobody has said anything to them about it yet. So, because I like a good debate, I engage the *** on behalf of the person they attacked, and proceed to attempt to make the *** look foolish for choosing to act the way they did. Usually what happens is, others decide to step up and shun the *** as well, but not until after I've invested hundreds of characters. I sometimes get placed on other peoples ignore list (due to my long and continuous responses being viewed as spam), but thats ok, because in my opinion, if nobody is willing to say something about their behavior, then it is even more likely to continue.

I don't believe the problem with General Chat will ever completely go away, but we can help to reduce it. Sometimes the "trolls" who aren't dedicated to the cause, can be converted back to being productive members of our community. The true trolls always manage to find themselves on most peoples' ignore lists anyway. We just have to be willing to step up and say something to them about their behavior, and be ready to have a long conversation (which most people aren't).

You might ask why I spend time doing that, versus anything else in the game. My answer is, why not? I want those who leave General Chat on, to know there is someone there who has their back when they are unreasonably being treated like crap, for asking an innocent question.

Am I the only one?

Too each their own