PC Community Concerns About Cross Play

Furyous

I want to raise a concern about cross play from the perspective of long term community stability.
The PC ESO community has built a strong reputation for support, cooperation, and organized group play. Trials, events, and teaching runs work because the culture encourages patience, teamwork, and accountability. Most issues get resolved quickly and the overall environment stays positive.

Cross play can bring benefits. Larger populations and faster grouping sound great. My concern is not about skill or platform differences. My concern is about behavior and the culture shift that can happen when different environments merge.

🎮 Platform Culture Differences
Different platforms attract different personality types. The environment shapes the behavior. Console ecosystems tend to reinforce fast paced, competitive, high friction interactions. That style works fine for many games, but it also produces a higher percentage of controversial or disruptive personalities.

From my own experience running a large PC guild structure with more than 560 players, this trend shows up clearly. A noticeable percentage of players who join from console arrive with habits shaped by a faster and more competitive environment. The rate of drama heavy behavior, short fuse communication, or disruptive actions is higher than what we typically see from long term PC players. Not all console players behave this way, but the percentage is higher and the pattern is consistent enough to matter.

📌 Examples We See Often
• New arrivals claiming to have 3600 CP characters on console and demanding immediate power leveling
• Requests for free items
• Taking large amounts of materials from the guild bank to resell for profit
• Starting arguments or creating drama in guild chat before anyone knows them

These behaviors are not universal, but they occur at a much higher rate among players coming from console. The console environment rewards quick matches, rapid resets, and low accountability. PC ESO rewards cooperation, planning, and community reputation. When these cultures mix without guardrails, the friction becomes real.

The PC community can absorb a slow and steady influx of console players without much disruption. The culture adjusts and the impact stays manageable. The concern is scale. Thousands of players arriving at once almost guarantees a major cultural shock, and the PC environment is not built to absorb that volume of high friction behavior all at the same time.

It only takes one disruptive player to ruin a trial or event. Enough of that and players stop joining groups, which leaves only the people who enjoy disruption.

🌿 Why This Matters for ESO
ESO is unique among MMORPGs. Many MMOs have end games that are exclusive, hostile to new players, or built around gatekeeping. ESO has avoided that for the most part. While a few guilds lean sweaty or elitist, they are the exception. The broader PC community has built an end game that is unusually supportive and welcoming.

This did not happen overnight. I have played since beta, and the early years of ESO were far more toxic and chaotic. It took a long time for the community to mature into the supportive environment we have today. The main reason I returned to ESO and stayed was the community. I would hate to see that progress undone.

Cross play is not automatically a problem. The concern is the cultural impact. If the cooperative PC environment is diluted by a higher volume of disruptive behavior, the long term cost could outweigh the short term benefits.

🧭 Closing
I am not asking ZOS to cancel cross play. I am asking them to protect the community that has kept ESO healthy for more than ten years.

SerafinaWaterstar

Your post shows you know nothing about the community on consoles.

DenverRalphy

As someone who's played both PC and Consoles, I could say with confidence that you could very easily swap the words Console and PC throughout the entire OP to reverse the entire narrative, and it would read equally as true.

Kickimanjaro

Furyous wrote: »

I am not asking ZOS to cancel cross play. I am asking them to protect the community that has kept ESO healthy for more than ten years.

How?

Poss

As someone who frequently plays cross-platform games, this post is absolute drivel.

Where are you getting the idea that console players are “shaped by a faster and more competitive environment.” If anything, console players have always been at a disadvantage compared to PC players. So much so that a lot of games allow you to toggle on/off crossplay specifically to protect console players.

And I can assure you, console players as a whole are NOT toxic as you claim.

msgeek

I suspect your view of console players has been shaped by those who were banned on console and went to PC as a result.

What you describe is certainly not typical.

OsUfi

Chat GPT would side with the PC Master Race...

Blood_again

Sorry, it is the most xenophobic text I've ever read on this forum for many years.
Was is AI? It needs some more training, if so.

Crossplay can and will bring some problems, but not because "players here and there are different".
People of different playstyles are part of both Console and PC community segments, not to mention that these segments are overlapping.
The differences in the original post are totally made up.

tohopka_eso

I'm another player who has played both PC and consoles. Along with that I use to play another game that had cross play and never had any of the real issues you were mentioning.
The only issue I had was in the beginning because of the add one (which I don't use even being a PC player), but since ZOS finally worked on that. I don't even see that as an issue.

KalevaLaine

Hm, difficult.

I also switched from PS4 to PC in 2020 and never asked for free things or anything like the points you see or saw often.

BUT - I also talked yesterday to a guild member bout my PS4 times and could agree with the drama point. I never got so many drama und random struggles with people in my real life as I got on PS4.

Maybe the population on PC is more adult, dunno, but when I started on PC in 2020 it ways way more relaxing.

But in any case you can't lump everyone together.

LunaFlora

DenverRalphy wrote: »

As someone who's played both PC and Consoles, I could say with confidence that you could very easily swap the words Console and PC throughout the entire OP to reverse the entire narrative, and it would read equally as true.

Me too. i have played on ESO on both PC and Playstation.
And the eso players i regularly interact with online are on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox (not just one platform).



Different game machines do not affect people's behaviour so much as people appear to believe. And we play basically the same game, there are simply countless different people you will meet on all platforms, their kindness or rudeness is not due to their game machine.


The actual differences between PC and Consoles is:
- which add-ons we have access to, new to console so fewer there.
- pc has more search functions and a few extra settings like Chat Background opacity.
- Consoles have voice chat in eso, which we can turn off whenever we want.
- pc has access to the Public Testing Server.
- pc has access to Mouse and Keyboard for gameplay, which is supposedly faster for some people.
- apparently the amount of Gold value people place on items, but that it is players' choice.

ksbrugh

I play PC and console and I see almost nothing of what you've discussed here.
Coming from a 3000 CP To a Zero transfer I'm sure there's some anxiety to level up fast But that goes as well Moving from PC to console.
I have a 3000 CP on Xbox 1500 on PC and 900 on PS5. I run two guilds on two different systems and im in Max guilds on all accounts. Call it luck or whatever you would like but your issues have not been an issue for me.
I say about 99% of the people that I interact with daily can't wait for the cross play, only issues most see is economies of systems combining.

I'm sorry for your interactions with console users that have been rude. I wish better relationships upon you in the future my eso family member.

valenwood_vegan

Hopefully it's obvious that OP isn't actually speaking for the PC community.

But just in case, I wanted to say that there are bad apples on every platform and in every game, but the reality I've seen is that I have several good friends in ESO who were console transfers and my social guild has wonderful former console players who have contributed greatly to the guild. Meanwhile there's been friction and drama with any number of PC players.

Unfortunate to see attempts like this to paint everyone with one brush and force an "us vs. them" mentality onto every issue. I do have some concerns about crossplay and how they'll implement it and resolve various issues, but "console people bad" isn't really one of them.

MorallyBipolar

Every time ZOS has done major things like this it's years before the major bugs get sorted out and many never get resolved at all.

I think crossplay is a huge mistake. Plus, if game box users wanted to play on PC they'd already be on PC.

LadyGP

MorallyBipolar wrote: »

Every time ZOS has done major things like this it's years before the major bugs get sorted out and many never get resolved at all.

I think crossplay is a huge mistake. Plus, if game box users wanted to play on PC they'd already be on PC.

............ this take is so... I don't even know how to play.

There are TONs of reasons why people who have consoles don't have PCs.

To be honest - I think cross play wouth be HUGE for ESO. I've lost count of the threads over the years where people were complaining about dung finder taking forever to group, tiny player pop, etc etc. More people in eso is a good thing.

Sure, there will be growing pains, challanges, etc, but why should that stop them from trying to get more players in one area? Logging into ESO and seeing towns covered with hundreds of players running around is pretty cool. Logging in and only seeing 5 people around... not so cool

BardokRedSnow

Anything to shake things up for a game over ten years old with a dwindling player base is good.

Even if the assumptions here about console players were true, which I'll leave my opinion on that out, more people and new personalities in a game where people play for social interaction even if you're introverted like me... it is vital.

Change is scary yea we get it, but if you love this game and want it to go another 20 years hopefully, 10 at least, then it needs crossplatform play in the modern gaming era.

Furyous

SerafinaWaterstar wrote: »

Your post shows you know nothing about the community on consoles.

DenverRalphy wrote: »

As someone who's played both PC and Consoles, I could say with confidence that you could very easily swap the words Console and PC throughout the entire OP to reverse the entire narrative, and it would read equally as true.

Poss wrote: »

As someone who frequently plays cross-platform games, this post is absolute drivel.

Where are you getting the idea that console players are “shaped by a faster and more competitive environment.” If anything, console players have always been at a disadvantage compared to PC players. So much so that a lot of games allow you to toggle on/off crossplay specifically to protect console players.

And I can assure you, console players as a whole are NOT toxic as you claim.

msgeek wrote: »

I suspect your view of console players has been shaped by those who were banned on console and went to PC as a result.

What you describe is certainly not typical.

Blood_again wrote: »

Sorry, it is the most xenophobic text I've ever read on this forum for many years.
Was is AI? It needs some more training, if so.

Crossplay can and will bring some problems, but not because "players here and there are different".
People of different playstyles are part of both Console and PC community segments, not to mention that these segments are overlapping.
The differences in the original post are totally made up.

tohopka_eso wrote: »

I'm another player who has played both PC and consoles. Along with that I use to play another game that had cross play and never had any of the real issues you were mentioning.
The only issue I had was in the beginning because of the add one (which I don't use even being a PC player), but since ZOS finally worked on that. I don't even see that as an issue.

KalevaLaine wrote: »

Hm, difficult.

I also switched from PS4 to PC in 2020 and never asked for free things or anything like the points you see or saw often.

BUT - I also talked yesterday to a guild member bout my PS4 times and could agree with the drama point. I never got so many drama und random struggles with people in my real life as I got on PS4.

Maybe the population on PC is more adult, dunno, but when I started on PC in 2020 it ways way more relaxing.

But in any case you can't lump everyone together.

LunaFlora wrote: »

DenverRalphy wrote: »

As someone who's played both PC and Consoles, I could say with confidence that you could very easily swap the words Console and PC throughout the entire OP to reverse the entire narrative, and it would read equally as true.

Me too. i have played on ESO on both PC and Playstation.
And the eso players i regularly interact with online are on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox (not just one platform).



Different game machines do not affect people's behaviour so much as people appear to believe. And we play basically the same game, there are simply countless different people you will meet on all platforms, their kindness or rudeness is not due to their game machine.


The actual differences between PC and Consoles is:
- which add-ons we have access to, new to console so fewer there.
- pc has more search functions and a few extra settings like Chat Background opacity.
- Consoles have voice chat in eso, which we can turn off whenever we want.
- pc has access to the Public Testing Server.
- pc has access to Mouse and Keyboard for gameplay, which is supposedly faster for some people.
- apparently the amount of Gold value people place on items, but that it is players' choice.

ksbrugh wrote: »

I play PC and console and I see almost nothing of what you've discussed here.
Coming from a 3000 CP To a Zero transfer I'm sure there's some anxiety to level up fast But that goes as well Moving from PC to console.
I have a 3000 CP on Xbox 1500 on PC and 900 on PS5. I run two guilds on two different systems and im in Max guilds on all accounts. Call it luck or whatever you would like but your issues have not been an issue for me.
I say about 99% of the people that I interact with daily can't wait for the cross play, only issues most see is economies of systems combining.

I'm sorry for your interactions with console users that have been rude. I wish better relationships upon you in the future my eso family member.

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

Hopefully it's obvious that OP isn't actually speaking for the PC community.

But just in case, I wanted to say that there are bad apples on every platform and in every game, but the reality I've seen is that I have several good friends in ESO who were console transfers and my social guild has wonderful former console players who have contributed greatly to the guild. Meanwhile there's been friction and drama with any number of PC players.

Unfortunate to see attempts like this to paint everyone with one brush and force an "us vs. them" mentality onto every issue. I do have some concerns about crossplay and how they'll implement it and resolve various issues, but "console people bad" isn't really one of them.

I want to clear up a misunderstanding that keeps coming up in the replies.

I never said all console players behave the same way.
In fact, I went out of my way in the original post to say the opposite. My concern is about trends and percentages, not individuals.

The platform does not change anyone’s personality.
What I said is that different platforms tend to attract different personality types.
It is no different from how certain people gravitate toward Corvettes, others toward trucks, and others toward Civics. The vehicle doesn’t change the person. The person chooses the vehicle that fits their style.

Gaming platforms work the same way.
Different environments appeal to different kinds of players.

This is based on real guild experience
Everything I described came from actual patterns I’ve seen while running a large PC guild structure with more than 560 members. We have plenty of console transfers who are excellent community members. Some of them have even agreed that the console environment feels different and that the culture varies from platform to platform.

The behaviors I referenced were not stereotypes. They were real situations that happened repeatedly over time. The percentage of players arriving with certain high‑friction habits was noticeably higher among console transfers than among long‑term PC players.

Not all console players. Not even most. But enough to form a consistent trend.

This is about scale, not individuals
A slow trickle of console players integrates smoothly.
We’ve seen that firsthand.

The concern is what happens when thousands arrive at once.
That kind of sudden cultural shift can have a real impact on community dynamics, especially in a game where the supportive PC end‑game environment took years to build.

I’ve played since beta. I remember when ESO was far more chaotic and toxic. The community we have now is the reason I came back and stayed. I would hate to see that progress undone.

I appreciate the discussion, even where people disagree. My goal is not to divide players. My goal is to talk honestly about community stability and what happens when different platform cultures merge all at once.

Furyous

Kickimanjaro wrote: »

Furyous wrote: »

I am not asking ZOS to cancel cross play. I am asking them to protect the community that has kept ESO healthy for more than ten years.

How?

A reasonable way to ease the transition is to avoid merging all three platforms at the same time. A phased rollout would reduce friction and give everyone time to adjust.

For example:

• Start by merging PC and one of the platforms
• Give the community time to settle and see how the cultures blend
• Let guilds, group finder patterns, and moderation load stabilize
• Once things have calmed and we have a clearer picture of what to expect, introduce the remaining platform afterward

This is not about excluding anyone. It is about avoiding a situation where three very different platform communities collide all at once with no adjustment period.

Additional Options That Would Help
• A Cross‑Play Soft Launch Event
A short, controlled test period where all platforms can interact before the full merge.
This gives ZOS real data on group finder behavior, guild activity, and moderation needs.
It also gives players a chance to adjust and identify friction points early.

• Moderation Scaling During the First Months
A temporary increase in moderation support as the communities merge.
Faster response times and clearer reporting categories would help stabilize things while everyone adapts.
This is not punitive, it is simply preparation for a sudden spike in population and activity.

And I’m sure there are many other options that could ease the transition that I haven’t even thought of yet.
The point is simply that there are ways to make this smoother than merging all platforms at once.

These options do not divide players.
They simply reduce the shock of merging three large platform communities all at once and give everyone time to adapt.

DeathandDebauchery

Personally, all I care about is them not adding area Voice to PC. Console Voice is what got me to quit console. The amount of racism/sexism/disgusting things I heard just running through Riften for 30 seconds was enough to get me to quit immediately.

In general, I experienced far more hate trying to be a LGBTQ+ friendly guild on console then I ever did on PC. Outside of that, I think most of the differences are played for dramatics.

coop500

Uhm, didn't read the comments but the Original Post sounds so loony. Where are people finding these perfectly wholesome and warm and accepting PC communities in ESO anyway? I ain't seen this, especially since Subclassing dropped.

Or is it only warm and accepting if they can just shove you in the same meta bubble as everyone else?

fizzybeef

Nice chatgpt Post, getting straight ignored.

robertlabrie

Console has a persistent bot problem because you don't need to buy a new copy of the game to create a new account. It's a reason refined mats are basically worthless on console. When they come to PC the economy will collapse.

DenverRalphy

robertlabrie wrote: »

Console has a persistent bot problem because you don't need to buy a new copy of the game to create a new account. It's a reason refined mats are basically worthless on console. When they come to PC the economy will collapse.

Haven't seen an issue with bots farming resources on in a while now. It used to be very prevalent, but no more than I've seen on PC.

Oblivion_Protocol

It genuinely sounds like someone spent way too much time in CoD lobbies on Xbox live and decided this is just how console players are. Even if you say “not all console players are like this”, the fact remains that you’re leveling the implication of “any player from console who displays this behavior does so because they are a console player”. That’s why you’re seeing an avalanche of pushback on this post.

Furyous

OsUfi wrote: »

Chat GPT would side with the PC Master Race...

That’s the kind of throwaway line people use when they disagree but don’t actually have anything to add. It’s basically the forum version of an “‑ist” name calling and acting like that somehow settles the discussion.

It’s an immature shortcut, dismissive, overly simple, and not even trying to engage with the actual points being made.

And honestly, I can just picture the smug little “mic‑drop” smile behind it, like a toddler calling someone a doody‑pants in an adult conversation because you disagree but don’t have the words to explain why.

Illbleed

I apologize for my directness but you seem to know nothing at all about the console community or MMORPG communities in general. I play on both, and let me tell you I've for one have found them to be 98% the same with console leaning more towards being a more helpful and truly group oriented bunch.

Its_MySniff

Just found the poster child for the pc master race. Talk about culture. Afraid that low life console thugs are going to bring colt 45 to your champagne party? Thanks for the laugh.

Diminish

I didn't even read all this, ngl, I saw this:

Furyous wrote: »

🧭 Closing
I am not asking ZOS to cancel cross play. I am asking them to protect the community that has kept ESO healthy for more than ten years.

And knew the consensus throughout the post. So why bother reading it? As someone who originally played on console, who had max characters, and thousands of hours on there, and has for many years now played on PC, with again, thousands of hours, I can say that most of the concerns I have seen people mention about cross play are NON-EXISTENT in my experience. If anything, the community on console was better in many ways. I for one am excited for cross play; it's long overdue.

Danikat

msgeek wrote: »

I suspect your view of console players has been shaped by those who were banned on console and went to PC as a result.

What you describe is certainly not typical.

That's exactly what I was thinking. It sounds like the OP has encountered one or more people who got banned and for whatever reason decided it would be a good idea to switch to a completely new platform where they were unlikely to encounter anyone who knew them on their old account.

That would explain the resentment at having to start over, and a lot of the bad behaviour. But it's certainly not representative of the majority of people who switch platforms.

twisttop138

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

Hopefully it's obvious that OP isn't actually speaking for the PC community.

But just in case, I wanted to say that there are bad apples on every platform and in every game, but the reality I've seen is that I have several good friends in ESO who were console transfers and my social guild has wonderful former console players who have contributed greatly to the guild. Meanwhile there's been friction and drama with any number of PC players.

Unfortunate to see attempts like this to paint everyone with one brush and force an "us vs. them" mentality onto every issue. I do have some concerns about crossplay and how they'll implement it and resolve various issues, but "console people bad" isn't really one of them.

It was extremely obvious. The PC players I (PSNA) interact with here, on discord etc have been very true to my experience with PSNA players. For the most part kind, helpful, patient, overall very much decent people. This pseudo science, us vs them colorful word salad isn't the way. I too have concerns about cross play but here's the thing. We don't know one iota about the implementation. Wanna know a secret? I don't think they'll even roll out crossplay. They'll use it as a carrot for awhile, and a scapegoat, and in the end it'll just fade away.

Diminish

DeathandDebauchery wrote: »

Personally, all I care about is them not adding area Voice to PC. Console Voice is what got me to quit console. The amount of racism/sexism/disgusting things I heard just running through Riften for 30 seconds was enough to get me to quit immediately.

In general, I experienced far more hate trying to be a LGBTQ+ friendly guild on console then I ever did on PC. Outside of that, I think most of the differences are played for dramatics.

You know you can disable area chat, right? Crazy, I know. Since switching to PC years ago, one of the things I miss most about the game is the built-in VoIP that console had, and PC lacked. It's so quiet on PC. Sometimes that is a good thing, sometimes a bad thing. When you want to try to teach someone some mech(s) real fast though, it is nice to have the option to do so over voice chat rather than needing to type a graphic novel in chat for 10 minutes; not everyone uses Discord or wants to join random Discord servers non-stop to communicate effectively. Just using your included MUTE button sounds like it is a much simpler QoL solution.