Please do something about the sharp decline in the quality of zone chat

Raash · April 2015

I agree with OP, I dont like chats either and especially not those where people write stuff that I dont like to read.

JKorr · April 2015

Genomic wrote: »

I think the people who are so outraged and offended by rude language in zone chat, of all places, are just as immature as the ones crudely chatting. A grown-up would just ignore such an insignificant thing and carry on with what they were doing. What a sheltered life you must have led.

Again, it isn't the "crude chatting". Its the condescending remarks, less than helpful replies, and outright hostility to new players that is the problem. Ignoring the grade-school level "amusing chat" does nothing but encourage the trolls to continue.
I report the posters I believe are over the line. Then I put them on ignore. Haven't been contacted by Zenimax for abusing the report function yet.

New players who ask for help get crap-all in response in a negative atmosphere. How many of them are going to try to ask for help again? How many are going to bother playing with a "community" like that?

daswahnsinn · April 2015

This is what B2P has to offer. Nuff said.

Cody · April 2015

I actually enjoy the zone chat. Watching an idiot make a fool of themselves is entertaining:)

and PvP has been ticking me off lately, so some relaxing comedy is nice.

Falandarin · July 2015

Having Voice Chat's default as OFF would be a simple alternative to having to stop what you are doing and turn it off every time you go in to another area. 95% (and I'm being conservative) of the voice chat I hear is screaming on over powered mics, crying brats, squealing feedback or vulgar and offensive language. I know some people like that and having the option to enter voice chat to listen to that annoying garbage can still do it by toggling it on. So far this is my only complaint about ESO. Voice Chat default ON is a bad design choice IMO.

dlepi24 · July 2015

WoW was the first MMO and it's played best on Alienware. You know, in case you were wondering.

AngryNord · July 2015

Grebnu wrote: »

EU server is mostly fine, hardly ever troll posts or anything. I've ignored one or two guys, so not bad. This game has a lot better chat than most of the MMOs I've played, LoTRO comes close (although because of F2P there is more trolling, luckily it is quite rare).

LoTRO seems to vary from server to server. Gladden, where I mostly play, and the RP servers, aren't too bad, but I've heard Brandywine is pretty much a nightmare...

marco.cuevas.ventob14_ESO · July 2015

I am sure they are not all kids doing this some adults behave this way also ...

that is why I always have combat and guild chat up and pretty much ignore zone chat

it's the first time I do that in any game which is disappointing.

Best community chat I have encountered was Vanguard Saga Heroes Online...great communityu

respectable chat never really got out of hand...

TequilaFire · July 2015

This was originally about PC text zone chat. lol

MornaBaine · July 2015

I typically turn off zone chat unless I am asking a question and that has been true of every MMO I've ever played. Otherwise I am too constantly reminded that there are just too many people out there with low IQ's and no manners.

Athas24 · July 2015

fromtesonlineb16_ESO wrote: »

Athas24 wrote: »

take away free speech

The concept of free speech doesn't apply in a private setting like this or the game, the owners of the service have total control over who can say what.

You are correct. Companies that run private chats etc do have the right to decide what to allow. . . and Most companies decided long ago that people can say whatever they want for the most part so long as it's not way over the top harassment (because it makes sense where profits and the game's ratings are concerned).
Even then in games, it's a slap on the wrist IF that, for most who do get into any trouble from the company at all. Griefing people in pvp games (it's not really possible in this game but in plenty of others it is) also tends to barely get anyone into trouble. This is because it costs more money to ban a player than it does to let them continue on in the game. Most reporting really doesn't amount to much because the actions need to be repetitive, of the same nature and sent in randomly about said offender by many people. Those people can't get together and make a list of who they consider "offenders" because that's actually a form of harassment itself.
The games that don't allow "trash talking", profanity etc are typically games that don't have a Mature rating like.... Pirates of the Caribbean or some such nonsense.

Blutengel · July 2015

I've noticed the immaturity growing in zone chat over last few months I think its mostly because lack of content and we are B2P now and more children (in the head anyway..) are playing. All you can do is ignore and hope they get bored and leave.

amgame308_ESO · July 2015

Maybe try console, they don't have zone chat.

VoidBlue · July 2015

Celenaro wrote: »

I was a beta tester. I played during the 5-day early launch. I bought 6 months of paid subscription time right after launch to support the ongoing development of the latest installment in my favorite game series. I remember the way zone chat used to be: helpful, friendly, relevant. I remember the invasion of gold spammers and the fantastic effort Zenimax put forward to eliminate that problem--including active moderation of zone chat. These days zone chat is absolutely horrible once again. I have to turn it off because of all the spam. This time it is not the gold selling bots but immature players flooding every zone's primary communication channel with nonsense. You know what I'm talking about. The people who spam "*** [insert item tag here]", start arguments, troll and harass others. I suspect it is partially an influx of children due to the recent change in the pricing model (which I very much support as long as the crown store continues to sell only DLC, cosmetic, and convenience items).

ESO is rated M. For that rating I would expect an environment where adults can relax and enjoy the game with other adults. The boorish behavior displayed by an extremely vocal minority of the player base makes such an environment difficult and severely harms the in-game social community. We shouldn't have to come to the forums to get a respite from the incessant trash talk. I would like to see Zenimax take this problem as seriously as they did the gold spammers and enforce the rules of these forums in-game through active GM monitoring of zone chat. I'd like to be able to use zone chat again to talk with people about quests, find a group, sell items, and generally shoot the breeze with other players. Am I alone in this? I think ESO is something special and I worry that without any changes to the status quo the community will soon be as trashy and infuriating as most other MMOs.

you think thats bad, trying actually having to listen to people TALK like that over mic. its so much easier to ignore text chat smut like that than it is 10 people yelling it over voice chat

im assuming you are talking about PC version since you said gold spammers and what not since console never had gold spammers :P