I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT!

Ozstryker · October 2016

Don't think this behaviour is limited to the Internet or MMO's, look at people losing their *** while driving, gossip and idle chat behind people's back, basically this behaviour happens anywhere someone can escape a slap!
No, I'm afraid it's society.. Or at worst human nature?

Vaerth · October 2016

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

I finally figured out why it is that there is so much negativity on ESO that some of us experience in-game, and also here on the forums. I came across this thing by accident. when looking up types of MMO's, and the player bases that they hold. It's called the: "Online Disinhibition Effect" or "O.D.E.". Another name for it is: "The G.I.F.T. Theory" as described by Penny Arcade's John Gabriel.

These things explain every single negative action, and toxic person we may have encountered to date on ESO. Or better yet, anywhere on the Internet. After studying those things for a few hours, I truly don't think I can find myself getting offended anymore from folks on the net who appear to get on my bad side or irk me. I hope these 2 things provide a huge relief for those who deal with it, and can increase their overall enjoyment of this wonderful game in the future. Happy playing, bruhs and bruhdettes.

O.D.E. Definition:
The online disinhibition effect is the reduction or abandonment in remote electronic communications of those social restrictions and inhibitions that would arise in normal face-to-face communication. Many factors cause this disinhibition, including the appearance of dissociative anonymity, invisibility, asynchronicity, solipsistic introjection, dissociative imagination, and minimization of authority.[1]

G.I.F.T. Definition:
You're gonna have to Google this for yourselves.

You think people from ESO are toxic? Lol go read the Warcraft forums for a few hours. There you will see where the venom of the internet drips from! I left WoW to come back to ESO 2 weeks ago, when I first played ESO I was a 5 day early access preorder player, got to VR8 and the community was fun and kind. Came back as mentioned two weeks ago and while some toxic kids (most are teens) are here now it is still not as bad as ESO.

I also play on the PC though, I know console is plagued with kids so since I have PC and not console that could be why I encounter only nice / mature people? Not sure.

xeNNNNN · October 2016

Ch4mpTW wrote: »

AzraelKrieg wrote: »

So you made a post about why people act like they do and it mainly comes down to the fact that being in an online community provides some level of anonymity? Can I have the 5 or so minutes that I spent reading this thread and making this comment back at some point because this topic is pointless as anyone that has been in an online game in the last decade knows this already.

To be honest, I didn't experience the nonsense like I experienced in ESO as badly in other games. Whenever I had altercations with people, where people made person attacks and made highly racist remarks or anything of the sort that would be classified as "extreme"? It was always in-person, and handled in-person. So when I would see a lot of jokers online acting reckless, or mouthing off I'd take it to heart.

This is due to where I come from and grew-up, there is no cyber bickering. All that exchanging hateful stuff through the Internet is nonexistent, and things are handled with extreme violence if someone violates someone else on a personal level. So when I come to an environment where it's done regularly, and not handled as I previously mentioned — it threw me through a loop. It confused and irked the heck of me.

But after looking into this stuff in-depth, I have an understanding of what I'm dealing with on a psychological level. And therefore can shoo off pests who try to buzz nonsense around me.

Edit: I also grew-up in an era where arcades were the main spot of social gaming. If you wants to play with someone on a video game, you either went to a buddies house or to the arcade (mainly).

I should point out that while you haven't experienced it in other games, it is very much prevalent in other games.

Dont use ESO as a scapegoat for assumptions. Thats where your opinion and reality collide and often or not the singular opinion is usually inaccurate as its down to experience and you cant always use the sole experience of a single individual to formulate a conclusion on a community because as stated, its singular. When a large majority of people actually have a similar or the exact same opinion as you then your view is most likely correct, if you dont then its supposition.

Although you can have proof or valid evidence to the contrary even as a singular individual, you still require broader evidence than just yourself and your opinion.

Just bare that in mind. None of this is exclusive to this community at all.

vamp_emily · October 2016

Since we are on topic of of player behavior, can someone please explain why a player would whisper me and call me "Trashy", and say "You don't deserve to be in PvP".

Not sure why he would say that, I didn't even kill him. His group killed me and I was wearing a pretty ESO dress, so I sure was not looking trashy

Maybe we should to a behavior analyst on all AD players. I am curious on how they think.

waterfairy · October 2016

If you're a *** online then you're a *** in real life, regardless if you don't have the courage to be a *** to someones face.

ZOS_Ragnar · October 2016

We have had to remove several posts from this thread that were off topic and disrespectful. Please keep future posts civil and constructive. Even when you strongly disagree with someone you can still remain respectful and agree to disagree. Please remember that everyone on these forums is a real person, like you.