Gaming addiction, should ZOS offer help?

Grimm13 · September 2018

The game is rated so the company is saying they do not advise children to play. I do not see the harm in a company having a link on their site or login screen to a Partnered Game addiction site. Can even be a positive PR move but ultimately it is in the hands of oneself as that is the first step.

theyancey · September 2018

It is no business of ZOS' or mine to diagnose or treat any individual's addictions, personal failings, or life choices. We are each 100% responsible for our choices at all moments in time. Take responsibility for yourself.

GreenhaloX · September 2018

Oh Lord.. ZOS the therapists. I wonder how much crowns or crown gems they will charge per session? Ha ha ha

Izaki · September 2018

Freddycruz89 wrote: »

I am glad OP got it together though. I'm not addicted to ESO (Debatable), but I am addicted to cigarettes and know that "I want to stop but can't" feeling very well.

Stopping smoking was actually something that was very easy for me. I just didn't smoke and didn't replace it with anything, just shut nicotine out and that was it. So if you really want to stop, just stop, its not nearly as hard as you think it is.

DanteYoda · September 2018

Davor wrote: »

DanteYoda wrote: »

I never had any issues quitting these things..

For 30 days do not use electricity. No games, no cell phones, no TV, no radio. Can you do that? If so then I am impressed. Most people couldn't do it.

We had internet issues here for 2 months, yes for a few days i was upset but after a while i got back into other hobbies, it wasn't as big a deal as you might think.

To be honest losing internet for 60 days was as much a good thing as it was a bad. I'd probably miss the forums more than the game haha.

Sylvermynx wrote: »

Davor wrote: »

DanteYoda wrote: »

I never had any issues quitting these things..

For 30 days do not use electricity. No games, no cell phones, no TV, no radio. Can you do that? If so then I am impressed. Most people couldn't do it.

Um. Electricity? Like no lights, no hot water, no cooking? Seriously.... I don't do cell phones (eh - no connection here at the house, besides I hate the damn things), and I could certainly live without tv (though husband couldn't - don't get me started....) Radio? We don't get radio here.

We have occasional 36 hour outages (like a year ago, when a human-started fire took out our power lines). You know what I worry about? The food in the freezers and refrigerators. We lost about $1k food during that fire - because some *** didn't bother to think before he lighted a fire in a "NO FIRE" zone. Yep, the SOB is in jail now.... but I still had to replace all that food y'know?

Games. Right. In the middle of a major power outage, I'm worrying about games. No. Not. Never. Sheesh. Before that power outage in the summer? The previous one was in the middle of February, it was nearly 60 hours, it was below zero most nights, we had no heat other than the fireplace, we COOKED over the fireplace, and no I was NOT thinking about not being able to play a damn game!

Jeezus.

Well said priorities change when things go wrong. People would be shocked how much they'd change if a catastrophe happened and some thing as simple as losing internet isn't as bad as some make it out to be..

Generations lived and died without internet..

ScardyFox · September 2018

Lord_Etrigan wrote: »

The point I'm making is try not to be so judgmental because you never know, It could be YOU who fall into the addiction trap.

The point is its time to grow up - life has an uncanny way of making you do that one way or another. It isn't ZoS's duty to make anyone grab the reins of self control. Just like it isn't any restaurants duty to grab my wrist when I am lift a fork to my face one too many times.

It isn't "toxic" to illustrate that every action we take will bear a consequence -- and far more often then not, it falls on our own shoulders to adjust that and rise to the occasion.

LegendaryMage · September 2018

One thing you can do is get a password generator page, generate something random and unique you can never remember, copy-paste it into your ESO account AND the email address (if you have a dedicated one), then shut down your PC effectively cutting yourself off.

Delete any type of 'content' you might have saved on your PC, literally anything that might trigger you into getting back to it (on a new account for example). No matter how small or insignificant it might be.

Prior to that, make sure you change your name, remove financial data and basically dis-associate yourself with your accounts as much as you can. Then shut it down for good.

10 years ago I had a FB account I shut down like this, not that I was addicted or anything, I just despised the whole thing and decided one day it's time to say goodbye, for good. I still get emails from them to 'come back', which I just smile at.

Ironically, I use FB these days (again, nothing serious, just to talk to friends/family) on another email but you get the idea. You can do stuff if you really want to.

So yeah, you gotta take concrete action, fast & hard. No mercy. Your life is at stake, in one way or the other. I'm glad to hear that you've overcame it finally, now don't come back to it.

Crapmire is just around the corner anyway...

LegendaryMage · September 2018

Oh, and one other thing. You said you've procrastinated a lot, probably been lazy to do stuff, I get that feeling often too, but the best way to deal with procrastination and laziness is to, ready? Just work. No excuses, nothing. Work. There's no other way.

Just don't work all the time, otherwise you'll become a workaholic, which is just as bad.

Odovacar · September 2018

Gaming addiction is real! I think it starts when your young and its practically all you know. I have 3 sons and they all love their gaming systems, ipod, etc. My wife and I make sure to restrict game time and emphasize being outside and extra curricular sports. It is my duty as a father, of course, to set the example of taking care of your responsibilities before play. I do my best with keeping them busy during the after school hours into early evening. My gaming time is after the kids go to bed and things are tidied up in house. If I were to slightly lose site of this mentality I would fail almost daily, I'm sure of it! I feel the lack of busy-bodied lifestyles can create the "what else is there for me to do" justification of why not. When I finally log on it serves as a great stress reliever. I'm playing, my wife is dinking around on her phone playing little games (I wish she played ESO, lol) and life's good right?

In all reality, it never used to be. My struggle with prioritizing my in-game versus out has been an uphill battle since college. I have worked very hard at it and its still on my mind as I'm cooking dinner, at work, or whatever, but it can be mitigated with controlled times you hold yourself accountable for. My ultimate goal is to make sure this does not carry over to my children as they grow, and I think we can all have a duty to try and show the new generation that gaming is a blast, but without self control things can get out of hand quickly if it consumes you, which it can so easily. This is our responsibility as gamers, not the devs IMO.

moonio · September 2018

ZOS did actually remove some of the positive feedback mechanisms they put into the game in order to encourage addiction.
So fair play to them.. but many still remain.

I think the best method to beat ESO addiction is to engage in the Zone chat with any of the toxic wannabes that seem to inhabit most areas of the game but most noticeably in Cyrodiil and around the undaunted enclaves.
You will soon leave..

I think that had ZOS done more to retain Vet level players etc rather than constantly focusing on the bottom line/crown store/new player recruitment//addiction mechanisms then the toxicity in the community would not have gotten so out of hand.

So there you go// out..

keevil111 · September 2018

Guys! Guys! Money is the ONLY thing that matters to these companies. Game studios, cigarette companies, breweries, and whatever else. The ONLY reason they pretend to care by putting warnings and timers or whatever on their product is so it won't cost them money if someone destroys their own lives.

Which can be dated back to that time when some lady spilled coffee on herself and sued McD's

It's not "get over it," or "not my problem." It's money. It really is up to the individual to be intelligent about decision making. I'm sorry but if you hand me a knife and I cut myself with it, it's not your fault. No matter how many warnings you put on the knife.

Should companies implement a caring dynamic with their consumers? Yes. Do they do it in most cases? Yes, in the form of warning labels. Is it because they actually give a sh*t about you? No! It's all about dollars.

For the OP, I feel ya. Addiction is sucky. GJ getting it together.

purple-magicb16_ESO · September 2018

AndrejLeo wrote: »

Can't you just ask them to ban your account lol

Gawd no! Cold turkey means withdrawls.

RoyalPink06 · September 2018

Maybe I’m a little bit heartless to say this, but asking Zenimax to offer any sort of aid to video game addicts would be like asking Janssen Pharmaceutica Products to offer aid to fentanyl addicts. Would be a grand gesture, to be sure, but they are not obligated and it’s just not something that will happen, unfortunately.

That said, I am sorry for everything that anyone has gone through due to video game addiction. It is a real thing and you are not alone.

Grimm13 · September 2018

Grimm13 wrote: »

The game is rated so the company is saying they do not advise children to play. I do not see the harm in a company having a link on their site or login screen to a Partnered Game addiction site. Can even be a positive PR move but ultimately it is in the hands of oneself as that is the first step.

Anything more than a link ZOS needs to leave to the professionals in the field to handle.

(Had to go early and left part off.)

purple-magicb16_ESO · September 2018

I think that corporate social responsibility is always a good thing. It's not about ZoS "owning" or otherwise taking responsibility for someone's addictions. It's about recognizing that they are serving real people with real problems and actually caring about the various impact their game is having on their lives. When you discuss things of this nature you'll always get people that just don't get it because they've never been through it, so to them it's not a real thing. Casino's do it so why not online games? It's about stepping up and has a tendancy to separate the men from the boys (so to speak) in the corporate world. I hope ZoS does this. Edit: I am talking about pointing addicted gamers to support, not altering the game itself. Just to be clear. They need to be cautious of how much involvement they have. They're not counselors and should not be assuming such roles.

ZOS_JesC · September 2018

Greetings, we've removed some baiting and bashing comments. Since the thread has derailed into personal insults and inappropriate comments we have decided to close this thread. We thank you for your understanding.