Hi Folks,

I was looking around a bit and fouund, for example, that for several years people share their minds here on the forum, opening topics, get them closed after a year, open them again, getting them closed after another year, and that can go on for several years until maybe giving it impliing to the thinking that ZOS won't listen, even if the vast majority of the playerbase agrees in a matter.
So, it raises the question: Do have players thoughts impact on the game?

I want to discuss this as as neutral as I can, collecting data and heraing oppinions and experiences I may simply just not have yet due to not having a that long history in the game as some of you. (I have played the game in 2018 for several months and just picked it up again now in 2021, thats why my account says I'd be in for years but in fact just am right back for jet a few months now and will stay for a few more months to come because I basicly like the game and widely enjoy it even with flaws I personaly see. So this won't be a rage or insult or downtalk of the game, because the game is good. But the Thing is, though the game IS good, it could be even much better and be super-special-awesome! (yeah, that was a reference to YuGiOh!-Abridged, nice series, would recomend, and with the ice-breaker now done let's head right into the topic))

Throughout me playing the game I recognized a few things I, in my oppinion, think about could be added or changed for the better and searched for others who also recognized them to share and talk about those personal oppinions and if not, I created a topic to it. So far so natural. The last one was what brought me to make this topic and I want to focus it as my main example to this matter.
As I wandered the beautiful citys, towns and villages of Tamriel it allways felt to me that something about the world was odd... there were interesting characters in guild halls and tavers, busy markets with vendors, town guards patroling, a worried mother giving you the quest to find her child... with the child beeing another fully grown adult. Yes, it is that topic. The missing children.
The thing is: For me and many others that breaks immersion for the players because it doesn't feel "real", it doesn't feel like a natural world even beeng in a fantasy setting, it's incomplete as a world for itself. And: There were children in Skyrim and Skyrim was a Gameworld there millions of players loved to spend hundreds sometimes even thousands of hours in because the world felt believable. And that was also due to the implementation of Children just simply existing. And that also let's uns know that Bethesda could implement them if they wanted, 'cause they already done it in Elder Scrolls V.
That are not my thoughts alone:
The question about the children is dating all the way back to 2014, if you search for the term "Children" you'll get a thousand pages of entrys about entrys, topics and posts all wanting children in the game just for the same reaons I allready mentioned.
"[...] I just want a few kids in each village behaving like kids, making the world believable." (@AlexDougherty, June 2014)

"Well, having children around, even unkillable children, would be more immersive and realistic than the childless ESO world.[...]" (@VaranisArano, December 2019)

And what are the official posts of the ZOS-Employees under those topics at least the ones I have seen:
"[...]I do not have insight or effect on the decision made.[...]" (@ZOS_CoriJ, July 2016)
and a lot of
"This thread has gotten long in the tooth as it's a year old, and for that reason we are locking it as a necro. Feel free to start a new thread about this if you wish to." (@ZOS_BillE, July 2017)
simply due to so many Treads about that topic having added up over the years.

That implies to me that, alltough the community has it's fair oppinions on how to improve the game, things in the game that should be implementet, should be changed, fixed, balanced or should even be taken out and they discuss it as it is the 'General "Discussion"' Thread and you can simply count the numbers of player who are pro and who are contra and form a picture of what the community and playerbase of the game likes or dislikes, what they want and dont want, It doesn't move it. 'Cause the people who are reading those, confess, that even beeing a member of the team developing and maintaining the game, they have no influence in it at all. So are the developers actualy not listening to the players? Shouldn't an MMO have a communication on an eye to eye level between the team behind the game and those in it? To work together in creating the very best the game itself can be via a partnership. Again, these questions are not to discredit the developers of the game, these are questions about things I simply want to understand because I likely may not have the full picture and can be wrong all along simply to not kwowing better just yet. But I have seen so many topics where people widely and sometimes even in a quite (there are always people against something, that just natural but still quite) unsion agreeing on changing, adding or removing a feature or ascpect over and over and that it would result in the game being more awesome but was never implimented afterwards and never even saw an official feedback because those of ZOS who I have seen commenting there, if I've seen any, can't just do this as they state themselfs "This is not an official stance on the subject[...] (@ZOS_CoriJ, July 2016). I don't state that IS the case, but it is the impression one could get by just having seen those as I am totaly aware that I havn't seen everything.

Again, this topic is not to descredit ZOS, this topic is not supposed to be a rant. It is just to try to talk about and understand something that has catched my eye. Gathering information I simply dont have yet, things I don't know, that I simply missed out on. 'Cause as I said right at the very beginning, I have not as a long history as others so I do it under the assumption that there in fact have been also cases there things that were discussed by the playerbase DID had impact on the game and that I just havn't seen those 'cause of the already stated reason, hence the formulation of a question. So my bid to you, who may have been arround for much longer than me, to mention also those and therefor making this one half of a point more complete to gather a wider picture and to realy being able to form an informed oppinion.

Thank you for fighting trough this rather long post and hope to see you arround in the comment section.

Regards
Enjiro Kitsune