Does reporting players do anything?

weedgenius · December 2022

The process is so cumbersome on PlayStation it almost seems like they purposely want to make it hard to report people.

Is there a cutoff for what is or isn’t hate speech/toxicity in your experience? I reported two players for saying some seriously terrible things that would get them banned from any social media platform and their accounts are still alive and well as of this evening.

Just curious about other folks’ experience with reporting players on the various platforms and the timeline or boundaries that you’ve encountered.

DMuehlhausen · December 2022

The forums yes, I've been banned several times for things I wouldn't find offensive but somebody die.

The game is going to be a bit harder. Unless you have screenshots and probably multitude of people reporting the same players it's probably not going to amount to much.

Your best option is to just put those players on ignore and move on.

Amottica · December 2022

There have been multiple threads about players getting banned due to what many find to be a minor offense. Zenimax chimed in that the history with that player is taken into account.

In other words, when Zenimax gets tired of dealing with a problem child they will ban them.

ApoAlaia · December 2022

It does.

Weaponizing Customer Support has long been a fairly effective PvP tactic.

Hapexamendios · December 2022

In my experience it's far more effective than reporting bots. But that's not really saying much.

spartaxoxo · December 2022

Yes. Every once in a while someone complains about getting banned.

The_Titan_Tim · December 2022

As far as customer support banning people in-game, they handle each situation differently, there’s no specific way they respond to everything because if there was, it would be too easy to manipulate.

If you’re experiencing harassment, the best thing you can do, which I’m pretty sure someone brought it up earlier, is to take screenshots and time stamp them, that way when you’re filing your ticket, it has more merit to it, as it’s undeniably happening, not a “he said/she said” situation.

Even then, if this is the perpetrator’s first time getting reported for something of that nature, typically they’ll receive either a warning or a “time-out” if the warning hasn’t been heeded. Only after a time-out will they generally get permanently banned.

Obviously there are outliers to the group, if someone has manipulated the game to cheat their way to a skin or weapons, perma-bans will generally happen immediately when proven.

Amethyst_Unearthed · December 2022

Its very difficult to do and they only give you a VERY VERY VERY minimal amount of characters you can use to describe the situation and unless you go to your email also and reply to the generic email sent about the report you sent in you cant really explain the situation... i mean one would think NO they do nothing when we look at the bots and their continued existence in the game.... hell ive sent a link and SS of gold sellers to them on a website over a year ago, they did nothing.... but its "illegal" in game.... honestly they do whats good for them when they wanna do it i guess.... we just pay their bills

SaffronCitrusflower · December 2022

Occasionally, yes. ZOS does have a procedure that, by it's nature, puts all the onus on the reporting party though. They demand screen shots of every offense, and then, maybe, after 6 or more reports with proof they might take action.

SilverBride · December 2022

I have a friend who had a 3 day vacation for being salty to ToT players that beat him. And I know another player who was warned that he would get a vacation if he didn't stop the political talk in zone chat. So they do address reports.

I find that if I just announce that I'm going to start reporting then the offensive chat usually stops. If it doesn't then I follow through and when I get the email about it I respond with screenshots.

We never know though what action was taken.

Elsonso · December 2022

SilverBride wrote: »

I find that if I just announce that I'm going to start reporting then the offensive chat usually stops. If it doesn't then I follow through and when I get the email about it I respond with screenshots.

I will drop everything to report people for botting, but I don't like to report people for something they say. Most of the time, I don't even notice what people say in the game. When I do, I figure that if it offensive enough, others will be reporting it. I really don't want to be the person who gets another person banned from the game because I added the N'th report that ZOS was looking for.

SilverBride · December 2022

Elsonso wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I find that if I just announce that I'm going to start reporting then the offensive chat usually stops. If it doesn't then I follow through and when I get the email about it I respond with screenshots.

I will drop everything to report people for botting, but I don't like to report people for something they say. Most of the time, I don't even notice what people say in the game. When I do, I figure that if it offensive enough, others will be reporting it. I really don't want to be the person who gets another person banned from the game because I added the N'th report that ZOS was looking for.

I don't report for anything except offenses such as hate speech and I always give them a chance to stop first. Surprisingly they usually do stop when faced with consequences. But I want to stress that reporting an offensive player isn't getting them banned... their actions are what do that.

I believe it's our responsibility to help curb toxic behavior rather than just turning our backs and hoping it goes away.

LadyLavina · December 2022

weedgenius wrote: »

The process is so cumbersome on PlayStation it almost seems like they purposely want to make it hard to report people.

Is there a cutoff for what is or isn’t hate speech/toxicity in your experience? I reported two players for saying some seriously terrible things that would get them banned from any social media platform and their accounts are still alive and well as of this evening.

Just curious about other folks’ experience with reporting players on the various platforms and the timeline or boundaries that you’ve encountered.

Considering how many people get salty and rage-report over things like PvP, ban worthy toxicity reports in-game probably get buried by the angry nonsensical ones.

However I know of a person who was supposedly permabanned for swearing simply because someone took offense + reported and the person in question was already on ZOS's naughty list.

Would like to avoid the dread "edited to remove mention of moderation actions" on this comment so I'll keep it surface-level, but I just mean this to show that sometimes the toxicity reports DO find their mark, justifiably or not.

francesinhalover · January 2023

YES.

But you must explain in detail why you are reporting the person.
No lazyness

Androrix · January 2023

SilverBride wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I find that if I just announce that I'm going to start reporting then the offensive chat usually stops. If it doesn't then I follow through and when I get the email about it I respond with screenshots.

I will drop everything to report people for botting, but I don't like to report people for something they say. Most of the time, I don't even notice what people say in the game. When I do, I figure that if it offensive enough, others will be reporting it. I really don't want to be the person who gets another person banned from the game because I added the N'th report that ZOS was looking for.

I don't report for anything except offenses such as hate speech and I always give them a chance to stop first. Surprisingly they usually do stop when faced with consequences. But I want to stress that reporting an offensive player isn't getting them banned... their actions are what do that.

I believe it's our responsibility to help curb toxic behavior rather than just turning our backs and hoping it goes away.

I usually say something general in zone chat about the risk of being reported or being banned when I see a discussion spiraling out of control. I sometimes (rarely) whisper someone along the same lines if I think they just don't understand the rules or that they are being particularly offensive. I always suggest people drop political discussions whatever viewpoint is being expressed. But I don't like reporting unless really, really necessary because I do not know the player's own circumstances, what they are going through personally, or how significant the game may be to them. I also suspect there is a lot of revenge reporting going on over disagreements, and trying to get someone banned can be as bad or worse than the initial offense. Asking people to gang up and report is especally noxious, and may give the wrong impression to moderators about the circumstances.

I do not PvP and mostly solo so, other than general toxic zone chat, I personally don't come across this too much.

Holycannoli · January 2023

In game I don't know.

On forums beware as I suspect it's an automated system and you can get warned/banned for nonsense stemming from a nonsensical report of your post, which the team can overturn. Don't ask me how I know lol.

ForzaRammer · January 2023

Report in game does basically nothing, this is ESO, not league of legends

SilverBride · January 2023

Androrix wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Elsonso wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I find that if I just announce that I'm going to start reporting then the offensive chat usually stops. If it doesn't then I follow through and when I get the email about it I respond with screenshots.

I will drop everything to report people for botting, but I don't like to report people for something they say. Most of the time, I don't even notice what people say in the game. When I do, I figure that if it offensive enough, others will be reporting it. I really don't want to be the person who gets another person banned from the game because I added the N'th report that ZOS was looking for.

I don't report for anything except offenses such as hate speech and I always give them a chance to stop first. Surprisingly they usually do stop when faced with consequences. But I want to stress that reporting an offensive player isn't getting them banned... their actions are what do that.

I believe it's our responsibility to help curb toxic behavior rather than just turning our backs and hoping it goes away.

I usually say something general in zone chat about the risk of being reported or being banned when I see a discussion spiraling out of control. I sometimes (rarely) whisper someone along the same lines if I think they just don't understand the rules or that they are being particularly offensive. I always suggest people drop political discussions whatever viewpoint is being expressed. But I don't like reporting unless really, really necessary because I do not know the player's own circumstances, what they are going through personally, or how significant the game may be to them. I also suspect there is a lot of revenge reporting going on over disagreements, and trying to get someone banned can be as bad or worse than the initial offense. Asking people to gang up and report is especally noxious, and may give the wrong impression to moderators about the circumstances.

I do not PvP and mostly solo so, other than general toxic zone chat, I personally don't come across this too much.

People go through things... we all do... but that is not an excuse for being offensive to others.

Elsonso · January 2023

Androrix wrote: »

I usually say something general in zone chat about the risk of being reported or being banned when I see a discussion spiraling out of control. I sometimes (rarely) whisper someone along the same lines if I think they just don't understand the rules or that they are being particularly offensive. I always suggest people drop political discussions whatever viewpoint is being expressed. But I don't like reporting unless really, really necessary because I do not know the player's own circumstances, what they are going through personally, or how significant the game may be to them. I also suspect there is a lot of revenge reporting going on over disagreements, and trying to get someone banned can be as bad or worse than the initial offense.

I do not engage in chat with anyone who I expect will be "Actioned" by ZOS for something they have said. I don't report them, and if I say something, they will incorrectly assume they got warned/suspended/banned because of me. People point fingers at whatever they think is to blame, usually not themselves, and they don't need to be pointing in my direction.

francesinhalover · January 2023

ForzaRammer wrote: »

Report in game does basically nothing, this is ESO, not league of legends

It's funny seeing people say this, when i know people that got a vacations.
Maybe it's just bad luck, or however reports doesn't know how to report properly.

JavaRen · January 2023

Well. I can say, with a high degree of confidence, that not reporting does nothing.