That's a big expense and problematic.

ZOS would have to actively monitor the voice chat under the law. Discord is not subject to that law.

"The United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA), which came into full effect in late 2025, mandates that video game companies with user-to-user communication features (voice or text chat) actively monitor for and remove illegal and harmful content, particularly to protect children."

The EU is looking at amending the DSA to include such a provision - "Chat Control" is the lay-term.

Edit: Typos

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Gabriel_H wrote: »

That's a big expense and problematic.

ZOS would have to actively monitor the voice chat under the law.

Does this mean consoles will lose the voice chat feature? There's no way Crossplay will go live with only a portion of the community having in-game voice chat, right?

Console voice chat is through Microsoft (Xbox) and Sony (PS), with both also having integreated discord options. At present, for the purposes of the OSA Microsoft and Sony have to monitor the voice chat by law.

Also worth noting, the UK government is trying to get Discord under the same monitoring provisions as computer games companies for voice chat.

Edit: I'd love the feature, if it worked well, but one way or another someone is invading your privacy. The expense of monitoring, and having to set up that monitoring, I'd rather fell on Discord's head, and not on the development budget for ESO.

Gabriel_H wrote: »

Console voice chat is through Microsoft (Xbox) and Sony (PS)

This part is not true. ZOS already had a voice chat that THEY built and have always monitored in the game. The reason in the past that they never put it on PC is because PC already had third party solutions. They wouldn't need to build anything from scratch. They already have the feature and could have implemented it on PC if they had so chosen to do so but they didn't think the extra effort was worth it at the time given PC's other options.

ETA

DenverRalphy wrote: »

Just keep using Discord or whatever other solution you're using. The in game VC solution is mediocre at best on a good day. Most ESO console players I know prefer using their respective native console solution because ESO's solution is.. not great.

Console's chat is something I use a lot for PUGs and I find it's generally preferred for those too. Guild groups usually PSN chat. At least in my experience.

Dear gods no on VC. Have you guys ever read zone chat on any given minute? The last thing I need is to listen to tweens talking trash, politics and racist and sexist comments with voice changed farts all going on at the same time.

No.

blktauna wrote: »

Dear gods no on VC. Have you guys ever read zone chat on any given minute? The last thing I need is to listen to tweens talking trash, politics and racist and sexist comments with voice changed farts all going on at the same time.

No.

You can easily turn it off basically permanently on console. The game remembers your preference.

The area chat is very small so there's little to no trolling. The worst you'll usually hear is people listening to music, coughing, etc. Additionally, you're able to turn each individual chat channel off individually. So, you can keep area chat permanently off while still keeping guild chat on, if you so choose.

What PC players picture console's chat to be like is very different to what it's actually like. The area is so small iirc that you wouldn't hear someone at the woodworker from Vivec City's wayshrine.

Erickson9610 wrote: »

After the recent news of privacy concerns impacting voice chat solutions for PC, it's imperative that ESO players have some fallback method of communicating with one another.

I want to see the voice chat feature from consoles brought to PC when Crossplay happens, and have voice chat be off by default.

Giving PC players access to the Voice Chat feature would allow them to communicate with each other, as well as allow them to communicate with console players. It's fine if the feature ultimately goes unused, but it should always be an option in case our preferred options are no longer viable.


We can't expect everyone to agree on and use an external platform for voice chat, so it makes the most sense to make a feature like this usable on all platforms that ESO can be played on.

@ZOS_Kevin @ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Agreed. Also I am not going to give my ID to Discord to use Discord, the platform can perish. Hopefully ZOS will add voice chat to ESO, so we don't feel pressured to give up our private information for the ability to talk with our friends. For the time being, I'll just use Signal for voice chat and privacy.

ZOS_Kevin wrote:

One note we wanted to follow up on. We do need to be mindful of the potential usage of what we make. Spending resources and dev time on something that could mostly go unused is not a great way to spend those resources. Especially when we could be making something that could hold more utility for more players. Just wanted to add context there as it is important when considering features.

If this mindset is the case within ZOS, then can we make "event zones" like the Writing Fortress and the soon to be released Night Market permanent areas that players can go to at anytime? Because having them available only for a limited-time seems contradictory as the amount of dev time and resources spent making areas like this only for them to be taken away after a certain time and not being accessible to the players that want to play that content doesn't feel good at all. Please ZOS no more limited time content, players don't like that, make new content available permanently so that all players can enjoy it whenever they like without a sense of FOMO surrounding it.

SilverBride wrote: »

Absolutely not. It's bad enough reading zone chat sometimes. I sure don't want to hear it.

So toggle/turn it off.

I think it is more important and useful than many of the things they are working on like solo dungeon modes. What MMO's don't have built in voice chat these days?

They need to really customize and overhaul the custom emotes as well.

Kind of concerning to hear this isn’t something guaranteed with Crossplay…

All versions of ESO need parity if we’re going to be playing together, and if the game functions differently based on what platform you use, that opens many doors that need to stay shut.

HoneyBunBadgers wrote: »

ZOS_Kevin wrote:

One note we wanted to follow up on. We do need to be mindful of the potential usage of what we make. Spending resources and dev time on something that could mostly go unused is not a great way to spend those resources. Especially when we could be making something that could hold more utility for more players. Just wanted to add context there as it is important when considering features.

If this mindset is the case within ZOS, then can we make "event zones" like the Writing Fortress and the soon to be released Night Market permanent areas that players can go to at anytime? Because having them available only for a limited-time seems contradictory as the amount of dev time and resources spent making areas like this only for them to be taken away after a certain time and not being accessible to the players that want to play that content doesn't feel good at all. Please ZOS no more limited time content, players don't like that, make new content available permanently so that all players can enjoy it whenever they like without a sense of FOMO surrounding it.

100% agree with this - I got my fill of the Writing Fortress second time around and it played out so much better with fewer people running through it. I can see that being a great addition for guild events, especially if grouping with say 12 people gave you the instance to yourself. I'd like to see both that and the Night Market permanent additions - especially given that the Night Market also includes both group dungeons and a trial.

scrappy1342 wrote: »

zenonuk wrote: »

Re. the comment on Discord - you do not need to provide personal information, and do not need to validate your account. By default Discord will assume you are under 18 and simply restrict access to adult tagged servers - if your guild doesn't tag their server as 18+ you can continue to use Discord without giving any personal information. The age check stuff was pushed out to UK users last year, and I still haven't verified my account and I'm not seeing any reduction in service with any of the guilds I'm in. Don't panic, it's the usual over-reporting.

from what i hear, you can also just submit a selfie. you don't -have- to scan your id. also hearing that these things are fairly easy to pass by using screenshots from certain games >.>

Yeah, it's an odd mix of "verification" methods.

• You can send a photo of your government issued ID along with a selfie pic to show that you are the person on the ID. Sounds reasonable enough, however this is also where people with privacy concerns get uncomfortable.
• You can take and submit a Video Selfie of Hobo Joe who lives on the street corner for an age assessment. No checks to verify the person in the video is the account holder.

DenverRalphy wrote: »

• You can take and submit a Video Selfie of Hobo Joe who lives on the street corner for an age assessment. No checks to verify the person in the video is the account holder.

And here we have it. Hobo Joe used to fetch booze and cigs for the kids, but today's kids are so boring that the government had to jump in and work out a new way for Joe to make some bucks.

Orbital78 wrote: »

zenonuk wrote: »

Re. the comment on Discord - you do not need to provide personal information, and do not need to validate your account. By default Discord will assume you are under 18 and simply restrict access to adult tagged servers - if your guild doesn't tag their server as 18+ you can continue to use Discord without giving any personal information. The age check stuff was pushed out to UK users last year, and I still haven't verified my account and I'm not seeing any reduction in service with any of the guilds I'm in. Don't panic, it's the usual over-reporting.

I read their official article and I don't think it will be that bad. Hopefully they can use common sense verification too, credit card history, account age, etc. So far one of my guild masters started a feedback conversation about it and no one was willing to submit their government id's. Even biometric data and having AI constantly scan your interactions is a bit much. I'll still use discord most likely but will be limiting running it in the background in the future.

All the more reason to have a non-third party option would be great if done well. ZoS has made tons of money on this game, reinvestment in accessibility communication would be nice. Asking random pugs to use 3rd party apps is asking a bit much, so it causes a lack of communication.

To add a bit more information for people worried about Discord and the data they hold....

You can request your Discord data through settings (Data and Privacy)... when you get the download (It'll be given to you as a zip file), you can find the results of their AI/"intelligence" based on your interactions, credit card details, etc. in that data dump. Unless you verify your age/ID, they don't actually know your age, just an approximation of what they think from your interactions with Discord itself (and whether there's payment information entered, etc.).

For example in case anyone wants to find this themselves, from the last data request I did (I request this usually every couple of years), I can open the zip file, under the folder Activity/Analytics, I see a file named "events-2024-00000-of-00001.json.". In there I can see this (open the file in any notepad/editor):

"age": "35+",
"predicted_age": "35+",
"probability": 0.85989421606063843,
"prob_13_17": 9.6573690825607628e-05,
"prob_18_24": 0.004423532634973526,
"prob_25_34": 0.13558562099933624,
"prob_35_over": 0.85989421606063843,

So no matter whether you verify your profile or not (I haven't), you can still see the results of their analysis/AI/"intelligence" if you request your data and inspect the download.

And this also shows how bad their intelligence really is - there's an ~85% probability I'm over 35, but also an ~956% probability I'm a teenager - probably because I've not verified my profile and given them any formal ID, face scan, etc. No idea which they use in any situation, but can't say I really care - they know nothing of value.

Whether you're comfortable with this behaviour/data snooping is up to you, but they only know whatever you're prepared to give them, and as I said earlier, you really don't need to give them anything - unless your guild server owner has tagged it as 18+.

[EDIT: NB: If you are worried about Discord's use of your data, you should at a minimum go to settings, Data and Privacy, and disable EVERY option under there, ensuring that only the minimum amount of data is sent and processed by Discord. This doesn't stop all the transfer of data, and if you look in the data dump you'll see they track every mouse click and interaction you have on the platform - it's how their predictions/"intelligence" works - but it will reduce your exposure.]