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Request: Player Written Books

AScarlato
AScarlato
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This is going to be a rather ancient reference, but I really loved player-written books / house items in EverQuest 2. I used to write stories for random people and leave them in their homes and they were a big hit with those who found them.

It would also be nice maybe if we could do things like write our character's diary or bio that could be found in our homes, or something of that nature.

Just something I really enjoyed as a house item in another MMO that I wish I had here.

  • Carcamongus
    Carcamongus
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    Perhaps a player profile visible to guildmates and people in your friends list would work even better than a furnishing. Of course, the maximum length of text would have to be somewhat longer than what's possible in guild notes. However, I now realize how cool a furnishing with some text about the host's bio or explanation for the house would be. Maybe even a guestbook where people could sign and leave very short messages.
    Imperial DK and Necro tank. PC/NA
    "Nothing is so bad that it can't get any worse." (Brazilian saying)
  • AScarlato
    AScarlato
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    Perhaps a player profile visible to guildmates and people in your friends list would work even better than a furnishing. Of course, the maximum length of text would have to be somewhat longer than what's possible in guild notes. However, I now realize how cool a furnishing with some text about the host's bio or explanation for the house would be. Maybe even a guestbook where people could sign and leave very short messages.

    EverQuest 2 had that as well - you could inspect someone's profile and you could have a brief bio written there also. Would love that also for just people out in the world.
  • Carcamongus
    Carcamongus
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    AScarlato wrote: »
    Perhaps a player profile visible to guildmates and people in your friends list would work even better than a furnishing. Of course, the maximum length of text would have to be somewhat longer than what's possible in guild notes. However, I now realize how cool a furnishing with some text about the host's bio or explanation for the house would be. Maybe even a guestbook where people could sign and leave very short messages.

    EverQuest 2 had that as well - you could inspect someone's profile and you could have a brief bio written there also. Would love that also for just people out in the world.

    I wonder what's preventing such a system from being implemented here. Server limitations or concerns about abuse?
    Imperial DK and Necro tank. PC/NA
    "Nothing is so bad that it can't get any worse." (Brazilian saying)
  • Aislinna
    Aislinna
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    AScarlato wrote: »
    Perhaps a player profile visible to guildmates and people in your friends list would work even better than a furnishing. Of course, the maximum length of text would have to be somewhat longer than what's possible in guild notes. However, I now realize how cool a furnishing with some text about the host's bio or explanation for the house would be. Maybe even a guestbook where people could sign and leave very short messages.

    EverQuest 2 had that as well - you could inspect someone's profile and you could have a brief bio written there also. Would love that also for just people out in the world.

    I wonder what's preventing such a system from being implemented here. Server limitations or concerns about abuse?

    Concerns about abuse should be the real concern. The sexual, gore, harrassment or defamatory things that could be written by players without ESO review or approval are bound to go against TOS and decency standards. We get complaints about character names, now imagine their "back story or diary" being expanded upon.

    Edited by Aislinna on February 24, 2026 11:18PM
  • AScarlato
    AScarlato
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    Aislinna wrote: »
    AScarlato wrote: »
    Perhaps a player profile visible to guildmates and people in your friends list would work even better than a furnishing. Of course, the maximum length of text would have to be somewhat longer than what's possible in guild notes. However, I now realize how cool a furnishing with some text about the host's bio or explanation for the house would be. Maybe even a guestbook where people could sign and leave very short messages.

    EverQuest 2 had that as well - you could inspect someone's profile and you could have a brief bio written there also. Would love that also for just people out in the world.

    I wonder what's preventing such a system from being implemented here. Server limitations or concerns about abuse?

    Concerns about abuse should be the real concern. The sexual, gore, harrassment or defamatory things that could be written by players without ESO review or approval are bound to go against TOS and decency standards. We get complaints about character names, now imagine their "back story or diary" being explanded upon.

    Those can just be reported and in this case they would be in writing and easy to act upon.
  • Aislinna
    Aislinna
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    AScarlato wrote: »
    Aislinna wrote: »
    AScarlato wrote: »
    Perhaps a player profile visible to guildmates and people in your friends list would work even better than a furnishing. Of course, the maximum length of text would have to be somewhat longer than what's possible in guild notes. However, I now realize how cool a furnishing with some text about the host's bio or explanation for the house would be. Maybe even a guestbook where people could sign and leave very short messages.

    EverQuest 2 had that as well - you could inspect someone's profile and you could have a brief bio written there also. Would love that also for just people out in the world.

    I wonder what's preventing such a system from being implemented here. Server limitations or concerns about abuse?

    Concerns about abuse should be the real concern. The sexual, gore, harrassment or defamatory things that could be written by players without ESO review or approval are bound to go against TOS and decency standards. We get complaints about character names, now imagine their "back story or diary" being explanded upon.

    Those can just be reported and in this case they would be in writing and easy to act upon.

    And what incentive does ZOS have to take on that burden?
  • AScarlato
    AScarlato
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    Aislinna wrote: »
    AScarlato wrote: »
    Aislinna wrote: »
    AScarlato wrote: »
    Perhaps a player profile visible to guildmates and people in your friends list would work even better than a furnishing. Of course, the maximum length of text would have to be somewhat longer than what's possible in guild notes. However, I now realize how cool a furnishing with some text about the host's bio or explanation for the house would be. Maybe even a guestbook where people could sign and leave very short messages.

    EverQuest 2 had that as well - you could inspect someone's profile and you could have a brief bio written there also. Would love that also for just people out in the world.

    I wonder what's preventing such a system from being implemented here. Server limitations or concerns about abuse?

    Concerns about abuse should be the real concern. The sexual, gore, harrassment or defamatory things that could be written by players without ESO review or approval are bound to go against TOS and decency standards. We get complaints about character names, now imagine their "back story or diary" being explanded upon.

    Those can just be reported and in this case they would be in writing and easy to act upon.

    And what incentive does ZOS have to take on that burden?

    People can already chat, including in zone chat which is more widespread, along with role play and have other player-generated content that can violate rules.

    Bad actors shouldn’t be the standard IMO. Same argument has been used for the misuse of personalities, emotes, and even simply crouching.
  • Aislinna
    Aislinna
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    AScarlato wrote: »
    Aislinna wrote: »
    AScarlato wrote: »
    Aislinna wrote: »
    AScarlato wrote: »
    Perhaps a player profile visible to guildmates and people in your friends list would work even better than a furnishing. Of course, the maximum length of text would have to be somewhat longer than what's possible in guild notes. However, I now realize how cool a furnishing with some text about the host's bio or explanation for the house would be. Maybe even a guestbook where people could sign and leave very short messages.

    EverQuest 2 had that as well - you could inspect someone's profile and you could have a brief bio written there also. Would love that also for just people out in the world.

    I wonder what's preventing such a system from being implemented here. Server limitations or concerns about abuse?

    Concerns about abuse should be the real concern. The sexual, gore, harrassment or defamatory things that could be written by players without ESO review or approval are bound to go against TOS and decency standards. We get complaints about character names, now imagine their "back story or diary" being explanded upon.

    Those can just be reported and in this case they would be in writing and easy to act upon.

    And what incentive does ZOS have to take on that burden?

    People can already chat, including in zone chat which is more widespread, along with role play and have other player-generated content that can violate rules.

    Bad actors shouldn’t be the standard IMO. Same argument has been used for the misuse of personalities, emotes, and even simply crouching.

    Good luck with your request.
  • AScarlato
    AScarlato
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    Aislinna wrote: »
    AScarlato wrote: »
    Aislinna wrote: »
    AScarlato wrote: »
    Aislinna wrote: »
    AScarlato wrote: »
    Perhaps a player profile visible to guildmates and people in your friends list would work even better than a furnishing. Of course, the maximum length of text would have to be somewhat longer than what's possible in guild notes. However, I now realize how cool a furnishing with some text about the host's bio or explanation for the house would be. Maybe even a guestbook where people could sign and leave very short messages.

    EverQuest 2 had that as well - you could inspect someone's profile and you could have a brief bio written there also. Would love that also for just people out in the world.

    I wonder what's preventing such a system from being implemented here. Server limitations or concerns about abuse?

    Concerns about abuse should be the real concern. The sexual, gore, harrassment or defamatory things that could be written by players without ESO review or approval are bound to go against TOS and decency standards. We get complaints about character names, now imagine their "back story or diary" being explanded upon.

    Those can just be reported and in this case they would be in writing and easy to act upon.

    And what incentive does ZOS have to take on that burden?

    People can already chat, including in zone chat which is more widespread, along with role play and have other player-generated content that can violate rules.

    Bad actors shouldn’t be the standard IMO. Same argument has been used for the misuse of personalities, emotes, and even simply crouching.

    Good luck with your request.
    Thanks! It already was an amazing addition to EQ2 with no widespread panic and abuse!
  • Ruthless
    Ruthless
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  • AScarlato
    AScarlato
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    Ruthless wrote: »

    Thanks going to look into this!

    Praise Zenithar for all those hard working add-on devs making dreams come true!
    Edited by AScarlato on February 25, 2026 12:16AM
  • 16BitForestCat
    16BitForestCat
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    I've never used that Librarium add-on before. I really, really want to go check it out now. :D

    Re: profiles: I really wish we had native profiles for roleplayers without having to resort to add-ons. All the way back in 1998, I was a My Little Pony collector playing a pony (and lots of cat alts because I was also big into S.W.A.T. Kats, haha) in the graphical chat MMORPG Furcadia. In Furc, you can see someone's character/player profile, or your own, just by clicking said character hanging around on the map. There's an example here:
    Furcadia1.jpg

    (If that doesn't work, it's the second image at this tutorial link on the official Furc website, in which "You see Ridere.")

    You'd see the character and/or player description they wrote, as well as having your name bar and portrait change to theirs so you could see their close-up. It was fantastic for sharing the basics about your characters without having to explain them every single time you RP'ed with a new person. And, yes, if someone had inappropriate material in their profile, you reported it and let the mods handle it. I never ran into anyone with a malicious profile, but they definitely cropped up from time to time.

    If games like Furcadia and EQ2 could have this over two decades ago, it feels like a big oversight that a game trying to be there for the RP'ers, like ESO claims, never implemented this. I was surprised we DIDN'T get this feature when I first played ESO in beta, honestly! I was very much expecting it after my previous MMO history and ZOS's talk about how they wanted people to come to ESO and try their hands at roleplaying.
    Edited by 16BitForestCat on February 25, 2026 4:28AM
    —PC/NA, never Steam—
    Getting lost in TESO Tamriel and beyond since Beta 2013!
    Alliance agnostic: all factions should chill the fetch out and party together.
    Mocking the false gender binary since the 1970s.
    If you ever wonder why certain official fandom spaces are so often toxic and awful, remember: corruption starts from the top. ^^v
  • jaekobcaed
    jaekobcaed
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    Absolutely! I always loved the way EQ2 allows for so much roleplaying, it was my favorite part of that game. In-game character bios, player-written books, etc. are all amazing features. I don't play EQ2 anymore but I do miss some of its aspects, so it'd be nice to have that in my current main MMO! Plus, ESO has a pretty solid roleplaying scene and so many emotes (and the emote chat channel) that make roleplaying feel right here so it'd only make sense.
    AD: Isachar Daierenfel - Altmer Templar | Solveig Falkenberg - Nord Warden
    EP: Septimus Adeodatus - Imperial Dragonknight
    DC: Esrazhir Mhiitan - Khajiit Necromancer

    [PC/NA] Played off and on since beta
    First TES: Morrowind | Favorite TES: Oblivion | TES games played: all of them!
  • Faltasë
    Faltasë
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    I like this idea.

    XBOX 2015-2019
    PC-NA 2019-2022, 2025-present

    Please keep fixing the combat. It's good to fix the combat.

    Auri-El is the one true God.
  • AScarlato
    AScarlato
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    Maybe even a guestbook where people could sign and leave very short messages.

    Missed this part, but FFXIV has guestbooks for player homes. (And something akin to player profiles you can view in the open world, including being able to take a picture as a portrait of your character.) Great stuff and very popular.

    When I come home and find that a random stranger entered my house and leaves a comment that they liked it, it makes my day.
  • katanagirl1
    katanagirl1
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    I would certainly use something like this to have a description of my house since the Home Tours doesn’t have that built in.
    Khajiit Stamblade main
    Dark Elf Magsorc
    Redguard Stamina Dragonknight
    Orc Stamplar PVP
    Breton Magsorc PVP
    Dark Elf Necromancer
    Dark Elf Magden
    Khajiit Stamblade
    Khajiit Stamina Arcanist

    PS5 NA
  • rockDokRock
    Aislinna wrote: »
    AScarlato wrote: »
    Perhaps a player profile visible to guildmates and people in your friends list would work even better than a furnishing. Of course, the maximum length of text would have to be somewhat longer than what's possible in guild notes. However, I now realize how cool a furnishing with some text about the host's bio or explanation for the house would be. Maybe even a guestbook where people could sign and leave very short messages.

    EverQuest 2 had that as well - you could inspect someone's profile and you could have a brief bio written there also. Would love that also for just people out in the world.

    I wonder what's preventing such a system from being implemented here. Server limitations or concerns about abuse?

    Concerns about abuse should be the real concern. The sexual, gore, harrassment or defamatory things that could be written by players without ESO review or approval are bound to go against TOS and decency standards. We get complaints about character names, now imagine their "back story or diary" being expanded upon.

    Agree. The biggest problem with this idea is... people. There are always some who will totally abuse this and that's why we can't have nice things like this.
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