Losing My Patience With People In Game At the Moment

TiberiusZolcor · 12:39AM

It's reached June 20, 2026, and I've noticed Zone chat in the game has become more childish and toxic lately. I only have it turned on so that I can listen in on calls for a World Boss or Delve summons, but lately I've been hearing a lot of immature trash talk combined with strong profanity, and even some inappropriate references at times. While I'm not deeply disturbed it's still very annoying, and it makes me wonder if these are teenagers or college kids on their PCs, and laptops trolling people to get a rise out of others emotions due to them being on a Summer break?

Nordstern · 12:43AM

Isnt there a profanity filter and even add ons that improve it?

SkillzMFG · 12:44AM

Let kids have their little fun unc.

TiberiusZolcor · 12:47AM

Nordstern wrote: »

Isnt there a profanity filter and even add ons that improve it?

You misunderstand. I know there is a profanity filter. I said I can take profanity just fine. The problem is when it gets obnoxious, and is done over and over again.

TiberiusZolcor · 12:50AM

I also said that I turned my Zone chat on merely for the sake of hearing callouts for World Boss and Delve invites. Therefore having to hear people goof off, but be obnoxious, and maybe even rude about it is a trade-off I must deal with sadly.

freespirit · 1:00AM

Curious, which platform?

freespirit · 1:02AM

Reason is you say "hearing" so that suggests to me consoles.

Nemesis7884 · 1:57AM

Never really notice on pc eu tbh. Most annoying thing are guild spammers...id just report anyone thats inappropriate; they likely stop after a ban...

valenwood_vegan · 2:04AM

The absolute first thing I do right off the boat when I make a new character is turn off zone chat. Beyond reporting people who go too far and actually offend and violate the ToS, we can't control other people and ultimately have to do what's necessary for our own sanity.

tsaescishoeshiner · 2:51AM

I don't have any problem with this in ESO. Some starter or popular zones, like Glenumbra and Auridon, attract players who seem to think they have a new audience to troll.

I played during the pandemic shutdown and it was very regular, but it's quite rare for me to see now, other than one player who preaches intolerant real world religious messages despite being reported many times. Very minor compared to people asking for boss help.

AScarlato · 2:58AM

I logged in yesterday to people ranting about American politics and the month of June in a very inappropriate way.

I just left as I don’t feel like spending my free time reporting people but it was off putting.

It doesn’t happen often but when it does it’s irritating as those issues don’t need to be in game.

Before leaving I thanked the guild spammers for pushing some of it out of my window and then others did too at least.

Luneca · 4:44AM

ZOS told me once that I should just use the ignore button. It works well, even on the forums.

Gabriel_H · 4:45AM

Nemesis7884 wrote: »

Never really nptoce on pc eu tbh. Most amnoying thing are guld spammers...id jist report anyone thats inaproproate; they likely stop after a ban...

PC EU rarely has any zone chat, guild spammers aside. The only exceptions are +dolmen in Alik'r and some remnants of LFG in Craglorn. All other zones you will occasionally get someone asking for help or asking directions.

PurpleScroll · 9:26AM

Luneca wrote: »

ZOS told me once that I should just use the ignore button. It works well, even on the forums.

You mean the forum that has a limit of just 12 in the ignore list?

CalamityCat · 10:04AM

I have a chat tab called "quiet" for situations like this, set to filter out the zone chat and just allowing my main guilds and group chat so I only see what's relevant. I mostly use it while I'm doing stuff with my guild or I need to focus, but I highly recommend playing with the filters and setting up a quiet tab of your own. For total peace you can even have a tab for guild chat and keep that out of your quiet tab.

There's also the ad block add-on that can help filter out other stuff automatically.

ItsNotLiving · 11:01AM

There are 5 Elder Scrolls games without a zone chat.

Gabriel_H · 11:10AM

ItsNotLiving wrote: »

There are 5 Elder Scrolls games without a zone chat.

6

Cardhwion · 11:24AM

TiberiusZolcor wrote: »

It's reached June 20, 2026, and I've noticed Zone chat in the game has become more childish and toxic lately. I only have it turned on so that I can listen in on calls for a World Boss or Delve summons, but lately I've been hearing a lot of immature trash talk combined with strong profanity, and even some inappropriate references at times. While I'm not deeply disturbed it's still very annoying, and it makes me wonder if these are teenagers or college kids on their PCs, and laptops trolling people to get a rise out of others emotions due to them being on a Summer break?

Remember the times of "I survived the Barrens chat" ? Long ago and far away... the issue is older than ESO

frogthroat · 11:41AM

Nordstern wrote: »

Isnt there a profanity filter and even add ons that improve it?

Not everyone can use the profanity filter. If you speak, for example, Finnish you pretty much have to turn it off. The system otherwise will censor so much from the chat that you have no idea what people are talking about. For example the Finnish word for "and", and if the next word starts with the letter p will get censored. So you cannot use the word "and" and any word that starts with p if you have the filter on. And that's just one example.

TiberiusZolcor · 12:13PM

I forgot to mention I'm using the PC version of the game, and I'm also on the NA server.

Glorious_Platypus · 12:32PM

Raucous and immature zone chatter is a sign of a healthy mmo where people feel free to express themselves, which is a good thing and attracts people to the game. They think "Oh I can have fun here and actually socialize" instead of "oh if I say something even mildly offensive, it'll get reported and I'll get banned and lose access to hundreds of hours of progress on my account."

It's ironic because OP is essentially complaining about people being children in chat, but OP is the one who needs to grow up and realize people like to socialize and talk in ways he doesn't approve of.

CatalinaWineMixer2 · 2:42PM

A lot of the good people and many Vets have been driven off.
1. Subclass did the most damage to our Vets. They left in droves and are still leaving because their characters are broken.
2. Immoral behavior and overpowered combat have chased everyone away from GH and BG. Some of them will play Vengeance and do. But there aren't as many left to do so

Zone chat has always been a public space and its necessary for a lot of people to get things done that way. Like WB, Incursions, daily quests, ect. As more things like Dynamic Events come (and I hope there are a lot more things coming in Overland like this), I think it will increase traffic there.

Having said that, I and many of the Vets who remain have noticed an increase in people with more toxicity and zero patience. Particularly among new or returning players. Is it because they are fleeing other games that went down like New World, is it a generational type of behavior, is it what is becoming the new way of the world? A lot of possibilities. Difficult to say, but I think Zos knows more about it numerically than we ever will concerning Eso. And I do not fault them for asking for surveys and other things to understand this aspect of the game so they may improve it and understand their audience better.

The worst vitriol by far comes in PvP. Im saying that as an 11 year Eso Vet. I have thick skin. A lot of other people don't and thats where it affects the game population the most. This cannot be placed squarely on the Developers. If it's something concerning the game people are arguing about, it's one thing. Example: We killed the WB but it keeps respawning at 1/4 health. Id say yes, the Devs might be causing Zone to blow up. Outside of game functions, i dont see there is much to be done about it.

Id rather see them strive for events and activities that make us work together as a whole. As a Realm to be more precise.

Dojohoda · 2:54PM

Yeah, seeing that in Glenumbra which is probably due to players grinding for the new stuff there. Sometimes it seems like some people want to agro with a controversial topic, then report anyone who replies that disagrees.

AcadianPaladin · 3:12PM

@TiberiusZolcor thanks for the update. I quit monitoring zone chat years ago for the same reasons you are not happy with it - listening to irrelevant/annoying drivel is not worth getting the WB callouts that I would like to hear.

SilverBride · 4:15PM

When I've seen players in zone being very inappropriate I've had a lot of luck getting them to stop by warning them that if they don't I will start reporting them and taking screenshots. Then I start a new topic of conversation and steer it away from the toxic chat. Surprisingly this works most of the time.

Heydan_Seegil · 4:30PM

People actually use the chat? I have legit used it all of one time and I get spammed out with random stuff. I was hoping to find friends to play with and made a Guild but nope. It is all good though because I then joined a Guild and that wasn't fun. I got rushed through a Quest and had to roll up a new character just to repeat it so I could get the story and read all the books.

Mostly I stick to emotes. It seems to work out better.

(Edit: I still have the Guild, "House of Seegil", it is my Noble House!)

BretonMage · 5:13PM

I must have experienced a particularly toxic zone chat one day last year (or too much guild spam?), because I had completely forgotten that I had turned it off. I was about to respond to OP with a, "funny, but my zone chat is extremely quiet!", when it struck me that it was perhaps too quiet. Anyhoo I've turned it back on again and was immediately assailed with guild spam.

Glorious_Platypus wrote: »

Raucous and immature zone chatter is a sign of a healthy mmo where people feel free to express themselves, which is a good thing and attracts people to the game. They think "Oh I can have fun here and actually socialize" instead of "oh if I say something even mildly offensive, it'll get reported and I'll get banned and lose access to hundreds of hours of progress on my account."

It's ironic because OP is essentially complaining about people being children in chat, but OP is the one who needs to grow up and realize people like to socialize and talk in ways he doesn't approve of.

There's a big difference between toxicity and raucousness. I've seen funny and even bawdy chats which aren't hateful and those are fine. I don't know what OP is referring to, but I think we all know when something is hateful and when something is just silly.

wolfie1.0. · 5:25PM

I tend to ignore zone chat. But if I happen to notice that people are being overly stupid in zone chat.... my strategy is to spam dad jokes and pun-liners until they stop or people start ignoring them.

SkaiFaith · 5:47PM

While I totally understand the frustration that can come with some uneducated individuals, I'm generally against "censorship/ban" - I am at a point where I am afraid to speak and this shouldn't be a thing.

Playing on EU servers the subject of UK requiring ID to be able to socialize in-game comes up, and I am the kind of person who finds hard to shut up. I know my opinions could get my account in trouble.

My point is - censorship and bans already come from where they shouldn't; please don't enforce a "PvP" environment on people who just want give voice to their thoughts.

With this I'm not saying anything is justified. Just let go some more instead of "calling for the manager" any time.

Orbital78 · 7:53PM

I do feel they need to increase the ignore list, but I think they're already heavy handed with censorship and banning over fairly small social interactions.

I grew up in the 80 & 90s, maybe I'm just less fragile than some of the younger folks. It takes a lot to get me to report someone unless they're blatantly cheating.

I put zone chat on a back tab and minimize chat. I have discord to chat if needed.