ninasweety wrote: »

A Request to Reconsider the Situation

I am the leader of a trading guild and a member of a large ESO community. Over the past month, I have witnessed a situation that has become a serious concern—not only for me, but for many other players as well. Throughout June, players from different guilds and communities, including people I know personally, began reporting that their accounts had been permanently banned without any explanation. None of them received an email stating the reason for the ban. After contacting Customer Support, they all received nearly identical template replies listing every possible violation: “fraud, exploitation, cheating, black market activity” - without specifying which rule they had allegedly broken. Any further appeals either resulted in the same automated responses or were simply ignored.

At first, I assumed these were isolated incidents. However, after speaking with more people, I discovered that the same thing had happened across multiple guilds and communities. By the end of the month, I had personally identified more than twenty players and that’s only from my social circle, who found themselves in exactly the same situation.

I am writing this post primarily on behalf of people I know personally or have played with for years.

Rev – Ticket #260723-000158
My deputy guild leader and raid leader. I know him personally and am willing to vouch that he would never knowingly violate the game's rules.
Ai – Ticket #260623-000424
She owns two accounts. Could transferring materials between her own accounts really have resulted in a permanent ban?
MK – Ticket #260730-001164
Leader of another guild. My friend gave birth about six months ago and has barely played ESO since, only logging in occasionally. Despite that, her account was permanently banned.
Sum1 – Ticket #260616-002010
Leader of another guild, with two accounts. Both accounts were permanently banned at the same time. (2nd account below)
Sum2 – Ticket #260616-001938
C – Ticket #260616-001669
One of the most community-oriented players I know. He regularly organized tournaments and community events.
D – Ticket #260731-001571
SnD – Ticket – #260325-002735
"ZeniMax Safety Team." - He answered every question, even went beyond what was asked by providing additional confidential, account-specific information, yet his account has remained deactivated for four months.
Mus – Ticket #260731-000554
BldS – Ticket #260730-000798

My concern extends far beyond the fate of my friends and acquaintances. Today it happened to them. Tomorrow it could happen to me or to any other long-time member of this community. Behind every character name is a real person. Right now, many of these people have lost faith in the appeals process, they are disappointed, and feel betrayed.

What actually caused these bans? Are players not allowed to have two accounts? Are they not allowed to play from an internet café or gaming center?

I am not asking ZeniMax to stop enforcing the rules or to go easy on players who genuinely break them. Fair enforcement is essential to keeping ESO healthy. However, it is just as important that legitimate players receive a clear explanation of what they are accused of. Without knowing what specific action supposedly violated the rules, they have no meaningful opportunity to defend themselves during the appeals process.

At the same time, every forum thread discussing bans is closed with the standard response:
"Discussion of disciplinary actions is not permitted. Please contact Customer Support."

But if Customer Support only provides generic template responses with no specific information, players are left trapped in a dead end with no real way to appeal. More than a month has now passed, and none of these players has received either a meaningful review or a specific explanation for their permanent ban. It is understandable that, from a company's perspective, an account may simply be another entry in a database. But to the community, these people are far more than that.

They are guild leaders, raid leaders, mentors, event organizers, and the people who invite new players, teach them the game, help them with crafting, organize community activities, and keep entire guilds alive. Many of them have built communities of dozens or even hundreds of players around themselves. These are veteran players with 1,500 to 3,600 Champion Points and dozens of characters. That represents years of dedication and an enormous investment of time. During those years, directors, managers, and support staff came and went, but these players remained and continued to support the game even after subclasses were introduced.

Moreover, it was these players who had been financially supporting the project for years: Most have maintained continuous ESO Plus subscriptions for years, purchased Tamriel Tomes, pre-ordered Chapters, bought many Crown Packs, furnished guild halls, and spent thousands of dollars supporting the game. After investing so much time, money, and passion into their accounts, it is difficult to believe that the majority of these players would knowingly risk losing everything by intentionally breaking the rules.

Losing players like this damages the community far more than it may appear from the outside. Every online game survives because of players who dedicate years of their time, money, and passion to it. When a long-time player can lose everything without a clear explanation and without a fair opportunity to defend themselves, it raises serious concerns. Ultimately, this is about trust between the developers and the community.

I sincerely ask that you:

• Please forward these cases to someone who understands the value of long-term players and can perform a genuine case-by-case review instead of another routine template-based investigation.
• If these bans were caused by a system error or a misunderstanding of legitimate player activity, please restore the affected accounts.
  
• If a violation did occur but was not malicious or intentional, please consider issuing a warning or a less severe penalty instead of permanently banning accounts that have existed for many years.

I truly hope these cases can receive the careful, individual review they deserve—not only for the players involved, but for the trust between ZeniMax and the ESO community as a whole.

As our new Game Director said:
"I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: ESO is nothing without you, our community. Thank you for your continued dedication, your feedback, and your support.
Let’s continue to build our Tamriel together."
— Nick G., ESO Game Director

Ostonoha wrote: »

The 3 strike rule if it even still exists is also pretty outdated considering the length of time the game has been out. Having 3 bad days or moments in 10 years leading to a total wipe of everything is pretty severe. It really is not a good look.