As Zenimax recently announced, they have taken major action against thousands of fraudsters and cheaters in The Elder Scrolls Online. According to the English community manager Jessica Folsom, they have already banned several thousand users shortly after the launch of the fantasy MMORPG. Among them were botters, speed hackers, and gold spammers.
As expected, The Elder Scrolls Online title has already come under the radar of dubious providers who want to make quick money with the game or have fun at the expense of other users. Gold spamming was particularly noticeable in the starting areas. The spam went on for so many lines that it was almost impossible to put the spammer directly on the ignore list. Particularly brazen: Players are often directly messaged by gold spammers with the friendly headline “Dear Friend.”
Speed hackers made headlines especially in the PvP area Cyrodiil, but reports of shadowy figures moving much faster than allowed also increased in normal leveling areas. Just shortly after launch, corresponding threads appeared in relevant forums speculating about it – complaints weren’t long in coming. Such behavior, directly disregarding game mechanics, has previously been known mainly from online shooters, but it is not without example in the MMORPG sector either.
Botters, however, caused significant manipulation in the resources market shortly after the server launch. Some users complained that the resource deposits were becoming scarce. There were repeated demands, especially in the English-speaking Reddit forum, for Zenimax to take action against botters. Apparently, Zenimax has taken this to heart and has now responded quickly and firmly. Zenimax continues to ask all users to immediately report any irregularities in gameplay.
