Last month to mark the end of Pride, several hundred players celebrated queerness in The Elder Scrolls Online with a defiant display, marching through Morrowind together. The celebration was organised by Locke and fellow streamers, but supported by developer Zenimax who provided copies of Necrom to giveaway and an official blog post detailing the times of the parades and who was holding them.
It sends the message that bigots are unwelcome in ESO. But less than a month later, transgender developer Leona Faren revealed she was pushed out of Zenimax (ZOS) last year, alleging that the studio misgendered her, outed her without consent, and held her gender-affirming surgeries “hostage”. Meanwhile, prominent ESO community members reported bigotry growing rampant and unchecked, claiming ZOS does little to stem this tide, distancing itself from the community it had just publicly pledged to support.
“I have found Zenimax to do nothing in regards to protecting streamers,” Twitch streamer Locke, who organised the marches, tells me. They’re in the midst of a hate campaign in which bigots are photoshopping them to look like Adolf Hitler and willfully misgendering them. “I, as an openly LGBTQIA+ streamer for years have […] been doxxed, swatted, harassed, etc. I’ve tried reporting this, I’ve followed up on if I can do anything… End of the day nothing has ever been done even with overwhelming proof.”
Locke even alleges that “ZOS added a person to their stream team who was connected to the transphobic treatment of trans streamers and supported the person who has been a longtime harasser of our community.” The ESO stream team is described by ZOS as being “comprised of hard-working, passionate, knowledgeable, and dedicated Elder Scrolls Online live streamers that work directly with Zenimax”. By including an individual such as this, it sends a message, emboldening bigots as much as inaction has over the past few weeks.
Another streamer—who wishes to remain anonymous—told me of similar issues with Zenimax and its protection of those in the community. “The support you get from the community managers is great, but sadly that’s where it ends. I feel very little has been done outside of in-game. Even in-game I’ve experienced that reporting bigotry has had no repercussions. We’ve had community members harassed for months and months without any action taken by Zenimax [...] There’s a lot of frustration going on in the community right now where bigotry and hate seem to go unpunished.”
During the Pride Parades, ESO’s policy was to not engage with bigots. Players were asked to take screenshots, ‘/ignore’ them, and file a report after the event, ensuring that they would be punished while not detracting from the celebrations. Locke took note of the bigots in zone chat during the Parades and kept tabs on them in the weeks following, but found that, unfortunately, they were still present and engaging with other players. Either they weren’t punished at all, or they got a slap on the wrist—despite trying to derail an event celebrating queerness, it seems trolls have been able to continue unabated. When Locke pushed Zenimax on this topic, they were told that it doesn't release information on punishments.
“Whenever attacked for Pride, if you go through Instagram you'll often see a stock message just saying 'ZOS isn't running it, this is a community thing run by Locke',” Locke says. “Between bringing known people who support harassers on the stream team, not protecting teams creators, not punishing bigots in-game, and the stuff with Leona, Zenimax has a company culture of, at best, not caring about marginalized people being harassed and, at worst, of transphobia.”
There’s a sentiment in the ESO community that no matter the level you’re at, be you a player posting to the zone chat or a streamer officially supported by the developer, punishment will vary from lenient to non-existent. “A lot of the people reported didn’t get any repercussions,” a streamer who asked to remain anonymous to avoid further harassment tells me. “It makes me lose faith in ZOS and the way they handle these cases. I hope they can take criticism to learn and adapt from this [...] Even when their own ESO stream team members have been reported for harmful conduct, no action has been taken. ZOS has a lot of work cut out for them and I hope they will change for the better.”
After Faren claimed that she was pushed out of the company after going to HR over alleged transphobia, someone made a post on the official ESO forum sharing a video about the news. This has now garnered over 22 pages of comments, mostly transphobic in nature, some to extreme degrees. Despite moderators being tagged and ESO streamers calling out the thread on social media, it's still up, heightening the worry that bigots in the community will be emboldened by a lack of action.
“The fact that Zenimax takes no immediate action to harmful conduct lets the bigotry, hate, and harassment flourish,” a streamer tells me. “We need to feel safe and a lot of us in the ESO community do not feel safe. Trans and other marginalized communities are continuously being targeted and this needs to be taken seriously by Zenimax. They need to make changes in their TOS and safety policies because it is getting out of hand.”
Zenimax’s lack of action has alienated its queer fans and strengthened the resolve of bigots, making ESO a far less welcoming place than it was even a year ago. While Locke and several other streamers are grateful for the help during Pride and the great work their community managers do, the lack of public response to these ongoing issues has clouded that good work. With Zenimax also yet to comment on Faren’s allegations, it’s no wonder that LGBTQ+ players feel pushed aside.
TheGamer reached out to Zenimax for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.