Hi folks,

I posted in a different forum to a different topic. While I was offline the topic turned into a discussion why I post TESO topics under TES Series and whether it's a good idea to request game keys to be allowed to post. I don't get it because I wrote I'm a fan of TES, so obviously I own a few of those games. Now I hope we can transfer the discussion to here.

The original thread: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1513408-teso-what-comes-when-and-how-to-start-playing/

Thanks.

Should you need a game key? No.

Then again it would help protect us from the influx of new people that show up after a game is announced, which means less spam of "omg it's gonna be awesome, I have no complaints which means I am the only true and living fan of the series". So that could be a positive.

Pros and Cons with everything I suppose.

I could see it being viable if handled tactfully. I wouldn't mind being a "guest" who in turn, could post in a guest general discussion section. Then once I bought my game - get key - come back to the official Skyrim or New Vegas thread and be able to post in the "member" section.

I see how this could alienate potential customers, but I don't need to post to review some aspects about a game I'm interested in. Grab any general discussion thread and most of the game's context/gameplay/story can be scratched upon in the first two pages of threads.

Then again, it might just come down to rights. I feel I should have the freedom to post here about whatever (within the forum rules of course) and not require a game key. I was thinking about and looking into New Vegas for a couple months before I actually got it. If I had to use a key, I would just go over to a smaller forum community and talk about it there. I couldn't ask specific questions to the "member" community on things that might make or break my purchase overall.

Great idea to make this topic it's own thread Guybrush!

I think every user should be free to post in the forums without any key, not being able to share opinions without buying first is a bit extreme. Not only losing potential customers, but also the public image of the company in the eyes of those who already bought: what do they want to hide, what are they afraid of, etc. To me the whole process of bringing ESO to life (marketing, prices, q&a, imperial edition, official forums) didn't inspire too much self confidence in their own product, it all seems like they wanted to capitalize the burst hype fast before people realize the game is not standard TES quality and it's not worth the subscription.

Wait, are the ESO forums key based?

Yeah you need keys or accounts tied to official MMO game forums. Otherwise you get the Inbox and all threads spammed with crap messages like 'buy g0ld at tota11ynotakeyl0gger.n3t' by xxfujhibefkj.

Okay, see that kind of makes sense when it comes to spammers like that.

that,

plus they would get a lot of "OMG you playz MMOz!! you not real gamerz, you be ashamed!!!11ONE" threads from some kid who is upset his parents won't let him play online games..

its sad, but MMORPG forums need this activation method or else they would have an extremely hostile and toxic environment..

This right here. The Lord of the Rings Online forum has had this problem for years since it went Free to Play. People would make an account just to troll the forums. Turbine eventually took steps to squash them, never did find out exactly what they did.

I mean in THAT case, I feel that all forums should have a guest and member setup like I described before. I get that MMOs attract a lot of attention, so that may be a factor in it. I know spam shows up in areas/subjects that are hot or popular as to get more clicks or whatever.

What stops a spammer from coming here right now? I mean, I don't see spam threads ever.

I see the reason for it, but even then, I'm still not fond of it. Reasons why I don't go to certain forums anymore, like the Bioware forum (which has an awful community regardless of the game keys locking people out).