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Code of Conduct

This Code of Conduct ("Code of Conduct") is effective as of the date You accept this Code of Conduct, by and between ZeniMax Media Inc., on its own behalf and on behalf of its affiliates and subsidiaries, (collectively "ZeniMax" or "We") and You, an individual, serving as an account holder ("You"). Your participation on Bethesda.Net, The Elder Scrolls Online, our forums, player programs or other ZeniMax "Services" (as defined in our Terms of Service) is conditioned on this Code of Conduct, as well as the Privacy Policy, and the Terms of Service, collectively referred to as the "Agreement" unless identified individually. You agree that You will be solely responsible for the activity of Your account. All communication and activity on any ZeniMax Services or our games, including any User Generated Content You contribute, is the responsibility of the account owner.

You will violate the Code of Conduct if You or Your Account participates in any of the following behaviors below. ZeniMax, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to take such action as appropriate in the event of any violation, including immediate termination of Your Account, and/or banning You from playing the Game, and/or using any ZeniMax Services.

Without inferring any obligation to do so, ZeniMax may investigate where it suspects there has been a breach of this Code of Conduct which could include reviewing other forums and websites available online which are publicly accessible.

  1. LAWFUL COMPLIANCE

1.1 You may not post, publish, transmit, promote, or distribute content that is illegal.

1.2 The laws that apply in the offline world must be obeyed online as well. We have zero tolerance for illegal behavior (such as stalking, threats of physical violence, child solicitation, doxing, etc.) on ZeniMax and its affiliates' websites, forums or game environments — including Bethesda.Net. We terminate use of the Service and cooperate with law enforcement on such matters.

  1. BEHAVIOR

2.1 You may not create an account name, persona or avatar that is in any way discriminatory, sexually graphic, hateful, harmful, or excretory in nature. A name, persona or avatar that promotes self-harm, glorifies suicides or belittles physical or mental disability will be considered as harmful. You will not reference, claim affiliation or otherwise express sympathy with any hate groups. Any other names, text or chat that ZeniMax considers offensive is also in violation of the Agreement including the Code of Conduct.

2.2 You may not create any name, text or chat that negatively references a 'Protected Category' under applicable law. These include any name, text or chat which references or includes age, race, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, pregnancy, religion or gender. You may not create an account name that is defamatory, impersonates, breaches the privacy or attempts to defame the reputation of another account holder, an employee of ZeniMax, any natural or legal person or entity, property of ZeniMax, or ZeniMax and/or its affiliates.

2.3 You may not harass, threaten, intentionally humiliate, "stream snipe", "name and shame", engage in acts of "griefing", or cause distress to another user, guest, or ZeniMax staff member/teams using ZeniMax sites and Services. This includes but is not limited to verbal attacks (both text and voice chat), unwanted messaging, personal attacks, stalking or any other undesired behavior used to cause discomfort or disrupt another user's experience. At all times users will refrain from attacking age, race, color, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, lifestyle, pregnancy, gender or any other personally identifying factors protected category under applicable law. You may at no time share or refer to personal information of another person, account name, persona or avatar using ZeniMax or its affiliates. We encourage you to share feedback, suggestion, and requests with us, but we expect all of our users to refrain from abusive and disruptive behavior or resorting to demands or threats. Threats of real-life violence, in particular, are something we take very seriously and do not tolerate.

We do not tolerate discussion that is created for the purpose of "naming-and-shaming" other users. "Naming-and-shaming" is the act of creating a discussion to call out an individual or group by name, and making them the subject of public accusation, ridicule and/or shaming.

2.4 Derogatory, defamatory or offensive content used in conjunction with names of famous or important historical, political, religious figures or website URL's are not allowed. You will not create an account name that is in reference to or contains proprietary names, popular characters, or the names of modern era serial killers, individuals or groups who have committed crimes against humanity in the past. You will also refrain from participating in conspiracy theories, misinformation or fallacious comments. We expect all users to remain respectful and constructive at all times when using ZeniMax Services.

2.5 You will not attempt to, use misspellings, phonetic spellings, homonyms, word combinations, or alternative spellings to mask inappropriate material in any communication on ZeniMax Services. This includes but is not limited to text, chat, voice, in-game messaging or any other medium of communication or interaction between users.

2.6 You will not transmit or facilitate distribution of content that is harmful, abusive, racially or ethnically offensive, vulgar, sexually explicit, defamatory, infringing, invasive of personal privacy or publicity rights. Hate speech is not tolerated at any time.

2.7 You will not intentionally mislead, trick, con, swindle, deceive, hustle, grift or attempt to defraud another user, guest or ZeniMax staff member/teams using ZeniMax sites and services. Confidence schemes, trade scams, impersonations or other actions which involve tricking people using false or bogus information in an attempt to misrepresent intent or in an effort to defraud others for personal gain is strictly forbidden.

2.8 You may not disrupt the flow of chat in chat rooms, message forums or games with abusive or vulgar language or disruptive behavior, multiple key returns or posting large images in an attempt to disturb other users on ZeniMax Services. Spamming, flooding [posting repetitive text], thread bumping, trolling, baiting and any other disruptive behavior will not be tolerated. Purposefully circumventing any profanity filter or otherwise cursing or using profanity is not permitted. Certain topics and subjects are deemed inappropriate and not permitted on ZeniMax Services. Things that we consider inappropriate are usually illegal, extremely volatile or violent, obscene, vulgar, or simply inappropriate for the ZeniMax Services and platform. Inappropriate content includes, but is not limited to discussion of extreme violence, illegal substances and activities, pirated copyright-protected material, pornography and other sexually explicit topics, real-world religion and politics, and other material deemed to be derogatory, vulgar or obscene.

2.9 Role-Play/Fan Fiction God Modding: We support the fan fiction and role-playing communities on ZeniMax Services and ask that you please respect your fellow writers and role-players by not "god modding." God modding is the act of forcing another community member's character into a situation they have not agreed to. If you wish to involve another person's character in a story or role-play scenario, please respect that individual's wishes and get their permission first. Failure to do so is considered "god modding," and is not allowed.

2.10 We do not allow users to advertise on ZeniMax Services. This includes, but is not limited to advertisements and promotions for the following:

  • Outside businesses and services
  • Other games
  • Any venture that results in financial gain

We do not consider the promotion of guilds, fan sites, and fan groups, or the activities and content thereof, to be advertising. Please feel free to let fellow users know all about your guild, fan site, or fan group! Simply keep in mind that you may not promote your guild, fan site, or fan group if your intention for doing so is any type of financial or commercial gain.

2.11 Deliberately contravening a request or action by a member of the ZeniMax staff is not permitted at any time. Additionally, improper use of the in-game support or complaint buttons or making false reports to ZeniMax staff members is forbidden. You may not intentionally submit misinformation or abuse the help system in any ZeniMax Service.

2.12 We do not allow the discussion of any legal matters involving ZeniMax Media Inc, its affiliates or any of their associated companies through ZeniMax Services and Sites.

2.13 We do not allow petitions or protests or public accusations of misconduct in chat rooms, message forums or games.

2.14 We encourage healthy discussion and debate in chat rooms, message forums and games, but these discussions must remain civil, constructive and on-topic. Personal attacks, jabs, off topic posts or hijacking a thread or discussion is never appropriate.

2.15 We understand that sometimes people will leave these forums and want to post a "goodbye" or "quitting" threads on ZeniMax sites. Generally, we have found that "goodbye" and "quitting" discussions are problematic. Our policy is to read the feedback in "goodbye" and "quitting" discussions and close them, regardless of whether they are constructive or not.

  1. FALSE DISCLOSURE

3.1 You may not impersonate any other person (including celebrities) or indicate that You are a ZeniMax or ZeniMax affiliate employee or representative. You may not attempt to mislead other users by indicating that You represent ZeniMax in any capacity or indicating that You represent any of ZeniMax affiliates or partners.

We also do not tolerate the deliberate and malicious spreading of false information or conspiracy theories about ZeniMax and its game studios, game(s), or employees. This does not include honest mistakes; rather, this rule pertains to those who spread harmful or malicious rumors about ZeniMax and its employees, or its games.

3.2 We reserve the right to publicly respond to and/or refute false or incomplete disclosures presented by users through public venues. If You publish or post in whole or in part Your personal communications with ZeniMax publicly, we reserve the right to respond in whole or in part to ensure the accuracy and integrity of the communication. Posting deliberately altered communication that is deemed harmful to ZeniMax or its affiliates is considered a violation of our Code of Conduct.

  1. PRIVACY

4.1 You may not attempt to obtain account information, password(s), personal or private information from any user or guest using ZeniMax Services or those of ZeniMax affiliates or partners. Employees of ZeniMax will NEVER ask for Your password.

4.2 You may not post or communicate any user's personal information, including Your own in chat rooms, message forums or games. You may not direct a thread at a specific individual or otherwise use a thread to call someone out. Never share Your password, secret questions, reminder words or billing information. Sharing of account information is a violation of the Agreement and could also lead to Your account being compromised, hacked or stolen.

4.3 You shall not share Your account with anyone. Joint or shared ownership or use of an account by more than one individual natural person is prohibited. Access to the ZeniMax sites and Services, including Bethesda.Net, are intended for the entertainment, enjoyment and recreation of individual natural persons. These sites and services are not for use as corporate, business, commercial, or income seeking activities. Corporations, associations, partnerships, joint ventures, limited liability companies, artificial persona, and other businesses or entities that are not a single, individual natural person are not eligible to establish accounts to access the ZeniMax sites, play games or participate in offered services, nor is anyone who is acting for or on behalf of or in the course of the business of, any such artificial person or entities.

  1. SECURITY

5.1 You are forbidden from using any unapproved third-party applications, programs, scripts or any other game modifying mechanic used to change the game play experience on a ZeniMax game, Service, forum, or other games or services provided by ZeniMax, including the distribution of said programs via ZeniMax Services, sites, forums, communities, etc. This would include but is not limited to using or distributing speed hacks, aim bots, mouse controllers, spam bots, automated game play devices, etc. Third party applications are defined as any program, application or script written by an individual, company, corporation, or private party not employed by or contracted to perform services by ZeniMax.

5.2 In relation to online/competitive games, you will not exploit any bug, or abuse any game system (such as the scoring or award systems) in a ZeniMax game, Service, forum, or other games or services provided by ZeniMax. You will not intentionally use or share any bug found within any ZeniMax Game, real or fictitious, regardless of whether or not it grants an unfair advantage. You will not directly or indirectly communicate the existence of any such bug to any other user of the ZeniMax Service (in game or on a ZeniMax Service). Report bugs and exploits using the in-game portal or via help.bethesda.net. Unacceptable behaviors will also include any conduct that is considered by ZeniMax to be cheating (e.g. match fixing and collusion) or other unsportsmanlike conduct such as use of secondary accounts, intentionally losing and bribery.

5.3 You will not upload files or content that contains viruses, malicious code or corrupted data. Users will not post malicious links in chat rooms, message forums or games for any reason. This includes links to pornographic material, key-loggers, and browser hijackers, but also includes links to private game server sites, phishing scams, and sites that sell in-game currencies and items and power-leveling services.

We greatly appreciate it when you report to us unaffiliated websites or forums that are misleading and purport to be related to us or the ZeniMax Services. If you discover a site or forum you wish to report to us, please do so via help.bethesda.net. Please do not post this on our official forums.

5.4 You will not promote, engage in or encourage any illegal activity including hacking, cracking or distribution of counterfeit software.

5.5 The act of selling, trading, or sharing your ZeniMax Services accounts or content acquired with the account is a violation of our Terms of Service. As such, we also do not allow discussion about selling, trading, or sharing game accounts on Bethesda.Net or other sites.

  1. OWNERSHIP

6.1 You will not post, transmit, promote or distribute any dynamic or static user-created or custom content which is not wholly owned by the account owner. Names or material protected by copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights cannot be used at any time except by the rightsholder. Rights ownership must be established prior to use on any ZeniMax Media, Inc. site or service. Any use of material protected by intellectual property rights that is not wholly owned by the account owner is a violation of the Agreement, including the Code of Conduct.

  1. SPAM

7.1 You may not post messages or distribute via any in-game mechanic, spam, chat flooding or any other disruptive messaging. This includes posting messages more than once, posting messages to multiple locations, posting nonsensical content, disrupting the normal flow of conversation, or reposting content that had been previously removed by ZeniMax employees or moderators. Furthermore, You may not participate in solicitation or advertising, distributing marketing materials, promotional materials or any other materials for outside business services, competitor products, or any commercial venture (including pyramid schemes and chain letters) through any ZeniMax Service.

  1. APPEALS

If you ever have questions or concerns about a disciplinary action or decision we have made through ZeniMax Services or wish to appeal a warning/suspension/ban you have received, you may file an appeal HERE.

Please Note: Within our community forums, we do not allow the public discussion of any moderation actions. Questions regarding any account or moderation action should be directed through the appeals process.

Last Updated: September 08, 2020