Elder Scrolls Online, a popular online video game, is implementing a common feature in other games of its type called "Account Wide Achievements."  However, unlike other games of its type, in doing so it is erasing up to 8 years of character specific dates and progress when it could be implemented another way.  This is an extremely game-breaking change to many players in the community.  While just a video game, ESO has been a distraction and a comfort to many players over the years as a hobby, and in particular to many gamers as the world faced a global pandemic.  To quote ESO's own Director:

"The thing we are most proud of over the course of 2021—and 2020—is that we have given you all a safe virtual place to get away from the realities of the outside world, even if only for an hour or two. So many of you have played ESO (including many millions for the first time over the last two years) and have found solace and peace in Tamriel when events on Earth became overwhelming. The ultimate goal of any game like ESO is to make the virtual environment an alternative to daily life in the real world, even if only for a little while. In this, ESO excels, and we are very proud of what we have achieved."

(Matt Firor, Director's Letter, last month)

And yet, ZOS is blatantly contradicting its sentiments here by ignoring 60+ pages of sincere player feedback.  There have been weeks of suggestions on the ESO forums (ever since this functionality was announced) about how the new Account Wide Achievements functionality could be improved to both implement this popular feature and keep character data.  Weeks of questions, raised concerns, and people sharing heartfelt stories about how certain achievement dates, characters, or their ESO experiences are meaningful were shared, begging the developers to reconsider the implementation.

None of these comments, concerns, or suggestions were directly addressed.  Instead, today the community was given a short FAQ with essentially boilerplate answers that could have been released alongside the initial announcement, citing performance improvements as the driving factor for this change.  Community response was immediate, stating that performance improvements weren't worth such a big loss

Hopefully, this petition can better highlight how devastating this change is, on a platform that won't lock or silence the idea, so that ZOS can see the true numbers behind the sentiments and might reconsider pulling the trigger on erasing all of this game data before it is too late.

Here are some links on the topic, from the ESO forums:

Primary Feedback Thread (Currently locked)

An example poll sharing a subset of the community's feelings

Feedback thread from 2020 highlighting different views

Another more recent forum topic

And last, but not least, an example of another competing game which added the feature in a way that did not erase character progress or the ability to experience the game anew on a new character:

Wow AwA Announcement

Many truly believe what's coming to ESO is not good for the future of the game and that it is in ZOS's and Microsoft's best interest to delay the release of the functionality until more player concerns can be addressed.  We also believe that Account Wide Achievements should come to ESO, just in a less destructive way that won't impact our ability to review or track going forward character-specific milestones and progress.

If you agree, thanks for signing!