I have never paid for anything other than downloads from PS+.

I think its been working the other way around. The announcement of ESO coming to consoles and Sony getting an exclusive for the console beta was a marketing ply to help sell the new units for sure. I bet Sony three some good $$$ at Zenimax for that one.

Apprently Bethesda thinks it matters or else why would they be looking for an exemption.

It looks like Bethesda wants the exemption from Xbox Gold because they believe an exemption will make the decision to buy TESO on the console a better proposition and make it easier for console players to swallow the $15 monthly subscription fee.

It will be interesting to see when PS4 beta releases how much PS/4 specific features are in TESO or if the PS/4 version is a straight port of the XBox One or PC versions. If Sony is giving ZOS development assistance, it would be logical to assume that TESO will integrate PS/4 features into their port?

Like it really matters, if this goes through then it's only going to affect a small group of people inside another group; how many people out there are going to buy a next gen system and play only TESO on it and no other games that utilise online functionality? This isn't addressing the actual issue that some people have with the subscription model, if it was a free to play game like World of Tanks then it would be a valid thing to push, especially with the acknowledgement that Sony doesn't require PS+ to play free to play games.

They're trying to make this an issue for Microsoft (and presumably Sony as well) when in reality is an issue for gamesas and consequently an issue for some potential consumers. The only real way that they are going to fully get around and address this issue is if they knock off the price that the console services enforce. It's either that or they just tell the consumers to #dealwithit.