A word of caution

[Cranius]

I've been enjoying 5-boxing now for a few weeks. I'm enjoying it so much that I'm compelled to issue a word of warning to all everyone who cares about dual-boxing and wants to see it survive.

In short, if you piss off the rest of the WoW community enough, they'll eventually ban this activity.

I've seen this happen with "macroing" (basically botting) in Asheron's Call. It was legal for a few years, but then the public outcry of how "unfair" it was caught Turbine's attention, and they changed the CoC (Code of Conduct) to ban this activity. There were petitions. There was gnashing of teeth and rending of clothing. None of it mattered. Macroing was a bannable offense thereafter.

I had a conversation with the program manager for Asheron's Call a few years later, and he told me that the reason they made the change was that they kept getting "banged up" in reviews of the game for this unfair activity. Basically it was customer perception of unfairness that forced their hand.

I fear that we face the same issues today. Not everyone can afford more than one computer. Not everyone can afford more than one account. Even those who can, many of them would prefer not to play this way. To these people, dual-boxing can seem unfair. This is especially true when 3 guys camp 1 poor bastard with 15 characters. On the one hand, this sounds like comedy gold to me. On the other hand, it wouldn't surprise me if this is exactly the sort of issue that may ultimately catch Blizzard's attention and cause them to change their policy with respect to dual boxing.

Here's my advice: Lay low.

Specific suggestions:

- No corpse camping or anything that might be considered "griefing"
- No bragging in public (aside from forums like this one) about your conquests where 1 person can "solo" group content
- No showing off

That doesn't mean you have to hide. Just be discrete. Every person who perceives you as playing with an unfair advantage is another opportunity for Blizzard to empathize with them and change their policy.

[Bollwerk]

Good advice.

[Jaws5]

I agree that we should not be bullies. But I see 5 boxing in the same light as Twiks. Many pvpers have to lvl out of the 19, 29, 39 BGs to get away from the twiks (Mostly rogues). I think that 5 boxing is the next lvl of twik. Blizz has said that twik are fine and they ruin the BGs at 19 29 or sure. Most players get such a bad taste from this and do not go back to the BGs.

On pvp servers some lvl 70s gank farm the he 20-30 questing areas. Blizz allows this as part of the game on the pvp server. 5 boxers I think are more accepted on pvp servers. WOW I guess you never get ganked!!!.

Most 5 boxers are more mature than most of the other users. We are secure, and do not let our emotions drive us to irrational acts.

Most of the reports and complaints come from BG's . For that reason I try to only go to AV or 15 man BGs.

I do not attack first, I only defend and counter attack. But that is my code.

anyways my 2 cents

[Majestic_Clown]

I don't know if your aware of this but dual-boxing has been praised for the achievements, a popular German gaming magazine did a 2 or 3 page spread about xzin and his antics

[Nimyx]

I completely understand this one and will tackle it later but for now...



Not everyone can afford more than one computer. Not everyone can afford more than one account.

I "work" for my money and therefore don't have alot of "time" like the people who constantly corpse camp me... so why shouldn't they be banned since obviously "Not everyone can afford time".

Fact is they won't be, so I pay more and get more bang for my buck. They don't like it let them get a job then we'll be on even terms and then we'll see who gets to play camp the corpse with the other.

We pay alot of money but yeah until MMO society becomes educated on what and why multiboxing exists splattering Multiboxed PWNage all across the net prob ain the best way to win hearts.

Though it sure gets them beating faster and relieves alot of stress! :lol:

[Xzin]

I can't say I disagree tooooo much here. If 10M vs a few thousand, the 10M will win. If we cause a huge polarity and outcry then something might be done.

But on the other hand, we do increase Bliz's subs.... but then again so do gold farmers. But it's not apples to apples. Ban us and we never come back. They do.

Also, we don't bot or macro or hack.... we follow Blizzes rules. We just do things a bit differently.

All things equal though, not making a HUGE deal out of things is probably best for the community but I disagree that AC is an apples to apples here.

A good many people SUPPORT boxing. Can't argue that a ton of people really supported AC macroing (other than the ones doing it).

[Remote]

Most of the people I talk to in game think it's really cool. /shrug

[Texic]

Ya most people actually seem to like it. I do remember a GM saying that people at Blizzard multi-boxed so I see where some internal conflict could occur. I also find it hard to believe that Blizzard would at any point have a valid reason to ban anyone over it. If all of the sudden they say I can't logon to more than one of my 9 accounts all of them will be canceled. Sure out of 8 million 9 isn't that many but I am sure I wouldn't be the only one.

[Xzin]

Remove /follow.

[Boom]

I think this post is incredibly valid.

No need to argue if we're doing something wrong. We all know we're not.

The point is, Blizzard can make it wrong in a second. Of course they like our extra accounts, but lets be honest, there's no way our extra accounts are even noticable to a game supporting 9 million plus players. That's just silly.

And it's true there are Blizzard employees that multibox, but that won't stop them either.

We're playing the game a way that "wasn't intended". This becomes obvious when you look at how OP a group of 5 shaman can be when you have "perfect" focus fire and totem use.

You have to look at how it makes the other players feel, when they are pounded on by 15 toons. It sucks. Badly. Doesn't matter what he did to you with his one toon, because he was playing the game "as intended".

We know we're not cheating. But if enough folks complain, and I mean "alot" of players, Blizzard can change it. And they will never feel the loss of our accounts. You're insane if you think our community is that big.

So I believe that reminding this community to avoid "dickish" activity, is a worthy use of these forums.

We will always piss folks off in PvP, but there's no reason to go showboating with grief tactics. I show off in Org all the time now, and I have a dang fanclub already. The Horde love it, because they don't feel the pain when I attack. So by all means, show off to your own faction, and gain new multibox supporters...

And feel free to destroy the other faction in pvp, but try to avoid being dicks about it.

Thanks to the OP.

Boom

[Xzin]

Plus, in PvP, you kind of expect to lose. Sometimes to 15 actual characters.

Sometimes to 3 5 boxers.

But which one pisses you off more though :)

Especially if you see boxing as some arcane art akin to botting.

[simpletom]

im on a pve realm and i quite often run with my main in pvp status if im outside an instance, so if a person is silly enough to want to try it they can by all means.

Came smack in my face when a level 70 orc warrior decided to have a go outside SM, but my team and a level 44 hunter took him down, i lost everyone except my main who i just kited the warrior best i could while slapping on the dots and running, one by one the adds went down. Foolishly the warrior decided that killing the hunters pet was a priority over charging after me in ghost wolf or killing the hunter, so he was defently a noob. With the GY about 15 yards away from where he died he poped back up and one shot me. But was still funny.

In pvp its give and take, there are always going to be those who are level 70 and camp lowbie areas, and why theres no challenge in killing somthing that cant kill you.

I know most people box for the challenge of it, even tho some aspects are made alot easyer haveing more characters at your disposal ultimately its alot trickyer than playing one character.

[Eteocles]

In pvp the only real difference is timing and coordination. A multiboxer is no different than the normal roaming ganker groups that have, do, and will continue to exist. People are just mad 1 human beat them instead of 5, and they can't say "omg u had to call in ur guild u suk ololololz" instead of "omg u logged on ur alts lololz owait tahtz wut i did 1st by logigng on my main to gank u lolz crap i r hypocrite now"; bottom line is they're getting mad over nothing.

Had it been 5-15 "Unique" players they'd just be bitching about being ganked on a pvp server; the outcome would be the same, the methods are just different, though both are legit. Most of the time the idiots provoke the response to begin with, like Mathieu did getting his 70. Normal pvp happens; loser is a sore loser, gets lv70 main to gank lv30s. 1 lv70 can kill hundreds of 30s without breaking a sweat, which is the same as multiboxers coming to return the favor in the same "equality" of numbers.

And considering the above happened in hillsbrad that's a common scenario. He just happened to run into you guys instead of a pvp guild like monolith that travels in packs or supcom/vexation defending it's lowbies en-masse.

Bottom line is whether it's 1 person per char or per 5 chars, you're gonna get ganked. Period. In largely unfair numbers and lvls. The only difference with "us" is that a single mind is focusing fire, rather than a team using vent to coordinate the same thing. Same thing, less work. Though multiple multiboxers is exactly the same ;p

[aetherg]

Most parts of WoW (BGs, arenas, instances) are number-capped, so you get few advantages (and some/many disadvantages) from multiboxing. All you really gain are the personal advantages of having fun, and not having to PUG, which really don't affect anyone else on the server.

When the world comes into play (world PvP, questing, farming, etc) then I suppose it can be seen as unfair. But being polite in those situations (no 5v1, no strip-mining some spawn area) is something you should follow regardless of whether you're somewhere with 4 boxes or with 4 player friends.

I think they have enough restrictions on boxing that for them to fairly ban it, they would also have to ban guilds. And friends lists. "It's so unfair that guild X can do heroic mech and my guild doesn't have enough people!"

[Nimyx]

Remove /follow.

Nuff said. :shock:

[Remote]

Remove /follow.

Nuff said. :shock:
Yeah. Wow. That would suck.

[Zseth]

that would be a /quit wow right there. Luckily Aion is coming out soon and that will kick ass.

[Eteocles]

Scary how two simple words can scare the whole community :p In WoW I don't think you could make up for the loss of follow even with binding movement keys to pass even with mouse, there's too many variables; -exact- pixel degrees of turning, lag in keypresses causing one alt to turn more or less than the other resulting in running 2 very different directions(Which I've run into when I attempted to program an AHK with full movement-passing capability), let alone the nightmare of trying to chat without a Pause function making your alts dance around like nuts when you try to argue in trade channel ;p

[Remote]

Scary how two simple words can scare the whole community :p
Those two words in conjunction are quite scary, haha.

[Xzin]

You COULD use 3rd party tools to restore /follow like activity. But it would well, be 3rd party and almost entirely bot like.

[Ellay]

My nostrils flare as the words "remove /follow" were placed next to each other. By decree of lord Ellay, thou shalt not correlate the 2 words together ever again!


But seriously though, we follow their rules - no need to lay low, or boast - a happy medium will do.

[Eteocles]

Long as we keep that balance we're fine...I've gotten a ton of whispers ranging from "LOL ZINS" to "multiboxers? 'yea' cool" and "Hey you a multiboxer? 'yup' awesome, I was gonna start that when I get paid next week" etc, so for the most part after lv20 people seem fairly educated about it and some even interested ;p

Long as it's makin blizz money while within their rules we got nothin to worry about. And with more people picking up the habit/"hobby" every day(as evidenced by posts here & on official forums) it's gonna be harder to take out. By all rights they can't either because as mentioned before, it's the same as having guildies/friends around only with slightly better coordination.

[Cranius]

I just wanted to point out that my original point wasn't to equate botting with multi-boxing, but rather to emphasize that - if mult-boxing is going to be banned - it will be because of public outcry of unfairness by other players.

It is up to the multi-boxing community to make sure we don't impose on the other players to the extent that they decide Blizzard should level the playing field.

I disagree that showing off in your own areas is a good idea. People can be terribly petty, and envy is powerful.

If Blizzard decided this activity was causing a customer satisfaction "problem", the fix would be easy - as someone so succinctly pointed out.

I feel as if I've been down this road before. I tried to warn the AC macro community about abusing their power before it was banned to no avail. Then some idiot published an addon that made it really easy for everyone to use, and within months the activity was banned (and it was actually quite a large percentage of the player base that was "macroing").

[Jusa]

I'm not going to boast or go to the forums and feed the trolls, but i will put up 5 SW:P's on every ally that comes in range. and then keep doing what i was doing like they never were there.

[Xzin]

Isn't part of boxing showboating at least a *bit*?

[Remote]

I go to Shat and drop my 20 totems, put elementals everywhere, play with chain heal, and generally show off.
Everyone thinks its neat. /shrug

If anything it makes them more mutliboxer friendly. Everyone assumes I'm going to be some elitist who doesn't speak to the mere mortals. Am I the only one who gets tells prefaced with "I'm really sorry to bother you" constantly?
People love when we hang around and strut our stuff.

[Ellay]

Yep Remote, I get the same deal. People usually just walk over and /kneel.

[Ghallo]

Heh, on my server I actually have people that want to "come along" to see how it all works when I go to an instance. I think that a certain amount of showboating is a good thing - building good rep/pr gets people interested, and while they can't do it themselves they might want the option to do it in the future. If you look at a lot of the defender's posts in the forums that is kind of how they read: "I don't multibox, but I'd like to... so back off"

[simpletom]

i dont see why this couldnt swing the other way with dual-boxing becomming quite popular, ok its not main stream but it is defently growing, that blizzard dont implement their own 'touch' of boxing, it would be fairly easy for them to do. There is already a MMO where you can control 3 different classes simular to how Kingdom Hearts is played.

As for them changeing the rules, it is quite possible, most of you play warlocks so you will obviously knowtice how often the nurfs come in, these small changes are down to the thousands of people who complain that warlocks are OP, so the take the class apart bit by bit each patch to reasure the gamers that blizzard cares and blizzard listens.

If enough people did get up in arms about it they would defently put a stop to it almost instantly, i just really hope it never comes to that. I see no reason why it should ever come to that. probably 99% of people that started Multi-Boxing had played warcraft to death probably since launch have 70s on both factions seen it all done everything pvped till their eyes bleed, k maybe not that far, but giveing them multi-boxing has opened up somthing totally new for them to do, i wouldnt play warcraft any other way now and i bet not many here would either, if we couldnt box we would just find a new mmo for somthing different and start all over. and i guess Ebay would have a field day that week.

tom

[Eteocles]

I just walked up and commented to Mote how his/her server was super quiet(yes that was me the lv1 alt a couple nights ago Mote ;p) then we got into random multi-boxing discussions lol, feh on "Sorry to bother", we're all still players ;p

They should know after Zin we ain't the quiet type either; we'll talk to people and defend our stance; though yes, a little showboating is half the fun, especially in towns ;p

I've hopped up on the SW fountain and twin-danced a few times, and was in IF on the bridge with 1 alt on each side of the bridge in ghostwolf dancing. I went along behind a group of 4 doing the elite redridge quests too though out of group for number reasons and we did fine sharing quest kills while one or two of 'em asked me how it worked and we chatted waiting on boss respawns lol

[Bena]

People getting mad about boxers is just silly.. think about it.. who would you prefer to fight against .. 1 guy controlling 5 toons .. or 5 individuals on vent that WILL completely own you.. this is simple math 5 > 1.. regardless if it's a boxer or not.. but you might have a chance against a boxer.. against a group you dont lol

edit:
people don't realize that there's a lot more boxers than they think.. the 5s you can pick out but there's a TON of 2s running around

[Remote]

@Eteocles: Haha yeah that was funny. A mod I must recommend for all multiboxers is WIM. Helps you manage all those tells ;)
I think showboating is good PR for the most part, as long as you do it right. For instance I killed Levixus the Soul Caller for a group last night. I think they all fell into nerd-comas watching him drop in under 15 seconds, haha.
That's good stuff, but corpse camping or any kind of griefing we need to avoid.

[Feehza]

And be aware to reach the Top 10 of Arenateams in your realmpool (Hello Ellay! ;P ). If its possible it wouldnt be good for the multiboxing-community.

[Boom]

And be aware to reach the Top 10 of Arenateams in your realmpool (Hello Ellay! ;P ). If its possible it wouldnt be good for the multiboxing-community.

The funny thing is, I truly believe that multiboxing in Arenas is likely one of the worst things we could do as a community. But I have every intention of doing it! I'm still working out these opionions in my head, but hear me out.

The only thing we need to fear is "public outcry". The reason we "politely" showboat is because it builds up a "public opinion" of our hobby. Most public outcries in this game start in-game. They spew their opionion of us in general or trade chat.

Because I've built up a fan base, anyone who speaks against me will be met with a flood of "Duh... he's multiboxing, he's cool, if you don't know what that is, you're not". It stops them in their tracks. They don't take it to the forums (our real fear) because they don't want to feel stupid there too.

The Arenas are a bit different. The guys at the top could care less about what the community thinks of them. In their minds, they are already part of the WoW elite. And along comes some "Cheater" who is playing the game in a way that was "Not intended" and it makes them lose valuable Arena Points!

So if I wanted to be less of a hypocrite, I'd say "Don't grief, and don't play Arenas"... but I can't bring myself to do that. Maybe it's because I'm a flawed, selfish human, and I freak'n want to play Arenas! LOL

I don't know. But either way, Griefing will bring us bad PR we can easily avoid, so lets avoid it.

Arenas will bring us bad PR, as it has already, but I think there's a chance it will fade away as teams learn to play against us, and the topic becomes "old news".

My vote for now?

1. Don't grief
2. ROCK THE ARENAS!


lol

Boom

[kalih]

It can work in the exact opposite way, as well. My suspicion is playing 4x or 5x characters as one in an arena helps you beat weaker groups because the coordination they lack, you have.

But at some point, 5 people with high coordination should crush a multiboxer. And multiboxers in arena will "level off" at some point where groups have sufficient organization and coordination to take advantage of the weaknesses inherent to boxing.

At that point, the "elite" arena teams whom routinely beat a multiboxer will defend multiboxers as well. They'll say things like "If you can't beat a multiboxer, you aren't very good." etc, etc. That multiboxing plateau will sorta be like the two fire giants at the entrance to molten core. It's a rite of passage.

[Blokus]

i dont see why this couldnt swing the other way with dual-boxing becomming quite popular, ok its not main stream but it is defently growing, that blizzard dont implement their own 'touch' of boxing,

Well, if Blizzard did implement some type of dual/multi-boxing in-game, all of us would likely still be trying to multi-box with multiple accounts, so the "gap" between boxers and non-boxers wouldn't close any.

[Boom]

The problem is, allowing players to control more than one toon/class, opens up a TON of balancing issues for the Devs. (Ref: see SWG from day one with 32 professions/classes you could mix any way you wanted)

There's no way Blizzard will ever encourage this. I think it's very likely, that as the hardware becomes cheaper (the rich kids realize that Daddy's machine can already run 5 instances at once) we'll see a surge of multiboxing. (I think we're still a long ways off) But when it comes, the public upcry will come from the MAJORITY of folks who can't handle the $75/month... then just like buying gold, we'll be looked upon as players who are "Buying" our power.

That's when multiboxing will end.

Yes, multiboxing has thrived for years without this threat... but until now, it's never been so reachable.

I'm not claiming the sky if falling just yet. But I'm offering it as food for thought.

Boom

[Remote]

I'm sorry I just don't buy this fear-mongering (not that I think that's what you're purposely doing).
Yes, it's easier now. I wouldn't multibox if I had to do it with 5 PCs...that's just too big an investment for me. Still, though many people may try their hand at multiboxing, most are just too stupid to excel at it. I remember my first few days five boxing...I wanted to hang myself. Though the initial frustration eases off, still many more problems and difficulties arise as you get into PvP and more difficult PvE enounters...or hell, even turning in 5 quests every single time.
If you can't kill 4-5 players in a head-to-head fight, then who is going to complain about you?

[Remote]

Go full hardware, and don't look back.
Haha I wasn't say that about myself. I meant that most people will not multibox effectively enough for anyone to care.

[Remote]

True, true.

Or after the first month or two at $75, they'll rethink they're choice.
So Fur when will you be five boxing? Every time I check your sig you've got another toon =P

[Gurblash]

/vanish ftw

[Boom]

I'm sorry I just don't buy this fear-mongering (not that I think that's what you're purposely doing).
Yes, it's easier now. I wouldn't multibox if I had to do it with 5 PCs...that's just too big an investment for me. Still, though many people may try their hand at multiboxing, most are just too stupid to excel at it. I remember my first few days five boxing...I wanted to hang myself. Though the initial frustration eases off, still many more problems and difficulties arise as you get into PvP and more difficult PvE enounters...or hell, even turning in 5 quests every single time.
If you can't kill 4-5 players in a head-to-head fight, then who is going to complain about you?

You make some very good points Remote. I certainly hope you're right. Then again, we're a community working together on a daily basis, toward making multiboxing easier. :) Maybe we need to be making it harder!

"REAL multiboxers play with their feet soaking in a tub of acid and scorpions in their pants... So... You in kid?"

Boom

[Boom]

This very site may be multiboxing's downfall. As Xzin pointed out below, all we need is a few farmer's to get ahold of this site, and start multbox-farming.

Only time will tell. IMHO, I see no need to stop posting here, or sharing my experiences with this small community. I have no problem blogging about it either. (obviously) I'm even going to continue showboating in Org.

For now, I think it's plenty just to remind folks not to be dicks when we play, as we just don't need that kind of publicity... then again, it's your $75/month, I have no say in what you do with it.

I read Xzin's post about CGFs. It's really interesting. The funny thing is, if that does happen, those guys will push the very envelope of multiboxing, and for a while, I'm willing to bet we'd benefit greatly from their work.

Porn always has, and always will push the very boundaries of the Web. As a web developer, back in the day, we all looked to the "porn devs" for new ways to build traffic, make better and faster websites, etc. I wouldn't be surprised to see CGFs posting here with new macros and ideas that blow us away. Progress changes when cash is the motivator, instead of fun.

Boom

[Zseth]

Go full hardware, and don't look back.

I started multiboxing with full hardware, decided to build one machine and I like it a whole lot more.

[Flauwy]

I don't see a problem with the fact, that Gold-Farmers could use Multi-Boxing for their own puposes. Blizzard secretly let them do their job for a few weeks, before they shut down the account. So they increase the chances, that the Gold-Farmer is buying his next WoW-Box. If the Gold-Farmer starts to buy 5 boxes each time, wich can be shut down a month later, the beter for Blizzard.

On the other hand can I agree completly with the OPs topic. Beeing an asshole-MB would be be bad for our community. So let us be gentle and role models. Good advice, sticking with your faction and build up a positive fanbase.

[Ripper]

I think if Blizzard had their way, everyone would have multiple accounts. More $$, bottom line, all that matters.

I think it'd be pretty cool if 1 or 2 people show up as a "team" and win one of those 5-man pvp competitions.

I can't see them banning multiboxing. If Blizzard truly listened to all the QQ, they would've nerfed Warlocks a long time ago.

[Kyudo]

A new video denegrating our kind on youtube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QKNaPpmMxL4

[Ughmahedhurtz]

A new video denegrating our kind on youtube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QKNaPpmMxL4
Yet another scrub that has no grasp of economics.

Furthermore, in regards to the OP, I'm really not interested in hearing what some pimple-faced hamburglar thinks about what I do. It is not against the rules and, in fact, provides many benefits to the realms on which these people play. Not the least of which is the influx of crafting materials and drops that might otherwise be exhorbitantly priced by solo bored 70s that have nothing better to do than farm for things to sell.

I'd also suggest that multiboxers are _less_ inclined to be farmers or idiots in general because most people who do this do it because of the challenges it provides over solo play _instead_ of mindlessly raiding crossroads/TM/SS or farming things to sell on the AH.

/shrug

I'd think this was all common sense but I suppose I'd be wrong, again. :P

[edit] P.S. Just to reiterate, I'm not going to go out of my way to be super-nice to someone that insults me first just because I do something that many consider to be an unfair advantage. Ask some of the folks on this board that have spoken with me in-game: I'm very laid back and easy to talk to in game if you act civil toward me first. Be a prick to me and you should expect no quarter. Be a prick to me as alliance and I WILL come camp your ass all the way into the upstairs rooms in the inn in Southshore.

[Hippieman]

I find it awfully sad when I see people calling multiboxers bots and I find it even sader when people say stuff like "I reported a bot x minutes/hours/days/weeks ago, but nothing happend to him". "Well duh, maybe it wasn't a bot?". "Oh, it had to've been, because I R wowzplayer, I knowz everythings!".

Luckily, I've been rolling on primarily A) Educated realms (Balnazaar) or B) lowly-populated realms with people willing to learn (Stormrage). Sure, I've been reported and yelled at, but it's only happend about once a week or so.

This is what I do to counter everyday life as a boxer:

Situation 1: Person being nice to you, he knows what multiboxing is.

Tell him about dual-boxing.com and ask him if he has any questions. Tell the person to feel free to whisper myself if he has any questions.

Situation 2: Person is saying "wtf?" as you pass by.

Ask if you can help him with anything. If the person reacts in a posetive way, copy situation 1. If he's being rude, try to educate him. If that fails, ignore him.

Situation 3(WORST CASE): Person starts mouthing you off in general/trade as you pass by, naming you as a botter.

Whisper him and ask him if you can explain what you're doing. If that fails, tell him anyways. If he ignores you in any way, put one simple message in general/trade, telling people that you're not botting and that you'd gladly explain about multiboxing if anyone's interested.

Sidenote: you may want to create a channel for it :P

Sidenote 2: If you keep getting rude comments and such trough whispers and general/trade chat following the "broadcast", ignore them. DON'T fuel their fires.

[Vyndree]

Situation 3(WORST CASE): Person starts mouthing you off in general/trade as you pass by, naming you as a botter.


My solution? I warn them to stop slandering me, or they will be reported for verbal harassment. They continue? I report them.

It's actually worked out pretty well.

[Hippieman]

Situation 3(WORST CASE): Person starts mouthing you off in general/trade as you pass by, naming you as a botter.


My solution? I warn them to stop slandering me, or they will be reported for verbal harassment. They continue? I report them.

It's actually worked out pretty well.That actually sounds like a much better solution, for one very vital reason, if percepted by the harassers, that is: You're being legit as you're actually reporting someone for calling you a bot.

[Wilbur]

This very site may be multiboxing's downfall. As Xzin pointed out below, all we need is a few farmer's to get ahold of this site, and start multbox-farming.

Why would they bother?

As far as Multiboxing goes, its a lot easier to just use bots to party everything. I know of several people who run 5 bots and they can farm Instances continually. Perfect clears each time. Scripting instances (where the real cash can be made) is a cakewalk compared to Multiboxing instances. It also costs less than hiring a farmer. A decent bot scripter could run a botfarm of 100-200 bots and cost less than 40 odd Multiboxing farmers.

[bbj]

banning multiboxing will affect blizzard's bottom line - it wont happen

[Otlecs]

banning multiboxing will affect blizzard's bottom line - it wont happen

The effect would be trivial.

My take on this is as follows:

I posted in the Magtheridon thread months ago that even having a focussed presence on a single server has the potential to cause problems for our community.

It would only take a surge of negative public opinion for Bliz to be forced into stopping / outlawing multiboxing, and I think we should all listen very carefully to the original poster's advice.

We multibox simply because Blizzard allows us to multibox. To believe otherwise is foolish.

[Eteocles]

Which means you guys need to quit stacking it on the horde side and roll some Alliance multiboxers on mag with me so I'm not alone 2 vs 5 billion ;p

[Nimyx]

ROFL Like certain countries...(tongue in cheek) the real problem we face is not coming from a mass of MBs ganking tards, who probably deserved it in the first place.
It comes from lack of education, inaccurate conclusions and biased postulations all being screamed as if truth.

Honestly without being in conversation with the guy running the extra characters It would be difficult to determine whether he's a bot or not. Yes there are other ways, but honestly how many people in the "general populace" do you know who actually know the difference between a Bot program and Keyclone?

Not many and thats the biggest problem. Everyone see's Keyclone or other KVM software replacements as the great "truth" behind a Multi-boxer's powers and also misconceive that since it is an additional program or application you "must have running" that it counts as third party hacking software and thus falls out of good graces with Blizz's TOS.

The fact is the tard populace needs to be educated to understand the diffrence between Automated program script and those requiring user input on a constant basis.

I saw a post by some kid that claimed his brother was using Keyclone and wanted extra accounts to borrow so he could try it. Problem is, when he made a link to how awesome Keyclone was, he linked to Glider (full on bot program) by mistake and told everyone on the boards thats exactly what MBs use, since his brother is one, and that it would do "everything for you" without you being around.

./cry Thats the kind of tard ignorance that is going to kill our fun.

BTW I am working on some explanation articles that hopefully will be able to educate those of the "general intelligence" level.

Sorta like all those interesting facts about your chars you found out for the first time when people began shouting all over about you. Things you never knew lol.

[Jusa]

It's just like any other server really. There is allways a guild or 2 that you don't mess with PvP whise cause you know that when you kill their lobies that 15 are going to show up and give it back to you x10. the only diffrence is it's just 3 people to get the effect.

[Tonuss]

i dont see why this couldnt swing the other way with dual-boxing becomming quite popular,

That actually makes me wonder... could there be a such a problem as laying too low? Trying really hard to be inconspicuous could just make multi-boxers stand out even more, except then people wonder why they are trying to hide what they're doing?

But I agree that not being a jerk is a good idea.

As for the notion that "not everyone can afford more than one computer or account": I have to wonder if Blizzard is more interested in catering to the person with money to spend, or the person on a tight budget. I would certainly not try to piss off the latter, but I would definitely want to cater to the former. People who have money and are looking for a reason to spend it is where you target your product at, after all.

[amalgam]

I try to keep a lower profile, but I get seen quite a bit in capital cities and such. People ask a few questions, but, for the most part, I get left alone.

[Hippieman]

Honestly, I doubt it'll ever be an actual problem. It's wise to prepare for it(mostly mentally, as there's not much else you can do :P), but I just don't see it happening.

Why? Because the general lot that know about me on both of the servers I play on don't mind and I do doubt that it's widely different on other servers.

The average guy thinks it's cool and he wants to know how it's done. He wants to be educated.

In my previous post I described a few scenarioes and number 1 outnumbers number 2 by at least 200:1 by now. I've had ONE really bad encounter with one special player, as described in scenario 3. However he was quickly ignored by the other players in tradechat as I jumped in, explained what I was doing, was backed up by about 20 other players and *booom* the twat was labeled for life as a... twat, really.

Though I do agree, excessive showboating should be avoided, but I mean it would take an awfull big mass of players to get multiboxing banned, seeing as there are already loads who accept it and don't mind it.

[Vyndree]

I think "laying low" is the wrong approach. Botters "lay low".

Education is key to changing mindsets. I've had level 1 toons whisper me out of the blue, or mail me in game, asking me how to dual-box.

While they may not want to 5-box like I do, I have a gut feeling that at least some of them are level 1 alts of the people who /spit on me and called me a bot in major cities. I make it a point to educate when I can, and report the excessively slanderous ones to GMs for further education.

I point them here, since I can't answer questions on things like keyclone/AHK as I don't use them myself. But the fact that I am open, honest, and respectful (particularly when respect is returned) gives them the opportunity to learn more about multiboxing, the difference between botting and boxing, and the possibilities it opens up for themselves.

Most of the time I get asked things like "I bet you can farm alot of money" or "I bet you level alot faster". I respond with things like "Have you tried doing a collection quest 5 times with 5 different mouse's to loot?" or "Didn't you know experience gets split 5 ways when in a group?" or "Well, yes, I make more money, but I have 5 mouths to feed and I'm broke"

When those concerns are handled, they realize that I'm really not gaining anything beyond minor convenience from having to sit in the LFG, and they let it be.

[Taipan]

Greetings,

The only rationale that will apply to Blizzard banning multi-boxers will be mainstream customer base complaining.

They won't even look into "Zomg, we may loose the extra subs from a few hundreds", they are WAY past that in terms of customer base and revenue stream.

What they'll want to avoid is a PR incident about "rich players" capable to buy the hardware and pay the monthly subs to gain a competitive advantage vs. the rest of the community.

They won't listen to any point about "I do MB to enjoy content such as 5-man instances because I can't join PuGs due to my personnal time load".

If MB becomes a mediatic issue, they'll just get rid of the problem by closing accounts.
Taking off "/follow" as an ing command would nuke the whole MB community to shards.

And tbh, I think it will in a few months max.

As the French aristocratic riches say, "Pour vivre heureux, vivons cachés".

To live happy, live discreet.

Just don't show off and gank lowbies.
Stay off the community radar.

/salute

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I think "laying low" is the wrong approach. Botters "lay low".

*SNIP*

Most of the time I get asked things like "I bet you can farm alot of money" or "I bet you level alot faster". I respond with things like "Have you tried doing a collection quest 5 times with 5 different mouse's to loot?" or "Didn't you know experience gets split 5 ways when in a group?" or "Well, yes, I make more money, but I have 5 mouths to feed and I'm broke"

When those concerns are handled, they realize that I'm really not gaining anything beyond minor convenience from having to sit in the LFG, and they let it be.

QFMFT

[Taipan]

What they'll want to avoid is a PR incident about "rich players" capable to buy the hardware and pay the monthly subs to gain a competitive advantage vs. the rest of the community.


I'm sure we, as a comminty, could write a very nice article about the balance of time and money, in terms to WoW gaming.

IE - I'd like to think that most multiboxers do so because they have the money to do so, but don't have the time to play 24/7.

If some player wants to say "zomg they have mo monies than me, no fair!" - I will be the first one screaming "zomg you've got epix and no-life-at-all because you raid / PvP 24/7! no fair!"

The counter-argument is stronger than the original anti-multiboxing argument if you ask me.

Going down the path of "I play MB because I have a life and you don't" is an uber way to achieve failure in PR terms 8)

PR isn't about rationale, it's about mass-market politics and getting the media on your side.

Being "Rich" already secures a nasty penalty vs. most medias, to start with.

Best to go down the path "we are uber-geeks and trying to explore the next-gen of gaming".

Keep money out of the equation because that's the best way to aggro ignorant folks.
Cause they'll aggro you forever for being "richer" than them, human nature is SO jealous.

/salute

[Zseth]

/sigh this is a depressing thread

On a different note, I didn't want to go to Starbucks this morning for a Mocha before going to the office so I grabbed coffee out of the pot and put M&M's in it.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Xzin]

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3268472752

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3121014792

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3268476450

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=2512089426

Mag Realm Forums

[Zseth]

Mag Realm Forums

General Consensus is:

They Play The Gamely Differently Than You, STFU

[Hippieman]

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3268472752

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3121014792

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3268476450

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=2512089426

Mag Realm Forums HAH, some of the replies are just... priceless...

[Zseth]

Mag Realm Forums

General Consensus is:

They Play The Gamely Differently Than You, STFU


Twas not directed at you xzin lol

[Xzin]

I figured. :)

[Ellay]

How's the pvp btw on Mag? :) Maybe I should come over and shake it up a lil more =D

[Eteocles]

How's the pvp btw on Mag? :) Maybe I should come over and shake it up a lil more =D

Normally, I would hate more transfers because we have a login queue almost nightly now that a bunch of raiding guilds tranfserred over; however, since we REALLY FRICKIN NEED Alliance multiboxers to balance the scales a bit, I'm all in favor of this Ellay, and I'd have someone to discuss MBing with ingame ;p

Edit: The pvp's pretty good usually, tons of world pvp in most maps(Horde're hittin duskwood & southshore daily, everywhere you go in outland usually has somethin goin on, Hellfire especially, and STV I shouldn't really even have to say that it's a pvper's wet dream ;p

We raided(a dozenish people) grom'gol last night and did well till an entire, larger raid of horde showed up and smacked us down; I snuck onto the zepp and went to cause some trouble in Orgrimmar before I hearthed too ;p

[Ellay]

Don't you know? I'm on horde :P

[Slats]

Most servers have queues these days.

2.3 seems to have brought back many many players.

[Simulacra]

think I'm going to show off big time- SLATS - let's meet in Ogg for that dirty dancing outside the bank we were talking about. Can't believe you're 48 damn you!!!! Since my team are 5 gorgeous female BEs the only comments I really get are : Orgy?

[Tonuss]

PR isn't about rationale, it's about mass-market politics and getting the media on your side.
This is true, but I think it would need to be something pretty drastic to push Blizzard to action over one (or a handful of) incident(s).

While I agree that it's best to be a "good citizen" in-game, keep in mind that Blizzard's policy on griefing (excluding harassment that is against the TOS) is that it's up to you to figure out how to deal with it. Five level 70s camping your level 40 character for two hours? Your problem. Players keep griefing your attempt to complete an escort quest? Your problem. Flight Master in your lowbie town is killed constantly? Your problem. Multi-boxer one-shotting you repeatedly? You get the picture.

Between that and the difficulty inherent in stopping multi-boxers without taking drastic steps (disabling /follow, restricting account access per IP, etc) I don't think it'll be worth it for Blizz to take steps to stop multi-boxing unless something really REALLY drastic happens. Drastic enough that I really can't fathom anything that would do it.

[Eteocles]

Bah Ellay I was thinking of Mote for some reason lol; well either way that doesn't mean you can't roll a new 5box team on mag's Alliance side to give Oath & Co a lil competition ;)

I was in IF last night making totem formations and synchronized-dancing with a couple other Shamen, some guy runs up and says "ITS ABOUT DAMN TIME WE GOT SOME ALLIANCE MULTIBOXERS HERE" lol; though he asked where Diablothree four and five were, told him I'm only doing two right now and he was disappointed =\

I agree though, the scales need to be balanced a bit ;)

[kadaan]

though he asked where Diablothree four and five were, told him I'm only doing two right now and he was disappointed =\

I ran Kadone and Kadthree to SM with my 70 so I could cut through WPL without getting killed. Logged off my druid by the stone to logon and summon Kadtwo. A group sitting by the stone asked where Kadtwo was, sent a tell from Kadtwo right as I logged on saying I'd be right there and we had a nice chat about boxing :).

9 out of 10 tells I get are positive, but the 10% who bullheadedly repeat their "ur a bot, reported" mantra do frustrate me a times.

[l0de]

I disagree entirely and pursue an active policy of griefing.