The very first instance of Multi Boxing 2001?

[Sam DeathWalker]

I think I was the first and here is where it all started, the day SZ went live, I guess in 2001

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html;jsessionid=B7F36D531BE3465AD90D9B68B68 9813E?topicId=79207121&sid=1

Click on the image to make it clear, you can see both my guys talking at the same time .....

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/9206/serverlivecm0.jpg

[Xzin]

I dunno Sam, Ebola was multiboxing UO back before 2000. And people were multiboxing MUDs before then.

[Wilbur]

Yeah Sam, I pwnt you with the Multiboxing MUDs. 99 *cheer*

[Diamndzngunz]

Hehe you really cannot say you were the first or one of them, the world has like 6billion people. :whistling:

[kllrwlf]

But even with 6 billion people... there's always a first. 8o

[Sam DeathWalker]

Well I don't think Mud's qualify ....

UO would so I guess I am beat, oh well ...

[temuchin]

You're not even close to first even in EQ. And I doubt you were alone on Sullon.

You realize EQ went live in early 1999 right? And there were multiboxers on day 1. I can say this because I and my brother boxed and we were far from the only ones. Back then people who boxed were mostly tech geeks and it wasn't an "identity" we had to shout or publicize, just another tool we used in the game. Most boxers didn't log on and immediately start spamming with their characters like asshats with no friends/lives. Sullon ruleset came very late to EQ... but there were definitely boxers on RZ, where I had characters. What in the world makes you think you were alone on SZ in 2001? because no one answered your spam in /general chat?

2001 is super late in EQ's development... by 2001 the player base of EQ had turned over at least twice from when EQ launched... most guilds had cleared TOV and many of the good players had already been poached for DAOC beta (and yes people were boxing during DAOC beta).

Boxing goes back a million years because MUDs were largely played in the 80s and 90s on UNIX machines in colleges and research labs where additional boxes were basically free. Smart guys quickly found out that the path of least resistance in a social game is to basically add another character for free. No offense to this board but as long as MMOs have existed a subculture of boxers has existed as well. The only difference is that in the past guys who boxed were very experienced guys who had "maxed out" their game. For example, in EQ most boxers were guild leaders who needed an extra healer for their raids... the MT from the guild that had all their gear from Nafagen and wanted to twink out an alt etc... in WOW a lot of people seem to start the game as boxers... largely inspired by videos and screenshots... they might have not have even seen the inside of SSC let alone BT but they're already boxing. This is undoubtably due to how macro-friendly wow is (boxing in other games definitely was harder than playing 1 char, which is reverse to wow) and how much cheaper the hardware is versus in 1999 or 2001

There are other factors in EQ (from which all modern MMOs are descended) which farther encouraged boxing... such as the predominance of gear/ease of twinking... and the lack of a true 3d combat engine which allowed you to play multiple characters without moving any of them once they were positioned... but those are secondary factors. Bottom line: you are on crack if you think you were somehow the first multi boxer in EQ lol

[Xzin]

I dunno... playing a single character in EQ wasn't exactly hard. CH rotations? Ranged DPS? Even tanks were push mob into a corner and hit auto attack then afk for 20 mins on some fights.

Not only were there no damage meters, there were commonly 70+ players in a raid. Diffusion of responsibility was, to say the least, rampant.

[Xzin]

PONG wasn't the first computer / video game :)

[Sam DeathWalker]

Well thats why I like to post with a ? first to see if my claim is true or not, one thing you can count on in any forum is that if you make an error someone will take time from their busy schdual to point it out.

Good old SZ PvP days:




http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/8981/alessontomyenemiescl6.jpg

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/5751/presidentsdaymassacreky7.jpg

[kllrwlf]

Let's narrow it down to just MMOs. :)

Here's my first MMO: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_59

I multiboxed it for less then a week as one of the QC tester during the end-phase of testing (think it was RC1 or 2). Had a "GM" and Regular account. :thumbup:

Unfortunately for me, I wasn't into this type of game at the time and transfered to spending more time QCing another game.

I didn't understand the appeal of being online with a bunch of other people going around attacking creatures here and there. :wacko:

[Speedbump]

Back in the days i used two 486 machines to dial up with a 2400 baud and 14.4 baud modems (2 phone lines) into a nicely setup 4 modem local BBS. I played Trade Wars 2002 at the time and would use 2 characters to speed up my sector development in the game. I would often gang up on the NPCs for bounty, but my one attempt at taking out another player got me pod'd. Think text based Eve Online.

If CompuServe, Prodigy, or AOL had local access numbers at the time I might have been hitting serious MUDs up. By the time they became available, DOOM was out and that was all that mattered to me. :P

[kllrwlf]

I *LOVE* Trade Wars !!!

There's actually an online version of Trade Wars with all the same look and feel. :thumbup:

[JoeWunsch]

You're not even close to first even in EQ. And I doubt you were alone on Sullon.

You realize EQ went live in early 1999 right? And there were multiboxers on day 1. I can say this because I and my brother boxed and we were far from the only ones. Back then people who boxed were mostly tech geeks and it wasn't an "identity" we had to shout or publicize, just another tool we used in the game. Most boxers didn't log on and immediately start spamming with their characters like asshats with no friends/lives. Sullon ruleset came very late to EQ... but there were definitely boxers on RZ, where I had characters. What in the world makes you think you were alone on SZ in 2001? because no one answered your spam in /general chat?

2001 is super late in EQ's development... by 2001 the player base of EQ had turned over at least twice from when EQ launched... most guilds had cleared TOV and many of the good players had already been poached for DAOC beta (and yes people were boxing during DAOC beta).

Boxing goes back a million years because MUDs were largely played in the 80s and 90s on UNIX machines in colleges and research labs where additional boxes were basically free. Smart guys quickly found out that the path of least resistance in a social game is to basically add another character for free. No offense to this board but as long as MMOs have existed a subculture of boxers has existed as well. The only difference is that in the past guys who boxed were very experienced guys who had "maxed out" their game. For example, in EQ most boxers were guild leaders who needed an extra healer for their raids... the MT from the guild that had all their gear from Nafagen and wanted to twink out an alt etc... in WOW a lot of people seem to start the game as boxers... largely inspired by videos and screenshots... they might have not have even seen the inside of SSC let alone BT but they're already boxing. This is undoubtably due to how macro-friendly wow is (boxing in other games definitely was harder than playing 1 char, which is reverse to wow) and how much cheaper the hardware is versus in 1999 or 2001

There are other factors in EQ (from which all modern MMOs are descended) which farther encouraged boxing... such as the predominance of gear/ease of twinking... and the lack of a true 3d combat engine which allowed you to play multiple characters without moving any of them once they were positioned... but those are secondary factors. Bottom line: you are on crack if you think you were somehow the first multi boxer in EQ lolSullon Zek was a very very close knit group of people. There were tons of people who boxed using the alt-tab method, but Sam was the only person who boxed who had their characters sync'd together on SZ, I can vouch for that because I also played since day 1 on sullon zek.

There were people who had you beat though sam, I know someone who did 13 rangers a bard and a healer on Vallon Zek.

BTW sam this is Magnifico from <Hate>, long time no chat ;)

[Toned]

I was 6 boxing EQ from day one back in 99. Anyone who played on vallon zek or morden rasp should remember me (Airstah).

[Sam DeathWalker]

Magnifico you were the cleric, short race? Hard to remember everyone. Anyway nice to hear from old hate people! Where are you now?

[JoeWunsch]

Magnifico you were the cleric, short race? Hard to remember everyone. Anyway nice to hear from old hate people! Where are you now?Yes I was a short race, but evil gnome wizard.

As of now I have been playing on magtheridon, I have 5 68 shamans on Horde.

Before that I was on lethon doing 5 warlocks on alliance.