Since my server has been down for hours and I have read all the threads ehre I thoguht I would start another one. This is about those of us that multi-box for PvE and not PvP. I had mentioned in another thread that I needed a thicker skin because I was having trouble with the constant whispers and hate from people. Someone mentioned that I probably received more positive or curious messages than I remembered because the nasty ones tend to stick in your mind and the nice ones are quickly forgotten. So I started marking on a pad of paper next to the computer in two columns marked "nasty" and "nice". After two weeks I have 22 nasty and 43 nice. I only counted /whispers and /say. I did not count /general and /trade. I will say that the number of nasty ones skyrocked after the expansion, where everyone is tense and tired and competing for the same quest items. There was one night when someone in the Tundra told everyone in /general to report me for botting and several people came to my "defense" and said I wasn't botting, but was just a pathetic loser running 5 accounts. There was a long debate over /general which I watched while I did my questing. In general though I have taken to doing instances at night and questing in morning/day to avoid too much unwanted attention.

The nasty whispers tend to to fall into two categories, people who have nerd rage toward multiboxing and people who think it is illegal botting.

Common negative whispers:

  • "reported for botting"
  • "reported"
  • "loser"
  • "get a life"
  • "you are cheap"
  • "you are pathetic"
  • "no talent loser"
  • "cheater"

The only hate message I have gotten that had any merit at all was this: "You are a f***cking asshat to take up 5 character slots on a server where people wait more than 40 minutes to log in.. "

Common confused whispers:

  • WTF?????
  • How do you do that?
  • Are you a bot?

I will say that a lot more people than I thought actaully think it is really cool. If I am not in the middle of something I will often "put on a show" for people who are cool and nice. Formations, elemetnals, Heroism, dancing, etc. A few times when people "reported" me I took the time to talk to them and in 3 out of 4 times they ended up no longer being mad once I explained what I was doing and let them know I had checked with Blizzard first. I really don't mind the ignorant people at all.. I can understand why they might think I am botting or whatever. What does sometimes still bother me are those people who know exactly what I am doing and cast judgement on me as a loser, cheater, etc. I always want to jump to my own defense and explain what I am doing and why I am doing it and "convince" them that it is ok, but after trying that a few times and coming away all upset I just automatically /ignore them.

Now I am very new to all of this. Started my team at level 1 about 6 weeks ago. I think that as I master each encounter I feel better about what I am doing. My team is almost 71, and I spent a lot of Saturday mastering Shattered Halls. (I know.. that so last year). I wiped 20 times or more learning that first Boss and that is even with the strategies posted here. That is a damn hard encounter. But in the end when I got the Figurine of the Collossos off the final boss (which was my goal) I walked away with a sping in my step. And I did it at the right level and expected gear for that instance. I personally think it is vastly *harder* to do instances multi-boxing than with a group of 5 people. When I downed the first UK boss last night after 10-14 attempts and then quickly killed him again twice more this morning without breaking a sweat I feel like I accomplished a very difficult gaming challenge. Especially considering my poor gear and bering new to multi boxing. When I went back to the inn to rest and encountered some hate it didn't even bother me.

I think that all yuo can do is be polite and nice, even in the face of hate. I buff everyone I see. I rescue people all the time. I assist with people who can't get a group for a 5 man quest. I answer questions and joke a round and put on fun displays for people. I th ink it helps, but I have come to understand that there is no cure for someone really in the grip of nerd rage towards you other than /ignore.