Actually, the letter I sent was massive and very detailed. It was not included because it is very long and no one cares what I said, they only care what the various companies said. But since people seem to think it is my fault for not explaining it properly:

Hello,

My name is Katie ******* and I am a member of the multi-boxing community at dual-boxing.com. If you are unfamiliar with multi-boxing, it is a play style in which a single person will play multiple accounts in a game simultaneously.

At dual-boxing.com, the community works to make a large distinction between multi-boxing and botting by remaining "committed to staying 100% compliant with the Terms of Service (ToS), End User License (EULA) and Terms of Use (ToU) which may apply to games." We do not sell our accounts, we do not sell our in-game currency, we do not use BOT programs to play for us and we do not sell leveling services. We play this many accounts because we enjoy the challenge of doing so.

While the majority of multi-boxers do play World of Warcraft, the community grows every day to include other games as well. This is leading to some confusion as people seem to think only World of Warcraft supports or allows multi-boxing. This leads to people no longer gaming at all once they decide to stop playing WoW because it is difficult to find information about multi-boxing and other games.

Many of us who get into multi-boxing simply can't imagine playing a single character anymore. This is exactly what happened to me recently when I decided to stop playing WoW. I wanted to play something else, but not if I couldn't multi-box with my husband. Being our own group makes gaming a million times more enjoyable for us. However, I spent 3 frustrating weeks looking for what games can be played this way. And the information I found only told me that "these programs will work," not "this company allows multi-boxing in thier games".

And that is the core of my letter to you. Just because we -can- do something does not mean it falls within your rules and as such, within the community guidelines of dual-boxing.com. If you could please take the time to answer the below questions so that I may share this information with other multi-boxers, it would be very much appreciated. This will help us to prevent people from breaking your game rules as well as send new multi-boxers {and their multiple subscriptions} your way if this is a play style that you find acceptable.

Please feel free to forward this e-mail to a specialist if these questions have not yet been addressed within your company. I am far more concerned with solid information than timely information, as I am asking these questions for the entire MB community, present and future, not just for myself.

1. Do you allow Hardware multi-boxing? Hardware multi-boxing is using several computers wired together via switches or wireless mouse/keyboard combinations to play several accounts. This is usually 1 or 2 accounts per computer.

2. Do you allow Software multi-boxing? Software multi-boxing is using one computer to run several accounts via hardware emulators or scripts that send a single key press to all open instances of a game window. See:

Keyclone - http://www.solidice.com/keyclone/
HotKeyNet - http://www.hotkeynet.com/
Innerspace - http://www.lavishsoft.com/joomla/
AutoHotKey - http://www.autohotkey.com/

While some of these programs can be used for many, many things, the vast majority of multi-boxers will only use them in compliance with the rules set forth in your game. For example, Innerspace can be used for automation {see 3} however, most multi-boxers will refuse to use such functions. When certain people who break the rules get caught and blame the program, we are the first to say it's not the program that broke the rules, it's the user. The user is responsible for knowing what is a violation and what is not. We neither expect nor request a seal of approval on any listed program, as your rules and the products can change at any time. See below.

3. What are your rules for distinguishing multi-boxing from botting? Many games have a 1 press = 1 action rule in that 1 input action from a key press can only equate to 1 single action taking place in game on each account.

I press 1, my mage casts fireball, my hunter shoots a flame arrow, my tank taunts, my healer casts a buff, as that is the single action on each account located in the "1" hotbar location. 1 press, 1 action.

I press 1 and my mage casts a stream of 4 fireballs, an ice wall, an acid splash and a daze spell, it is now 7 actions for one key press, and by many standards, automation, as 1 press has now initiated a scripted sequence of actions that no longer requires my input to take place.

Games like EverQuest have long permitted the use of advanced scripting that allows players to use things like loops, wait commands and such. On the other hand, EverQuest2 expressly forbids such actions, allowing players only one action per key press. We are aware that rules differ even within the SAME company on DIFFERENT games.

Many games also require that the player be able to maintain control of each individual character at any given time, by responding to game masters/customer service reps from any character.

4. Do you have "fair play" clauses in your EULA that multi-boxers should be particularly aware of? For example, EQ2 can action players for monopolizing content. Many dungeons in that game are "contested", and not instanced, meaning at any given time, several groups can be in the same dungeon at the same time, competing for a boss mob. Camping this dungeon and intentionally preventing other players from having a chance at these mobs, especially if they are quest related, violates the fair-play clause and is actionable by game masters.

5. Do you have an account sharing policy? Most multi-boxers make it a point to be sure that every account they play is registered only to them. Very few would take the chance of sharing with other people, however, it is often asked if spouses, children or siblings can share an account.

6. Do you have any "Recruit-a-Friend" style offers that multi-boxers could take advantage of, or conversely are prohibited from enrolling in? Multi-boxers love promotions. Getting free time or special items for starting additional accounts is like the frosting on a cake. Things like discounts on monthly subscription fees for multiple accounts or for paying for several months in advance are also well-liked by multi-boxers.

7. Do you have specific guards in place to prevent certain actions? Specifically, many games do not like to run in the background and cannot receive key presses passed to them. Many programs like those I listed above "correct" this by locking a window into the foreground. In some cases, this "foreground only" behavior is unintentional, or intended only as far as preventing keys from being processed when the user does not intend them to be processed {when they are alt-tabbed out to look something up on a browser, for example}. In other cases, this is fully intended to prevent people from playing more than one copy of the same game on one computer.

In the latter instance, software boxing would be a violation of your EULA if a "lock in foreground" mechanism was used, but may well be allowed if alt-tabbing between instances to repeat key presses was used. Or neither may be allowed, meaning software multi-boxing is a violation in your game and any attempt to do so is actionable.

I do believe these are all the vital questions that would be raised by any member of the multi-boxing community before venturing into any game. Please feel free to bring up anything else that you feel a multi-boxing player should know about your game, any information is good information to us. We always prefer to be friendly and responsible gamers in our chosen community, and we strive to be a good example.

I sincerely thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. Hopefully they will prevent anyone from inadvertently breaking the rules of your game. And getting this information out in a clear manner, without guessing and going on "well, I haven't been banned, so it must be OK" is much more likely to get gamers to try other games and passing the word to other gamers, which is always good for the MMO community. This gives us a chance to say "These are the rules, you can't say you didn't know going in." It protects our community and yours.