The simultaneous sending of keystrokes is considered illegal in EQ2...

[Naysayer]

I only 6-box early in the mornings on weekdays, so the likelihood that I'll actually run into another player is fairly slim.

hahaha that game must be dead.

[Captive2]

I'm still 6-boxing with InnerSpace. No warnings, no petitions (that I know of), no harassing tells. A few players ask me if I'm boxing, and I politely tell them I am. Most say "Cool - that must be fun" and go on their way. I honestly don't think they're going to do anything to people who aren't griefing or farming/selling gold. I haven't heard of a single case of a boxer being banned. Not here, not on EQ Flames - anywhere.

So if you're thinking of giving it a shot, I would go ahead and do it. I wouldn't play on a PvP server, as I think boxing may be considered more of a no-no in PvP. But I haven't even heard of any PvPer boxers being banned, so you might not have any trouble there either.

[mesmerise]

Still boxing with IS here too and no warning, no ban, nothing...

[mebben]

Aah I have this urge of coming back to EQ2..just not sure if I should do a full multibox or try and enjoy the people who actually play. Any idea how the population is leveling wise? I figure I have to play on the american servers to get a decent populated server?

[Vega]

After reading this thread I was curious as to how exactly they word their stance on multiboxing. While they never directly refer to it, they do allude to it. Here's what I found:


EVERQUEST® II USER AGREEMENT AND SOFTWARE LICENSE:

"You may not decrypt or modify any data transmitted between client and server and you may not use, post, host or distribute macros, "bots" or other programs which would allow unattended game play or which otherwise impact game play."

This sounds intentionally vague to me. They use the words "other programs" and "impact game play" to differentiate from botting. This leaves it wide open for interpretation.

If you were to read it paraphrased, it would say:

You may not use other programs which impact gameplay.

Presumably "other programs" refers to 3rd party programs. That's clearly their meaning in the full quote.

"Impact gameplay" is about a vague as it could possibly be. From the sound of it, they simply want to reserve the right to say that any mod/addon/3rd party program is against the rules at the discretion of their GM/CS staff. It appears to me that their "stance" on multiboxing is that they don't condone it or condemn it, but will leave it up to the individual GM; and likely give the player no recourse once the decision to ban/suspend is made. (But that's pure speculation.)

EVERQUEST® II RULES OF CONDUCT:

"You will follow the instructions of authorized personnel while in EverQuest II or on the Official EverQuest II Forums."

That is the entire rule. They don't mention what sort of instructions they are referring to.

This leads me to further conclude that they give GMs carte blanche in gameplay-related matters; and that multiboxing, being unprotected by the language of their user agreements, may be considered an infraction of the rules by one GM and perfectly acceptable by another - and that both are considered correct as far as SOE is concerned.

They have another curiously worded rule:

"You will not create, use or provide any server emulator or other site where EverQuest II may be played, and you will not post or distribute any utilities, emulators or other software tools related to EverQuest II without the express written permission of Sony Online Entertainment."

To paraphrase:

You will not post or distribute any utilities or other software tools related to EverQuest II.

Clearly this is referring to botting, hacking, and other cheating and/or malicious programs; but words like "utilities" and "software tools" are vague enough to include literally any 3rd party program - no matter how benign.

Under these guidelines a simple thing like a UI mod or a dps counter would be illegal. The only conclusion I can draw from this is that SOE purposely leaves these matters in the hands of their GMs. If that's the case, we're basically at the mercy of everyone - including other players. All it takes is one report in the wrong GM's queue and we're done. Of course this doesn't necessarily mean we'll be banned outright; but it certainly seems that the lack of a written rule expressly outlining what is, and is not, acceptable by multiboxers is intentional.

Further evidence of this is in the varying responses by GMs and CSR. This suggests to me that while they may know the EULA backwards and forwards, they were not given a conclusive explanation of the rules as they apply to multiboxing. I'd be curious to hear from a GM whether there is an official rule regarding non-bot multiboxing; or if it is indeed simply up to each individual GM's interpretation of the rule.

Of course this is all speculation but until SOE either makes up its mind about multiboxing or gives us a definitive answer, speculate is all we can do.

[Khatovar]

It's already as clear as it needs to be, IMO. There are more than a few places where they say you can not send 1 keystroke to all accounts and have all accounts respond to that same keystroke.

Multiboxing is allowed so long as each character performing an action requires a unique and separate keystroke.

Their idea of multiboxing now is the old-school alt-tab method. 1 keystroke = 1 action on ONE account. You want to round robin actions to each instance {1st press > acct 1, second press > acct 2} that should be fine. But sending all presses to all accounts is no longer acceptable to SOE.

People coming back saying "Well I haven't been banned" is not confirmation, it is the same as people coming back to the WoW boards saying "Well, I share accounts and I haven't been banned, so go ahead and do it" IMO. We have 4 responses from 4 different CMs all stating the same thing and dozens of responses from players trying to to say that SOE is talking out of 2 both sides of their mouth. I don't see a single CM response that includes "quote quote, wink wink, nudge nudge".

[Vega]

I see. I was reading their software license. I got ahead of myself and posted before I read the EULA itself. Psssh. Newbie mistake!

But yeah, that does seem pretty darn definitive. That's a shame. I guess I'm switching back to WoW.

Thanks for pointing that out. As far as I'm concerned that's the deal breaker right there.

[Captive2]

Hello all. Just wanted to let anyone know who might be interested - I'm still 6-boxing with InnerSpace. I haven't received any warnings, bans, threats, complaints, etc. I really hate to see EQ2 boxing die - I haven't heard of a single instance where they banned someone for doing it.

Maybe no one cares anymore - but I'm having a blast and the new expansion has brought a lot of people back into the game. If you're thinking of coming back, I honestly don't think you'll have any trouble.

[Twiz]

Yeah, I've been playing too, although life has picked up so I don't get a chance to play as often as I did before. I 6 box maybe once a week now for a couple of hours, the rest of the time is duo/trio'ing. I haven't had any trouble and have even had some folks swap in for quest finishes and I've gotten nothing but thanks.

I've been having fun checking out the new Golden Path quests that came with GU55; especially looking forward to the TT line that rewards class armor.

[Svpernova09]

Seems like this thread has run it's course, and topics are shifting, going to lock the thread.