Should multi-boxing be against ToS?

[Ghrog]

I multibox'ed throughout LK through MoP to level alts, so I'm for it. I don't think they should be allowed in instanced pvp though.

This is pretty much where I'm leaning as well... in "solo" content, sure, multibox away, whatever floats your boat, but once we are talking about competition (I.E. Instanced PvP) then yeppers, that's crossing a line in my eyes.

[Shinrael]

I'm not upset. I didn't use any language that indicates anger. I'm very curious why you have to frame me as being angry, when I was simply passing along some information.

Your... attitude?

"Blizzard's rule are clear, and if you doubt it, put in a ticket with a GM and discuss it with them. Multi-plexing 5 accounts with one keyboard is not against the rules, period, end of story. If you have a problem with that, take it up with Blizzard, because they're okay with it."

Just the underlined part.

Its not automatic though. Yes, a program sends a keypress to mutliple copies of the game, but there is never a keypress where there shouldn't be (loops).
So long as a human player, and not a bot, is in control of said copies of the game, no matter how many, it is NOT classed as automation.

Ah, I see. Well, that's fine with me, never multiboxed, but the more money to Blizzard, the more cool stuff for us ^~^

[Deleted]

But it isn't 4 separate players, it's one player.

That is a statement, not an answer to the question asked.

If they WERE 4 players would you have survived alone?

You seem so focused on your loss that this is an easy excuse. That one player took up 4 slots on the enemy team. From the enemies perspective they were 3 men down. At no time could 2 of them remained at an objective to protect it whilst the other two went after you.

[Dormie]

That is a statement, not an answer to the question asked.

If they WERE 4 players would you have survived alone?

You seem so focused on your loss that this is an easy excuse. That one player took up 4 slots on the enemy team. From the enemies perspective they were 3 men down. At no time could 2 of them remained at an objective to protect it whilst the other two went after you.

The point of your question isn't relevant and highlights the problem. ONE person is playing as FOUR people. This is almost the definition of unfair. If FOUR people were attacking me, yes, I would lose. But they aren't, one person is. One person with the power of four.

Again, I don't really care much, I'm just talking about the subject in general. The hypocrisy from Blizzard is what bothers me the most.

[Turaska]

To be clear, I don't really care strongly what multiboxing is ruled as. That doesn't mean I can't argue for or against it.



Nothing we do in this thread will change the rules. We are discussing what the rule should be, not what it is. Idk why that isn't clear. Therefore, what Blizzard has as a current rule has NO bearing whatsoever on what people think of multiboxing.

- - - Updated - - -



It SHOULD be against the ToS is what I'm arguing. And you can say they're controlling their own character as many times as you want but we both know it's bullshit.

It's not bullshit though? every single keystroke is done manually, all ISboxer does is broadcasts said keystroke to multiple accounts, broadcasting you can do without ISboxer through the use of addons as I've already said, it's just more complex to set it up with addons alone. Nothing a multiboxer does is botted, that's why it's not illegal and why it never will be illegal because as I said earlier if multiboxers are banned basically every single player using addons should be banned as well.

[Dormie]

It's not bullshit though? every single keystroke is done manually, all ISboxer does is broadcasts said keystroke to multiple accounts, broadcasting you can do without ISboxer through the use of addons as I've already said, it's just more complex to set it up with addons alone. Nothing a multiboxer does is botted, that's why it's not illegal and why it never will be illegal because as I said earlier if multiboxers are banned basically every single player using addons should be banned as well.

Fine. Don't make it illegal because of botting. Make it illegal because you're paying $ to be OP.

[Turaska]

Kind of missing the point, if they're doing nothing illegal, why on earth would they be banned for PvP use? which I assume is what you're implying with them being "OP"

[Kazgrel]

I've done it before by having a RAF'ed account following along with me on my main account. Used it to level several alts during late TBC, when RAF was first introduced. Setting that up was enough of an annoyance...trying to manage that with 25 or so accounts as I've seen some people do borders on insanity, imo. So long as there's money involved, though, it won't be against the ToS.

Complete automation (botting), on the other hand...

[Gadzooks]

Instanced PVP is one of the few places where it shouldn't be a problem, since a multiboxer is at a major strategic disadvantage. Sure, they can easily insta-gib someone, but they can just as easily be disoriented and messed up. How is someone controlling 4+ characters going to break CC? How are they going to handle multiple objectives? If you coordinate, their whole system falls apart almost immediately.

This. I've said this since I multiboxed - MB teams are glass cannons - they can one shot your head off, but get behind them, they fall down fast.

But I'm always surprised that people are okay with them in instanced PvP - I never did it with my characters, because I felt it was unfair the other players had no choice in the matter. Same for LFR. In a big open field battleground like AV, it's one thing, but the smaller ones, the other players should be able to opt out playing with an MB team before they enter.

[Itisamuh]

Yes, and any other answer is simply wrong. Not only is it a massive unfair advantage, but only one of the characters is really being controlled.

[Gadzooks]

Your... attitude?

"Blizzard's rule are clear, and if you doubt it, put in a ticket with a GM and discuss it with them. Multi-plexing 5 accounts with one keyboard is not against the rules, period, end of story. If you have a problem with that, take it up with Blizzard, because they're okay with it."

Still don't see any angry words or expressions. Please stop reading emotions into what I'm saying - it won't "win" anything, and what I said is 100% factual. It's Blizzard's rules - if you want to debate it, log in and argue with them.

See, there's this thing called "communication", where you impart ideas and expressions via words. By the way, that was "sarcasm", before you try to assign a different emotion to it.

Assigning "attitude" towards simple concepts and ideas only reveals an agenda on your part - and it's a well known game from the General forums on Blizzard's site, to try and frame me as an angry poster who's being irrational. It's dishonest and indicates you have no real solid ground to stand on in this discussion. I didn't attack or insult you, but here you are...

- - - Updated - - -

Fine. Don't make it illegal because of botting. Make it illegal because you're paying $ to be OP.

They're not OP. You just haven't figured that out yet. A concerted effort by an opposing team should view a MB team as free HKs and free honor.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes, and any other answer is simply wrong. Not only is it a massive unfair advantage, but only one of the characters is really being controlled.

Blizzard disagrees. Take it up with them, arguing here is pointless. They make the rules, and they're okay with it. They've said, from day one, that they're fine with it, as long as their rules aren't broken - and that they're more than willing to shut it down if abusing it becomes a widespread problem, and they'll never cater specifically to them.

"Wrong" is so subjective, anyway. You do understand that most MBers probably stay in dungeons and raids, and never PvP, right? You'll rarely see them, unless they're in town for repairs or whatever.

I urge everyone to go hang out on the websites where they hang out, find out what's really involved - you might even learn how to defeat them, because they talk about that openly. But arguing semantics and different perspectives on "wrong" and "advantage" here are pointless. It exists, the rules allow it, and unless the MB community starts abusing the game, it's not going anywhere.

- - - Updated - - -

Yes, and any other answer is simply wrong. Not only is it a massive unfair advantage, but only one of the characters is really being controlled.

How is it a massive disadvantage, if only one character is being controlled? Are you saying the other characters are being controlled by AI? That's not true.

On a MB team, if I press "W", all of my characters move forward. It's the same as if I have 5 computer and 5 keyboards. I'm just using software to pass the keystroke along.

What's NOT happening is I press "W", and one character moves forward, and 4 others do different things, responding to multiple keystrokes stored in memory or a script.

Targeting is handled through the commands built into the WoW UI.

Nothing is added. No rules or game mechanics are bypassed. No AI or scripting is used, except for macroing. Everything a MBer uses is the same tools and features you have full access to as well.

The only disadvantage is 5 vs 1 - and the 1 will always lose, wether it's 5 seperate players, one player multiplexing keyboard commands, or 5 mobs controlled by the game.

I know I'm talking to a brick wall, but what the hell. That's the truth, and if you choose to not believe it or argue it, fine - but I'm not in charge of the game's rules.

[Dormie]

Kind of missing the point, if they're doing nothing illegal, why on earth would they be banned for PvP use? which I assume is what you're implying with them being "OP"

They would be doing something "illegal" if Bliz deemed it illegal. Which is what this is about.

They're not OP. You just haven't figured that out yet. A concerted effort by an opposing team should view a MB team as free HKs and free honor

1 person versus an "opposing team" and they're...not...op?

[A dot Ham]

First off. The OP recognizes that it isn't CURRENTLY against ToS. So for those that vote yes and say nothing wrong, not against ToS, you should probably go back to 1st grade and start learning with those "See spot run." books.

The OP is asking what you THINK and FEEL about multi-boxing, and whether or not it SHOULD be against ToS. Blizzard's position is irrelevant in this poll.

As many people have commented it does take away from the spirit of the game.

My take is that while you may get close, you couldn't get 5 people to achieve that level of coordination. If multi-boxers are simply mimicking that which is capable by 5 separate individual players the performance should be on par.

I tell you what though, there is something really satisfying with killing 1 or more of said characters and watching the script totally bug out and know that they are probably going to have to close and relog and corpse run each of the characters individually.

[Gadzooks]

They would be doing something "illegal" if Bliz deemed it illegal. Which is what this is about.



1 person versus an "opposing team" and they're...not...op?

No. Once you figure out not to stand in their sights and get insta-gibbed. It's one person. Cut off the head, the snake dies. Capiche? ONE person will never be so good or op to one-hit 5 other characters, no matter who's controlling them - but a couple of motivated players, who know a MBer's weaknesses? It should be a bloodbath.

[Krom2040]

Multiboxing as a general principle is an interesting idea. It's only when it's used to grief other players that I think it should be restricted.

[Thetruth1400]

Multiboxing is fine until they are using programs to mimic keypresses. Then you're a piece of crap and deserve to be banned. I couldn't vote because your options are too closed minded.

Very thin line there though between mimic key presses and macro key presses. Essentially, they're the same thing; 1 key press resulting in multiple actions.

Should it be against ToS? Not in and of itself, but extremely regulated. There really is no way for a single press of a button to result in 5 button presses across 5 accounts without there being some kind of program running to coordinate that.

At the end of the day though, Blizzard isn't going to do anything because it's more revenue for a relatively super small subset of people that actually bother to multibox

[Turaska]

They would be doing something "illegal" if Bliz deemed it illegal. Which is what this is about.



1 person versus an "opposing team" and they're...not...op?

They're easy to kill though? LOS is a Multiboxers enemy, they're not as mobile as none boxers, not by a long shot.. whenever we encounter them in Arena or even in BG's we just LOS them and/or CC the living hell out of them, easiest HK's we've ever had. Of course they're going to be OP if you just stand there and take it.

[Darkeon]

Lots of money involved in this activity. Regardless of the player-base choice, Multiboxing it's something that isn't going anywhere any time soon.

[Deleted]

multiboxing is in alot of ways a clear form of pay to win in wow
like if a guy can buy 30 accounts, pay 30 subs per month, then he must buy a decent bot-like program to have all the secondary accounts follow and mimic main char, then he must have multiple pcs that are likely top notch to be able to run this large scale multibox
not many can afford that just for the fun of ganking a bunch of ppl in world pvp which is what 90% of large scale multiboxers do anyway for the most part
and if you ever found those infamous 20+ BM hunters while trying to do a quest somewhere out in the world did you think its fair game?

[Zeta333]

multiboxing is in alot of ways a clear form of pay to win in wow
like if a guy can buy 30 accounts, pay 30 subs per month, then he must buy a decent bot-like program to have all the secondary accounts follow and mimic main char, then he must have multiple pcs that are likely top notch to be able to run this large scale multibox
not many can afford that just for the fun of ganking a bunch of ppl in world pvp which is what 90% of large scale multiboxers do anyway for the most part
and if you ever found those infamous 20+ BM hunters while trying to do a quest somewhere out in the world did you think its fair game?

wrong, its funny how little you people grasp how multiboxing programs work.