Multiboxing in formation with Xzin
by Mike Schramm 
Aug 7th 2007 at 4:30PM
Xzin, always ready to show off his multiboxing setups, sent us a video of movement tests for his 10 boxing group. Yeah.
I don't know-- I don't really find this exciting at all. I mean, sure, there's a little bit of skill in actually coding this stuff all out and hooking it all together, but after you do that, what's the point? Isn't this close enough to botting that Blizzard would frown on it? Sure, if you pull this off, you'll be able to win a whole BG by yourself, but if I had a couple grand in cash to waste on all this stuff, I'd just hire Pandemic to come and do it for me.
Are you guys interested in news about multiboxing or not? If there's a large group of you who finds this fascinating, I'm more than happy to post this stuff when we see it come through. But while I can see the skill in coordinating 10 computers to do your will, the results just don't thrill me that much.
Thanks, Xzin!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cheats, Virtual selves, Odds and ends
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Freehugz Aug 7th 2007 4:32PM
looks like someone got bit by the jelousy bug
John Aug 7th 2007 4:39PM
i mean, it's cool to see and in theory but, i think it's lame that one person could push one button and kill ten people with ten different characters.
i do think multiboxing should be against the tos, but that's just my opinion.
Aaron Aug 7th 2007 4:44PM
i dunno, its just....why? why would you spend so much money and time on something with such little return. it just seems pointless to me. so yeah in other words, nah don't give a crap about multiboxing.
TELOT Aug 7th 2007 4:48PM
I for one would like more of this news - I've been keeping up on Xzins for the last few weeks/months now and I love it. Keep up the hacking Xzin - innovation is always a good thing. Thanks wowinsider, and thank yous to all those Xzins out there
Brandon Tippy Aug 7th 2007 4:46PM
I'm indifferent on the subject. If people like doing it I have no problem, but I would never put the time nor money into it.
mark Aug 7th 2007 4:48PM
What I want to know is, if he goes into AB, and say he's the entire time right, when he targets someone to die, can he control it to shoot one person with 5 shadowbolts and another gets the other 5?
What happens if one dies? how does he get that one back into the formation?
I think it's interesting and I give my congrats on accomplishing a difficult task.
lardan Aug 7th 2007 4:48PM
ofc its cool, with 9 million ppl playing this game, and only this guys doing this shit, i think its pretty original. plus he walks around knowing that he can instagib any one of those 9 milion in a bg ^^
Almus Aug 7th 2007 4:51PM
@#3 Allot of people don't get it because they play the game just for the game, which is perfectly fine ,but there are several other reasons play WoW (or any other game). Some of us are fascinated by the technical aspect, we love to see what the game company has come up with that is original, or at least different than what has come before. I am almost more interested in seeing what blizzard has come up with in the next encounter than I am with the encounter itself. Xzin is (I am willing to bet) more entertained by the process of making the multiboxing work than he is with actually solo running content, its a real challenge in the same way mastering the next boss encounter or figuring out the next quest is (If you figure out your quests w/o just alt-tabing to thottbot)
Almus Aug 7th 2007 4:57PM
ohh, also.. my vote is for more coverage of this sort if thing.. in fact.. I would like to see coverage of anything people are doing in the game that is unique/different than the daily grind/raid.
Ozzle Aug 7th 2007 5:18PM
I don't see why you wouldn't want to keep covering this stuff. What makes WoW so much more interesting than it actually is, are the people and the crazy things they do. Xzin is definitely doing some crazy things.
trepegroupieone Aug 7th 2007 5:18PM
This is ceratinly an impressive achievement, but it is also most definitely cheating. I don't see how this can be accomplished without automating processes that would normally not be tolerated. While I can't speak for motivations the innovator of the application or software or technique, it seems it could be easily abused by someone with less benign motives.
Although don't get me wrong, I can feel the joy as I John Woo my way through the levels in any arcade shooter with 2-player simultaneous by paying double the quarters, it would certainly be forbidden in any competitive environment.
Kevin Aug 7th 2007 5:19PM
I don't understand all of you that say, "durrr I don't see the point." Seriously. Like, did he debit your bank account to pay for it? Even better. How about all the people that said, "I don't see the point in going to the moon." Or, "I don't see the point in war." Fact is, YOU don't see the point. On top of that, I don't care that you don't see the point. This dude has fun doing this. What do you have fun doing?
blargh Aug 7th 2007 5:21PM
"Multiboxing: Win at WoW, fail at life!"
pokute Aug 7th 2007 5:25PM
I would love to see more reports on multiboxing.
(preferrably without the sour grape)
I've always wished there was some sort of extended mercenaries/pets system to make WoW's gameplay more complex. But since simplicity is part of what makes WoW so welcoming, I doubt we'll see anything of this sort.
And actually, looking at the video, I think that particular result can be achieved with just some creative keybinding a keyboard multiplexer.
Keegan Aug 7th 2007 5:27PM
Let's sum up that Post:
"QQ I'm a fat casual whom blog's about WoW"
What Xzin and other multi-boxers do is fascinating, even if it you'd never think of taking the hobby up. I suppose everyone who reads WoWInsider is too busy wiping on Prince to care.
PDKM Aug 7th 2007 7:00PM
I would love to see more about multiboxing, especially two or three at a time. I have a laptop in addition to my decktop and Ive been thinking about setting up something like this, but I dont know where to start. Plus I dont have the time to try to figure it out, so I guess I'll just have to read about the achievements of others.
Bzik Aug 7th 2007 5:54PM
I like the multiboxing column. Keep em coming. I'd like to hear some details how hard is it to set it up.
I assumed that the drones are usually just set on auto follow but this is something totally different. They move around the player, I'm curious how has that been done.
and he's not going to be a huge powerhouse in a bg when his drones start dieing or get cc'd - I imagine they wouldn't be able to get back to him from a grave yard (so he'd need to resurrect them himself?).
Zilog Instantaneously Mojo Aug 7th 2007 6:05PM
Personally, I don't care about multiboxing, and would be perfectly happy never to read another article on it at wowinsider ever. Now someone playing WoW whilst tootling on a harmoica, banging knee cymbols and tapping on a drumkit - bring it on!
Loni2Shoes Aug 7th 2007 6:10PM
I'm quite impressed. It reminds me of synchronized swimming (which isn't everyone's cup of tea). He should definitely add some type of music to the recording, though. Maybe something classical. With a harpsichord.
Lokse Aug 7th 2007 6:07PM
I am about as interested in multiboxing as any other non-game-related filler posts. The breakfast topics often are this way, "Lets post 3 paragraphs and an open-ended question so people will post 600 comments and forget we didn't post any 'INSIDE' information!"
..I'd ratehr see poorly written and amateurish posts, than videos of some loser with no life, no friends, and way too many computers and too much time on his hands.. This coming from a professional computer tech with many, many machines.
How do you kill that, which HAS NO LIFE?