WoW Insider Show: Special multiboxing edition this weekend with guest Xzin
by Mike Schramm 
Apr 4th 2008 at 10:29AM
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Multiboxing -- we've mentioned it quite a few times here on WoW Insider, and it's always been a controversial subject. While the game is quite clearly not designed around players playing multiple characters at once, Blizzard has stated that they have no problem with it -- as long as people are paying for each account they use, and not using third-party programs to control their characters, Blizzard is fine with it.But I, Mike Schramm, personally have always been quite against the idea of multiboxing. Lots of folks have used macros and programming to control multiple characters all the way up to level 70 and beyond, and some have even taken teams of characters into PvP areas to win battlegrounds and gain honor, or even win the arena seasons, and all the rewards that come with that victory. In my opinion, that's a horrible mockery of the way the game was designed -- this is a social game that is meant to be played with other players, and to pit one person with five computers against a real-life team of five people just isn't fair or interesting. Sure, you might be able to control the movements of five characters with skilled programming and control, but the other team has to coordinate five human minds all together, a much harder and more interesting act, in my personal opinion. I am firmly against multiboxing -- it's not the way this game is meant to be played at all, and while Blizzard may be content to make more money off of someone paying for many accounts, I'm not content to be stuck in a game with them.
Which is why, this Saturday on the WoW Insider Show over on WoW Radio (at 3:30pm EST), our guest will be Xzin, one of the most notorious (and popular) multiboxers the game has ever seen.
Yes, this Saturday, Xzin and I will go head-to-head on the podcast to talk about multiboxing, its legality (or lack thereof), and how and why it's used in the World of Warcraft. You couldn't find two people on further sides of this issue, so we'll be sure to have some interesting debate on the subject. Turpster will also be along as always (to act as moderator, if we need him), and WoW Insider's Adam Holisky will be on board as well. Adam tells me that he has actually multiboxed two characters at a time, so he'll have another voice in the argument also.
Whether you're for or against multiboxing (or whether this is the first you've heard of it), definitely be sure to tune in on Saturday at 3:30pm EST over at WoW Radio. We'll also be in the IRC channel, #wowradio at mmo.irc.com, and you can email the show at theshow@wow.com if you have any questions you'd like to ask myself, Xzin, or any of us on the show about mulitboxing or anything else.
It's sure to be a spirited and interesting debate about one of the most controversial subjects in MMO gaming. Definitely tune in and check the show out this weekend.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Podcasting, WoW Insider Business, WoW Insider Show
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
cbass Apr 4th 2008 10:37AM
QQ Mike Schramm
Jhestor Apr 4th 2008 10:43AM
I actually agree....
Especially when it comes to PvP, being able to coordinate 5 characters at once completely eliminates a game dynamic; that is, to be able to get different people to work on the same objective.
Just recently I ran into a multiboxer in Arathi Basin; 4 Elemental Shamans tied together with a Paladin healing the main. They could basically one-shot anything that came near, avoided fears with grounding totems and cleanses from the paladin....
Needless to say, this is NOT fun to play against, and I fail to see what pleasure someone could get in killing people in this way. Short term excitement, perhaps, but I must be missing the long-term fun in this. It's like climbing a mountain by riding a helicopter up.... there's no effort involved in it past the technical know-how required to set up that system.
Still, it's a free world, and to each their own I suppose.
Koronus Apr 4th 2008 10:50AM
ive nvr actually tried it tho ive always thought multiboxing was kinda neat
and ive always figured that all anyone would hav to say to all those RPers who object to it is that ur toons could all be like psychically linked twins, triplets, quadruplets etc and hav a whole backstory to it
Clasifyd Apr 4th 2008 11:56AM
I'm guessing you're on the Ruin battlegroup, Jhestor? I hate facing that jerk... 4 chain lightnings is absurd to deal with.. We petitioned on it being ignorant of the policies, but the GM said there's nothing he can do,. But he did tell us a little secret: figure out which one is the main, and focus fire on him. Once he's dead, it screws up the rest of them. Makes sense, since three are in one place, and the main is in the graveyard. It actually wasn't a problem after we killed him once.
Darkboxer Apr 4th 2008 10:51AM
Everyone should keep in mind that while Xzin is definitely a well known boxer, he doesn’t speak for all boxers out there (especially as he has stopped playing wow).
F0REM4N Apr 4th 2008 12:07PM
Ummmm Wouldnt 5 people controlling those same toons with vent be even more deadly. Of curse they would (it's been proven)! I find the whole topic rather B-O-R-I-N-G and will be skipping this one.
Mimic Apr 4th 2008 10:52AM
I disagree that coordinating a human team is more difficult than coordinating multiple characters from a single person. While coordinating 2/3/5 people is not an easy task by any means, a multi-boxer is coordinating 2/3/5 characters by themselves. Multi-boxing can make PVE much easier, especially from eliminating PuGs, but playing 5 characters simultaneously against 5 other human players is no easy task, even with the "skilled programming" you speak of. Learning to react to PVE mobs that have a set limited set of abilities and do not move when you engage them can be a fairly easy programming project, but trying to design and code a system for PVP is a completely different ball game. Players move and react to your abilities, which makes anticipation and coding so much harder that it's pretty much not worth it. While on a 5 [human] person team, at least each person is capable of adjusting to the opposing team. Coordination for a human team is merely speaking in vent, or (I hope not) typing in party chat.
Don't get me wrong, I play one character at a time, but I would almost prefer to play an arena match against a multi-boxer, unless this person is some sort of programming and multitasking god (go ahead and flame for wanting the easy match occasionally :P). The programming does give the 4 other characters a slight edge over regular PVE mobs, but it basically comes down to playing an arena match against one person and 4 improved AI PVE mobs.
With that said, I'm still on the fence about multi-boxing. The game was not designed to accommodate the practice, but it's in a geeks blood to think outside the "box" (haha) and use games/gadgets/etc for things other than their intended purpose.
skalgrim Apr 4th 2008 10:54AM
"I am firmly against multiboxing -- it's not the way this game is meant to be played at all"
Could you possibly please reprint, or link to, the documentation that tells us the correct way to play this game?
Oh, no, of course you can't. Perhaps you should try stating things as your opinion, instead of the law. And, luckily, you carry no weight in any area of importance regarding WoW.
Because opinions are like a certain body part. Everyone has one.
Baal80 Apr 4th 2008 11:07AM
Jesus Christ, he said "I am", what more you want? I swear, political correctness will one day kill humanity...
Merovigan Apr 4th 2008 11:09AM
I concur with the above sentiment - who are you to say what's right or wrong? Especially when the people who make the game disagree with you?
Life rewards ingenuity, in all things. It IS more efficient and effective to, as someone above said, climb a mountain with a helicopter.
What concerns me is the way some people are downplaying the "software advantage". Multi-boxing is fine, but using third party software is against the TOS, right?
But, what if the software isn't third party? What if I code it myself? Is that ok to use?
SpaceDog Apr 4th 2008 11:29AM
He's made it pretty damn obvious that this is his opinion only.
And can you really say that you think the game *was* designed to be played multibox? It's quite obvious. Whether it's right or wrong is another matter.
I personally think it's cheap. But also expensive. Heh.
Pzychotix Apr 4th 2008 11:32AM
You misunderstand the meaning of "3rd party".
First party is the devs themselves.
Second party is any development team outside the original devs, but closely related (perhaps owned by the same company).
Third party is any dev outside of those.
Thus, you yourself would count as third party.
Jennifer Apr 4th 2008 1:19PM
@11 -- As per http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=5288579356&sid=1&pageNo=1
"Q u o t e:
Semantics issue #2:
Software (such as Keyclone, Octopus, etc) to emulate a keyboard multiboxing solution is, by nature, "3rd party". Is "3rd party software" synonymous with "bot" or "automation"? Are all types of "3rd party software" bannable?
Likewise, hardware, by nature, is "3rd party". What kinds (or uses) of 3rd party hardware are bannable?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Is it sending an identical signal to all client windows or switching between them to send commands? Not automation.
Is it playing the game for you, or rather, for one of your client windows? Automation.
All hardware is considered neutral as long as its commands and features are not being used to automate gameplay. "
-GM Belfaire
Verit Apr 4th 2008 5:51PM
Keep in mind - back when I was doing testing-automation at Intel (for product validation) we used to program Cybex Autoviews (I think the company is called Avocent now) so that one keyboard would control 20 or more machines. Now this what physically wired - the computer, nor any detection mechanism would be able to tell one person was controlling 20-40 or even a thousand machines from one keyboard/mouse.
The software just makes it cheaper - a fully programmable KVM like the Cybex Autoview was worth more than the computers we were testing.
In that same light - if you used testing automation software to automatically click through the tests (which you could easily use on WoW) that would be against the rules.
jrodman Apr 5th 2008 1:13PM
In normal english:
First party means the original creator, or the subject. "I".
Second party means the object, or the target of the message. "You".
Third party means another group who is neither of the above. "He, she, they".
Thus third party creations generally referred to things which were made not by the original manufacturer of the item, nor by the purchaser of the product, but an unassociated THIRD party.
Only videogame development has attempted to redefine these terms in a somwhat nonsensical way.
Badger Apr 4th 2008 10:53AM
I'm sure Xzin is a good player and an all-around decent guy.
However, hasn't WOW Insider already given this particular player more than enough attention? I can think of at least two previous full-length articles about this guy, one of which was an at-length interview.
Shigan5 Apr 4th 2008 11:02AM
You guys fail to realize how this works. I myself have multiboxed and everything is much more complex than you think.
He has 5 characters under his control, but he only has full control of one at all times. All thats going on is that hes copying key presses to each open window of wow, using hardware. So when he presses "1" in one, its like he hit 1 in all windows. Thats not botting since he has to do something for something to happen.
But anyways 99.99% of multiboxers dont copy the movement keys as this would make your alts run off crazily. So all the alts are on follow. Meaning if you kill the main hes lost all movement control. And his alts target through their "focus". If you dont know what focus is, its a useful tool in wow. In this case the focus is the main character. So without the focus to assist through or to follow. his alts are dead in the water. So kill his main you kill off him. With 5 humans you have to kill them all.
Another thing to realize. He can only target one person at a time. One.
The last thing is, follow breaks at a certain range, you scramble the group witha fear, bam, dead in the water again. And you also have to remember, he has to concentrate and control effectively all 5 characters at once, if theyre different classes thats alot to think about at once" Ok i need to drop a totem ,cast flash of light, earth shock, then run to my left, Dot that guy, heal again, drop earthbind totem, decurse. And he has to do all that in a very short time frame. A person playing one character gets to think about that one class, and thats it. less to get lost in.
Its not easy to multibox, its an immense challenge, which is why people do it.
And actually, most multiboxers dont pvp, they prefer PvE. Alot of multiboxers become multiboxers so they dont have to group for anything anymore.
And when you bring up the point of not fair, how do YOU think its not fair for you? You have 5 independantly thinking humans, meaning that they are smart enough to do what they need to. As i said earlier, yeah he can target and attack with his alts, but they are on follow. So they all are always going to be in the same spot, run in and fear, or run in and AoE to hell. heck seed of corruption. Not all multiboxers use a pally with theyre group.
Theres advantages for multiboxing but theres also advantages for running with 4 other people.
And yes he might be able to one shot things but he worked for it. Can you imagine what its like to level 5 characters at the same time? Drop quests are horrid: he has to alt tab through 5 wow windows to pickup items. Quests where you have to gather 10 of something he has to gather 50 of.
What about when he dies? Corpse runs take forever for him.
The amount of self coordination and effort that this guy has put into this. More than you guys will ever know when you level 1 character.
Prometheus Apr 4th 2008 2:26PM
Shigan5 said...
"And yes he might be able to one shot things but he worked for it. Can you imagine what its like to level 5 characters at the same time? Drop quests are horrid: he has to alt tab through 5 wow windows to pickup items. Quests where you have to gather 10 of something he has to gather 50 of.
What about when he dies? Corpse runs take forever for him.
The amount of self coordination and effort that this guy has put into this. More than you guys will ever know when you level 1 character."
O rly? So all those low lvl 5-boxers that I've gank camped must have been really pissed off. I kill off the hopes and dreams of 5 boxers at a low lvl, woot!
DKSpree Apr 4th 2008 11:12AM
I'm happy Blizzard allows multiboxing...their pvp system and rewards have all but ruined raiding for me because now some of the best players able to do raiding (able meaning having more than 2 brain cells left) have gone the easy route for pvp gear and do nothing but pvp now. Multiboxing has given me new territory to explore and new goals to reach without relying on retards. I still play with others when I know they are not players who don't know how to play and boxing has opened up new ways to play...just the other night I helped a group do the ogri'la opening quests by tanking and healing.
Mike I just can't comprehend your hate for multiboxing...it has it's advantages but it also has many disadvantages in pvp, it's a trade off and the ones that master it would most likely pwn anyone 1 vs. 1. The biggest disadvantages non-boxers have in pvp IMO is not knowing how to play in the first place.
Gurblash Apr 4th 2008 11:20AM
Thankfully this is just one persons opinion, which in my opinion, doesn't carry any weight or validation.
Felt like it was just one giagantic QQ.
If you think its that easy to multibox, how about you setup a 5man team.. Warrior Tank, Priest Healer, Mage, Lock, and Hunter. Come back in oooh say 14 days and tell us how EASY it is. Give me a break and I'll give you a life.