New mousecloning software lets you mouse multiple screens [Updated]
by Michael Sacco 
Jan 31st 2009 at 12:00PM
Update: Despite evidence that Blizzard was okay with this app, on the Customer Service forums, Malkorix tells users he "strongly advises shying away from this program." Use it at your own risk, folks.
Update II: The folks behind MouseCloner have informed us that while the app did originally use "prerecorded x/y coordinates" (which is what Malkorix found a problem with), they have specifically recoded the app to use only mouse position, in order to stay away from questions about scripting. To our (and their) best knowledge, the app is safe to use, but as always, you use third-party programs with your client at your own risk. You can find more information and ask more questions on the Mousecloner forums.
Original Post: Now here's a subject with my name written all over it. Those of you who followed my exploits over on the official forums will likely remember my responses to multiboxing questions with a nice, clear stance on what Blizzard does and doesn't support with regard to multiboxing tools. It was good for the multiboxing community -- and bad for anti-multiboxing trolls -- to have readily-available blue responses to those kinds of important questions. Even Tom Chilton (a.k.a Kalgan) has come out in support of the practice.
For those of you unfamiliar with it, multiboxing is the act of playing more than one WoW account/client at the same time. There have historically been a number of programs used by multiboxers that help with client-switching or keybinding to make controlling two or more accounts easy.
Now, as a boon to multiboxers everywhere, former Wowhead CEO Tim Sullivan has released MouseCloner. To quote his site, "Mousecloner is an application that enables you to 'replicate' mouse commands on your desktop with the simple pressing of a single key. The pressing of 1 keystroke can activate single mouse movements and clicks on seperate instances of World of Warcraft." It follows in the spirit of the "one action per keypress per account" policy that Blizzard has publicly expressed many times.
What's refreshing about this as compared to a lot of other multiboxing aids is that Mr. Sullivan has made a great effort to make sure that every function of the program is in accordance with Blizzard policies. He's even compiled a list of Blizzard responses on the website for those who're concerned about its validity, and states that if a feature of the program comes under fire by Blizzard at any time, they'll immediately remove it.
I'm not a multiboxer myself, surprisingly -- I'm pretty universally terrible at it -- and I haven't tried MouseCloner, but having a developer focused both on obeying Blizzard policy and helping players is a nice change and I hope he gets a lot of support for it.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
WIFan Jan 31st 2009 12:32PM
Hey there,
We have a semantic issue with this story title. The software is great, yes, but it is not "blizzard approved".
Rather, it has features that look to be acceptable to Blizzard's EULA and stance on multiboxing.
So is the software fine to use? Yes, it looks like it. Is it Blizzard approved? Well not really, but Blizzard did say that the mouse broadcasting features (as long as the user initiates it) are acceptable.
Thumbs up to this as long as Wowinsider changes the news story title to something like this: "New Mousecloning software has EULA friendly features"
Andy Jan 31st 2009 12:17PM
This software is NOT safe to use.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14697502146&sid=1&pageNo=7
The original "approval" was based off inaccurate information provided by the author. When a multiboxing community member went out and asked for clarification about the true functionality of this software, blizzard shot it done.
If you use this, don't be surprised if your account gets banned.
EK Jan 31st 2009 12:37PM
This was NEVER "approved" by Blizzard. It was "this seems ok, but use at your own risk."
But later it was found out to VIOLATE the TOS by Blizzard.
Malkorix
Blizzard Poster
"I would strongly advise shying away from this program, if it is causing mouse moves (even simulated mouse moves) to occur in response to user inputs.
Mouse moves are the purview of the user, not a program. "
You should remove this article ASAP. It's about as false as it gets.
WiFan Jan 31st 2009 12:56PM
The initial features of Mousecloner were not fully approved.
HOWEVER IT HAS BEEN FIXED!
The Mousecloner developers removed those features and then reprogrammed the tool to be acceptable. Their webpage clearly has an update:
Breaking News 01/30/09: Mousecloner has been completely revamped in accord to Blizzard's stance of mouse broadcasting. Mousecloner no longer has any X,Y coordinate input. Mousecloner is simply broadcasting your mouse. Wherever your mouse is on your main screen, your click will appear in the same location on all your other screens. You control your mouse and mouse movements. Mousecloner simply broadcasts them. Read more about this here
Matazuma Jan 31st 2009 12:17PM
15 mins and there servers are down....
Andy Jan 31st 2009 12:19PM
If you want the FULL story behind the author and his highly questionable business practices, read this thread over at dual-boxing.com
http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=18820
Melchior Jan 31st 2009 1:05PM
Omg.. Shut up.
Zandrae Jan 31st 2009 8:47PM
I'd read dual-boxing.com more often if I could actually find real definitive solid answers among the piles and piles of speculation discussions and posts.
Right now, after reading dual-boxing.com I'm more confused about being a dualboxer than I was before.
Is there a section on the site for people who just want solid definitive yes or no information without the discussion?
Zeplar Jan 31st 2009 12:21PM
Recently I've begun doing old 40-mans with my friends, and we often multibox. PVP-slaughter and 2-man naxxramas options aside, I think some of the anti-multiboxers should try it out just for fun. It makes the boring, easy level-60 bosses much more exciting when you have to keep tabbing around on characters (especially Ossirian the Unscarred and Baron Geddon). Having done that, I might graduate to PVP mass-slaughter soon =D
Bryan Jan 31st 2009 12:21PM
This has been a huge debate on dual-boxing.com for the last few days. Basically, Blizzard said it was ok, but based off inaccurate information. When it was looked into further by other people, it was found to broadcast using pre-defined coordinates. The creator has even stated that he understands his mistake in how he went about getting approval.
Just goes to show you should always verify everything before you do it
Barter Jan 31st 2009 12:35PM
Hey there,
This software was updated ONE DAY ago to be compliant with Bilzzard's recommendations. It sure looks OK to me.
To quote from the Mousecloner webpage:
After receiving some feedback from the community and Blizzard, we have decided to completely remove Mousecloner's old "click to XY coordinate" system! The community voice their opinion and concern and we reacted as fast as our programming fingers could function.
Mousecloner is now fully functional as a mouse broadcaster to your applications. It now broadcasts your mouse's current position to all your gaming windows at the touch of a simple hotkey.
http://mousecloner.com/f/index.php?topic=9.0
WIFan Jan 31st 2009 12:39PM
I was about to say the same thing.
#1 - The original Mousecloner had the ability to coordinate target. This was determined to not be acceptable.
#2 - By simply browsing their webpage and viewing the WoW/DB forums, you can see that the mousecloner people updated their code.
#3 - Mousecloner was reprogrammed YESTERDAY to be acceptable to be used.
To sum it up. Mousecloner's first release had issues with it. They updated their code and now everything should be OK.
Vis Jan 31st 2009 12:39PM
I just finished reading the threads on the Blizz forums and finally got through again to Mousecloners website. They have a notice at the very top of the screen regarding Blizz's stance on x,y auto positioning of the mouse.
"Breaking News 01/30/09: Mousecloner has been completely revamped in accord to Blizzard's stance of mouse broadcasting. Mousecloner no longer has any X,Y coordinate input. Mousecloner is simply broadcasting your mouse. Wherever your mouse is on your main screen, your click will appear in the same location on all your other screens"
So by the guidelines that the Blue's have posted, Mousecloner would still be legit.
Kwipper the Bear Jan 31st 2009 12:58PM
Well of course Blizzard would support tools that does Multiboxing. It isn't illegal as long as Blizzard can make more money from the extra number of WoW accounts that need to be created. Why would they make something illegal which they could profit from?
WIFan Jan 31st 2009 1:01PM
Exactly!
The bottom line from my perspective is the Mousecloner application is being developed to be as friendly as possible and help out multiboxers.
They clearly demonstrated that by updating their code in ONE (I thought it was two, but it was actually one) day after getting feedback on some of their features.
I got the software myself for targetting warlock rain of fire spells. Holy crap. I can't imagine what it would be with mages casting blizzards!
epic Feb 1st 2009 5:37AM
yes the millions upon millions of multiboxers are lining their pockets with gold.....
Tristrix Jan 31st 2009 1:08PM
"It was good for the multiboxing community -- and bad for anti-multiboxing trolls"
...could you possibly have been more biased here? Way to name-call. Why not just drop the subtlety and come right out with it. "Everyone who disagrees with this is a baby-killing, terrorism-supporting douchebag!"
Kryphon Jan 31st 2009 2:39PM
Well, the people that get on the forums and whine about how unfair multiboxing is, while often spreading misinformation about its legality according to the ToS despite a freely-available mountain of evidence from Blizzard that they're okay with the practice... what exactly do you call them if not "trolls"?
The "is multiboxing legal" discussion is over, and has been for years. All there is left to do about is troll.
Chuck Mize Jan 31st 2009 9:47PM
Blizzard has made their stand on multiboxing very clear so the only people left on the forums who are "anti-multiboxing" are just trolling for attention.
WIFan Jan 31st 2009 1:08PM
To Michael Sacco:
To clarify what is going on here. The first release of Mousecloner had features that were not acceptable (as people have been posting) due to how the program required a user to manually input the X,Y coordinates of where they wanted the click to happen.
However, on 01/30/09 (Yesterday), the Mousecloner application was completely redone (see their website, they linked it on the top of their page). The revamp specifically moved the functionality of the predefined location inputs.
Now Mousecloner simply broadcasts your mouse. The program itself only has 1 real setting: Which key to bind your mouseclick to. That is it.
According to all the Blizzard postings, as long as there is no automation and the user controls the actions, it is acceptable. Mousecloner does not move the mouse. The actual user moves the mouse. Mousecloner just broadcasts it (see their website, it has a picture to explain here: http://mousecloner.com/f/index.php?topic=9.0 )
To the Wowinsider guy: Email the Mousecloner guy to clarify. It says on the website it is appsup@mousecloner.com somewhere on the support page.