Title: One Player, Many Characters. Multi Boxing in Warcraft.
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Ok, let’s get this out in the open. I play several characters at once in Warcraft.
Ah, that’s better. I have five accounts and play either three or five characters at the same time. Like anyone doing this, I get my fair share of grief for it.
Accusations range from “ruining the game for others” to “botting”. And I’m going to play the devil’s advocate here and say, I understand. Well sort of.
I understand that, if you are out levelling up or grinding for gold or whatever, it can seem a little harsh to be suddenly set upon by either.
A good solid 5 on 1 ganking or
Having the area you are farming invaded and cleared out within minutes leaving you like meerkat staring over a bleak wilderness that you were quite happily harvesting in until seconds before.
If this has happened to you, and you are upset, then you need to understand how Blizzard administers Warcraft. It is done by account. Not by player and certainly not by character – but by account. This means that someone who has 5 accounts has 5 times the influence on the game as someone who has one. It’s only one person – but its 5 accounts, and that’s how the game is set up.
So when you are in a PvP area and a team of five individual players gank you, Blizzard treat that just the same as when a single player with several accounts ganks you. There is no difference to them. Each one is five accounts. Paid for, and just as valid as each other. IN fact one player controlling 5 characters is normally a lot less efficient. It’s not that easy you know.
In Warcraft, and PvP in particular, these things happen.
It is understandable to be a little annoyed that one player did this to you. It seems akin to bullying, but to Blizzard it makes no difference. You have the choice to PvP or not.
Then, there is of course the common accusation of “botting”. And this needs to be cleared up. Multi boxing is not botting. Every action that all 5 characters perform is initiated by a key press or other in game action by the controlling player.
It is botting only when the game can play without the players direct interaction.
Macros are used, and again some feel this is unfair. Let me assure you, especially newer players. Macros are in integral and supported feature of the game. Blizzard publishes their own macro guide, which if you read it will explain them to you. The tone of the guide leads me to believe that Blizzard are a little surprised that more people don’t use them. They are certainly legal and an integral part of the play structure.
If you have reported a multiboxer to Blizzard you will probably have been told they have no issue with it. That is the official line. They get asked quite a bit. Often by people who have just been pwned in PvP by multi boxers. The estimates say that the 11 million Warcraft accounts currently live, are owned by 9.8 million players. Multi account owning and multi boxing is more common than many think.
So multi boxers make up close to 10 per cent of the total subscription, and this figure is growing.
For me, as the game has become simpler over the years, I have looked to increase my challenge. Multi boxing keeps me occupied in the game in a way that controlling one character simply cannot do any more. It’s all too easy. It’s fair to say that if multi boxing was banned (and it won’t be) that I would lose interest in Warcraft.
If you want to reduce the number of multiboxers ask Blizzard to increase the depth of game play.
Over the years Blizzard have eased up the difficulty on everything from levelling and instances, right through to professions and travel. Will they reverse this?
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