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How multiboxing helps the game in so many ways
Undead Canuck
Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One
Just think of all the ways that the game is improved when people multibox.
Please note that I am using the same definition as @StevenSharif . Multiboxing is 1 person using multiple separate computers and peripherals. You cannot cause multiple actions or actions across multiple accounts with a single key press or mouse click (that is botting and can get you banned).
Intrepid gets the extra income so that they can employ more developers to make the game even more amazing!
More characters mean that the game economy is boosted so that more characters get more money (since the multiboxers would purchase more equipment as they only have so much time).
Groups have a greater pool of characters to draw upon since more characters created gives wider selection.
Guilds can be more focused on their people as they know that the multiboxers have a good selection of characters. Easier to get a specific set of characters together to do something.
Raids would be easier as people would have more characters to choose from. And have a better chance of the exact composition they need.
Nodes would be more affluent as more taxes would be received from the extra characters.
PVPers and Gankers get extra targets that will be easier to kill.
So the whole game is better even though the person running the multiple computers loses out as they don't have enough time to focus on 1 character and level it as quickly as other people. And they have to pay more real money as well as extra in game money for taxes.
So let's give a cheer to the (legitimate and not botting) multiboxer who makes the game a better place!
Edit: Sorry for the wall of text.
Please note that I am using the same definition as @StevenSharif . Multiboxing is 1 person using multiple separate computers and peripherals. You cannot cause multiple actions or actions across multiple accounts with a single key press or mouse click (that is botting and can get you banned).
Intrepid gets the extra income so that they can employ more developers to make the game even more amazing!
More characters mean that the game economy is boosted so that more characters get more money (since the multiboxers would purchase more equipment as they only have so much time).
Groups have a greater pool of characters to draw upon since more characters created gives wider selection.
Guilds can be more focused on their people as they know that the multiboxers have a good selection of characters. Easier to get a specific set of characters together to do something.
Raids would be easier as people would have more characters to choose from. And have a better chance of the exact composition they need.
Nodes would be more affluent as more taxes would be received from the extra characters.
PVPers and Gankers get extra targets that will be easier to kill.
So the whole game is better even though the person running the multiple computers loses out as they don't have enough time to focus on 1 character and level it as quickly as other people. And they have to pay more real money as well as extra in game money for taxes.
So let's give a cheer to the (legitimate and not botting) multiboxer who makes the game a better place!
Edit: Sorry for the wall of text.
3
Comments
Take WoW as an example. People think the 40 player botting teams in that game are what multiboxing means - when in truth, in any other game that would be considered botting, not multiboxing (multiboxing requires the person present to actually play the accounts, not automate them).
There were a number of people that posted in the poll with comments like this - who clearly didn't actually read anything in relation to that poll. They just saw words they thought they knew and went with it.
I agree with every point in the OP. There is one more though, that Ashes will be live when Elder Scrolls 6 hits. In my experience of playing MMO's when both 4 and 5 hit, the games population will be crying out for more multiboxers playing tanks and healers, as that will be where most groups form around.
the solution to a tank/healer shortage is not "LeT's GeT MoRe MuLtI-BoXiNg" nor have I ever heard anyone until now claim it is. when your game has a shortage of a role. the devs have many tools they can implement to address this. also, the shortage problem will be less dramatic if they run the trinity system as 1 tank 1 healer 6 DPS. cause that is a more representative ratio of the player base than the WoW 1,1,3 model, so the problem may not exist
we have all seen the 5 Ele shaman multi-boxers so lets also not pretend like multi-boxing is just how good samaritans give more by being your tank AND healer *pats self on back* cause they also run 5 ele shaman or 5 mage PVP murder parties
If you have 40 characters, you are not actively controlling them. This is Blizzards definition of it, but everyone else in the world considers that to be botting, not multiboxing.
As I said, some people refuse to listen when people tell them that the definition of a word they have is wrong.
If you are controlling 5 characters in WoW, you are botting. Unless you are physically activating each ability on each character (which can be done, but will be obvious as there will be too much downtime), the nyou are botting.
You may be using a keyboard that is splitting it's signal to multiple computers (or VM's), but that is botting - to everyone but Blizzard.
They do, but when a game like that is released, they also know the drop in population is temporary, so they don't use them. These tools are only realy suitable as a permanant fix.
Yeah players could also pay $50 to blast straight to max level, and that helps the game get money. Players could pay an extra $15 a month to double their resource return, and that helps the game get money. Players could pay $5 to guarantee their enchantments succeed, and that helps the game get money.
Except all of those are P2W tactics and the money it makes the company does not mean it’s acceptable.
As I said:
Please note that I am using the same definition as @StevenSharif . Multiboxing is 1 person using multiple separate computers and peripherals. You cannot cause multiple actions or actions across multiple accounts with a single key press or mouse click (that is botting and can get you banned).
I had a hard enough time trying to just move 2 characters using 2 computers. I can't even imagine a PVP fight. I would probably be dropped within a minute.
Why do you think the word is box. That used to refer to each computer 'box'. I actually knew a guy who 6-boxed. He had a monitor rack with 6 monitors each connected to a computer and the keyboards and mice below.
One difference between these things is that when you have a second account, you still have to actually do everything yourself.
You don't actually level any faster, you don't actually harvest any faster, you aren't any more guaranteed to have an enchat succeed.
All you are doing is taking on a second account, with the benefits and costs associated with that.
If players were to treat accounts as the base unit of population rather than treating players as such (which is how developers/producers identify their population anyway), then the argument made here is perhaps better put in perspective.
I like multiboxing but people can easily exploit it in games like this. Imagine one guy with 15 freeholds? Nothing is going to stop him from getting 15 freeholds if he has 15 accounts. But at least not allowing multiboxing makes it easier. This should not even be a discussion anymore.
That is the first actual major barrier to any discussion on this topic.
SO you are saying, we should allow multi-boxing in the coordination of the release of competing market games so they can carry us with Tank and healer combos. and ban them otherwise.
if we allow them all the time, they would have no relief during such times of strife, and what would happen if the precious tank/healer multi boxers QUIT or take a break for one of those games Absolute crash in the tank/healer market the DPSers would be scrambling to reroll and lvl for 50 days until they could even be of use to their friends.
I don't see how allowing multi-boxing, no matter how you define it. fixes this problem. you would be better off just assigning a Tank an NPC healer, and a healer an NPC tank during times that groups take excessively long to make, But since this game won't have a group finder it will be hard for devs to track that aside from the amount of each class being played at the same time and likely the ratio of people that quit isn't going to be all the tanks and healers meanwhile all the DPS decided to skip Dragon Age 4 entirely cause... DPS iS sO fUn
You want to multi-box, I think it should only be allowed if you are doing so with an interface per account. (and you say you are so, to me you are doing nothing wrong) even if using a single interface is actually untrackable and you will never get caught I think it's important to prohibit it and ban people that do get caught.
that is all, I do appreciate your time, desire, skill, and situation thanks for the conversation I do feel slightly more enlightened on the topic of multi-boxing and how it may present itself
Yup.
Box = computer
Client = a program running on a box.
I know... The annoying thing is what I said is the actual definition. I get people thinking it can be done on multi computers but for it to technically be that way you'd have to have one mouse and keyboard to control them all. Idk maybe I'm being a grumpy old man.
Although, if you look past the term and see what they are trying to do it really is the only feasible thing they can do.
And it doesn't matter if it's good or bad for the game because you can't stop it.
I'm saying multiboxing can't actually be stopped, any efforts to do so will hinder other players and not multiboxers, and so any attempts to actually try will absolutely hurt the game as a result.
From there, I am saying there are indeed good sides to people that multibox in MMO's, and the fact that these people are far more likely to stick around when a game such as Elder Scrolls 6 is released - allowing the rest of the population still playing to be able to continue to group up easier - is but one of the advantages.
If you look at things from the perspective of accounts matter, rather than players behind them (which is how developers determine how popular their game is anyway), what issues do you then see?
The fact that a single player can in essence create a fast travel system using three accounts to jump between two ends of the map to transport materials is not healthy for the game. That aspect, thankfully, can be fixed by removing family summoning or putting it on a hefty (multiple day) cooldown.
I agree there’s no way to outright prevent it at a technical level, but it should not be condoned by a dev as acceptable. This is a bad place for a “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” attitude when it’s very well known that there’s no genuine benefit to the community to allowing multiboxing.
A family might all play, but a teenager won’t play it the same as a 40yr old man who won’t play it the same as a 25yr old lady. It’s not unreasonable to expect Intrepid to monitor funneling to remove accounts that are nothing but resource funnelers. They say they will have active GMs, they’ll have the ability to determine if something warrants a penalty as exploiting.
The devs need to have a stand so they can create a clear policy and they have laid out one they can reasonably enforce.
I also disagree that there is no value to communities but I want to ask you how someone multiboxing will hurt your game experience. The only reasonable argument I have seen is the voting system, but that has so many limitations on it I don't see it being a problem.
My point is, that fast transport system can be created by any three accounts, so why is it such an issue if those three accounts are owned by one person rather than 3?
Multiboxing destroys economies. Simple as that...
I most certainly doesn't. People that multibox many accounts with bots have the potential to do that.
Your opinion is noted, and you are entitled to it, however I disagree with it
Because three individuals are required to be online simultaneously to take advantage of the fast travel, but a multiboxer can do it solo with no regard for any player cooperation.
A multiboxer can alter trade patterns, can outpace any indicator playing the game with one account as intended, can unbalance smallscale PvP encounters, negates a portion of socialization, and disrupted intended economic patterns involving player housing.
If I have two accounts, and I am a multiboxer, I would need to log out one character, log in the porting character for the destination I want, summon the main character, log the main character and the summon alt out of the game, log the multiboxed character and the summon alt for the destination on the other account in to the game, summon the second character, log the alt back out and log the main back in.
If there is one thing multiboxing has taught me, it is that more players are always, always better.
I would set up a mutual transport system with a number of friends far before I would set one up for myself. It's just easier.
You act as if that process is anything more than clicking into the next instance of the game client. It’s hardly a “hassle”, definitely not more hassle than convincing guildies to drop what they’re doing to port you around.
If a player runs two characters, they would have two accounts. If they run three characters, they would have three accounts.
Suggesting anything else is to suggest that people will all have additional accounts just to port characters on other accounts around.
The problem is, there will be people with that many accounts...