Falsely Banned for Multiboxing

Hello,

So as you all know, the Multiboxing ToS was updated / changed on November 3, 2020 https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/news/23558957/policy-update-for-input-broadcasting-software

It clearly states that “The use of input broadcasting software that mirrors keystrokes to multiple WoW game clients will soon be considered an actionable offense.”

Also a blue post from Wowhead about it here https://www.wowhead.com/news=318925/multiboxing-is-not-bannable-blizzard-clarifies-tos-measures-taken-to-prevent-bot#:~:text=Multiboxing%2C%20or%20playing%20multiple%20World,may%20result%20in%20account%20penalties.

The wowhead / blue post states “Multiboxing, or playing multiple World of Warcraft accounts at once, is not a violation of our Terms of Use. Please note, however, that use of input broadcasting software may result in account penalties.”

Now that I’ve summed up the new ToS and what is allowed / what is not allowed. The ISBoxer team made a NEW program that followed all the new ToS rules called Joe Multiboxer. Which can be found here https://joemultiboxer.com/

Joe Multiboxer does not use Input Broadcasting and it doesn’t send inputs to the game. https://gyazo.com/f152c127ab78c80686059f848948392a ← Taken from the website.

I got banned for 4 days and then it changed into a 6 month suspension. The Game Master said I was suspended / banned for 3rd party software automation. Which is not the case considering the software doesn’t do this.

It was an autoban from too many reports from other players (People that don’t know what multiboxing is / that its not banned, just the ToS of it got updated)

After my 3rd appeal they sent me this https://gyazo.com/c434e314e1834d5ea653500e40dfc66c

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There’s no such thing as an “autoban”. A ban, o suspension in this case, can only be applied by a person. If it was upheld, then a second person looked at the data and came to the same conclusion.

Unfortunately, a suspension cannot be contested via the forums, only by putting in tickets.

You’re welcome to appeal again until such time that they tell you that no further appeals will be viewed.

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My 3rd appeal resulted in https://gyazo.com/c434e314e1834d5ea653500e40dfc66c

Once it gets to that point, there isn’t anything you can do.

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Adapted response from:

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/falsely-banned-for-multiboxing/863795

(Edited for CS appropriate-ness)

There is no such thing as an auto-ban. You can be squelched from chat by reports, that’s it. An auto-squelch is the only thing that exists … and even further, a squelch only results from multiple reports of spam or abusive chat. If everyone reports you for cheating, there’s no squelch. Get reported for being AFK in a BG? No squelch.

If and when you receive an “auto squelch” it doesn’t go any further until a human reviews the case. Then a silence or a penalty is applied if you were found to have broken the rules. If you didn’t break the rules, nothing happens. The squelch is removed and you go about your business.

If you got account action, it was because you did something against the rules.

This would indicate they have proof positive that you broke the rules. I’d let this be and just deal with the penalty period.

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Who says it follows the rules? Just because another company says it’s fine doesn’t make it so.

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I was going to say exactly this. If someone wants to trust IS Boxer / Joe Multiboxer then that’s entirely on the individual. If and when your trust is broken, the complaint would rightfully be directed at IS Boxer / Joe Multiboxer.

That’s nice that there’s a sentence on their website that says it doesn’t broadcast inputs, but Blizzard is under no obligation to go around the Internet and make sure 3rd party software is or isn’t in compliance with the rules here.

Is there a forum for Joe Multiboxer? Perhaps other people are finding themselves actioned, too, which would mean the developer of this software kinda missed something in their “guarantee” of it being within the terms.

Actually, more to the point, that statement isn’t a guarantee. It says that the software doesn’t broadcast inputs. Fine. Does it, perhaps, somehow violate the one-press, one-action rule? Or some other rule we aren’t even thinking of here? Eh, I’m into deep speculation now.

TL;DR - If one takes a third-party statement as a guarantee of software not violating rules, then one personally assumes the risk of account action. Subsequent complaints should rightfully be directed at the third party.

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“”
example agent provides a basic GUI with a Launch button, and a handful of others. Click the Launch button one time to launch 3 game instances
“”

My brother just used to multibox with two chars. He had a pocket healer and I have no idea how he got that to work because I never multiboxed, but he does not do it anymore… He does not want to chance it. We’re talking 16-17 year old accts so he’s not going to chance anything.

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This would be entirely incorrect and false.

A GM, a human, reviewed the data and applied the suspension. The ONLY thing a large amount of reports did was push it up the queue if that is what happened. It only takes ONE report for action to be taken.

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Also possible you got zero reports and Warden flagged your account for review. only automatic thing would be to flag the account, it still gets reviewed by at least one human before anything is done.

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That software hooks into the game so it’s not safe to use. There are other options which do not do that and also are free and opensource so verifiable unlike jmb. This being said what you do in game is the more likely reason for your ban.

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Blizzard is not going to OK third-party software, no matter what you or that company says it does or does not do.

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Same here… the only kind of “multiboxing” I do isn’t even multi “boxing”. It’s a single box with two monitors. Max I ever do is two accounts at the same time, two instances of WoW up on the two monitors. Set /follow on the 2nd, go collecting mats.

Find an herb node. Loot it.
Alt-tab or click over.
Loot it on the second. /follow if I lose /follow
Back to the first… continue herbing.

Personally I’d never trust my account to third-party software. Addons are fine; we all know those play only in the Lua sandbox. Addon managers are fine. But, beyond that … nah. To me, it’s not worth the risk for the gold or the honor or whatever one is farming.

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Add-ons are third-party software…

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Addons are not generally considered “third party software” in the same sense as a program that works outside of the game. Addons are written within a scripting language (LUA) and while we do not provide support for any specific addon, they are permitted.

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I mean, here’s the test - can Joe Multiboxer do what it does within an addon, with LUA scripting language? If it can, good on it, it’s probably allowed. If it needs an additional program to run that you take action with and hooks into the game client, that’s pretty much going to be no bueno.

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What about tsm? It uses a desktop application.

Also…blizzard could ban you due to ignorance. A complaint comes in by a user that doesn’t understand multiboxing or is upset that you can afford multiple accounts and is picked up by a cs person that doesn’t understand what exactly something like jmb is doing so they just suspend the person.

You have to account for player and cs ignorance in your decision to protect your account.

Necromancy.

CS is far from ignorant, and players are allowed to report anyone and anything they choose to. While false flags happen, if someone isn’t doing anything wrong, nothing will happen. Pretty simple.

As for TSM, Blizzard has never and will likely continue to never give a rubber stamp to any particular program. But I’ve yet to see someone who has come here who has been suspended due to it exactly.

Please be mindful of the date of the thread you’re responding to do not necro threads older than a few weeks, let alone well over a year old.

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The post was from February, but the policy was updated May.

We will now additionally prohibit the use of all software and hardware mechanisms to mirror commands to multiple World of Warcraft accounts at the same time, or to automate or streamline multi-boxing in any way.

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