I would like a clarification on Blizzard’s most recent policy change on multiboxing. I am a manual multiboxer on WoW Classic Era, on the US server Whitemane. Here’s a video example on how I do it. I say ‘manual’ because I do not use any kind of third party software to multibox. My Youtube channel and Twitch livestream are all about pushing the limits of what can be done in WoW Classic by manually controlling several characters at the same time (in my case, 10 shamans). When I multibox, one key press sends one action to one single WoW client window at any given time, so there is certainly not kind of key broadcasting/mirroring involved here.
What I would like to know is, can my way of multiboxing be considered ‘streamlining’ according to your End User License Agreement (EULA)? Again, I would really like some kind of clarification, please. The wording on your Blizard Support page is vague and confusing and does not tell me, as a multiboxer, what is within and not within the terms of the EULA.
I am just a concerned customer who wants to make sure that he is enjoying playing the game is a way that not break the terms of the EULA.
I’m afraid that is as specific as we can get there. Anything more would likely need to come from the game team.
As noted in the Support Article and linked blue post indicates what is prohibited is the use of automation and broadcast software/hardware designed to mirror keystrokes and other commands, streamlining multiboxing.
Unfortunately, Arcaniter, I can’t really approve or disprove your game play. We don’t have access to your set up or what exactly you are doing.
Multi-boxing using /follow and alt tabbing is generally okay. Looking at the video, you don’t really appear to be alt tabbing there, but using your set up and just hovering your cursor over the specific character window, taking a fraction of a second to initiate an action. It may not be mirroring keys, or automation, but I don’t know if I wouldn’t consider that streamlined.
As I said though, I can’t make an official call on your set up.
Thank you for the reply. Do you have any advice on what I could to make my multiboxing less streamlined and thus more likely to be within the rules? I love playing WoW and I love multiboxing, and I would love to continue doing both of these things while staying within the rules.
What about launching multiple WoWClassic.exe instances, manually resizing them, and moving the cursor across the monitor to interact with each client, one client at a time? If this is done with no external software, just WoWClassic.exe and battle.net, would you still say there is a chance I’ll get in trouble for “streamlining”?
Because this is essentially what I’m doing in my video. In Windows 10, in the Ease of Access center, there is a box that you can check called “Activate a window by hovering over it with a mouse.” I checked this box, and then went into the Registry Editor to change the delay value to 0 decimals.
I do use a third party software to resize the WoW client windows and make them borderless, but that is primarily so that it will look nicer when I’m recording and streaming. It doesn’t affect gameplay, and by that I mean that I could launch each client window and resize them manually and the in-game experience would be the same, it would just look less clean.
Understand that Vrak cannot say whether or not that’s okay. The problem really is that people will read a blue reply and take it as gospel. Vrak cannot really expand beyond what he’s already stated.
This itself could be considered as “streamlining” gameplay. But Blizz will not be able to really specify.
This itself could be considered as “streamlining” gameplay. But Blizz will not be able to really specify.
Is it really? Again, in terms of gameplay, it’s no different than manually resizing each WoW client window one at a time. It’s just an aesthetical thing. It doesn’t ‘streamline’ gameplay anymore than manual resizing.
As I said, it could be. I can’t say, nor can Vrak (or other Blizz employees) for certain. All I can do as a fellow player who has lived through all the multiboxing changes can say, is understand that literally anything that might make things easier for you (like mouse-over-active-window) “could” be considered as an advantage or streamlining.
This part might be a little iffy on whether to consider it streamlining, since it is changing a default value of the OS.