5:37 PM 6/28/2020
-It’s an unfair advantage vs legitimate players.
-It’s exploiting the game client.
-The maliciously farmed gold undermines the value of everyone else’s work.
-Cheating should be prohibited, not idolized.
“If you’re interested in multiboxing, please consider Benediction-PVP.”
If that’s your character, then why didn’t you just post with it instead of a sockpuppet?
[This post is being unnecessarily censored by Blizzard until July 2nd.]
That falls in the, “almost no” point. And doesn’t at all refute what I said.
Before I go into my counters to your points. I just want to say THANK YOU! for at least talking instead of delving into name calling.
Also to save myself a bit of typing, most of my points are just opinions. Why? Because I believe that in the case of is multi-boxing a good or bad things. All we have are opinions generally.
With that all out of the way. Into the meat and drink.
I think it all depends on thresholds. I consider an MMO to be a game that has at least a few hundred people playing it on a generated world. If the world can hold say 500 people. If at least 300 players are able to play the game and the rest are just extra toons from those 300 players. It’s still being played as a MMO.
Depends on the player in question. I very rarely join up with other players even when I’m not multi-boxing. I like to play a game being as self-sufficient as possible. Also just because the game is in the MMO genre does not mean that the cooperative game play is a requirement.
Do people do better when they are part of a party? Sure? I don’t know. My party when I have one consists of myself and my alt. And we do fine enough to make self-sufficient work.
Depends once again how the person chooses to define the characteristics of the MMO genre. As far as I’m concerned all that is required is for a lot of people to be able to play on a generated platform. It doesn’t matter what they do after that. As long as there are a lot.
In some instances this is true. In other instances I would say this is wrong. Some classes do great at AOE farming, other classes do great at solo farming. Yet I don’t hear people rushing to the forums when they are playing a class that does alright when they are questing and a single mage decides they want to do a little bit of arcane blast or blizzard farming. Not sure why that is, but it seems that way from my observations.
Healthy is a subjective term. I have to disagree with the latter though. This assumes that the person multi-boxing would care to party with other people. I fall under that umbrella. Just because I play an MMO does not mean that I or anyone else is obligated to play with other people. We are playing the game in a manner that we see fit and so far Activision / Blizzard sees no issue with.
Integrity of the game? Who defines what this integrity is? Who’s opinion is the right one? If their opinion is the right one that all must obey. Who gave them this right to have such power? It’s all an opinion. Neither is right nor is either wrong, it’s all a perspective and nothing more.
With this being a game that belongs to the IP holders. They are free to do what they want with the game. If I don’t like something they allow, I can voice my opinion in opposition. If I feel that my voice isn’t heard, I can choose to stop playing.
Grinding and time investment are also very subjective to the person playing the game. When I am multi-boxing, I’m rather casual when playing the game. I might do a quest or two here and not pick up the game again until the next day. I would say that in reality, I’m probably more grindy when playing single player. Because I get bored, but I like the change of pace. Some people play an MMO and they want to digest all of the content. See all that there is to see. This is great if that is what the person likes. There are others that just want to PVP. Once again this is great! that is what they want to do to play the game. There are others that want to just get to end game. Nothing wrong with that either. We all play the game for different reasons.
What about the people that play the game by maxing out their rest XP? Surely they are decreasing their grind time right? What about people that do group up? They are making the solo grind time less. By the way, I think speed runners are amazing.
That’s the thing though. This is the game for me. Why? Because I enjoy the game and am getting out of the game what I want to get out of it. Isn’t that the purpose of playing a game? to do something that you find enjoyable? If I didn’t like this game, I wouldn’t be playing it. I just have different priorities as to what makes this game enjoyable to me. Just as I’m sure you have different priorities that make this game enjoyable for you.
As a counter though. Maybe the game isn’t right for you. The reason why I say this is because you seem to have very strict ideas of what this game is and what this game isn’t. If someone doesn’t share that same view, then they are just playing the wrong game.
I would say that this game is the game for me. Why? Because I understand that a game is meant to be fun and different people find fun in different ways than I. If they are having fun, they are having fun and that is what matters to me.
This doesn’t mean that I approve of certain behaviors in the name of having fun though.
that statement sums up most complaints around here
never truer words spoken - it’s entertainment, fun - not irl
gr8 b8 m8 i r8 8/8
The problem with this definition is that it so vaguely defines “multiplayer” that the term could mean any game played by multiple people. In the case of WoW, or of the MMORPG genre, multiplayer refers to simultaneous and cooperative play between multiple people.
I think you misunderstand what I meant. I’m not saying that WoW only has players drawn to a cooperative style of multiplayer. I’m saying that compared to a traditional RPG, the design of an MMORPG is built upon cooperative gameplay between multiple players. It’s then fair to say that the genre is built upon this idea.
Now you’re plainly wrong about what an MMO is. The definition you’ve put forth of “a lot of people able to play on a generated platform” absolutely is broad and vague enough to apply to every game ever created. You may as well say you’ll define MMO as anything you’d like it to be.
In no instances is it wrong. The ability for a single class to farm multiplayer content does not negate that every single farm is faster, more consistent, and more efficient if done as a multibox. The reason to see far less ire about a Mage doing the ZG pull solo is because it takes quite a lot of skill, patience, and practice to accomplish that pull solo.
If you have no interest in playing with other people, then your participation in a genre named after a core feature of multiplayer and cooperative content is a poor choice. There already exist a myriad of single player RPG games, and among those are games which allow you to control multiple party members. Realistically, you chose the wrong genre of game for the gameplay you’re seeking.
In WoW, the integrity of the game is measured by asking the simple question of “is my time investment being given the same potential as any and every other player”. Meaning that any individual player should have the same access to progression as any other individual player. Multiboxing pays additional fees to purchase additional access and thereby undermining the entire genre.
But you didn’t actually answer the question. If you find it acceptable to purchase extra single player agency over the game world so as to cut out the necessity of cooperative play to do multiplayer content, would you then also find it acceptable for a single player to purchase the rewards of multiplayer content?
It’s not at all. Any player can type out /played to measure exactly how much time they’ve invested in the game. It’s also not subjective that WoW is built upon players grinding out content for in game accomplishments. Part of that grind is the cooperative play of finding teammates to help with world content, teammates to form dungeon groups, and teammates to form raid groups. This is a deliberate social dynamic intentionally crafted into the content that mutliboxing pays an extra fee to bypass. It’s fair to say that part of the WoW grind is that social element of the game. It’s also fair to say that the social element of the game is the cornerstone of the MMO genre.
This is really stretching and grasping at straws to ignore the obvious design of the game and the obvious goal of the MMO genre. You are playing WoW in a way that ignores the social element and are therefore playing WoW in such a way as to resemble a different genre of game. You are modifying your WoW experience to exclude what makes it an MMORPG vs a traditional RPG. It’s then obvious to say that the game WoW was designed to be isn’t a game that appeals to you.
any 5 man group could do the same thing though
i don’t think there is a “genuine question” here to be answered still blizzard ruled multiboxing ok 15 years ago as long as each single action taken requires a person pressing a key if that key just to happens to be bound to 15 other accounts they say thats ok and thats its not “borderline exploitative behaviour which skates by the banhammer on a few technicalities”
I mean yes they could, but his concern is clearly with the cosmetic side of the game. Multi-boxers tend to look unnatural.
Well, I don’t know all about that. I support multiboxing because of how bent out of shape it makes people.
yeah i wont say they are the best thing since canned bread but it was always fun to try and kill one when you encounter them in the world with friends
I don’t think it’s vague at all. Look at what is written and then compare it to what you just wrote. Same definition, just different wording. 500 people being able to play on a single generated world.
How else was I supposed to read what you wrote?
“Cooperative gameplay is the draw of an MMO over playing a traditional, single player RPG game.”
If by cooperative style you mean people just going about the world doing their thing and that thing being whatever it may be. ABSOLUTELY!. If you mean by cooperative style people needing to join up to complete content. I have to disagree to some extent. Not all content needs to have people joining up to complete it.
Yes it is a very broad statement, because I do a lot of thinking outside of the box. There are criteria for myself to call a game an MMO and there are criteria where I would say a game is not an MMO. As I did state though, the biggest criteria as far as I’m concerned is, “Can a large number of people play on a generated platform at once?” When I’m saying generated platform, I’m saying a single instance. Take WoW for example, each server being a single instance of the game. Now take something like Super Smash Brothers. Just because thousands of people can play the game online, they are not playing it in mass single instances (At least not that i’m aware of" There is a difference there.
It all comes down to the experience that the player is looking to have. I think people are only going to join up with other people if they have something to gain from it. Setting multi-boxing aside. It makes no sense for me to join up with other players to complete content that doesn’t need assistance to complete.
Let’s say I did choose the wrong genre for the sake of argument. It still doesn’t change the fact that I can make the game work for what I want to get out of it. The genre at that point becomes moot.
I have a fun story I have to share and you’ll see where I toss genre out the window and make things my own. I love to RP and was going through a decent RP drought in real life. I actually started RPing on a single player game of Minecraft. I actually told my friend, “I am RPing more on Minecraft right now, than I have in the past few months.”
SIngle player Minecraft in my opinion is the farthest thing from being an RPG, but thinking outside the box I turned it into one. Even if the game isn’t designed to be one.
It’s their money to do with as they see fit. If they want to pay to be boosted or have someone carry them through a dungeon. I don’t care what they do with their money or their time. They want to pay real money so they are guaranteed a slot in a raid. More power to them.
I really don’t care what people do in WoW. When I say that I play solo and I play self-sufficient. I really mean what I say. Someone wants to toss a buff on me, thanks! I don’t use the AH, I don’t raid, I don’t join guilds, I vendor off everything I find that I can’t use. I don’t do BG’s. This same mindset holds true if I’m multi-boxing or not. If the other people were not in the game, I wouldn’t lose any sleep. I would LOVE for them to create a Wow classic Offline and I would play that even if there was a fee to have it offline. I would pay it. Sadly, that isn’t a reality, so I play what I can play which is the online version.
See my above post. All I wish to add is. I do more socializing with the community on the forums than I do in game.
ABSOLUTELY! Look at my above post.
You didn’t specify the single world; so this makes more sense.
The logic doesn’t follow when you compare playing WoW to playing any single player RPG. The RPG genre is already filled with games that allow you to control multiple characters to clear its content. What sets MMORPGs aside from these games is that each character has its own human player and clearing the content is a cooperative effort rather than a single player’s effort. This necessarily means that choosing to play an MMO only to bypass the multiplayer element of the game is a bit asinine.
If you ignore the other players in a multiplayer game and don’t participate in cooperative gameplay, then it begs the question of why not play a single player game instead.
You can’t pick and choose like that when justifying your own perspective. If not all content requires a player to cooperate with others, why do you feel the need to mutlibox when doing that same content? At this point I need more insight into what you get out of defying the MMO genre to play it like a single player game over playing a single player game. I understand the principle you’re espousing, but without something to validate it, I’m left with nothing.
Which is why the genre isn’t suited for you. The actions players take affect other players in the game, your included. That’s the point of the genre. Playing WoW alone is the equivalent of doing an DnD session by yourself.
I would chalk this up to misunderstanding the genre as well.
If the game doesn’t appeal to you, why jump through hoops to modify it into something that does rather than playing a game more suited to your tastes? You may be thinking why should I care at all what you do, but as I stated above, the actions of all players tend to affect each other. Meaning that your actions as a multiboxer are having an effect on the players around you.
And that is okay if people feel that way when talking about people that multi-box. Not everything has to make sense to the other person. I don’t get how people can raid day in and day out, or how people can do BG’s all the time or how people can just do PVP content and be happy. I don’t get it, I really don’t because it’s not my story to get. But there is no denying that people do these things and have a their most fun doing it.
As long as they are having fun doing it, that’s all that matters to me. I can sit there and ask until; I’m blue in the face, “WHY?!?!?!” The answer is always the same. Because they enjoy doing that stuff. You might not get it, but that’s okay."
Because as I stated before. I like the World of Warcraft. There isn’t an offline version of Classic outside of setting up a personal private server. That would be breaking the rules though. Until such a time comes, I have to play this. There are plenty of other games that have parties and are single player. YES! I love Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape Tormet etc. But none of these games are the World of Warcraft.
I find it way more efficient leveling up the various characters together instead of one at a time. Also it triggers my OCD when their XP is different. I actually almost started crying when the two characters I use were 1 XP off. NO IDEA how that happened, but it did.
It’s also more efficient when leveling their professions. It’s not fun having to send mail to the other toon and having to wait an hour.
Plus there is that terrible swamp run. Why make the trip more than once if you don’t need to?
The game does appeal to me though, just the supposed proper way to play the game doesn’t. As I said, if they had an offline version of Classic WoW. I would be on that quicker than anything, sadly all I do have is the online version to play on.
I hope that what I wrote gives you some insight as to why I do what I do.
It gives me insight into you specifically, but can you appreciate the negative impact multiboxing has on the players who don’t use it to farm?
ABSOLUTELY! and there are certain behaviors that some multi-boxers do that are a terrible.
Just because I multi-box doesn’t mean that I support all of the actions of people that multi-box
Things like:
People that have 5+ toons running around and AOE large areas of a zone and making it impossible for other players to quest until the mobs respawn.
People that multi-box and PVP by one shotting because they can burn someone down with a single key press.
Sadly there are a lot of people that do multi-box and cause these issues and do give multi-boxing a bad rep. I just don’t think everyone should be placed under that same umbrella. Judge each case on it’s own and get mad at that particular multi-boxer, not all of us unfairly.
I’ve run into more single box players that enjoy griefing others than I have Multiboxers.
Causing disruption isn’t a multiboxing issue. It is a player issue. How they choose to do it is moot.
This is true.
Agreed. Most of the people that don’t like multiboxers like to spread lies around in an effort to get players that don’t do it against them.