Hi all. I recently purchased some more MMO gaming mice as mine had died and while rebinding everything, I wanted to set up a bind to switch workspaces on Windows. I then had a thought back to WoW where I was sure there was something in the old ToS that you were not able to bind multiple key presses to a single key. Since the key combination to change workspaces (virtual desktops) by default on Windows is “Ctrl + Windows + Left/Right”, I was just curious if that rule was still a thing, I scoured the EULA on Blizzard’s site and couldn’t find anything.
So, if I bound Ctrl + Windows Key + Left to a mouse button, would this be flagged if I did it while on WoW, even though it would shift my screen off of WoW? Workspaces in general is a great feature on 1 screen devices (my laptop is where I primarily use it, keep browser open on workspace 2, wow open on workspace 1 kinda deal).
It’s macros, where a keypress activates buttons in a sequence, that’s a problem. If you couldn’t mind Ctrl+whatever, then MMO gaming mice would be worthless!
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I don’t think there’d be any problem with that. The rule is that the mouse software can’t create an action in the game that couldn’t otherwise be done with the normal macro system. In this case, the command isn’t actually for the game, but for the operating system, which is why I can’t imagine it being a problem at all 
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Problems start when you use the software to string commands together in a sequence with delays between them (bypassing the GCD and letting you do multiple actions with one button press). This is automation. What you’re describing is just multiple keys at the same time which is fine. My keyboard has 113 key rollover so I could theoretically (with big enough hands) push all 113 keys at once, without any software. It wouldn’t really accomplish anything in the game, but hey.
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Like Perl said, you’re not doing anything to WoW itself and anything that doesn’t affect the game you are OK to do. This is no different than programming a mouse button to shortcut Alt-Tab and minimizing wow. WoW isn’t changed
Thanks everybody for your responses.
I agree that it’s not doing anything to WoW and therefore shouldn’t be a problem. My issue is: there’s been no official response about it. So even though we all agree it probably isn’t illegal, I can’t in good faith do what I want to do because it’s not explicitly defined in the rules as okay. While the community is helpful, it holds no weight in terms of account action. I don’t want to risk getting in trouble, even though I think it’s probably fine. I don’t want to risk a game I play daily on a probably, even if it means sacrificing some quality of life improvements for me.
Again, just want to say again, I do appreciate people’s answers on the forums, I actually think the forums are more helpful than most people give them credit for. I’m just aggravated that there aren’t more clear guidelines for so many things, not just mouse software. I put up a post on in-home streaming about a month ago and it just died without a single response, and little stuff like that is just aggravating to me. I love this game and want to play it even more, yet am hindered by the lack of concise rules in today’s software rich world. Anyway, I hope everybody has a great weekend!
They never give official responses to queries of this nature other than to say 1 press 1 action (Can go look up Ehiz’s post where he hounds them to death about it). They intentionally leave it open to interpretation on a case by case basis.
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If you’re paranoid, and this function isn’t something you wanted to have while operating in the WoW environment, you could always just a) not press the keys or b) setup a separate mouse profile for WoW that doesn’t have it bound.
You’re overthinking this. The question you should ask yourself is “Does this give me an unfair advantage over other players in the game?”. Since what you want to do doesn’t have anything to do with the game, it’s fine.
More precise rules would just create loopholes that unscrupulous players would take advantage of.
Also, take a look sometime at the default key bindings in the game. There are commands that use three keys to invoke. You can use “Control-Shift-Page Down” to scroll to the bottom of the chat window. “Control-Shift-Tab” is Target Previous Friend. If you bound those commands to a mouse button, you wouldn’t get banned. They’re not going to have a problem with “Control-Windows Key-Left”.
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