dual-boxing
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The Daily Grind: Should multiple accounts be policed?
Pirates of the Burning Sea recently amended its in-game rules to reflect an official stance on the practice of "alt-flipping," a tactic used by players with multiple accounts to manipulate the game's Conquest system. In a nutshell, Flying Lab devs have labeled certain uses of the tactic as griefing and stated that it will be policed as such (including possible bans). Interestingly, Flying Lab also goes out of its way to state it has no problem with multiple accounts per se, saying that in most cases multiple accounts are a perfectly acceptable gameplay tactic. This seemingly opens up a can of worms over what is considered legitimate and/or acceptable gameplay, particularly when the game's design intentionally features a "cutthroat, competitive [...] system that drives players to find any edge they can get over the opposing forces." Dual-boxing is nothing new in MMORPGs of course, and games like EVE Online even advertise it and run discount promotions for alt accounts. What about you, Massively readers? Do you dual-box, and more importantly, do you feel alt accounts should be policed? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of our readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's The Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: Multi-boxing mayhem
The act of playing multiple characters across multiple accounts at once (known as multi-boxing) has remained a popular pastime over the years for a certain breed of MMO player. There are communities devoted to getting the most out of multi-boxing, and reading through their forums you'll quickly learn that the number of characters being played can vary from two at once (dual-boxing), all the way up to multiple groups. Sometimes it's done on one computer, but the more hardcore multi-boxers tailor a hardware setup for the purpose, involving multiple computers and perfectly arranged monitors.The reasons for getting into multi-boxing differ from person to person. Some like the challenge of controlling extra characters, while others may enjoy being self-reliant when it comes to tackling content that would normally require more than one player. Others just like the process of refining the art itself, working on making the perfect group combination with the perfect hardware setup and control scheme.This morning, we'd like to ask where you fit in the multi-boxing scene. If you haven't ever tried it, is it something that interests you or do you think you'll never get into it? For those that do (or used to) multi-box, how many characters do you tend to run? Is it for one of the reasons above or something else? Make sure to share any particularly crazy multi-boxing stories you have!
TurpsterVision: Multiboxing, Recruit a Friend Style
We can't believe it either – Turpster has been let loose on WoW.com to bring you videos from in and around the World of Warcraft! You've heard him on the WoW Insider Show, and now see him on TurpsterVision right here on WoW.com.Multiboxing has long been at the center of a heated debate within the WoW community. Some say that it is cheating; others say that it is just against the spirit of the game, all I know is, I absolutely love it!I started my journey nearly 90 days ago where I added three new accounts with Blizzard's 'Recruit a Friend' scheme. I set myself the goal of being able to have a level 60(+) of every class in the game. For some of you out there I am sure that you've already achieved this feat during the past 4 and a half years of Warcraft – I know of one person who has gone FAR further than just one of each class. I've always focused all of my attention on my main, gathering achievements, pets, mounts, mats, gold, gear, well you get the picture – and I ended up forgetting the joys of alts. So with too much time on my hands, a few extra copies of WoW and some cool bits of software (more on this below) I jumped into Azeroth with a new mission; to destroy everything!
The Queue: Soloing Zul'Gurub like a Q
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.As Alex mentioned yesterday, he and I will be taking turns with the queue. So don't fret, Alex will be back in your loving graces tomorrow. As this is my first post for the queue, I feel like I'm boldly going where no man (Alex is a superman) has gone before. And who better to welcome me than John de Lancie's iconic Q character? With Picard oddly facepalming himself... huh. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. Anyways, I digress. On with the Q!037 asked... "Is it possible to solo Zul'Durub to farm the mounts? If it makes a difference, I am a 10 Man Naxx geared Enhancement Shaman."
New mousecloning software lets you mouse multiple screens [Updated]
Update: Despite evidence that Blizzard was okay with this app, on the Customer Service forums, Malkorix tells users he "strongly advises shying away from this program." Use it at your own risk, folks. Update II: The folks behind MouseCloner have informed us that while the app did originally use "prerecorded x/y coordinates" (which is what Malkorix found a problem with), they have specifically recoded the app to use only mouse position, in order to stay away from questions about scripting. To our (and their) best knowledge, the app is safe to use, but as always, you use third-party programs with your client at your own risk. You can find more information and ask more questions on the Mousecloner forums. Original Post: Now here's a subject with my name written all over it. Those of you who followed my exploits over on the official forums will likely remember my responses to multiboxing questions with a nice, clear stance on what Blizzard does and doesn't support with regard to multiboxing tools. It was good for the multiboxing community -- and bad for anti-multiboxing trolls -- to have readily-available blue responses to those kinds of important questions. Even Tom Chilton (a.k.a Kalgan) has come out in support of the practice. For those of you unfamiliar with it, multiboxing is the act of playing more than one WoW account/client at the same time. There have historically been a number of programs used by multiboxers that help with client-switching or keybinding to make controlling two or more accounts easy.
Perspective on the widespread use of alts in EVE Online
There are over 250,000 active subscriptions to the sci-fi massively multiplayer online game EVE Online, but have you ever wondered how many players that figure actually represents? The exact number of people that comprise the game's playerbase is unclear due to the common practice of playing with multiple accounts. While the end result is likely the same to CCP Games in a financial sense -- all of those active subs add up to a steady flow of income month to month -- the fact remains that the game doesn't necessarily have 250,000 different people logging into New Eden from month to month. At least, not yet, although the number of subscribers is growing. (EVE set a peak concurrent user record last Sunday of 48,065 players.)Unlike some massively multiplayer online games, EVE is based on real-time skill training rather than using the system of leveling up central to other titles. Each EVE account has three character slots, but skill training can only be active on one character at a time. And as with most MMOs, a player can only be logged into one character per account at a time -- even if multi-boxing. If a player needs to skill up specialized alts, he or she must either sacrifice valuable skill training time on their main, or run a second (or third) account to really advance. A recent EVE-Mag article by Silene Derbhan, "Alternates: Are We Schizophrenics!?", looks closely at how alt play impacts the game. Derbhan states, "I would like to delve deeper into the game mechanics, to see why players are compelled not only to play different characters, as in any other MMO, but also to pay for every one of these added characters."
One WoW player controls 36 characters simultaneously
If your family or friends ever tell you that dual-boxing is insane and you need to get a life, show them this story. A World of Warcraft player aptly-named Prepared owns 36 accounts that he can actually run simultaneously through his 11-computer set-up shown here. We'll overlook the logistics involved in actually accessing 11 computers at once for just a moment to focus on the cost of such ...dedication. "It costs me exactly $5711 in subscription costs per year with 36 accounts on the 6 month pay schedule. Not bad considering I'm looking at it like it's a hobby and there are more expensive hobbies out there than World of Warcraft," Prepared says. This doesn't even include expansion costs, as he figures Wrath of the Lich King will set him back about another $1500.So how does he do it? Is it all for show, or can he actually be a one-man raid? According to him, they are all fully-functional with the help of certain add-ons and macros. While this isn't the first time someone has done something like this, with some players reporting as high as 50 accounts, controlling everything simultaneously is where Prepared's rig set-up really shines. Just wait until you hear about his nine level 80s on WotLK's Murmur PvP server. One of Azeroth's millions of citizens? Check out our ongoing coverage of the World of Warcraft, and be sure to touch base with our sister site WoW Insider for all your Lich King needs!
Addon Spotlight: Mac Dual-boxing
The new Recruit-A-Friend program has taken the World of Warcraft community by storm, perhaps more so in the dual- and multi-boxing circles. I'll admit that while I advocate enjoying the leveling process and experiencing the lore through quests and in-game events, once you've hit 70 a couple of times, the magic tends to wane. With the coming of Wrath of the Lich King, we've had some time to re-evaluate our WoW experience. For many of us, finishing up some alts has become a way to prepare for the expansion. I've had a number of alts since I started playing, but have only managed to ding two paladins and a rogue. Each time I play in a battleground I see a member of another class do something crazy cool and ponder rolling whatever class it is. With the RAF program in full effect, I decided that dual-boxing with the 300% XP and Summon Friend ability would be the most efficient way to get my alts Wrath-ready. This How-To is specifically for players using Macs, but in essence many of the principles remain true for PC users.
CCP re-launches Power of 2 EVE promotion, supporting multi-boxing
CCP is renewing its Power of 2 promotion for EVE Online. The promotion encourages multi-boxing by allowing existing subscribers to add a second account at the discounted rate of $49.95 for six months. After the six months expire, the account will switch to the normal $14.95 per month rate. Last time CCP gave players the option to sign the account up for another $49.95 deal after a while. No guarantee it'll do that this time, though.The promotional e-mail sent out by CCP says that the account can not only be used for training skills on two pilots at once (impossible with two pilots on the same account) but also for "extra firepower on missions" or "an extra hauler for miners." So, legitimized multi-boxing it is, then. Cool. EVE just has to be different in every way it can, doesn't it? It's a compulsion.The offer's available until October 10th, so you've got a while to mull it over.
Addon Spotlight: TwoBox Toolkit
Welcome to a special preview edition of Addon Spotlight. I've been playing around with dual-boxing and wanted to shared this addon with you all, as it adds some great features for anyone running two toons. Rather than succumb to expansion apathy, I've been attempting to level my alts via the ridiculous XP bonus given to players who have recruited a friend. Besides, who doesn't want a new Zhevra mount for their Belf-about-town? Regardless, some savvy developers have come up with some mods to help the aspiring dual-boxer.This is the only in-game addon I use when I'm burning through the levels via the Recruit-a-Friend program. The developer has combined a lot of great little tools into the package. Once I started using TwoBoxToolkit I noticed a significant increase in efficiency when dual-boxing.
Rogue Signal: The wonderful world of alts
With EVE Online's time-based skill system of character progression, multiple accounts are pretty commonplace amongst the hardcore and even semi-casual player. CCP even occasionally holds special discounts for the opening of new accounts, called the Power of Two program. EVE is unique in the way that it handles alts, in many ways. Since only one character can be training at a time, and, unlike other MMOs, there is no real end to the training a character will do, if you want to start something new from the ground up, you're going to need to either scrap your existing character, or open up a new account. Today, we'll take a look at how to go about creating an alt.
