Multiboxing =/= Botting

So, I might as well get this out of the way before I go any further.

Multiboxing falls into a "love it or hate it" catagory. Some people feel it's detrimental to the game. Others feel it's blatant cheating, or botting. Then there are others who think it's cool to watch, or just amazed by it.

For the purpose of this post, I am just going to make it clear what Blizzard's stance (you know, the guys who made the game and enforce it's rules?) is on multiboxing. If you want to hear it strait from a CM, you can follow this handy dandy link

Simply put, Blizzard does not see any unfair advantages to playing like this because the same exact advantages can be gained by grouping. Having 2,3,4,5, or however many toons controlled by 1 player is fine, so long as there is no automation involved.

Now, what defines automation you ask? (well, maybe you didn't ask, but I'm gonna tell you anyways!). Blizzard's stance is if you push 1 keystroke, that that keystroke does multiple actions that generate global cooldowns on a single account, then you have entered the bot zone. For example, if I pushed 1 and it cast fireball every 3.5 seconds until target was dead, that's botting. Now, if I push 1 every time to cast fireball, then it's all cool.

Where people like to focus the debate on is keyboard broadcast programs, like the one I use. These programs allow for a single keystroke to be issued to multiple instances of WoW at the same time. People see too problems with this.

1. It's a 3rd party software that is helping you play the game. 3rd party programs are generally forbidden by Blizzard.
2. because it's broadcasting keystrokes, each keystroke is essentially doing multiple actions per stroke.
3. Having multiple toons under one mind brings too much power to a single player.
4. It breaks the spirit of the game.
5. It unbalances the game, unfair, etc.

1st, Blizzard picks and chooses which third party program is allowed and disallowed. Mods are very popular with WoW, and every one of them is considered 3rd party, and I don't see them banned. And they won't be, so long as they are cosmetic and don't play the game for you.

2nd, well, this changes depending on how you look at it. If you, like most people, look at it as 1 stroke = multiple actions per player, then yeah, we entered the bot zone. However, Blizzard looks at it at a per character (toon) level. At this level, we are in the clear.

Let me clarify. Say I have 3 mages (which I do). If I push 1, they all shoot fireball at the same target. 1 keystroke, 1 action per toon/3 actions per player. Blizzard is fine with this, because they don't care about the per player part. Cry and moan all you want, but this is Blizzard's stance.

As for 3, the same said power can be yours if you group with people. 5 people can dominate 1 person very easily, be it they are controlled by one person or 5.

4th**, well, tough cookies. I always took that the spirit of the game is to have fun, but hey, it's what you make of it. Your opinion of it is going to be different than mine, and there is nothing about the "spirit of the game" in the EULA. If I am doing something that you don't like me doing, then go punch your tough shit card.

And for the rest, to me, it's just complaining. There will always be that subset of people who have to complain about everything, always unsatisfied regardless of what's done to the game. Blizzard's stance is that grouping gives the exact same benefits, so it's a level playing field.

That's all I got to say about this. Hopefully I never, ever have to come back to this post, ever.

** I reread some of the responses from blues and whatnot, and appearently it is an actionable and bannable offence to be against the spirit of the game. *shrug* I guess they don't feel that it breaks it.