Playing multiple accounts at the same time?

[USS_Parallax]

Multiboxing. In my opinion it should NOT be allowed. I understand this is a business and Cryptic wants money but it's just plain stupid.

It represents the real life difference of rich and poor and gives and unfair advantage to the multiboxer who will often be more effective then the same number of accounts each with different people since one multiboxer doesn't have to coordinate with lots of people.

I'm talking multiboxing where they bound the controls for each instance of the game to one keyboard. Moving will make them all move exactly the same so they can be in perfect formation.

It's just too cheap. And I don't mean that in a financial way.


That said I've only come across a few multiboxers. They're not too common. They don't affect the game too much because of their rarity. However once you meet one you'll curse their mother and children for all eternity ;).

It's especially noticeable when you're fighting an instanced fight of like 5v5 and you get slaughtered by absolutely perfect timing of 5 huge hits all at once. Stuff like that.

[Tamgros]

One of my buddies multiboxes. Actually, to be more specific, his guild shares accounts so they can lvl and play on all their characters 24/7. A few players do have multiple accounts though.

How would you prevent multi boxing though? It's not like Cryptic would prevent a paying customer for getting multiple accounts, what if it's just a family? Preventing paying customers is usually a bad thing.

As for should multiboxing be a violation of the EULA? Meh, I don't really care. If a group of five different people can't coordinate to beat one person at STO, I probably won't like STO that much. That kind of tactic may work in WoW because it is so easy, but I assure you it wouldn't work in AoC or something with more in depth combat.

[terranova3y2]

I worked for a publisher of MMO's and their official stance on it was

"If they pay for the accounts, we don't care"

[USS_Parallax]

One of my buddies multiboxes. Actually, to be more specific, his guild shares accounts so they can lvl and play on all their characters 24/7. A few players do have multiple accounts though.

How would you prevent multi boxing though? It's not like Cryptic would prevent a paying customer for getting multiple accounts, what if it's just a family? Preventing paying customers is usually a bad thing.

As for should it be in the EULA or something, meh, I don't really care. If a group of five different people can't coordinate to beat one person at STO, I probably won't like STO that much. That kind of tactic may work in WoW because it is so easy, but I assure you it wouldn't work in AoC or something with more in depth combat.

If it's a family it's okay. Multiple accounts is okay. Playing them at exactly the same time as one person... NOT WANT! And it's really easy to tell a multiboxer. They move in perfect sync, attack in perfect sync, etc. You just report one and a mod looks at it and bam, it's over.

NO group of 5 people can coordinate better than one person. Assuming they're of around equal skill it's just neigh-impossible. Multiboxers were completely owning WoW forever and still do. I don't see a forseeable reason why they wouldn't work in WoW and they DO work in AoC and games with depth. I've seen it.

[Tamgros]

NO group of 5 people can coordinate better than one person. Assuming they're of around equal skill it's just neigh-impossible. Multiboxers were completely owning WoW forever and still do. I don't see a forseeable reason why they wouldn't work in WoW and they DO work in AoC and games with depth. I've seen it.

Melee in AoC takes so much movement because getting behinds someone is so important. It's crazy, you the person you are attacking also has to be right in front of you, so any sort of formation wouldn't work for melee. There is no way the group of five could have any melee characters or they would be completely ineffective because they have to constantly move and movement disrupts casting.

Even casters can't target if they aren't facing someone. This includes the main heals of the healer. The target of the attack would simply move in the middle of the formation and they couldn't be targeted by everyone. Further, the healers would have trouble healing. Where the player looks means so much in the game, the idea of five players locked in sync being able to do anything is just laughable.

So yeah, in conclusion, healing doesn't work very well, casting would be constantly spinning trying to regain target lock, and Melee would be EPIC FAIL.

This same idea should be true for STO or I really don't think I'll be playing for very long. If they really have power distribution, and directional shielding, it should be ok.

[Elta_and_Zletha]

How would you prevent multi boxing though? It's not like Cryptic would prevent a paying customer for getting multiple accounts, what if it's just a family? Preventing paying customers is usually a bad thing.

I worked for a publisher of MMO's and their official stance on it was

"If they pay for the accounts, we don't care"

These two comments are both true. There's just no way that a company can prevent a person from purchasing multiple accounts. It could be a family or it could be a single person, but you can't stop them.

And yes, if they have the money to waste on multiple accounts, that just means they're providing the company with more resources to bring us more content. If I was a company, I wouldn't care either.

Its like having a lemonade stand and forbiding someone to buy mulitple drinks because someone else can only afford one. It's bad buisness.

Crap... I want lemonade now...

[Nrrdboi]

leave it to people who like to cheat and work to get something done...its a sad state of affairs what this younger generation has come to....instant gratification with no consequences....multiboxing was very prevailant in FFXI...it lead to a bad economy' they had control of everything from camping NMs to farming everything under the sun...but sony did try to combat it and did pretty well on it....personally i dont think it should be allowed and that account should be banned.


theres my .02 :D

[USS_Parallax]

They can stop whatever they want. That agreement you sign gives them the ability to do what they want when they want with your account.

And in many MMOs their formations are "5 characters taking up the same space" which is really cheap. And this game will having firing archs. Just be something with a huge arch and no matter the formation you'll hit them pretty darned good.

[CaptainCow]

These two comments are both true. There's just no way that a company can prevent a person from purchasing multiple accounts. It could be a family or it could be a single person, but you can't stop them.




Let them purchase the accounts. Let them play together and fly in the same fleet. But surely multiboxing can be traced in the logs (trying to sound like a computing whizz and failing miserably). Doing exactly the same actions at the same time could be seen and proved. However inherent in the movement of a well organised fleet will be differences. Differences through both reaction times and in the way they approach the scenario.

[Suricata]

Hmm, I'm not sure how i feel about this, in WoW, the multi-boxers are few and far between, if anything they ar a fun novelty to see running though the city. Me myself, I've multi-boxed, but in the sence that I've ran 2 accounts on one computer with a charctor on follow for buffs and heals. I also play 2 accounts over 2 PC's as well. I've never macro'd keys together though for running both accounts at once, and I think that is where the line should be drawn. Macro's (like the ons that help run bots) should not be allowed.

Personally, unless there is an inherent issue with the multi-boxing, like people using it in PVP to be unstoppable, then I don't think the devs should spend to many resources on it which they could be spending elsewhere. That said I'm hoping the game is designed in a way that makes multi-boxing a little harder than games like WoW, which from what I'm understanding it should be, what with ships having different systems to divert power from and shields needing thier settings tweaked, something that should be hard to to over a few ships at once.

[cmhDK]

while I don't mind people having more then one account, even being online with all their accounts at the sime time, I wouldn't approve of multiboxing, actualy, it's the first I've heard about that, but it does sound like real cheat

in CoH me and my friends who had multiple accounts would login with the extra account if we needed someone to fill a spot in the team, I don't see that as cheating as it actually made it harder then it would have been with a full team of active players

but if what you say is true, about having all characters doing the same thing at the same time, it should be traceable

[Tamgros]

They can stop whatever they want. That agreement you sign gives them the ability to do what they want when they want with your account.

And in many MMOs their formations are "5 characters taking up the same space" which is really cheap. And this game will having firing archs. Just be something with a huge arch and no matter the formation you'll hit them pretty darned good.

To get off my AoC soapbox, I really only brought it up to show you how it really could be a moot point.

-There is collision detection in STO so you can't all be in the same place,
-there is directional shielding, how could one person manage this against attckers targeting multiple shields? it can't...
-Power distribution, the ship hgetting focus fire can't increase shields without having all them increase shields, thus decreasing the effectivness.
-3D movement and asteroid fields/objects. Other PCs would have a huge advantage in asteroid field areas.
-hopefully more once we get more info

Assuming all of these points are true, if one person can still beat me and four friends by controling 5 guys, well then (s)he deserves it. I'm just going to have to seriously look at my playing ability.

[B4D_9R4MM3R]

I don't see the problem with having multiple accounts. There is no reason you shouldn't and the company would make more money. However, I know the issue goes beyond multiple accounts to having all of those multiple accounts activated by the same user at the same time. That seems a bit more like a double-edged sword.

Surely when multiboxing you would only be able to play one specific class? All of the short cuts would be different for all of the other classes and you wouldn't be able to heal and attack at the same time. Furthermore, the formation would be constant, so there would be a degree of predictability to the movements of the multiboxer.

Obviously there are advantages to such a system being exploited, but I think the additional cost and class restrictions may make such a system undesirable to many players. I’m not saying I condone this, as I frown on people being able to have an advantage just by throwing money at the game independent of skill, but it shouldn’t be too difficult to adapt tactics to defeat them.

This is all speculative anyway; we’ll have to wait to see what Cryptic’s policy is first. If they frown on it then it should just be as easy as to report the problem and have those accounts banned or whatever. Two or more characters moving in exactly the same way, doing exactly the same things at exactly the same time shouldn’t be too hard to spot when pointed out.

[USS_Parallax]

To get off my AoC soapbox, I really only brought it up to show you how it really could be a moot point.

-There is collision detection in STO so you can't all be in the same place,
-there is directional shielding, how could one person manage this against attckers targeting multiple shields? it can't...
-Power distribution, the ship hgetting focus fire can't increase shields without having all them increase shields, thus decreasing the effectivness.
-3D movement and asteroid fields/objects. Other PCs would have a huge advantage in asteroid field areas.
-hopefully more once we get more info

Assuming all of these points are true, if one person can still beat me and four friends by controling 5 guys, well then (s)he deserves it. I'm just going to have to seriously look at my playing ability.

-I know about the collision detecting. It only solves a bit of the problem though.
-You can. Just put your ships is as tight of a formation as possible. Basically almost touching. Then all of your attacks more or less attack the same area of an enemy's shields and you can defend similarly since they're all so packed.
-You don't need to. You'll pwn with your torpedos and phasers all attacking one ship at the same exact time.
-3D movement isn't a problem.

Go fight a multiboxer. They'll win unless they're stupid. ;)

I'm not saying multiboxing WILL be a problem. Just that from the looks of it it's got a good chance.

[Tamgros]

-I know about the collision detecting. It only solves a bit of the problem though.
-You can. Just put your ships is as tight of a formation as possible. Basically almost touching. Then all of your attacks more or less attack the same area of an enemy's shields and you can defend similarly since they're all so packed.
-You don't need to. You'll pwn with your torpedos and phasers all attacking one ship at the same exact time.
-3D movement isn't a problem.

Go fight a multiboxer. They'll win unless they're stupid. ;)

I'm not saying multiboxing WILL be a problem. Just that from the looks of it it's got a good chance.

Have you never played with a good group? You act like 5 people can't target the same person.

Here's what would happen:
he would focus fire, the person being focus fired on would shift all power to shields.

My team would then put all power to weapons and pick off people one at a time depending on the most advantageous targets, and if there is any sort of AoE in this game, that will also be a factor.

Honestly, I don't see this being a problem at all... I can guarantee you it wouldn't in AoC and that doesn't even seem to have as many options against is as STO.

Anyone here play AoC? Someone back me up, this is silly!

[KashikoiBaka]

I've multi-boxed, and frankly it is a pain in the arse. There is no perfect coordination going on there unless you are a very board individual. And if you are that board, you wont need a second account to be ahead of everyone else to begin with. So there is no use complaining that someone else is using two machines to play the game their own way just because you don't have the funding to do the same, it just seems so childish. Like a kid being jealous cause someone else has that awesome Star Trek lunch box and all you got was Sponge Bob.

[Ruthlessgravity]

You really cant do anything with multiboxers, sure its gonna be a pain in the ass but seriously...theres no way in preventing it from happening.

[Napalm006]

These two comments are both true. There's just no way that a company can prevent a person from purchasing multiple accounts. It could be a family or it could be a single person, but you can't stop them.

And yes, if they have the money to waste on multiple accounts, that just means they're providing the company with more resources to bring us more content. If I was a company, I wouldn't care either.

Its like having a lemonade stand and forbiding someone to buy mulitple drinks because someone else can only afford one. It's bad buisness.

Crap... I want lemonade now...

Did someone say there was lemonade???

The problem here, (if there is one) is that Cryptic will not stop people from buying multiple accounts and playing them at the same time. If you are physically playing 5 accounts at the same time and by this I mean you are not botting. Then its hard to justify stopping someone from doing this. As long as the multi-boxer is not disrupting another player's gameplay (which is highly subjective) then the multi-boxer is doing nothing wrong. If they paid for 5 accounts and can play them. Good for them. More money for Cryptic.

[Arcticfrost]

Multiboxing. In my opinion it should NOT be allowed. I understand this is a business and Cryptic wants money but it's just plain stupid.

It represents the real life difference of rich and poor and gives and unfair advantage to the multiboxer who will often be more effective then the same number of accounts each with different people since one multiboxer doesn't have to coordinate with lots of people.

I'm talking multiboxing where they bound the controls for each instance of the game to one keyboard. Moving will make them all move exactly the same so they can be in perfect formation.

It's just too cheap. And I don't mean that in a financial way.


That said I've only come across a few multiboxers. They're not too common. They don't affect the game too much because of their rarity. However once you meet one you'll curse their mother and children for all eternity ;).

It's especially noticeable when you're fighting an instanced fight of like 5v5 and you get slaughtered by absolutely perfect timing of 5 huge hits all at once. Stuff like that.

Doesn’t matter if it’s allowed or not people will just do it any way and there’s little one can do to stop it.

[Interdictor]

I'll join the consensus - there is practically nothing Cryptic can do to stop it. And seeing as how it's still multiple accounts giving them money each month - they may not want to - unless it becomes disruptive. But let's face it - multi-boxing, while notorious, is still pretty rare.

Besides, like Tamgros said, combat in STO (as it has been described thus far) seems to be intricate enough that controlling multiple ships will be a real pain. As of yet there is no autopilot, ship formation, or auto-fire capability mentioned, and dealing with power distribution, shield facing, and damage on multiple vessels? Naw, an equal number of player ships should win (unless they truly suck).

I really can't see STO combat, as it's planned at least, being conductive to multiboxing - it seems like it would be a royal pain. Too manny little "fiddly things" to deal with. One ship may be difficult enough to handle - we don't know yet. :D

But hey, if multi-boxers still want to pay for multiple accounts - by all means, do so if you wish. :p

[USS_Parallax]

I've multi-boxed, and frankly it is a pain in the arse. There is no perfect coordination going on there unless you are a very board individual. And if you are that board, you wont need a second account to be ahead of everyone else to begin with. So there is no use complaining that someone else is using two machines to play the game their own way just because you don't have the funding to do the same, it just seems so childish. Like a kid being jealous cause someone else has that awesome Star Trek lunch box and all you got was Sponge Bob.

You simply weren't doing it right then. :p

I'm talking multiboxing with the same controls. So it's physically impossible to not coordinate exactly the same.

[SirReginaldo]

One thing I was wondering if there were collisions that caused damage other than a ship to ship ram, like an asteroid belt or debris, flying 2 ships through that or more at the same time would suck...:p

[KashikoiBaka]

You simply weren't doing it right then. :p

I'm talking multiboxing with the same controls. So it's physically impossible to not coordinate exactly the same.

Then you probably aren't doing it right. If you're multi-boxing in an mmo using the same controls isn't all that beneficial when you want the two accounts to be doing separate things, like healing and tanking. Isn't to bad when you are running your lowbies through instances that usually don't get groups for anymore.

[oleum]

More money for Cryptic= Better content for me to play on my one account. Why should I care. Whats a fleet if not distributed multiboxing coordinated by ventrilo. In fact if third party programs are not in TOS can we chat in ventrilo?

[SirReginaldo]

You simply weren't doing it right then. :p

I'm talking multiboxing with the same controls. So it's physically impossible to not coordinate exactly the same.

Multiboxing with the same controls:confused: so you mean one keyboard to do 2 things at the same time... Or 2 monitors and you switch back and forth, observing the activities of both vessels:confused: Isn't that how everyone does it... I thought that was really the only way possible... Would it be even possible to be able to send one command to both vessels at the same time without 2 computers/2 keyboards? Are their bots for that>_< I was missing out:o
Well anyways I hate playing more than one character unless they are on one screen, say a tactics kinda game. I find that jumping from screen to screen sucks...

[KashikoiBaka]

More money for Cryptic= Better content for me to play on my one account. Why should I care. Whats a fleet if not distributed multiboxing coordinated by ventrilo. In fact if third party programs are not in TOS can we chat in ventrilo?

They are going to have voice communication in game but haven't decided what to use yet.

[Citationpilot]

Impractical to enforce. And as the OP said its a small community so why waste time and resources trying to prevent it?

Beyond that, it really comes down to the community to prevent it. So if it becomes a problem then refuse to interact and play with the 5 ships all moving as one.

I have a friend who plays separate accounts on different computers at the same time (not actual multi-boxing) on WoW but it's nothing sinister. He levels his g/f's alts while she's at work and she does the same for him when he's deployed. Honestly its too much work unless you are killing 8,000 boars or some mindless dribble quest.

Like someone already said, it happens b/c WoW is too easy. Furthermore, if someone wants to spend that kind of money building identical rigs and running them through a common controller, then they obviously are going to find a way around any sanctions that are imposed.

[Skud]

You just report one and a mod looks at it and bam, it's over.what are you worried about then, just do this

[BillytheCrayon]

yeah, they are not gonna limit their business by not allowing multiboxing. And multiboxing is not too easy. yeah, if a five boxer comes up against one or two opponents, they can easily squash them with just the push of one or two buttons. but if that same five boxer comes up against another group of 5 people, then they usually die very fast.

[bigsalgo911]

Even World of Warcraft allows multiboxing, and it's not like they are hurting for money. I can't imagine any company in their right mind preventing multiboxing. If I want to buy 2 copies, play 2 ships at once, who cares?

[Citationpilot]

Even World of Warcraft allows multiboxing, and it's not like they are hurting for money. I can't imagine any company in their right mind preventing multiboxing. If I want to buy 2 copies, play 2 ships at once, who cares?

Atari, Paramount, CBS, and of course Cryptic. All in a good way, validating that exact point.

[Jenaside]

Hmm, I'm not sure how i feel about this, in WoW, the multi-boxers are few and far between, if anything they ar a fun novelty to see running though the city. Me myself, I've multi-boxed, but in the sence that I've ran 2 accounts on one computer with a charctor on follow for buffs and heals. I also play 2 accounts over 2 PC's as well. I've never macro'd keys together though for running both accounts at once, and I think that is where the line should be drawn. Macro's (like the ons that help run bots) should not be allowed.

Personally, unless there is an inherent issue with the multi-boxing, like people using it in PVP to be unstoppable, then I don't think the devs should spend to many resources on it which they could be spending elsewhere. That said I'm hoping the game is designed in a way that makes multi-boxing a little harder than games like WoW, which from what I'm understanding it should be, what with ships having different systems to divert power from and shields needing thier settings tweaked, something that should be hard to to over a few ships at once.


I agree with everything you said here....

[Beaver8]

I am too lazy tonight to read the entire post so I will probably post the same junk people have already been saying :p

They cannot stop people from multiboxing although it's pretty lame to multibox. The reason it was so easy and powerful in wow was because you could just occupy the same space and have every one of your characters standing on eachother. Then you just cast chain lightning and wreck everyones day.

In STO since there is collision detection you won't beable to have 5 ships in the same space so one command may work for one ship and be meaningless to the other 4. I would bet too that if you fire at an enemy ship and a friendly vessel crosses your path they will take the damage. So having your 5 ships flying hull to hull they would be bumping into eachother and spanking their own ships shields when they fired.

So I just say go ahead and multibox away and blow yourself up, it will make it easier for everyone else to kill you.

[Rivaris]

if they want to multi box let them.

ofc there will be peole that will multi box over 20+ ships if they want to let them.

it wont give them any advantage since when 1 ship dies the warpcore explosion will take care of the other ships.

[jhem99]

Funny enough, scientific studies have shown that you become dumber when you either multitask or multibox. Therefore not recommended unless you're a high school dropout.:D