Is ISBoxer legal for SWTOR?

[Fevee]

4 characters, wearing the exact same thing, moving at the exact same time, attacking at the exact same time. Exhibit A. Controlled by the exact same player, is it SWTOR legal? Or should I fill out the character names in a report?

[clearsighted]

4 characters, wearing the exact same thing, moving at the exact same time, attacking at the exact same time. Exhibit A. Controlled by the exact same player, is it SWTOR legal? Or should I fill out the character names in a report?

 

Hah. I've seen those exact same dorks. I thought it was silly at the time, too (killing every spawn with sweeping fire and frag grenades). But really, do you have NOTHING better to do with your time than agonize over whether to report them? If you don't know, move on with your life.

 

It would be impossible, or at least, grotesquely difficult to finish any hard mode content, and definitely any operation, with four snipers like that. This isn't WoW.

Edited May 16, 2015 by clearsighted

[-Damask-]

If the player is physically controlling the keyboard then it's legal, this has been stated before.

 

If this is some Chinese guy leveling his bots, then report him. Generally if he is on hutta or ord mantell and has no legacy name or title, then he is a gold seller leveling bots to get to lvl7 so he can go spam fleet.

 

You can try whispering him to see if he responds. Gold sellers will not respond 99.9% of the time.

Edited May 16, 2015 by -Damask-

[Marutac]

u dont know if its a bot or not. even when he sit at his keybord and u whisper him. he dont need to answer him. i should report him

[sxykitten]

multiboxing is legal in almost every mmo to date it brings major income.

 

it keeps money in the pockets of the company much like the guys who run 40 Accounts on WoW or other big games...

 

& yes its allowed it has been said dozens of times by A CM here ISboxer has been legal for ages & will stay that way only way they can be banned is it they are AFK botting I.E not actually doing anything but to box you haft to control all 4 still. thus its legal.

[WorldSmasher]

multiboxing is legal in almost every mmo to date it brings major income.

 

it keeps money in the pockets of the company much like the guys who run 40 Accounts on WoW or other big games...

 

& yes its allowed it has been said dozens of times by A CM here ISboxer has been legal for ages & will stay that way only way they can be banned is it they are AFK botting I.E not actually doing anything but to box you haft to control all 4 still. thus its legal.

 

Source. What is your source for saying that a CM here says it's O.K.? Please, link source.

[wjrasmussen]

Source. What is your source for saying that a CM here says it's O.K.? Please, link source.

it is true with or without a link.

[Jerba]

Here are the three official posts we received on macroing:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=6455899#post6455899

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=6459160#post6459160

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=6459925#post6459925

He didn't talk about multiboxing specifically but it gives us an idea in what ways multiboxing is allowed. Like was mentioned, as long as the multiboxer controls all characters himself and is not a bot, then it's allowed.

[Gonalius]

Seeing as the game will not allow you to open multiple copies on one computer without a lot of mucking about, I think its safe to say that they'd rather you didn't.

[Cuiwe]

4 characters, wearing the exact same thing, moving at the exact same time, attacking at the exact same time. Exhibit A. Controlled by the exact same player, is it SWTOR legal? Or should I fill out the character names in a report?

 

Report or do not. There is no try.

[kingshaneo]

Source. What is your source for saying that a CM here says it's O.K.? Please, link source.

 

Hallo NazgulKhamul,

 

So lange jemand die Charaktere selbst steuert, verstößt 'Multiboxing' nicht gegen unsere Nutzungsbedingungen. Die Beschreibung der Probleme, die im Zusammenhang mit Multiboxern stehen, sind aber sehr merkwürdig. Uns ist nicht bekannt, warum es zu so einem Verhalten kommen könnte.

 

Welche Maus benutzt du? Gibt es für deine Maus Treibersoftware?

 

Um fehlerhafte Dateien auszuschließen würden wir dich bitten, eine Reparatur durchzuführen, falls dort das seltsame Verhalten verursacht wird.

 

Gibt es sonst noch etwas was auffällig ist und mit der fehlerhaften Steuerung in Zusammenhang steht?

 

Vielen Dank.

 

from

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=341193&highlight=multiboxing

 

this the the translated part (bing translate) about multiboxing

 

Until someone controls the characters themselves, 'Multiboxing' does not violate our terms of service'

[Psychopyro]

from

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=341193&highlight=multiboxing

 

this the the translated part (bing translate) about multiboxing

 

Until someone controls the characters themselves, 'Multiboxing' does not violate our terms of service'

 

Actually it is "As long as" not "Until"

 

Here is the thing, from what I understand from other posts, you cannot use software to emulate keystrokes. IS Boxer does just that, it takes the controls you input into 1 client and copies it to the other 3. Hence it is emulating your keystrokes, in essence 1 click of any skill = 4 hence it would be a technical violation of the TOS...

[WorldSmasher]

Seriously. This is something that needs input from the BW staff.

 

As for the previous links provided, the topic covered was about automating key strokes. Multiboxing was not addressed. Just because the traffic cop ticketed you for speeding, and said speeding is wrong, does not mean running red lights is O.K. because he didn't say it wasn't O.K. The cop was talking about speeding.

 

Secondly, I don't read, whatever that was (German?).

 

Thirdly, Psychopyro brought up an interesting point, and as such, warrants input from BW. We can speculate all day, but Multiboxing is a gray area. is it, or isn't it automation? is it, or isn't it ToS friendly?

[DawnAskham]

Seriously. This is something that needs input from the BW staff.

 

As for the previous links provided, the topic covered was about automating key strokes. Multiboxing was not addressed. Just because the traffic cop ticketed you for speeding, and said speeding is wrong, does not mean running red lights is O.K. because he didn't say it wasn't O.K. The cop was talking about speeding.

 

Secondly, I don't read, whatever that was (German?).

 

Thirdly, Psychopyro brought up an interesting point, and as such, warrants input from BW. We can speculate all day, but Multiboxing is a gray area. is it, or isn't it automation? is it, or isn't it ToS friendly?

 

I don't think you'll get a clear cut answer as it is a gray area.

 

Clearly running a script / macro which allows a player to press one key and have multiple actions take place on one character is against the TOS, but does the same hold true for pressing one key for one single action and having software or hardware echo that same single key to multiple clients which all take one single action.

 

Many titles have left mulitboxing as an open gray area - that is they do not take action against players using software or hardware to echo key presses across multiple clients which are tied to single actions, as well as use vague language such as 'it is not against the TOS as long as one key press equals one action' while also never stating 'its totally ok to multibox and we have no issues at all about using such software'.

[wjrasmussen]

Seriously. This is something that needs input from the BW staff.

 

As for the previous links provided, the topic covered was about automating key strokes. Multiboxing was not addressed. Just because the traffic cop ticketed you for speeding, and said speeding is wrong, does not mean running red lights is O.K. because he didn't say it wasn't O.K. The cop was talking about speeding.

 

Secondly, I don't read, whatever that was (German?).

 

Thirdly, Psychopyro brought up an interesting point, and as such, warrants input from BW. We can speculate all day, but Multiboxing is a gray area. is it, or isn't it automation? is it, or isn't it ToS friendly?

 

You have other options on this.

1) you could use common sense.

2) you could use critical thinking.

Try them out sometime.

[Ghisallo]

multiboxing is legal in almost every mmo to date it brings major income.

 

it keeps money in the pockets of the company much like the guys who run 40 Accounts on WoW or other big games...

 

& yes its allowed it has been said dozens of times by A CM here ISboxer has been legal for ages & will stay that way only way they can be banned is it they are AFK botting I.E not actually doing anything but to box you haft to control all 4 still. thus its legal.

 

Wasn't illegal in Rift. They said that so long as a player was pushing keys it did not = automated game play, so boxing was legal. Though I did call these guys wimps. I remember two boxing in EQ2...so scripts or macros. I had two monitors and the only hotkey thing I used was to automatically make one or the other monitors the "Primary". So Monitor 1 was my Mystic, 2 was my Berserker. That was fun lol.

[Vyerix]

If the player is physically controlling the keyboard then it's legal, this has been stated before.

 

If this is some Chinese guy leveling his bots, then report him. Generally if he is on hutta or ord mantell and has no legacy name or title, then he is a gold seller leveling bots to get to lvl7 so he can go spam fleet.

 

You can try whispering him to see if he responds. Gold sellers will not respond 99.9% of the time.

 

You know that means nothing. I don't use my legacy name or title on most of my characters. I also don't respond to most whispers from random people I don't know or care to know.

[Ghisallo]

I don't think you'll get a clear cut answer as it is a gray area.

 

Clearly running a script / macro which allows a player to press one key and have multiple actions take place on one character is against the TOS, but does the same hold true for pressing one key for one single action and having software or hardware echo that same single key to multiple clients which all take one single action.

 

Many titles have left mulitboxing as an open gray area - that is they do not take action against players using software or hardware to echo key presses across multiple clients which are tied to single actions, as well as use vague language such as 'it is not against the TOS as long as one key press equals one action' while also never stating 'its totally ok to multibox and we have no issues at all about using such software'.

 

Not clear at all...as I noted in Rift they considered automation functions that could occur with NO player input. So they said if those three characters can perform functions while the player is away it was a violation...this was automation...however if the player had to hit a button, even if the button push resulted in one, two or three functions on different characters, this was okay.

 

It is only clear when the game says it is specifically. SWTOR has said this specifically though so no need to say "clearly it is against to EULA" or ToS.

Edited May 16, 2015 by Ghisallo

[-Damask-]

The bigger issue here is: who is it hurting? If the guy wants to pay 4 subs then that's 4x the income the game has to put towards new content. Who even cares if he is macroing? Its not like he has 4 characters out in the world stealing kills from people; they all move as one, and attack the same target, and he's not bothering anyone, not exploiting and not spamming gold websites. Maybe if he started attacking people in open world PvP I would start laughing, and no doubt whoever gets their *** kicked would complain... But he's not even doing that. If his idea of fun is running an entire raid team by himself then more power to him. Come back when he does something the least bit provocative or menacing to you.

 

And the point about well you cant open 4 instances of swtor.exe on a single computer so it must be unintended... LOL! What program will let you open more than one? Go try to open two instances of photoshop or word, see how that goes.

[-Damask-]

You know that means nothing. I don't use my legacy name or title on most of my characters. I also don't respond to most whispers from random people I don't know or care to know.

 

Great, so that just means you would be more likely to get reported as a bot if you start acting like one.

 

Of course that totally ignores the obvious question of why would you be camping a lvl5 mob spawn and macro attacking on a starter planet for fun. That would have to be the most boring play style I've ever heard of lol.

Edited May 16, 2015 by -Damask-

[shadowrouge]

The bigger issue here is: who is it hurting? If the guy wants to pay 4 subs then that's 4x the income the game has to put towards new content. Who even cares if he is macroing? Its not like he has 4 characters out in the world stealing kills from people; they all move as one, and attack the same target, and he's not bothering anyone, not exploiting and not spamming gold websites. Maybe if he started attacking people in open world PvP I would start laughing, and no doubt whoever gets their *** kicked would complain... But he's not even doing that. If his idea of fun is running an entire raid team by himself then more power to him. Come back when he does something the least bit provocative or menacing to you.

 

And the point about well you cant open 4 instances of swtor.exe on a single computer so it must be unintended... LOL! What program will let you open more than one? Go try to open two instances of photoshop or word, see how that goes.

 

First off I don't care one way or the other about multibox. But those who have stated that this guy having to PAY for 4 accounts just makes BW money. Where's your proof? Why does he HAVE to pay for 4 accounts in a F2P MMO?

 

Just a thought. But as I said I don't care one way or the other. If he wants to run 4 at a time fine. If you don't fine. Just play the game and enjoy.

[Spetulhu]

And the point about well you cant open 4 instances of swtor.exe on a single computer so it must be unintended... LOL! What program will let you open more than one? Go try to open two instances of photoshop or word, see how that goes.

 

I've not tried since they introduced the BattleNet launcher, but WoW at least used to allow two instances without hickuping. It would probably have allowed as many as your hardware could take.

 

I used it for one of those achievements where you had to do something silly to members of certain race, class or sex combos. Launch a trial account, make a character and run it to somewhere my main can easily fly in and do the thing, whatever it was. I'd just tab to desktop and open the other instance when I needed to switch.

 

edit: it still allows it. Just tested launching it twice.

[Mithros]

Report them and let Bioware figure it out.

 

He's pressing one button and getting four character to perform an action. Doesn't sound much different to me than pushing one button and having four different actions happen.

 

Again, just report it and move on.

[Fevee]

The bigger issue here is: who is it hurting?

 

Sounds like a question posed by an ISBoxer user, one who does not want his multileveling process condemned.

 

He's pressing one button and getting four character to perform an action. Doesn't sound much different to me than pushing one button and having four different actions happen.

 

And that's like saying it's okay for someone to hack and be able to use Ambush 4 times in a row. Or, even worse, one person's hack to simply have Ambush's power multiplied by 4.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Fevee

[DataBeaver]

Here are the three official posts we received on macroing:

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=6455899#post6455899

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=6459160#post6459160

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=6459925#post6459925

He didn't talk about multiboxing specifically but it gives us an idea in what ways multiboxing is allowed. Like was mentioned, as long as the multiboxer controls all characters himself and is not a bot, then it's allowed.

I'll bring up some relevant points from these:

If you instead have a system that when you hit 1, it fires of 1, 2, 3, 4 in quick succession or all at once (i.e. one click == many actions) in order to try and fire something that isn't currently in a cool down state then yes, that is against the ToS. Again, one click must always equal one action and only one action within the game.

(Emphasis mine.) Note the wording: one click must equal one action within the game - not one action taken by your character. If a single keypress causes four different characters to perform an action, then it causes four different actions within the game and is not allowed.

Remapping keys on a keyboard (or Nostromo or Logitech) device so that one key press == one click or ability cast within the game is fine. Using a programmable keyboard or software macro so that one key press == multiple clicks or ability casts in the game is not.

Same thing: He's talking about abilities within the game, not performed by your character. You can't have multiple characters cast abilities in response to a single keypress.

 

On the other hand, if you bind the key '1' to perform an ability on character A, bind '2' to perform the same ability on character B, etc. and then press the keys 1, 2, 3 and 4 in quick succession by yourself, that should be fine. Or you could get a foot pedal and use that to choose which single character you are controlling.