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External Tools in MMO games!!
KJ30
Member Posts: 47
I would like to open this discussion on a subject that seems to be controversial. More and more gamers use a number of different kind of external software while they play MMO such us multibox , bots, macro tools + advanced macro keyboards and mouses.
Please share your thoughts presenting arguments.
Comments
I believe that we all agree, on bots(playing unattended) or hacks(boost powers) that affect in a negative way all games and the other players and all players who use them should be banned!!!
But what about macros? or multiboxing for example. I was really surprised when i learned that multiboxing is allowed!!!
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
I used to multibox all the time and see no issue with doing so. Where i have a problem with it is when actions become automated between the characters.
I used to do it the old school way of just tabbing between screens to cast or use abilities while on follow on another character. This used to be doable when combat was way slower which allowed for the time to swap screens.
I'm not sure this is even possible today and surely not as efficient without automating programs.
I used to multibox in EQ. After years of seeing what it has done to that game, as well as seeing people using it to exploit/cheat in other games like WoW and RIFT, I'm firmly in the camp of banning any tool that automates actions or multiboxes.
Multiboxing is just a gray area of cheating used by those who can't stand to play on even footing with others, they must always have the advantage, and most of them usually flaunt it. Banning multiboxing in PvP was one of the best decisions Rift made over the years, especially after it went F2P.
I have no problem with fancy keyboards and mice with 20 buttons if people need the handicap and want them, my problem arises when someone uses a software to make 1 button push move 5 characters. That's clearly cheating and botting in my book.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.
This is also true. The move to F2P as well as the rise of multiboxing killed the vibrant social community that was on every EQ server at one point. The most interaction you have in that game now is talking in general chat because everyone is off doing their own things with their box armies.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
I think that external tools shouldn't be allowed.
If people have fancy mouse or keyboard with extra buttons, then those extra buttons are okay, but I think anything beyond that is cheating.
Multiboxing I can understand when it's not done using any fancy tools. If the game is slow paced enough that a person can control multiple accounts, then why not. But any tool that automates (in-combat) actions so that both characters do something with just a single keypress might go a bit too far.
How exactly did they ban multi boxing? How can they know the difference between two people in the same house playing the game vs one person playing on two computers?
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville
Let me give you my point of view.
For me multiboxing is a cheat especially in PVP, cause you attack one guy and at some point you realize that you are fighting ten(although there is not much time to realize...you are dead
.
Of course no need to discuss about bots(unattanded gameplay) and hacks(boost powers). Cheats.
On Macro tools , keyboards and mouses i have a different opinion. I see all of it as ways of improving the gameplay, that do not actually affect other players. You can do better , only button skill related things, and it still requires skill since it can get you into more trouble if you do not know how to use it, or your timing is wrong.
I cannot see how somebody that uses macros for creating a difficult rotation for example, can create problems in my gameplay or the game.
Macros and Tools:
They take "playing the game" out of the players hands. WoW, as an example, has had to make their harder raids incorporating the software that some players use, almost making it a requirement to use said software aids. Both of these defeat the purpose of playing the dang game.
I've never been into Macros, myself. EQ was my first MMO and I mainly played a Bard. I could have set up a macro to twist my 3-4 songs into one button mash, but often, I got "bashed" which interrupted my songs and threw off my macro. I gave up after a short while, so that I had more control over the songs I played.
Along with these comes the "gamer mice and keyboards." They make games easier and players who use these peripherals many times are the "This game is so boring!" posters.
It astounds me the attitude of some players that something that is easy is laudable. They equate better technology as better skills.
Multi-Boxing:
I have no trouble with players that are able to do this. In older MMOs, it made playing more fun by being able to solo (duo) better. No waiting for help/groups in order to log in and play.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
But what you say is that , you dont like macros cause they make the game easier ,although in your personal experience it was hard to use the macro, as per my example, if a macro gets interrupted you get into more trouble. So it still requires skill. If somebody sucks without macros, he will suck with the macros as well
You are ok with multiboxing. But multiboxing is what actually gives you more power. Everything in terms of stats is doubled or tripled, according to the number of characters. Doesnt this makes the game easier?
I dont see any issues with multiboxing if you are skilled enough to do that.. back in the origional everqeust I could run a full group by myself and that was before there was any macro programs to help me out.. had 6 pcs setup 3 in front 3 behind it was a lot more challenging than just playing one character as controlling 6 was a lot more work.... but i dont put that much effort into games these days haha.
As for macros and bots.. well if you cant enjoy playing the game then why bother ?
Agreed. Besides, a group of 6 players sitting in the same physical place have a far greater advantage than anyone boxing. Want to forbid that as well?
I still don't see anyone boxing actually beating the same number of real players unless the real players suck badly.
When I was younger I thought that everyone was like me. As I grew up I realized that everyone is not like me. Different people play these games for different reasons. Some feel superior and play the games to show how superior they are to the game and everyone in it by playing completely by the rules, no add ons, no hacks, nothing. Others are superior to the effect that they want to impress everyone with how well they can hack, use add ons, and do other things to beat the game and everyone in it. Others still are needy as hell and will grasp at the blade of a sword if they thought that it would stop them from drowning in the obscurity of their weakness. Others still are completely indifferent to the mechanics of the game at all and are only here to socialize or pick up guys/girls or pretend to be guys/girls, or whatever.
These are all multiple sides of the same die that is the MMORPG community. And not only do these sides generally not play well together, often times, they don't even respect one another LOL. But that's us, the MMORPG community. Completely competitive, completely indifferent to one another and completely exploitable and so there are external tools in MMORPG games just like their are gold sellers, P2W games that thrive, and every other thing that anyone can think of to take advantage of our difference.
These games really are more like the real world than you know. Our presence makes it so. (Damn I'm feeling all poetic tonight and shit LOL)
You don't have to be angry about it though. I say just hold out until you find someone that plays the way that you want to play and hang out with them.
Hi Loke666
You do not like tools that give you an advantage against other players, but you like multiboxing. You dont think that multiboxing gives you an advantage against other players?
Wont you level up much easier and faster playing with 3 multibox characters?
If you PVP, multiboxing, and somebody attacks you thinking that you are one guy(although you are triple) what will happen. Doesnt this give you an advantage?
Another thing about Macros. Out of combat, they can be handy and help alleviate some of the repetitive clicking some activities can have. In EQ, I did use a macro for learning languages. What that activity entailed was just typing in group chat in the language your partner(s) wished to learn. Macros helped ease the massive typing that learning languages had.
I guess macros for combat I do not like. Macros for other activities I am fine with
Multi-Boxing I have had a change of heart, after reading some of the other posts describing some problems Multi-Boxing can create.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
Hi AIBQuirky
What i wanted to point through this post, is that I this subject is very controversial and that even the game companies do not follow a standard policy. Thats why i gave the examples with multiboxing. They allow multiboxing but forbid macros.
I mostly play PVE and i personally like to use macro tools for repetitive skills(shouts or auras) or for a difficult rotation, but i do not think that this gives me an edge over other players, or that i am bothering anyone , or that it ruins the game
. A good player will kick my ass even if i use a macro.
I do not think there are many ways of detecting! Believe the most common is Reporting by other player. Which i believe sucks!!
We should report each other only for BOTS and HACKS...Somebody thinks that somebody is using a macro(and maybe he is) and reports him. Never got it.
I'm a PvE player, too. Macros in combat is really the only trouble I have, for a couple of reasons:
1) If allowed, it tells me the combat is ultra-boring, using the same skill/powers/spells over and over in a macro. On the flip-side, I enjoy auto-attack combat where skills/abilities/spells are thrown in where needed, like bashing the Mage while they wind up for the big fireball spell.
2) It just "seems" easier than actually pressing all the keys when needed. I most certainly could be wrong, but that is the impression I get with macros during combat.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
Actually it is easier.So if i use for example a utility like "Fingerz" it will make my gameplay better(or less annoying for me), but it will not make the game boring cause i still have a lot of different button and click combinations to worry about + other aspects of the game such as general strategy, timing of execution, movement, chatting...etc.
My argument is that , if it makes me enjoy my gameplay more, and even makes me play a bit better, why does it have to bother other players? should i be bothered if someone plays better due to a mouse with 10 buttons?
The macro thing is very genre specific. RPG players don't seem to care much if others use macros to perform long / complex key combos. Go to the fighting game genre (Street Fighter, King of Fighters, BlazBlue, etc) and tell them you use macros and you'll be called a cheat and ridiculed off the forums.
There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own.
-- Herman Melville
In the past the problem has always been a matter of privacy. Devs and GMs have always been able to detect 3rd party programs altering their software but the act of "proving" it was veiwed as an intrusion into the private files and private data on players PCs.
With the new fangeled NSA,FB consortium home PC privacy has gone out the window and with it all the reasons to not go competly automated on detection and rule enforcment when it comes the 3rd party programs.
That said I do have my reservations on privacy and though it does not exist on the great majority of home PCs I dont think this is a valid enough argument to consider the means justified.