Multi-boxing is playing more than one character at the same time. It's called that because you usually run each copy of the game on a separate computer (box) and control those computers through one KVM setup (keyboard, video, mouse).

Yeah sorry, this tends to happen when WoW Insider's show comes out. We've been using a crapton of bandwidth lately and after long bursts our pipe gets restricted somewhat. We're looking into torrents and cohosting :)

It's not that they want to avoid people...they just want to avoid STUPID people. I'd say that's roughly 95% of the population these days, unfortunately.

I have been inspired to multibox now. I am starting 5 Hunters on Destromath!

For the Horde!

Mitigated by the fact that you don't have 5 sets of hands to control with.

I mean, are you seriously arguing that playing 5 characters is easier than getting four friends coordinated in an arena team? No disrespect to Xzin and the multiboxing community, I get a kick out of what they do, but it's not an advantage that outweighs the drawbacks. Looks like a ton of fun though, and more power to 'em if they can pull it off well.

More so in Battlegrounds. Warsong Gulch, which they mentioned, is a case in point -- Keeping everyone in a group, choosing targets in unison... it's hard to do well, and multiboxing does do it very well.

How does it do it any better than 5+ players on a vent server?

Until a single player can prove that he'd be better off by himself controlling all five characters, than 5 copies of himself controlling each one and communicating just as fast through voice and various assist chains, there's little doubt that many people single boxing > one player multiboxing. The only advantage that multiboxing has is the fact that it replaces 4 dumb players with 4 distracted players who will try to do your every beck and call. Just gather 4 friends instead and voila, you've got a team that can hands down beat the multiboxer.

Unfortunately, the 'five sets of hands' thing isn't true... I know for a fact that there's a 'set' of Ally Shaman on the Durotar server that use one button press to make every shaman do the same thing, i.e. One jumps, they all jump. He seems to regularly 'one-shot x4' many people with his chain lighting. Ever tried to cap a tower in EotS with 4 chain lightnings firing at you? It's no easy task, I can assure you.

The one saving grace of having a guy like this is that when the 'leader' goes down, it really messes him up and gives us a few HKs. It's quite hard to control 4 characters when one's in the graveyard across the map.

"Its an insurmountable communication advantage"

On the contrary; their linked nature makes them very susceptible to anything that can pull them apart or force them to be mobile.

Multiboxers have 3 significant weaknesses: They can't easily control separate characters, they can't easily mobilize, and they can't generally react quickly.

If you engage them 5v1 and let them hit you with 5xCL, you will die. However, if you engage them 5v5 with 5 coordinated players, its generally a simple matter to break them up. A well timed Psychic Scream or Howl of Terror is a huge advantage, as is line of sight, AoE and invulnerability powers. The key is to make sure you get out of the way when you're the target.

Personally I'm not against multi-boxing in pve stand points. There are times where I wish I could solo run a 5 man dungeon with all the alts I have.

PVP is a little different that's where I do mind it. =/ its bad enough when you get ganged up on by 5 players of the opposite faction, it's another to know their all the same person..... it just cheepens the pvp experiance for me.

As an observation why is being ganked by 5 separate people playing 5 separate characters any less 'honourable' or 'worthwhile' then being ganked by 1 person playing 5 characters? I'm just curious at the rational if you could spare the time to explain it? :D

I see what you did there.