#0 - July 6, 2008, 11:50 p.m.
Multi-boxing (using a single keyboard to control characters on multiple accounts) is clearly a cheat and an exploit, notwithstanding the sophomoric excuses Blizzard employees have made to defend the practice on the now closed forum on this topic.
These Blizzard employees attempt to dodge the issue by erroneously equating a 5-account multi-box setup with 5 different players playing on 5 different accounts. (Because, you know, coordinating 5 mages to simultaneously frostbolt another player in perfect precision continuously throughout a battleground really is just as easy as a multi-box player pressing one button to do the same. Right? *wink, wink*)
If Blizzard wants to allow some be-pimpled smart-ass to represent them publicly and make dubious judgements regarding its agreement with its users, I suppose that's their prerogative. However, Blizzard can't legally collect money under a contract that it's breaching. The Terms of Use clearly state that "using or exploiting errors in design, features which have not been documented, and/or "program bugs" to gain access that is otherwise not available, or to obtain a competitive advantage over other players" is not allowed.
Any reasonably good lawyer should be able to argue that multi-boxing clearly exploits an error in design to gain a competitive advantage over other players. I believe Blizzard's refusal to address this form of cheating is a breach of their contract with their users. If they'd rather just sit back and mock us and enjoy watching others cheat (see the other forum on this topic), rather than living up to their responsibilities, then I'd certainly be up for signing my name to a class-action lawsuit to defend our rights under the Terms of Use.
