Blizzard has issued a policy update regarding input broadcast software. Multiboxing is a technique that every MMOG player knows, even if they have never done it themselves, where a large group of avatars move around like a beehive under one player's control using third-party software.

The reasons why players multibox vary from game to game, but in World of Warcraft it is usually for resource farming (getting together with 20 accounts and transferring everything to your main account) or sometimes just good old player griefing It is. While it is amusing to run into multiboxers, it is definitely unfair to the other players and a despicable practice.

Well, Papa Blizzard is fed up with such nonsense. We have investigated the use of third-party input broadcast software that automatically mirrors a single keystroke or action to multiple game clients." The use of input broadcast software that mirrors keystrokes to multiple WoW game clients will soon be considered an actionable offense. We believe this policy is in the best interest of the game and the community.

This is obviously related to the preparation of Shadowlands, which is another fresh start for this classic game and a perfect breaking point for the practices that Blizzard has more or less allowed to go unchecked until now. The blog post outlines that players will first be warned, and if this is ignored, Blizzard will begin taking punitive measures that could result in permabans.

"We will soon begin issuing warnings to all players detected using input broadcast software (often used for multiboxing) that mirrors commands to multiple accounts simultaneously. This warning will inform players that they should not use this software while playing World of Warcraft. Shortly thereafter, the warning will escalate into action against the account, which may result in suspension or, if necessary, permanent closure of the player's World of Warcraft account. We strongly recommend that you immediately cease using this type of software in order to maintain continued access to World of Warcraft.

This leaves a gray area for players who do things like stick five characters in separate windows and have them "follow" the leader, but it is clear that Blizzard's issue here is with third-party software. Still, it is unclear what can and cannot be done, but we will see.

I wouldn't worry too much about multiboxers. As long as someone is not overtly greifing, I don't care if they are filling their boots with magic apples. Nevertheless, whatever your feelings on the practice, at least Blizzard is being upfront about what they think and what they intend to do about it.