Dual-Boxing and Roleplay

[Xigo]

I don't really care about it unless you're going /afk in the middle of RP.

Which I am guilty of occasionally, but... eh.

[Rigley]

Hrrrrmrmrmmr.

Dualboxing is actually a necessity for me when it comes to building and puppeting-- As a full explanation for those curious, it's basically just being able to see your product from another angle-- to make sure the NPC I set to come to me isn't walking into the canals or into a building before it meets up with so and so. For building its because most objects have the nasty habit of getting RIGHT UP IN YOUR SCREEN and thus making it impossible to see how its actually resting, and if you need to turn it juuuust a bit to the right.

That being said; I was building a port recently on the cata server. This required me to have a character underwater while I was working on spawning the walls.

That character drowned, and I didn't notice for about a half an hour. This should be a good indication on how effectively I can pay attention to two windows at once xD

I tend to get way too into the RP to be able to switch back and forth, though I may want to at times. Eventually I -will- just end up RPing one of the characters and disregarding the other if I've been forced into duelboxing, and it usually makes me really apologetic. I don't do it well, s'what I'm sayin'.

[Nikodemos]

I would have to say the only times that I utilize the ability myself are if the starting and ending time of two events overlap or if I'm employing "actors" in my own events or storylines. I don't do this as commonly as I used to as I am rarely able to direct the attention I feel neccessary to both characters and instead prefer to call in help from a buddy if I need a character roleplayed for an event. I am absolutely postitive that I'd be one of those folks that aren't fast enough for two toons at once and would subsequently piss people off.

[Grakor456]

So, back in the ancient days of DOS and early windows, where game stories were kept in books (because they couldn't be fit in the game disk!) and dinosaurs still roamed the earth, it was common practice for RPGs to have you make your own party of adventurers. There was no confangled "internet" to have other party members be other players, and story was for books so there were no BioWare style companions with their own personalities. Nope, you made your own party from scratch, and you had better like it.

And, in many ways, I found it more fascinating than the current MMO and BioWare alternatives. I remember playing games like the old Might and Magic games, or the old Wizardry games, and coming up with little backstories and interactions in my head. It wasn't true roleplaying, it was mostly just me narrating interactions and relationships in my head: these two are siblings, these two are in a romantic entanglement, this guy is working for these other guys because he's a hired mercenary, etc. That generation of gaming shaped me into who I am in many ways, and how I look at roleplaying. I still am enchanted by the idea of roleplaying a party like that, making a connected herd or group that is defined by myself, but can still interact with others.

So, why don't I do it? Well, I'd only ever try it if all of the characters were involved in one scene, for one thing. Else, it'd feel like my attention is too divided. For another, I'm concerned about things like people proclaiming it's unfair, especially in any conflict or fights that might come up. There's also RP that...really, ends up working best with another player. Romantic RP works best when you can establish an emotional connection that simply doesn't exist unless there's another player on the other side of the other character. Rivalries can seem like cheap ways to feed your own characters glory if you're playing both sides of the conflict. Etc. etc.

I'd like to explore it more, I just don't know the best way to go about it. And that old generation of RPGs is long dead, replaced with MMOs, single-character RPGs, and BioWare titles.

[Nikodemos]

So, back in the ancient days of DOS and early windows, where game stories were kept in books (because they couldn't be fit in the game disk!) and dinosaurs still roamed the earth, it was common practice for RPGs to have you make your own party of adventurers.

Heh heh. Eye of the Beholder ring any bells.

I actually got into roleplaying through a similar manner. I had always developed a story and relationships between my game characters for my own writings, as well as for personal enjoyment, I suppose. It wasn't until I ran across CotH several years back that I realized there were other people who did the same thing but as a community. I have kind of smoothered my desire to play every character in a storyline since then in favor of spending my gaming experience with a large group of like-minded individuals. So thanks for that folks.

[Binkleheimer]

I'm either dual boxing or alt tabbing out to surf the net.
The former means more attention on the rp. The latter means I'm probably going to be afk in game.
Besides, there have been times in rp where I was sifting through atlas loot and utterly forgot I was RPing until the other person pinged me through Skype.
I don't think I've ever not multitaked in an RP. Zero patience for anything, really.
That and there were times I was just bored with the RP due to it beinng too slow and/or uninteresting.

[SachikoMaeda]

As odd as it may sound, I feel I pay more attention to RP if I'm dualboxing. I overlap my windows so I can see when a post has been made. I do think about how the character would react, write a post, post it, then look to the other window. If I'm not managing two RPs, then I have one in OOCA. I guess I'm used to being overstimulated. So I honestly don't see why it causes offense or annoyance. Sure, yeah, I've been dumped mid RP for something silly like a LoL match and I got my jimmies rustled, but I made sure the other player knew they upset me.

[DaveM]

I can understand the appeal of the dualbox. It's hard to wait for the reply, ironically ESPECIALLY when the ongoing story excites you. I rarely do it, but truth is my "second box" is often quick-surfing bits of the net. Sliight ADD.

Going '/AFK' for whatever reason without warning sucks, and I'm ashamed when I do it.

But what totally busts my chops is the emerging trend of folks using the fact that they're dualboxing as an apparently sufficient excuse for afk-ing.

[Lunaxy]

I personally wish I could dualbox but sadly my PC would likely explode if I tried.

:c

[Dascki]

There's also RP that...really, ends up working best with another player. Romantic RP works best when you can establish an emotional connection that simply doesn't exist unless there's another player on the other side of the other character. Rivalries can seem like cheap ways to feed your own characters glory if you're playing both sides of the conflict. Etc. etc.

This.

[ImagenAshyun]

Usually when I do go AFK for a long period of time, it's less to do with dualboxing and moreso because real life hates it when I relax and have fun. Like when I am in the middle of helping an event and I am told to clean some rooms at 11:00 PM.

Anyway, this is how I manage dualboxing:

Spoiler:

By overlapping my windows and putting focus on the bottom right, all I have to do to divide my attention is just glance. The colored class names help me distinguish if the other RPers have replied to me. I also take advantage of WIM's settings to make sure someone is addressing one character over another. However, if I am dualboxing two characters in one setting, I request people to focus on my "focus window". That is usually the client on the character who is of greater importance in that particular RP.

Still, I prefer dualboxing my characters in the same situation, or at least the same location. Again, it's less to do with attention and more with computer performance; everytime I change windows, there is a lag.

Dualboxing has other joys, though. It's apparently a good bug check.

Spoiler:

[Bovel]

Anyway, this is how I manage dualboxing:

How do you avoid the black flickering if two characters are at the same place?

[Ural]

I stayed away from Dual-boxing for a long time. Mostly because I thought my PC couldn't handle it. I thought I had to have two WoWs on my hard drive, and some fancy graphics card with spinners. Then someone told me all I needed was a second account. After a long campaign of pestering the Overlord, my quest was complete. And for a while, I was pretty good at it!

Spoiler:

I'm a notoriously slow writer. It's not that I have a low WPM count, I just invest a lot of thought into each parcel of text. As such, I prefer not to dual box. That doesn't mean I'm not able to play multiple characters in the same session though, nor is it greatly taxing to juggle personalities. It's even easier if the characters are familiar with one another and their interaction is smooth and breezy.

It's probably more polite to avoid stationing oneself in multiple scenarios at the same time if one's posting speed or attention to detail suffers for it, but that's one's own prerogative, and I wouldn't dream of demanding someone's full concentration. Heck, I wouldn't even mind if they were in the middle of casual conversation between posts. Since I am as slow as I am, a fast writer might prefer to have other things on the go to keep them occupied. That's cool.

Then as time went on, and my RP went from lulzy tavern to focus more on character development and relationships.. I found it increasingly difficult. At first I swore off doing it in events, because in-between posts I could write up an attack macro. And that really helps speed things along.

Then I noticed my own responses slowing to a crawl. Not that I didn't have anything to say, but for some reason I don't have anything productive to add to the RP. It's something I really struggle with. I've found what somewhat helps is if I dual-box the same character on the same client. Give my character something in their hands, a spell to practice, or a hobby to entertain themselves. That way the RP can still flow in between my little writer's blocks.

Spoiler:

I also don't mind roleplaying with other slow writers. I remember some sessions where my partners took ten to fifteen minutes a post! Each one was meaningful and a pleasure to read, so that was quite all right with me.

The thing is, I really don't like slow writers. To be honest I beat myself up when I'm slow. Nobody else cares, but I dislike it. Reason being I work too much, and still spend time with my family; so that leaves little room for RP. If I got two hours or so a night, then I don't want to spend a third of it waiting on a response.

HOWEVER, I usually resort to doing some menial chores if I find myself enthralled with slow meaningful RP. I can adapt, so it doesn't bother me all that much. It's when it gets slow and shallow that I start looking for an exit. And I apply the same to myself. If I feel I am not putting a fair share into the RP, then I will see myself out.

[BountyHunter]

I use two windows so I don't really have much trouble dual boxing as two character in two places. The only weird parts are when you're Rping an accent with one and no accent with the other and accidentally make a otherwise normal speaking person suddenly become a Troll.

[Holynexus]

I seldom dual box; I usually do it for events (okay, last event I used Krilari as a living dual window, but that's because I'm a Forsaken in hiding and I like ghouls, but I diverge here) and I only do it when necessary to kickstart a storyline or introduce a certain situation. For instance, Drena selling Alanthe required dual boxing for instance for Rosencrat's mini event's sake so I could have both toons present, and it occured pretty late, and to - hopefully - start a new story with Alanthe. I also use dual boxing when I need to monitor an event situation, or when I play a "NPC" character that I would otherwise DM anyways. Arguably, Alanthe was literally a NPC-like pawn for the aforementionned example! And while I love to have my characters interact with each other, it typically only appears out of game (in the wiki) or with one character being more "dominant" and RPing, and another being more "NPC". So yeah, it's mostly an event-DM-like behavior to me, rather than participating twice in the same event because I absolutely need all of my toons in the same event. ^^

It's not that bad, but it's not to abuse either. That's why I say I would only use dual boxing if I really needed, though - I don't see the point in roleplaying with my own self, nor do I need to feed most of my live roleplay on my own efforts, people RP very well already . Besides, it tends to shorten attention span, so I avoid dual boxing when I want to participate in two different roleplays. In that case, I'll commit to one and postpone the other, because I can't focus on two things at once. ^^

Now it's my own personal take on it, if I give any good advice, it'd be to use it with parcimony - and responsibly -, try to commit to single RPs more (it brings in more quality!), and try not to use it to roleplay with "yourself" with no good reason. But, then again, I have no problems with people who are heavy dual boxing users, really. ^^