47 Computer Setup

[Vertigo]

Taken from the original article:

The problem with massive online games is that they're full of other people. In order to bypass the need for interaction and reliance on outsiders, one gamer (and, get this, his girlfriend) decided to take on the responsibilities of an entire World of Warcraft guild himself. Gaze upon the 47 PC setup that allows two gamers to simultaneously control 23 independent accounts each. More info on the hardware after the jump.

This technological monstrosity was constructed in waves, consisting first of Shuttle systems, followed by QPack and later AOpen small form factor PCs. To cut back on heat and the massive electric bill, most machines are diskless (i.e. no hard drive) and aren't connected directly to monitors. Instead, programmable keyboards with KVM switches allow the duo to monitor and control everything from their six-monitor twin thrones. Jealous much?

Pictures:
http://www.mmoexchange.com/ft/station1.jpg
http://www.mmoexchange.com/ft/farm1.jpg
http://www.mmoexchange.com/ft/farm2.jpg
http://www.mmoexchange.com/ft/farm3.jpg
http://www.mmoexchange.com/ft/farm4.jpg
http://www.mmoexchange.com/ft/farm5.jpg
http://www.mmoexchange.com/ft/farm6.jpg
http://www.mmoexchange.com/ft/farm7.jpg
http://www.mmoexchange.com/ft/Panel1.jpg
http://www.mmoexchange.com/ft/Panel2.jpg
http://www.mmoexchange.com/ft/Panel3.jpg

[SgtM]

Someone has more money (and spare time) than brains. Cool find though. I would have a setup similar if I had the money and the space.. not for anything constructive though.. It would simple be just because I can.

[xRyokenx]

Holy crap. That is a lot of computers just for a retarded, addictive game. They could fork over a couple monitors for my rig, lol.

That is cool though, but only if they had that with some other game (like BF2 or whatever) and have extreme LAN Party madness or something. I don't wanna pay their electric bill, lol.

[Wasabisam]

Great find, If they were smart enough they could make a fair bit of money with all them WoW accounts. But then again if they have the money to do that, I dont think money is an issue for them. 46 WoW accounts that costs like $1000ish a Month.


Cheers

Sam

[onelegout]

And in other news: Starvation kills one child in Africa every 5 seconds.
What a useless waste of money; they should be ashamed.

[AJ@PR]

Someone has more money (and spare time) than brains. Cool find though. I would have a setup similar if I had the money and the space.. not for anything constructive though.. It would simple be just because I can.
Seconded!

I would modify this and that, but it would be amazing to have a setup like that.


And in other news: Starvation kills one child in Africa every 5 seconds.
What a useless waste of money; they should be ashamed.

It's bad for the little ones in Africa, but we cannot connect those dots.
If they're bad because they use their money like that...
How better are we that we use our money in spare LEDs?

[onelegout]

Well, the way I see it is that case modding is a relatively inexpensive use of money which is creative and artful. Buying hundreds of computers just to show off in an imaginary world is a far greater expense and the motive behind that is greed as apposed to creativity.
I spend a fairly large amount on things I don't need, but I don't consider my spending excessive or wasteful. I think that there's a line which shouldn't be crossed, and spending that amount of money on a game is crossing it.
H

[xRyokenx]

I agree with you onelegout, spending $50 for a new game is outrageous to me, but I'll do it if I'm in desperate need for entertainment, if it's something I really like (such as Command & Conquer), or if it hasn't gone down in price in a few years (ahem, Oblivion, ahem). But yeah, WoW is definitely something you spend $20 to activate and then the $15 a month is more or less like cable TV, I hate TV so it's an okay alternative so long as you do other stuff too. I've been spending less and less time at the computer now (thankfully) and have felt better about myself and I'm learning quite a bit quicker and am overall doing better. Art is one thing, excessive gaming is another, spend your time and money wisely as both are quite limited.

[Vertigo]

Actually, the guy who did this IS using it as a business venture. Basically, he does as stated above, levels characters then sells the characters and gold online. He's been doing it since EverQuest, though obviously his methods have become a little more impressive since then.

As for humanitarian efforts? Well, that's fine. But the same could be said for anyone buying a cheeseburger. Do you really need the cheeseburger, fries, and apple pie? Couldn't you deal with something smaller and send some of the extra money to starving people? Or what about the government? How much do they waste that could be sent to humanitarian efforts? BUT That's all irrelevant, because starving people in third world countries are not the topic. Don't ninja my post pls. :P

[xRyokenx]

Ahh, makes sense now... but I thought that Blizzard frowned on the whole gold and account trading deal... ahh, whatever, I'm not gonna worry about it. But yeah, let's not get into the whole "needs vs. wants" deal as that just gets chaotic and gives me a headache. We don't need our nice houses and all, we could live off a minimum amount of food like rice and such, but we live much nicer than a cave hunting buffalo or whatever for some damn reason I'm not gonna think too much on. All that stuff is food for thought, but also fuel for fires, I'm gonna leave it be for the moment, lol. All those groups arguing about the environment and how we're killing it and all just appear to be like that guy's operation up there, a business venture. That's just me though. :D

[Eclecticos]

My GOD! . .Hardcore Gaming Addicts! LoL
Who ever says gaming is not an official addiction has not seen these people.

All I can say is WoW!
More than Likely these people don't even have jobs they were born rich.

[xRyokenx]

More than Likely these people don't even have jobs they were born rich.


That or their parents buy them whatever they want like the kids near me, they live like rich kids but their parents have mediocre jobs and/or are very manipulative, you can tell just be being near and listening to them... I believe the term for them is "preps"? Not quite sure, lol.

But yeah, WoW. lol

[Vertigo]

Actually, as stated previously. The guy in question made a plat selling website in EQ years ago, it did well enough he quit his job and made buying/selling ingame currency his fulltime job. He's since branched off into WoW, since it's the biggest money maker/most popular. Srsly though, I want to find desks like those. I really like the desks/shelving they're using.

[Omega]

I agree with you onelegout, spending $50 for a new game is outrageous to me, but I'll do it if I'm in desperate need for entertainment, if it's something I really like (such as Command & Conquer), or if it hasn't gone down in price in a few years (ahem, Oblivion, ahem). But yeah, WoW is definitely something you spend $20 to activate and then the $15 a month is more or less like cable TV, I hate TV so it's an okay alternative so long as you do other stuff too. I've been spending less and less time at the computer now (thankfully) and have felt better about myself and I'm learning quite a bit quicker and am overall doing better. Art is one thing, excessive gaming is another, spend your time and money wisely as both are quite limited.


Or you could get "Games for Windows" for 10$/mo or so and they have a free games section in it every month ;)


But yeah, stuff like C&C or other games like that are really worth the money

[Spawn-Inc]

I spend a fairly large amount on things I don't need, but I don't consider my spending excessive or wasteful.

if you spend money on something you "don't need" is that not wasteful?


are there missions that requir long hours to beat? i don't fully understand why you would need that many computers when you can only use 1 pc at a time. or can you not have more than one character on a copy of wow?

[xRyokenx]

if you spend money on something you "don't need" is that not wasteful?


are there missions that requir long hours to beat? i don't fully understand why you would need that many computers when you can only use 1 pc at a time. or can you not have more than one character on a copy of wow?


A) If it's something you want and enjoy, then I don't consider it a waste, put it in perspective.

B) You can have more than one character on WoW, but you can only play one per account at a time. They kinda frown on selling accounts and money, I think they ban for that, but that's whoever sells the account(s) business.

[Spawn-Inc]

A) If it's something you want and enjoy, then I don't consider it a waste, put it in perspective.



i was quoting onelegout and how he was saying why would you waste money on that. i just forgot to include the
. and if i had the cash i would do something like that just for the hell of it. then maybe even auction them off for a charity or something when i got board.

[QUOTE=xRyokenx;116503]
B) You can have more than one character on WoW, but you can only play one per account at a time. They kinda frown on selling accounts and money, I think they ban for that, but that's whoever sells the account(s) business.


ya so if you can only play one account/character at a time then why do you need so many pc's.

[Luke122]

Why do you need so many PCs? Answer: Multiboxing.

Each account can only play one character at a time. Each PC plays one account , so by using KVM's, macros, etc, they can play all their accounts at once. Basically, you are controlling the entire guild from one workstation each.

That way, you can level all your characters at the same time. You send all the gold to one character (a bank character), and when you hit 70 with them all, you sell them all at once.

Hardcore.

[Spawn-Inc]

ahhh.. thats freaking awesome! + rep for the explanation.

[xRyokenx]

Luke explained the WoW stuff, and I didn't realize you were quoting, no biggie.

[Sakker]

I dual boxed EQ once or twice back in the day, not easy. I cannot imagine trying this many. I think I saw someone boxing 8 accounts on EQ once, most only do 2 or 3. But 23!!!!! wow. just wow.

[Luke122]

I've boxed 2 on WoW at once from one PC (Karma). Comp had no trouble running two games at the same time, but controlling 2 chars was tough. I was running my war, and wifes priest. :D

[.jrauck]

I guess thats one way of making money... Don't know why you would waste your money on a character when you could build it up your self. To me buying a character is basically like cheating... you didn't do any of the hard work your self you just bought your way through it.

[xRyokenx]

I guess thats one way of making money... Don't know why you would waste your money on a character when you could build it up your self. To me buying a character is basically like cheating... you didn't do any of the hard work your self you just bought your way through it.

Exactly my philosophy. I take pride in what I do in video games, it may not amount to much of anything in "reality," but at least I did something... well, now college is on its merry way and I now have the opportunity to make my mark. Gotta get my learn on!