LAN Gaming event

[Mercutio]

My company just moved into nice, new offices.

It was suggested by occasional SF lurker BooST that we take that space and offer to host LAN games from time to time

Since David more-or-less does these things all week long, and P5133_XL has recently admitted to being involved in one...

Does anyone here have any feedback on getting a LAN party started or what needs to happen during the event?

 

[blakerwry]

Lan parties are usually get togethers with friend and friends of friends in my experience.. Good place to socialize and meet people.

How you go about marketting your LAN party depends on how many people you want to come....

There are sometimes huge LAN parties with hundreds of people.. but I don't think you want the riff raff that comes with an event like that. I would start by inviting any computer game oriented people you know and encourage them to invite others that they think might be interested... if you want more people you might talk to people at computer stores in the area, if they are interstested give them a fe fliers to hand out to any of their friends.

The flier should of course have the name of the event, the address and directions. It should also include the date/times you plan to hold the party as well as what games you plan on playing so people can be prepared.




I assume you already have the network infrastructure in place.. if not you will probably want to put everyone behind a router so any viruses don't get to your internal network... Other than that, get a few large hubs and just link everyone together.


Provide plenty of soda -Coke, Pepsi, and of course Mt. Dew and Dr. Pepper. If you have a vending machine that's great, but it would go a long way to buy a few 2 liters of each flavor along with a bag of ice and a stack of cups to offer free drinks

Food is a must, chips and dip or any other finger food is appreciated. If it requires silverwear you probably don't want to serve it.



Your business teaches computer classes, right?.. I imagine most of the people interested in a LAN party are teenage to 20 somethings.. If you have any classes that you feel would apeal to the audience, you might want to plug for them... or perhaps the patrons of your event might have parents interested in taking classes.

 

[Mercutio]

Yeah, see, that's the point - hawking our classes to people who have never heard of my company. And also (for me) finding a way to get paid for doing something that should be at least mildly entertaining.

The thought is that my company already has all the stuff a LAN "event" is looking for - good power, HVAC, tables, chairs, a decent network (switched 100mbit with Gbit backbone) etc. We can reasonably accomodate 40 people or we could stretch it to 60 or 80 given demand.

Marketing is an issue, since I'm not in touch with the crowd of people who do this sort of thing, except through BooST (one of my students).

Here's a website someone (not me) threw together. It was made using frontpage. It doesn't render well in Firefox. I don't think the feedback stuff works yet. I don't have control over web stuff, so don't complain to me about it.

 

[blakerwry]

The LAN party pages have good content and seem well written, but a better layout and easier to read text (background makes it hard) would be nice.



You mention that it will cost $15, but do not mention how long of a stay you get for that... you'll also want to post a schedule of dates/times on your website...

I think it may be a good idea to also have copies of games on site, as well as a web/ftp server that houses the updates for games so that everyone can easily get any updates required to play... I know a local video tape store rents standard PC games.. dunno if you could "rent" a copy of quake3 for a few hours or not...

More games the better.. in addition to 1st person shooters I would suggest a strat game like age of empires or warcraft. I usually found them more interesting than 1st person shooters.


I like the idea of only bringing in a PC and having the monitor and keyboard mouse there... very convenient.

 

[ddrueding]

Unfortunatly, my setup and what you have in mind don't have that much in common. My systems are all identical and pre-configured with each game using a unique CD-Key. One of the things you will need to set up in advance is how legal you want to keep things. The less legal the smoother things will go.

Example 1 (hard-ass):

Require that each computer already have the full compliment of games already patched to the latest before it arrives, and already be configured for DHCP. Provide a "minimum" and "recomended" hardware config so people know what to expect. This will give you a great gaming experience, but may keep a bunch of people away.

Example 2 (pirate):

Have a file server already set up containing the latest version of Daemon Tools and all the ISO images of all the games. If you really want to push it, have a folder full of keygen apps sitting out there as well. Everyone will be able to play all the games with minimal effort; and with a little luck you can avoid jail time.

Any compromise on either will cause complications, up to you.

Regarding promotion: Word of mouth, assisted by flyers, is the be-all and end-all of this market. Find people that know people and "hook them up" (free entry probably) to be your promoters. Get 4 people to bring 10 people each, a clan of sorts, and start the competition there.

Regarding games: Call of Duty works really well for this sort of thing. Rainbox6 is too slow, and the Battlefield games still prefer more players (50-64) before it gets really exciting. Doom3 is a lot of fun, but multiplayer is limited to 4 per server (lame). Warcraft 3 seems to be the most popular RTS at the moment (CNC: Generals would be, but it's unstable).

Too tired, might post more later. Any particular questions?

 

[Bartender]

I still think you need a bar.

 

[Pradeep]

Don't forget the stippers. Perhaps all of the "adults only" action could happen behind a curtained off partition?

 

[EdwardK]

LOL! :lol: If Merc does what The Bartender and Pradeep suggested, he will be making a killling in profits. :mrgrn:

 

[ddrueding]

If I could swing it, a bar would definatly be part of the picture....

 

[Mercutio]

I'm not going to take any involvement in what gamers do, besides provide the premises and network (er, unless someone gets violent. Or drunk maybe). If they're playing illegal games and swapping CDs, it's a civil matter anyway.

I think servers will end up being brought in - I know at least one besides the one I plan to have for UT2k4 will be.

It's kind of a shame I can't use my classroom machines for gaming. 30 XP2500s with 512MB RAM on SiS (fast IDE) boards is certainly a good start. But the Radeon 7000s installed therein just ain't gonna cut it.

As for strippers, well, maybe BooST's girlfriend will volunteer.

 

[ddrueding]

Those systems look like they could have a good time with some better video. And if they're already running the latest catalyst drivers, the swap to some 9800XTs would be very simple. Gaming for everyone! :mrgrn:

 

[Handruin]

I've never tried doing it commercially, but I have a site dedicated to a local crew of friends where we put a date on a calendar and work from there.

You might want to look into corporate sponsorship if you promote some events as non-profit. There was a LAN party event a couple years ago around my area where the money went to some charity. I don't remember because I didn't go to it. Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that compaq was one of the sponsors and they let them borrow a few servers to host the games. Another sponsor was a company who made gear to help people who attend LAN events (back packs, and special straps for machines and monitors).

You could also try having competitive events where you use some of the entry fee money to buy a prize for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

Another idea would be to have some RPG weekends where people can try to progress in their favorite strategy games such as diablo II, dungeon siege, and games of that nature.

 

[Mercutio]

Is there anything special I need to know RE: setting up game servers? Is it fairly plug-and-go? Do I need a license for the server?

In particular I'd like to provide UT2004 and CS. I understand Battlefield 1942 is also a popular game.

 

[Handruin]

There are numerous tweaks that can be made to the counter strike server to improve game play. You may also want to investigate software to manage stats. Some players really like them.

I haven't spent any length of time with the UT2004 dedicated server, but I suspect you can tweak it also.

Free dedicated UT 2004 server. I haven't tried it, but it looks to be available without support from atari.

Counter Strike dedicated server...Again, I haven't tried it.

 

[Handruin]

Let me add that you can simply setup a dedicated server if you don't want to get too involved. However, if the people that come play at your LAN event are veterns, they'll soon point out if your server isn't configured to they're liking. (just tell them to go screw)

counter strike/half life moding resources:

Help sites:
http://planethalflife.com/commands/
http://server.counter-strike.net/

Mods:
http://www.adminmod.org/

http://www.amxmodx.org/

http://amxmod.net/

http://ssclient.mine.nu/

Tools:
http://planethalflife.com/commands/tools.shtml

 

[ddrueding]

I've heard rumors of a mod that makes the single-player campaign of Doom3 a coop mission. That sounds really sweet.

 

[Mercutio]

So, I did the LAN event last night.

It was not as well-attended as I had hoped, but it seemed to go over well with the people who did come. I really didn't have to do much of anything.

The games we ended up playing were Doom3, the Clone Bandits mod for UT2004 and Armagedtron (700kB Windows download. There is a linux version, too).

Our internet connect was up and down all night. I'm guessing our cable segment was just overcrowded. I think the CS Source Beta would've been another popular choice otherwise.