I remember last year there was hours of discussion about how the prize drawing was actually gonna work, then when we actually got going people still weren't happy with the results (thus the several people joking about how Prime's kids got inordinate amounts of prizes, which wasn't prime's fault, but which could have been avoided with a better drawing method).

I know it's not about the prizes, and it seems petty to worry about it, and all that yada yada, but the prizes are sweet, and there are few enough attendees that everyone proly goes in expecting to atleast be lucky enough to get something cool, and everyone will have a lot more fun with the prize drawings if they feel that it's being done fairly.

I suggest that a concrete plan for how the drawing will run be made before the LAN begins.

If a plan has already been made, then please ignore the rest of this post, wherein, I make simple recommendations.

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I recommend using a similar system to last year, with a couple of exceptions.

Last year we drew names for the big prizes first, then drew names to let people pick whatever they wanted from the collection of not-so big prizes.

Here's what I would change: If the best/biggest prizes are being drawn for first, we don't need to put those winners names back in the bucket for the smaller prizes, putting names back in the bucket is only a good idea if the prizes are being given out from smallest to largest, to make sure that getting a small prize doesn't take you out of the running for a sweet prize. IMO, it doesn't matter if getting a big prize takes you out of the running for small prizes.

Also, the only people whose names should be in the bucket are people who paid the registration fee for the event. Seems obvious, but it hasn't been the case in past years.

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Just to be clear, I'm not grousing or complaining here, I'm happy with the stuff I've won in the past, and I recognize that the event is not about the prizes, but IMHO this part of the LAN would be more enjoyable for everyone if there was a concrete, immutable plan in place before the event begins. It would certainly be less of a pita for Prime.

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Infact, now that I think about it all of the complaints about last years LAN (no matter how great an event is, there will always be some complaints) basically boiled down to:

"This part of the event was not thoroughly planned out"

The events that received the most positive feedback (other than just hanging out, which was also fun) were the ones with the most planning: The food tour is a good example. A lot of planning was put into that event, and a lot of people are looking forward to it this year. (Mmmm.... food tour....)

I'm glad that Q is doing some planning for the people who really want to play video games this year... I think they will have a lot more fun.


Okay, now I'm just rambling... sorry, I'll return you to your regularly scheduled Swag Thread...