What Good Is A LAN?

Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
edited June 2006 in Community
What Good Is A LAN Without Gaming?


Damn this sucks@!
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Comments

  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2006
    Just because I pwned his sorry butt... :doh:
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    waaaah!
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    lol!!!!!! Okay now its fun! Magic can't drive
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2006
    I am getting no credit at all for the amazing defensive tactics I have developed which make any team I am on a formidable force. :grr:
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Prof... go back to sleep
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2006
    ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Sorry we didn't game that much this weekend, Sledge. It seems like you had fun anyway.... once the beer was flowing freely!
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Whers The ****** BEER! Damn Mack drank it all
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    All I know it that I am ashamed that out of the 6 events (Half-Life, BF2, MFME2, UT2004, AOE3, and the Duck Tape Challenge) we did one of them. Nothing was organized. I know that "anyone could have taking charge and organized something"... but with all the other events and vastly different sleeping schedules, it was tough to get more than 20 people in the tent at anyone time.
    Many people gave Sledge a hard time for trying to take charge for the UT tourney.

    I feel VERY, VERY, VERY poorly that people like Sewertrooper, and ocomik, came to game and left with only a few hours of gaming. This will be the third year that many people bought games specifically for the LAN and never needed the game. Money and time was wasted for those that were there to game. I'm talking about hundreds upon hundreds of dollars were wasted for some people because of the lack of gaming.

    If something doesn't change in the organization and implementation of the LAN party next year, I think we should drop the "LAN" and just make it a SM-Party. Same money on the Tent, not be worried about trying to balance the party and the gaming. This year... 95% party, 5% LAN.

    At this point, I think the LAN and the Party should be separate. While I had a blast at the Party, the LAN was a total, yes I said TOTAL, waste of time, money and I hope things change.

    Next year, I think that a "Master of Ceremonies" (or two) should be assigned to only take care of the LAN and leave the party up to the Host (Brian). Also... The LAN should have a start time and a ending time. Say 12:00 to 10:00 PM. You can party after 10:00 until whenever and sleep until the LAN starts. Food and anything not involving gaming should be done before or after the 10-hour allotted time.

    Having this event at Brian's house is great. The first year, we gamed a ton. Last year, less gaming and more hanging; still fun. But this year....

    Don't get me wrong.... I had a good time this weekend. I really did. What bothered me was that many others did not have a good time or at least not as much as we hyped it up to be. Thursday and Friday were great but Saturday and Sunday really left a sour taste in my mouth. I then had the entire trip home to think about the event and I realized that we let people down. The LAN party needs to cater to everyone, and this year didn't.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Okay, it's official. It's the SM Party from now on. Better?
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    I think everyone was afraid of Gigantor!... I tired to assemble tournaments and games but no one seemed to care which made me give up entirely... but the time was fun. Hey spending a few hundred bucks to meet Shorty and Prime and everyone else was well worth any lack of gaming... I am thinking this more as a family reunion rather than a LAN...

    The Short-Prime Reunion....
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    It really did turn out to be more of a family reunion, and that was awesome. I do agree with Q that some people really didn't get the gaming that they desired, and I feel badly for those people. I was there to hang out rather than game, but not everyone was.

    My recommendation for next year is this:
    We should stick to the schedule better, or not have a schedule at all.

    I don't think we succeeded in having a single scheduled event start on time, and it was mostly because people slept to damn late. I know that I spent at least the first two hours of each day simply waiting for people to wake up - OPH was scheduled for 8:30 on Saturday, and we got there at 11:00 or so. Maybe I was a little anxious to pull off the reunion T-shirt prank, plus the schedule had planned on the AOE3 tournament being before the Duct Tape Challenge, and I was hoping to pull them both off successfully... I think if folks had woken up earlier, then we might have had more of the LAN tournies actually happen.
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Im sorry to read that people were so dissapointed. Especially when they were expressing to my face in person... just how much fun they had had. What's dissapointing to me is that the LAN PARTY is now tainted and spoilt because opinions were not voiced at the event.. and instead posted in a thread after the fact.

    Personally... Id tell Prime to not bother next year. Party @ Primes.. wanna game.. bring your laptop.

    Again... this weekend is tarnished ... a real shame.
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    No one was preventing tournaments from happening, it's just a lot of us had other priorities this year. :)
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited June 2006
    I think there is a lot of Day-After-Christmas-Syndrome in effect here. We were all on top of the world over the weekend. Now our emotions are dropping to normal levels and it is kind of depressing.
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    No... I know I had fun! I really did. But my fun was self induced by hanging with all of you. I could read the looks on people's faces in that tent. People were frustrated and since there was no leader in there, no one was able to get anything going. Sledge did a honorable job trying to get something going.

    Brian (and Mondi) have always been the leaders and organizers. Brain says when and Mondi set it up... I know I could have stepped it up but I didn't... and I feel really crappy about it. Ocomik and I talked and when he asked about Sewer Trooper, it hit me.... Ocomik and Sewer Trooper were there to game, that's it. Ocomik remembered the first LAN when we gamed a ton and we socialized in between...

    I know I ignored ocomik (not purposely) and many others because there was so many other things to do and people to meet. What I'm saying is... we let people down. As the "leaders / Staff" of a community site, we failed to make as many of our members happy. We made them think we were gonna game with Shorty, Prime, Keebs, and many of the other "big names" for hours and hours. That's it... I didn't realize it until I spent 6 hours in the car with someone that spend 4 days and a far amount of $$$ to do a few hours of gaming. I think we, as a whole, forgot that.

    I think several people won't come back if there was to ever be another LAN. It's too little gaming to make it worth while. If Brian can take this thread to mind and not to heart and make another try next as SM-Party'07, then I will be there and I will look forward to it for months!!!! Besides, you won't need a big tent, I won't have to pack 2 totes of computer stuff... just a sleeping bag, some clothes, a tent, and my camera. :cheers:
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    profdlp wrote:
    I think there is a lot of Day-After-Christmas-Syndrome in effect here. We were all on top of the world over the weekend. Now our emotions are dropping to normal levels and it is kind of depressing.
    Oh.. I felt this way on Saturday. Sunday solidified my feelings. Again... I had a great time. But it's more than just making me happy... There are others that are (or were) just as annoyed as myself. I mentioned that we needed to game more but then I would just continue on my way away from the tent to talk or hang with someone.

    I am NOT laying blame without admitting that I, MYSELF, LET PEOPLE DOWN. Ocomik is my friend and I feel like crap because I asked him to come FRAG some friends and I hardly played any games with him....
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Shorty wrote:
    Im sorry to read that people were so dissapointed. Especially when they were expressing to my face in person... just how much fun they had had. What's dissapointing to me is that the LAN PARTY is now tainted and spoilt because opinions were not voiced at the event.. and instead posted in a thread after the fact.

    Personally... Id tell Prime to not bother next year. Party @ Primes.. wanna game.. bring your laptop.

    Again... this weekend is tarnished ... a real shame.

    I think you may be reading extra into what we posted. I, for one, had a tremendously great time. In fact, I think I had a much better time than I would have if it was simply a LAN party. Meeting everyone and hanging out was just so great. My only regret is that we couldn't get more organized with the timing, because that way even those who didn't come just for the socializing would have had a better time, because they could have played some tournaments and whatnot. Anyway I don't speak for the people that wanted to play games, since I wasn't one of them, so for all I know they may have had a wonderful time as well... in either case, I'm very sorry that I helped to cause any strife over the situation.
  • ShortyShorty Manchester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    But no one said this at the event. Brian was extremely rushed off hist feet being the host. No one could pulled me aside and said "look Dan, Im having alot of fun but the gaming is not happening".

    This is why I have taken your comments to heart & find it extremely depressing that I was so unapproachable as a site owner in person and instead I was only approachable as a half drunk, loud Englishman.. and no one could say that a little help in focusing the gaming was needed.

    Im as much as responsible as anyone else. Coming 7000+ miles is not an excuse to not accept responsibility for the organisation of an event held in honour of the site I co-own with Brian.

    This was a horrible thread when it started and it getting worse with every post. This event now sounds like alot of people had a bad time or were dissapointed. None of which showed when they were here. Shame.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Shorty wrote:
    This is why I have taken your comments to heart & find it extremely depressing that I was so unapproachable as a site owner in person and instead I was so approachable as a half drunk, loud Englishman.. and no one could say that a little help in focusing the gaming was needed.

    The fact that you were so approachable is the cause of half of the fun that I had at this weekend, so I hope you take that to heart as well.


    Again, I'm sorry that I helped to cause any strife over the situation. To be honest, I also knew that some people were acting frustrated over the lack of gaming, but I was having so much fun that I didn't stop to think how I could help alleviate that frustration. Reading this thread now, after the fact, makes me realize that I should have done something to help someone besides just myself have a good time.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    We were suppose to game? I thought it was a board game party....
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Shorty wrote:
    But no one said this at the event. Brian was extremely rushed off hist feet being the host. No one could pulled me aside and said "look Dan, Im having alot of fun but the gaming is not happening".

    This is why I have taken your comments to heart & find it extremely depressing that I was so unapproachable as a site owner in person and instead I was only approachable as a half drunk, loud Englishman.. and no one could say that a little help in focusing the gaming was needed.

    Im as much as responsible as anyone else. Coming 7000+ miles is not an excuse to not accept responsibility for the organisation of an event held in honour of the site I co-own with Brian.

    This was a horrible thread when it started and it getting worse with every post. This event now sounds like alot of people had a bad time or were dissapointed. None of which showed when they were here. Shame.

    Brain was up to his eyes trying to be a good host. I'm sorry, Dan, but this was a Brian thing. He made that clear years ago. I never looked at it as a Brian and Dan Show. It didn’t occur to me to be the whistleblower and go to you. I mentioned it to Brian and he flat out told me that it anyone could start something up... What I did with that info was my fault. I did nothing. I think Ghoos is right, I was having too much fun hanging with my online friends to really be too concerned with gaming. Then I would catch myself and go FRAG some bots in BF2. The SM-LAN was a blast to those that are active in the site since it was a 2-part event. For those there for just to socialize, it was the best friggin thing since sliced bread or green tea (:buck:) For those that did not have much of a connection with the site and were there for a game-a-thon, it was a bust.

    I had fun... Dan, Brian, Larry, Rob, Matt, and tons of others sound like they had fun. Brian did an outstanding job getting the thing setup and off the ground. I have no gripe with that. What we did was pull a high school party stunt... we ignored the "non- Social" attendees.

    As for the "alot of people had a bad time".... no. I think the event missed the mark. I don't think many people found the event bad, just not what they were led to believe.
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    OK guys... "gee, there wasn't much gaming, let's try and get some more of it in next year" was about all this thread needed to be. I've moved it into the attendees forum because it's embarassing to have in public at this point.

    It was a social event. The duct tape event succeeded because it invited people to interact with each other in person, which is what many people wanted to do. It had little to do with leadership or organization. Those who wanted to game gamed, and those who wanted to socialize had a drink on the back porch.

    Q, if you perceived 2 out of 40 people to have been disappointed by part of the event, I hardly see why that justifies having a row about it and posting "event cancelled" in a bunch of threads to rub it in. My goodness.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Let's polish this turd of a bitch-fest. Good idea to try to make it constructive, Matt.

    Q's suggestion of "SM Party" seems to be a good idea - I particularly like the "save the money on the tent" part. I really feel bad every year that the registration fees don't make up for the costs of holding the event. Since most of the people who attend seem to be in for the "party" part more than the "LAN" part, why don't we reformulate things next year.

    Here's my suggestion: make the Prime-Short Family Reunion 2007 a hybrid event. We can have a simpler canopy tent in the back (like the neighbors had for that graduation party) and people can hang out in there and shoot the breeze, instead of standing around the driveway... next year's reg fees could probably flat-out purchase that sort of tent for that event and future ones. Then we can have maybe ten or fifteen "LAN" spots for people who want to bring a full gaming rig - put that along one wall or on one side of the basement. Those that want a PC but not the full gaming experience can bring a laptop and throw down wherever to check the forums and whatnot.
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    It was a social event... It had little to do with leadership or organization. Those who wanted to game gamed, and those who wanted to socialize had a drink on the back porch....
    Those that wanted to game gamed by themselves, which they could have done at home. This was a LAN event... it was setup to be that, it was advertised to be that, and it failed in that...:(
    Q, if you perceived 2 out of 40 people to have been disappointed by part of the event, I hardly see why that justifies having a row about it and posting "event cancelled" in a bunch of threads to rub it in. My goodness.
    I stated facts... the events did not occur. I only mentioned two that were obvious, there were more. As for "rubbing it in..." I'll self censor... but back off!!!! :mad2:
  • MountainDewMountainDew Kentwood, MI
    edited June 2006
    I noticed around friday evening that gaming was not top priority. Even so it was tons of fun. Shorty, i dont think you heard anyone complain is because most everyone was still having a good time. This was not a disaster, but i do feel bad that gaming was pushed to 2nd priority.
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    QCH2002 wrote:
    The LAN party needs to cater to everyone, and this year didn't.


    Let me elaborate on my response.

    This statement is fundamentally flawed, because it assumes an impossible acheivement. It is impossible to cater to everyone. Some people will come for the social experience, and will bitch that the gaming took too much time away, or the technical details were too involved, or fill in the blank. Those who come for the gaming will inevitably have something to complain about as well. Either the technical end didn't hold up, or it wasn't organized enough, or they didn't get to socialize, or fill in the blank.

    Point being, i disagree that the LAN party needs to cater to everyone.

    I agree wholeheartedly that the gaming fell apart this year. That's fine, I'm okay with that because I am having a blast, because I got to meet up with all my friends. I think we've all agreed on that point that the gaming is secondary to the social aspect.

    What we have here is some strong feelings coming out incorrectly via a text medium, which happens all the time here.

    Listen, we're all friends, we all get along in real life, let's just cut this crap out. Q, I feel your pain, I'm sure you got to sit in the truck all the way home with Ocomik and hear him complain. I'm sure Stan wasn't thrilled with the effort involved in NOT playing games.

    I feel bad for those who came just for the gaming. I failed to provide a LAN event. Mike, Stan, Checkmate, etc... I'm sorry.

    Next year, it will be different. I had the same idea as GH, basically a smaller (cheaper!) tent, gaming optional. All it boils down to is that I had big plans, but the reality is that I was constantly pulled in twenty directions, between requests for this-and-that, wanting to spend time with people that I only get to see once a year, my kids peppering me with requests, money, food, constant cleanup, and the fact that THREE FRICKING KITTENS WERE BIRTHED UNDER MY BED THIS WEEKEND WITHOUT ME KNOWING ABOUT IT, you can see that I simply didn't have time for any of the things I had planned.

    It won't happen again. From now on it will be a free-for-all. If anyone wants a proper gaming event, it won't be under my direction.
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    First off I would like to say I had the biggest frigginn blast of a time I've had for more than an hour in years!!! Getting to meet the gang was "the best thing since sliced bread" and butter if you really get down to it. The fact that shorty, Mack, Prime, GH, Q, prof, and many others (sorry I didn't specificly mention all names I enjoyed meeting) were there was the big thing for me. I think a lot of others felt the same way too and simply forgot about wanting to game. Also, don't forget that we actually pulled off the "Walk for a Cure" as well as some of the other little things that were scheduled.

    Brian was the best host ever! He made sure all was handled as far as transportation, food and prividing the facilities for partying, gaming and sleeping. Isn't this enough??? As I understand it, in the past Mondi and others made sure the gaming happened. But this year no one really seemed to take control of the gaming aspect except for [strike]Gigantor[/strike] Sledgehammer. He was willing but seemed to not feel like he had absolute authority to do it so he became very frustrated over the whole affair (hence Sunday night ;)) since no one wanted to help back him up or co-MC it with him. This is not the fault of any owner, admin or organizer but the fault of others there to game as they did nothing to help gain their goal!!! My very humble suggestion is that Brian hosts and does the planning as usual BUT has volunteers to handle the LAN events (including set-up and dismantleing) and also someone else to handle transportation for him. This will allow him to concentrate better on [BEING A HOST[/b]. Brian was a great host but but was just totally wipped out from all he did and didn't get the time he deserved to enjoy the wonderful event he created for us.

    Shorty, you are off the hook on this as you were not only there as a guest, even though you are co-owner. You signed on late in the signup to attend and never were in the original planning. The only thing you can blame yourself for is being a great guy who was there to meet the troops and be there for us!!!
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    THREE FRICKING KITTENS WERE BIRTHED UNDER MY BED THIS WEEKEND WITHOUT ME KNOWING ABOUT IT

    How did you eventually find out about it? This is probably going to be an interesting story... Were they from that Siamese that was running around all weekend? That was a good looking cat.

    /me = :topic:
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    !!!! Papa Prime !!!! "I don't nuttin about birth'n babies" ;D

    Prime... you're stuck in a hard place that I would not wish upon my worst enemy... This was like a wedding with 20 brides and 20 grooms. Everyone had their own expectations and expected different things. And everyone want it now. Now... if you had 6 months of piece and quite before this, a huge budget, a staff to handle the mundane stuff, then you would have a 63% chance at come out of it sane.... but you did this after 8 months of NO PIECE AND QUITE, a limited budget, and almost by yourself. Are you sane???

    I really hope you <s>get suckered in</s> agree to host the event next year. I think a clearly defined "SM-Party'07" would sum it up nicely... Game if you want, but socializing is a must.

    A LAN like the first year is almost impossible to recapture. We didn't know each other as well, so gaming was the only thing that brought us together. Last year was a good mix... this year the arm had swung almost entirely the other way. We will always be friends and know each other so we can never have a total LAN. But that's ok... Besides, I cannot keep upgrading my PC just to make her run the newest games :D. I just need to not eat for a week before coming to the Party next year.;D
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