UW Gamers

I think the LAN event last term ran pretty well, and I won't have any problems with it if we run it pretty much the same as last time.

Signup sheet
Here's last term's signup sheet: http://uwgamers.org/signup/lan/
Is there anything I should add / remove from it? I'm thinking mostly of games, but I'll change other things too.

dedicated server
The one thing we could really use is a dedicated server. There were two people who said they could bring one last time, but either they didn't come, or didn't bring the server. This was mostly a problem with TF2 since it was pretty popular (there was lag when the number of players shot up), but it could be used for other games too. I don't know what kind of specs a dedicated server needs, but if anyone has a fairly powerful laptop or desktop that they'd be willing to bring to use as a dedicated server, that would be awesome.

Food
I think food worked out pretty well.

setup + event start time
Now that we know what we need to do to set it up, I think we should be mostly good. Setup at 9am and start the event at 10am? Setup earlier? Start later?

Room
RCH 307 is the room we were in last time, so everything should be the same.

Internet
I think we were all using MJB's login credentials to uw-wireless last time. Are there any better solutions?

scheduled games
Essentially, someone would yell "Who's up for ______"? If there was enough of a response, a game got going. Do we want to do that again, or try to have time slots to organize playing other games? For example, 1pm - Call of Duty 4.

Valve games seemed to mostly dominate the day, and if we want to change the games that we're playing we may have to do this.

Game settings
This is mostly important for the server, but if anyone has maps / settings they'd like to try during the day, mention them here. We might use some of them. Mostly gimmick settings that won't be used during normal play.

TF2

• koth_saw_final is awesome
• Zombie fortress seems interesting
• Payload: Offensive Engineers vs Defensive Pyros
• Scouts vs heavies seems pretty fun

No problems



I would agree that server would help but i know jack shit about them



Agreed



uhh i think the time worked out but things may change depending on the equipment that is being brought (doubt it though)



Works for me



Better tubes?



I have a feeling that Valve games dominated because we made it the games to play, so if we do have a schedule that may allow people to play different games. however this will require for everyone to have the game/some interest in, and people may not be able to be there for the time set.
If we could some how have some "ahem" private server or something to host some "patches" for those games. and get them to people beforehand, but that takes time and effort.



AHEM 24/7 PL_CRANETOP/PL_REDSHIP LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.....i got nothing

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I see the schedule thing working best as a "suggested schedule." If someone wants to play Valve games all day long, he'll probably be able to find enough opponents for it, but other less popular games might never get played if there aren't enough people to play at one time. Having a suggested time to play these games increases the likelyhood that many people have a fun big game rather than just 2v2 or something like that.

That's how I see it working best anyway.

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tournament guy

So, as it may or may not be known, my intention is to be in Boston that weekend. I won't be able to help out.
On the bright side, I guess that means that I won't be "the guy" from 8:30am until midnight!

I think that last term's event was a fairly excellent template, which a few things could be improved upon.

dedicated server
We actually did have one. Unfortunately, it was running CoD4, and no one ever played.
We need to have someone who is a fan of TF2 bringing one in.

food
It worked out quite well. By the end of the day, the sales equalled the expenses, and we had pop left over to boot. The main issue is correctly estimating the amount of pizza. Prices have to be set at just enough over cost so that unsold stock is paid for.

setup time
I left to buy pop from Wholesale Club at 7:30am.
I had the room ready for people to start playing by 9:30.

internet
You're only half right. We were using my credentials, but we were hard wired to an ethernet connection in the room. I didn't get banned from the network, so it looks okay?

and one more thing that you totally didn't bring up but needs to be brought up

hardware
Short: we need more.
Long:
We need extension cables so that the power sources can be brought under the tables, instead of people running their cables across the halls.
We need powerbars so that we can daisy chain those outlets under the table.
Network Switches. Many issues were caused by the prevalence of 10Mbit network switches. I didn't know they were 10Mbit when I was setting up, and frankly I would have preferred that they never showed up. The DotA players were on a 10Mbit switch, and they ultimately rebelled against a hard wired connection and went to using wireless. We accidentally had a TF2 server running on the other 10Mbit switch, and many of us remember the lag-tastic time that was.
We can only use 100Mbit+ switches. Even if it means fewer of them, we simply cannot use 10Mbit. People may need longer network cables, but oh well.

For this hardware, I'd seriously suggest UW Gamers invest in some of the first two. (Power cables + power bars) I don't know what happened to all the power bars we used to have, I swear we used to have like 6. With the loss in reliability of the orange power cable, and the disappearance of the white power cable, we don't have one anymore. Having two would be very useful.

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I'm graduated, and employed!
The club lives without me now!

Bright side for you maybe.

In all seriousness though I could come set up the network at the beginning of the event like I offered last time. 10Mbit switches do sound like a bad idea, I didn't even think that would have been an issue. Now we know. (I gave two 10/100 switches for the event that Mike tells me didn't even get used, I could bring 3 next time so hopefully this means shortages won't be an issue).

Dedicated server: my laptop is 2-core 2 GHz cpu 4gig ram, if that's enough to run a dedicated server for something I don't mind donating it as such for the event.

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tournament guy

The thing is, we had a number of 4/5 port switches, but because we were a bit limited in power outlets (particularly power outlets in convenient locations) and each one only adds 3/4 more ports, ultimately they didn't get used.

_________________
I'm graduated, and employed!
The club lives without me now!

We moved Fight On to March 6th, we could move this event back a week and still have two weeks between events. Does this mess with the plans of anyone else?

I'm assuming Boston means PAX, in which case a few other club members would also be missing the event.

Moving it up a week would greatly increase the chances that I will be able to make it.

_________________
I'm graduated, and employed!
The club lives without me now!

Just out of curiosity how much money do we have to throw around? Is there a set amount for each event or is it just one "big" budget?

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O and just an FYI if we want sponsorship for this event we need to give most companies 2 months notice so if I don't get any input by Monday I'm going to start sending requests out any input. For the main list I'm using go to the sponsorship thread. http://uwgamers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1363. And has the date been moved to the 20th to dodge PAX east?

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The budgeting works that we try to run each event so that it breaks even.
Thanks to the FEDS funding of $75/term, we can afford to lose some money, but in general, we try not to.

Without a real income for the club, term to term, we just don't have enough money to do full budgets every term.

_________________
I'm graduated, and employed!
The club lives without me now!

I think what he was wondering was whether we designate money for each event, or if we pull from one general club's money pool.
In which case, it's the latter.

The main reason I ask about money is this. Now is a good time to start making an investment if the LAN event is going to become a staple event

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Quick inventory of the club locker:

• Two (2) power bars with four (4) sockets
• Two (2) power bars with six (6) sockets
• One (1) red (█) extension cord that is fifteen (15) metres long

...I bought the extension cord a few days ago because I knew the club needed one and it's an expense we have all agreed on in the past. We'll definitely need more power bars. Has the orange cable gone anywhere? I was going to wind the new cord around the handling thing, but I didn't see it in the locker.

Also:

New event date
Moved to the 20th of March. Now those PAX people can come and setup for us play games with us!

I took the orange cord, with the idea of fixing it. (fixing it better than I did last time I "fixed" it.)
I also took the duffelbag that contained my N64. This will be returned.

_________________
I'm graduated, and employed!
The club lives without me now!