Halloween LAN Feedback

[DAve]

Was a good lan. I'll try and salvage some screenshots tonight, there was a few crackers from the LFS outing. Captain_caveman was upside-down a few times and I flew like an F15 on at least one of the races.

Where do we put them when we're finished?
When is the entry-date?

[Bluepixie]

Hi there,

I had a great time at the last LAN depite some technical problems, but we want to know what you guys thought of it. Please post your comments here so we can improve future events!

Thanks,
Niall

[Sid]

I thought it was pretty shit with the exception of the Dawn Of War tournament and the organised BF2. The setup was great this time - very well organised and was good having some more hands helping this time.

My main criticism was the lack of gaming. There seemed to be about 30 minutes between every single game. People would quit out of the current game with the announcement that a new game was starting, however the server was nowhere to seen and everyone would be standing around. Ok, go for a cigarette, come back - and still nothing's happening.

Lack of Counter-strike bugged me too. I think we had one game at the start and that was it. Gungame is utterly ridiculous and not much fun, in my opinion. I realise it appeals to the poorer players but for decent players who will never use anything other than Glock, USP, Deagle, AK, Colt or AWP and who might be used to decent server reg, it really is quite frustrating.
I may have a particular dislike for the game due to the fact that I was leading at the beginning then being unable to get a kill with various SMGs despite burst firing and blatently hitting people on the head. Furthermore my level was reset to 0 when I changed my name. :neutral:

When I go to a LAN I want to play CS and BF2 for the entire LAN pretty much, with maybe one organised Dawn Of War tournament. I always try to have a shot at new games that I'm not keen on (Live For Speed) and I do feel there's a place for some of the source mods at times when there's not many other people gaming.

The problem is perhaps that we don't have enough people and everyone is forced to play games they don't want to in order to keep games populated, but I think the big ones that the vast majority of people are here for (CS and BF2) should be played far more. Perhaps we need to find more members somewhere or perhaps I need to reconsider whether Pause is the LAN for me.

[TK-Maximus]

There were a few downtime issues, particularly on the Sunday, and I do feel that source forts was ballsed up a bit. Also, gungame was naff. A couple of people got stuck on the pistols/SMGs and couldn't get off. By it's very nature, the game becomes easier to win when you're winning.Reverse the Gun order, and maybe it'd be playable, but not again as far as i'm concerned as it was. There's a few other things getting shouted round that I really don't like, such as "I'm going to set the gravity to Zero!!!!!11one11!". Other than that, I had a good laugh!

RE: Sid's Post:

There was TONS of BF2 going on. True, CSS was a bit in short supply, but other than 1 gun game and 1 sourceforts, it WAS pretty much pure BF2, CSS and one DoW tournament. Assuming the faff time get looked at, what more would you need to move it out of "Shit"?

[Fyndir]

When I go to a LAN I want to play CS and BF2 for the entire LAN pretty much, with maybe one organised Dawn Of War tournament.


I found that BF2 was getting really stale and repetitive towards the end of the LAN.

"Oh, look, small map with an attack chopper, I'll spawn over here..." *click* "Oh, shit, I'm dead already because of that attack chopper, hmm, and I've still only got one place to spawn." *click* "Oh, shit, I'm dead again because of that attack chopper...I guess I'll spawn aga...nevermind, we just lost our last point."

This might have been because I was feeling absolutely exhausted all weekend, it also might have been because I really don't enjoy 16 person maps in BF2, they're too small and it's all over ridiculously fast.

If we were playing BF2 and mainly doing 32 person maps with each side having an uncap (for preference) and we threw in a "Please don't slaughter the entire enemy team at their uncap with your invinci-chopper you crazy high-skill bastards. =(" rule we could get some proper pitched battles.

A bit of attacking on the uncap is fine, but when it's to the point where spawning and surviving for 30 seconds is a CHALLENGE it's a bit ridiculous and just makes the game less fun.

We did have some Office fun with CSS before you came back on Sunday, Sid. =P

I think we were missing something at this LAN, and I'm not sure what it was.

Possibly we can lay blame on the PA system, as answering it felt a bit weird, whereas if it's just Niall or someone jumping onto a desk and yelling to you shouting back feels fairly normal. Or is that just me? =P

It's also possible that the lack of gaming that you mentioned can be partially blamed on me (for Sunday at least), I probably should have taken the initiative to throw the CSS Dedicated server on and given everyone a shout, but I do end up worrying about overstepping my authority and really don't want to be stepping on any toes with stuff like that.

[CaNNoN_FoDDa]

I think it mostly worked quite well.

Obviously the sourceforts game wasnt set up properly, there were some delays between games and nothing happened on schedule (like we care). Maybe next time the servers should be set up ahead of the scheduled slot and the settings checked by someone who knows the game before the action starts?
Also for the competitions, im not sure if warmups are good or not. I think it could have worked well as a team strategy/tactics tester - have two separate short games with all of the players on one team in each, so there's no combat but the organisation gets sorted out (for SourceForts), or have a short match before the main event (BF2). Maybe a poll on this would be an idea?

I had fun anyway.

[Muppet]

Like Sid, i mainly play just CSS. Started playing BF2 at the Freshers LAN and i'm quite happy playing it with everyone else if there are decent numbers and teams are even. However it does get repetitive when teams arent balanced by skill.

As for CSS, like i said above, its my main game - i noticed the server seemed of lower quality for some reason than before. I believe it was at 66 tick this time round and 75 before. So there isnt much difference, but i think i felt the difference. What about 100 tick or is that too cpu intensive for the dedi? Plus was it a windows server this time? If so, were you running the fps booster or had media player up in the background to go around this problem?

Sourceforts combat stage seemed too short but build time was spot on for the team sizes.

Overall it was an enjoyable LAN, just some more CSS playing or possibly even a CSS 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, 5v5 (whatever one) tourney. Gun game was a bit of a farce with all the crappy guns and people unable to get past the rubbish pistols and SMG's (although enjoyable - mainly because i was killing most people..) But i agree with everything Sid said.

[--Mogwai--]

...Also for the competitions, im not sure if warmups are good or not. I think it could have worked well as a team strategy/tactics tester - have two separate short games with all of the players on one team in each, so there's no combat but the organisation gets sorted out (for SourceForts), or have a short match before the main event (BF2). Maybe a poll on this would be an idea?


i have to agree here. i really liked the idea of set teams, as even the little extra competitive/organised edge made things a lot more fun in my opinion. BF2/Sourceforts planned games were my favourites this weekend, purely because we had a short time to 'team talk' before the games. anything to emphasise this aspect of the LAN would be a massive improvement.
The Dawn Of War tourney was also good, as even though it wasnt sticking to a tight schedule, people knew what they were doing and who the matchups were thanks to the organisers keeping an eye on things. again a competitive element mixed with some organisation.
there was a lack of CSS over the weekend like people have said, but gungame is something fun that everyone can play and have a chance at so i like it in that respect. the games of 'normal' CSS were kinda pish... playing hostage maps that arent assault is always terrible, becuase its just deathmatch. maybe a 2v2 CSS tourney next tme would be an idea though?? or 3v3... but i dunno what the numbers of players are like.
i dont know if there was a lot of BF2 or not.. i (and others) felt like there wasnt enough?? i love that game. id play in 11am saturday until 10pm sunday if i had the chance.

+ pre-Set Teams
+ team strategy
+ competitive element
+ jan, the servers were far better than last time. especially bf2, so cheers.
+ anything with the word 'battlefield' in the title. (get 2142 for next LAN!!!!)

things i didnt like... well the huge wait between most games wasnt fun. the current game would end prematurely, the new server wouldnt go up, a few people would play another game 'while they waited' which then meant when the scheduled game went up, people werent joining it... so yeah i second whoever suggested dedicated servers going up well before the game is supposed to start.
also it felt like too many different games were being forced when the majority didnt like them or even know them. while 3 of the 30 do really love LFS, its not worth in my opinon dedicating several hours of a LAN to as a main event. also random games of Dawn Of War all the time are a bad idea... only 8 players can play, any big skill gap within those 8 makes for a shit game anyways, and remember that 8/20 people is not worth tying up the entire committee for. obviously there has to be scope for people to play what they want, so maybe have a rough timeslot within the overall schedule for 'mini / mixed games' or something.
if improving all this means playing CSS and BF2 almost entirely then fine, as long as the most players are involved most of the time.

- huge wait times between games
- too much emphasis on games not enough people like

[Phizz]

Did like the DoW and the chance to actually play CS:S this time although I do have to say I find it a little repetitive. Enjoyed sourceforts (we did win that) and the gun game just for a change. Proof I can actually hit stuff. I think there was enough CS:S but then again I may be a little biased considering I play slower paced games on the whole and my FPS veterancy is in question.

Team talks would be a lot more useful and perhaps locked ventrillo servers for gaming.

[Sid]

RE: Sid's Post:

There was TONS of BF2 going on. True, CSS was a bit in short supply, but other than 1 gun game and 1 sourceforts, it WAS pretty much pure BF2, CSS and one DoW tournament. Assuming the faff time get looked at, what more would you need to move it out of "Shit"?

I basically said in my original post what would move it out of "shit".

I know there was tons of BF2, to the extent that I was getting extremely bored with it like Fyndir mentioned, but more of that would've been better than sitting doing nothing. There was one hour-long game of CS that I was aware of, which is far from enough. Upon reading Fyndir's post it seems that there was another game of CS that took place early Sunday before I came back. Still, at a 36 hour LAN I would like at least 10 hours of CS.

If we were playing BF2 and mainly doing 32 person maps with each side having an uncap (for preference) and we threw in a "Please don't slaughter the entire enemy team at their uncap with your invinci-chopper you crazy high-skill bastards. =(" rule we could get some proper pitched battles.

Yeah, a no attack policy on uncaps is certainly a good idea IMO, although I really wasn't aware that this had been abused that much.

Obviously the sourceforts game wasnt set up properly
Yeah, the low combat time ruined the point of the game for me. Just as you destroy part of their base, the build time begins...

Maybe next time the servers should be set up ahead of the scheduled slot and the settings checked by someone who knows the game before the action starts?
Definitely. Anything to help a quick transition from one game to another would be a big boost. We really need someone who is familiar with each game to suggest a good config, so that the gaming stays fun. Good points.

just some more CSS playing or possibly even a CSS 2v2, 3v3, 4v4, 5v5 (whatever one) tourney.

Yeah, a CS tourny would be nice. gor and myself ran a 3v3 random teams knockout tourny last year but it was quite hard to get everyone on servers and generally organise everyone so we only played one match each.

I'll look into organising a 2v2 or maybe a 3v3 for the next LAN if enough people would play.

[Fyndir]

Yeah, a no attack policy on uncaps is certainly a good idea IMO, although I really wasn't aware that this had been abused that much.

Yeah, a CS tourny would be nice. gor and myself ran a 3v3 random teams knockout tourny last year but it was quite hard to get everyone on servers and generally organise everyone so we only played one match each.

it wasn't abused that much, but we were hardly ever playing maps with uncaps really, it was mostly maps with no uncaps at all.

Organising the servers should be easier with me able to remote desktop into the server and run a CSS Dedicated then change the settings accordingly...or even if we got Jan to make 4 CSS Tourny files (the remote desktop has a bundle of .bat files for easy server running. =P) according to generally agreed settings with the difference between the files being the server name and password.

I think we should definitely go for it.

[Strings]

I recall saying we should play CSS countless amounts of times, but was told "why interrupt people when they are having fun?". Now I can't really argue with that, but Im also sure of the fact that there wasn't enough CSS. When we did play CSS, people just left because they didnt like the maps.

I recall Niall asking what maps people wanted, people specifically asked for Office and the like. Again I hate that map, but if its what people want...

Even when Niall asked on the PA a few times what people wanted to play, no one mentioned Source. It was always BF2 or DoW or something else.

We put Gungame in, because it was requested from last time. I can't stand the game, there is '0' skill in it and the only thing that interests me is the different maps. But a few people obviously do enjoy it, so I doubt it's gonna get scrapped entirely, just perhaps not as a dedicated time.

A CSS tournament might be an idea now. Was warned off it by Sid/G0r, due to the organising issues they had. But if we kept it to a 2v2.... and kept it tight, it could be quite good. Low roundtimes, mr6 or something so it doesnt take ages.

The organised game of BF2 we played was fairly awesome IMO. Teams were decent, and the little talk beforehand cleared up any unsure-ities before the game.

The big wait between games can be put down to a few things. Some people just flat out refused to play some games. They either just wanted DoW, or they just wanted BF2 or even just wanted Source. Couldn't really seem to please anyone.

Now we can't force people to play games together, and we can't just let everyone run amok as nothing gets done. So Im quite stumped on what to do about it really. Can't seem to get a good game of Source without people rage quitting etc.

In my opinion I found that there was plenty of BF2 though, I thought that got played an awful lot. Either that or BF2142. As much as I do love BF2... would have preferred more CSS.

[Uuurrahh]

I'll start off by agreeing that there was too much BF2. I'll go into more detail on it in the post Larry's thrown up about it, but toward the end it was getting a little tedious. The last game of BF2 I was just playing RO online as I couldn't be arsed with it although I did join in a little later.

Despite me not liking CS:S very much at all [not my game, but I'll play it on 'normal' maps and it's fairly alright in shortish bursts], there wasn't enough of it. Although gun game was fairly ok, but the weapons order needs to be reversed - start with the M249 first and work down with the nade and knife at the end. That way you're not stuck on a shitstick of a pistol waiting to get kills, although the game may go a little faster. But that just allows for quicker map rotation/more variety.

The DoW tournament was as shit as ever. I don't play it competitavely outside of LANs so getting rushed by Strings' Khornes in an 11 minute game was the fortunate end of the tournament, but I'm sure those who do enjoyed themselves. However the 'no rush, stupid colours, bridge chokepoint p00nz0r' game FireFly and I had with Jan and Lewis was the best DoW game I've had in ages due to the friendlier style of play and huge casualty ratings :D.

For me, the issue is probably variety. But I'll make a separate post and try to slap people into playing a few new games that will be out by the next LAN.

[Fil2eFly]

OK well i had a fucking blast! an absolutely great time

BF2: few good games , the big game was a little to clan tourny style for me but still had some fun, had some good games when it was a bit more chilled, i like BF2 so it was ok but i can see for some u it could be a little over played

CSS: i dont like css coz well im shit at it im quite open minded so stuck at it had a bit o fun maybe less gun game next time , also id like to see some fun glass maps! :D

DOW: again like bf2 very much tourny style what im not rly into so got pwnt, maybe next time have some realy big coops agains maybe some uber chaos or something

Quake/UT: i like these games but there was very little of them played perhaps some more playing of them nxt time

LFS: bit pisssed off with this by the time i got lfs onto my comp the server was full so couldent play :(

source forts: i thought this was realy good but that was the forst time i have played it, maybe next time a plan of defences would be good to every 1 can help build , get things done a bit quicker

but in all i had a great time, pause and its gamers have made a very good first impression and i will be along next time for sure!

[zaireeka]

I didn't manage to get along to either of the LANs so far, actually, I havn't even managed to read this entire thread...

but, if the problem was a lack of CS:S games I've got a server I can provide as a dedicated CS:S server (if a: I can be bothered setting it up, and b: I can actually make it to the next LAN). I never use my server so I don't really know what it's capable of. How many servers are used currently and what are the specs? I'm just presuming there is a lack of them which might not be the case. :/

[Sideshow]

Base raping in BF2: as far as I know, only happened once, when we were messing around over the carrier in the first warm-up round. Not that we wouldn't do it if given the chance: just in all the real games played we had to contend with Yega's AA efforts, which preoccupied our chopper for 70% of any round.
On the whole I really enjoyed the BF2: we played a nice selection of maps. There were a couple of heli-rape ones, but also a fair few city ones (Karkand and Jalalabad especially - the first round of the tourney on Karkand was probably the most fun)

Apart from GunGame (awful), only got one game of CSS, on sunday morning. It was Office, but I liked it. Maybe cos all the good players had slept in and weren't there, and it was all shotguns and SAWs. I wouldn't go the 'at least 10 hours of CSS' route, but definitely more than half an hour would be good. The CS1.6 tournament that sid+gor ran ages ago was crap because of the random teams. A 3v3 with proper teams would probably be a lot of fun. Random teams might appeal to the folks who haven't really played at all, but it sucks for everyone else (and most people know how to play CS). In that tournament one of my teammates accidentally TK'd the other, and the following round the guy deliberately TK'd him back. I mean, that shit's retarded, and zero fun.

I think there is room for smaller games, like DoW for example. People like different stuff: If half the lan play a round of DoW while a few hit LFS at the same time, that's a good way to keep everyone happy while still getting to play the games you want to.

DoW went well, I thought, with lots of entrants. Are there replays? Next time I think we should enforce a rule that the winning team half to upload a replay to the fileserver after the round. Then we can zip them up on the website somewhere.

I don't think there's much point in planning out a set schedule, since it never gets used. An outline of games we're gonna play would be more useful.

Also: a lot more people should have remote desktop access to the server. Not getting to play the game you want to for half an hour because the server admin is too busy looking at screenshots is not cool. And while I'm bitching: the PA system was unnecessary and, more importantly, vastly annoying. I'd ditch it.

I enjoyed the lan a lot, the main downer being that a lot of people who said they'd turn up didn't, so we didn't have the numbers we though we would. It looked like we'd have enough for 32 player BF2 maps, but we fell a fair bit short of that.

Will there be a Christmas lan?

[Fyndir]

Also: a lot more people should have remote desktop access to the server. Not getting to play the game you want to for half an hour because the server admin is too busy looking at screenshots is not cool.

I had access from Sunday night just before Jan left onwards, once Jan got back I just left it be since I didn't get any requests I assumed he was handling it ok and that people were happy.

Assuming he leaves the passwords as they are I'll have access for all of the next LAN, so if Jan's busy you can just give me a shout. =)

[LastChanceHotel]

First of all, I thought there was too much BF2. I mean, a big game of Battlefield is fine for say two hours, with maybe another hour game or something later on, but really guys... the BF2 server must have been averaging 7 players for over 16 hours of the LAN. that's ridiculous. Source was played for maybe 2 hours, average of 5 players?

The other disappointment was the unsureness of the SourceForts game. I was instructed no less than 5 times as to what the map/roundtime/roundlimit/etc options were to be, and there seemed to be a definite lack of organisation, as well as some ragequitting by Pixie. Perhaps next time, decide on everything beforehand, rather than "as Jan is setting up the server"?

Gungame was crap because, well, it is designed to be crap. It's designed to be that way - I can't think of any other broken idea (aside from Battlefield 2) quite on par with "How can we make the game more unfair for players? I know, give the better players better weapons!". However, if you can get over the fact that yes, you will die every 10 seconds and yes, you will get completely owned on the nade and knife levels until you end up duelling with another player on knife level, then it can be fun.

I'd really really really love a minibus to be available to shuttle stuff to/from the LAN. I finished at 12.45am taking servers etc back to various flats.

Fyndir was given remote access to the server during my absence Sunday morning. This seems to have done the job for that period of time, however in response to Sideshow's complaint, who should be given remote desktop? Also, I presume you know how to admin it via the console? What was stopping you from hosting a 'listen' server, by the way?

What I can do next time is hand out remote admin to people who want it while I'm busy, or maybe have another person elected who can deal with things while I'm elsewhere.

More CSS! The one game of Office was a blast, P90 and shotgun fun! We should have done more - especially less 'competitive' behaviour oriented games. Kind of like the Dawn of War game we had. That was highly entertaining (see screenshot thread)

Other than that, I was quite pleased. I must say, thank you to everyone who ran and coiled cables during setup/teardown! You saved my life.

The dawn of war game we had was the most fun I've had in DoW, ever. More DoW, less lame 'rushes' and 'bullying'. I really enjoyed the lack of huge micromanagement required, it was more about "build the biggest army you can, then slowly blast your way across the bridge" than "how fast can I build Khorne Bezerkers and pwn my opponent". That shit's just no fun!

[Phizz]

One thing I did miss which Yega could perhaps improve on next time for all use Aviation fans would be some games of IL-2 next time. At the fresher LAN I spotted someone with a really sweet joystick / thruster setup and I think it would be good for people to try something using a joystick ( they are relatively cheap at about 3 quid these days). It would also be a welcome break from BF2's awkward to pick up mouse flight.

[YegaDoyai]

Phill, me and pixie have been gagging for some IL-2 but the take up is so slow for games like that (LFS took 30-45min to setup and in the end 3 players couldn't play - server full). I want to get games like that up but overall we have to have people installing and keeping the games installed so we can get games up quicker.

Jan, in reference to you DoW comments. Top teching then pitching your armies against each other is fun, but you should play DoW not DC if that is what you prefer. For the rest of us I think (although we are certain there are balance issues) the move to DC is welcome (limited top tech army). Get the Mark of Chaos demo if you want pitched battles.

Why can we not setup a listen server? Do you even remember what your official duty is? Can you not remember the task that you said you'd do and I questioned your commitment to? I am deeply dissapointed in your approach to your role, you have consistantly made made arguments to the effect that you have achived more than I did and that should be seen as enough. It isn't, I did it because noone else was doing it, you are doing it because you said you would do it. If you don't want the responsability then say so, so we can get someone who will. The reason I didn't want the role of server admin is that your time will be spent not playing games and just getting things sorted. The more you get sorted in advance the less you have to do on the day. If you were more involved in the other duties of the comittee (talking to folk, getting the games organised etc) you'd probably have a better idea of what you needed to do. Yes the servers worked well, but aside from steam fucking up we all know how much 'real' work went into getting it sorted (ie less than Niall/Strings spent on the flyer that was on peoples desks).

[gor]

In general I thought the LAN was a success. I felt the organisation was about as good as any pause LAN I’ve attended. Arrived at 11am to find everything set-up, which, admittedly was a shock. The PA announcements worked great for coordinating and the like, and also the handouts/ vent went some way towards this.

Naturally not everything was perfect, time management being a major issue, and refining a timetable and PA announcements / head-butting Jan. We were overly critical of the set-up and server issues last LAN, and maybe that detracted from the bread and butter of a LAN (the actual gaming).

As for the gaming itself: as much as I enjoy the dow tournament, I think it would be more realistic to have 1on1 or 2on2 groupings. With the experienced players playing each other, and the novice players playing each other in a league table format - could be a running theme of the LAN? Spreadsheet a league table and fixtures and play the games throughout the Saturday?
I am suggesting this with the disheartened new dow players in mind. Getting an absolute battering in the first round is certainly no fun. And some of these people went on to play more realistic opponents anyway!! Let’s give them a chance of a prize (still think we should look into drink vouchers at Jim bar’s as an alternative to cake).

Lack of normal CSS, and the sourceforts round time was a real pity. Although I did find the general game variation fairly good, notably enjoying the Doom mod, The Ship and (to my surprise) LFS.

BF2 Saturday was good fun – semi-structured teams like that are definitely the way to go, and as I posted in the bf2 thread, perhaps we could move to the next level online. Sunday BF2 was a real disappointment though, and ended up being really frustrated with the half-hearted games. Not enough structure or just over-playing was probably at fault here.

I think it was Sid that mentioned being happy playing only bf2, source and dow, which is fair enough. I don’t mind playing new games. In fact, if it wasn’t for trying new games at LAN, I would probably still be playing just cs1.6 and solitaire. I always enjoy having a crack at a new game - real shame nobody plays company of heroes for one, as I suspect that would be a real hoot and quite competitive for the masses.

I’m also happy to help organise a 2on2 or 3on3 source tournament for the next LAN, providing we have the numbers and commitment to make it worthwhile.

[DAve]

Phill, me and pixie have been gagging for some IL-2
You should have said, I would have been up for that too.

I am deeply dissapointed in your approach to your role, you have consistantly made made arguments to the effect that you have achived more than I did and that should be seen as enough.
I think this little harsh. Mind you, he has had over 3 months to get set up, and this is the 2nd lan, so it's not entirely unwarrented.

Server admin is a thankless, thankless task. There's a masive amount of work that goes into the role, I know because I mucked about with it in the early days and it was too much for me to handle.
A lot of the time, you'll have to abandon the game you're playing because the server has a hiccup. That's just the nature of the role, but you have to have that commitment. Basically, you can make a good lan great, or an average lan suck. Let's hope it's more the first rather than the last :)

[Fyndir]

Phill, me and pixie have been gagging for some IL-2 but the take up is so slow for games like that


You should have said, I would have been up for that too.


....


What's an IL-2? =(

Give me the game.

Tell me how to play it.

Lets get it on.

[CaNNoN_FoDDa]

It's a plane (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_DB-3)

[YegaDoyai]

What I don't understand is why you didn't link to the IL2? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-2)

[CaNNoN_FoDDa]

I was at work - they have wikipedia blocked and i had to resort to google.

[LastChanceHotel]

Why can we not setup a listen server? Do you even remember what your official duty is?
My official duty is to ensure that servers and network infrastructure are set up and maintained properly, in order to allow people to play games. Yes, I should have dropped what I was doing and set up a battlefield 2142 server for Sideshow, instead of looking at screenshots for 20 minutes. Fair Enough.

I am deeply dissapointed in your approach to your role, you have consistantly made made arguments to the effect that you have achived more than I did and that should be seen as enough.
I should do everything I can to make the LANs smoother and more enjoyable. However, I don't believe that I deserve to recieve abuse because the map I was told to put on "is crap", or "I didn't respond fast enough to your query". Yes, this is early days for me, and Yes, mistakes were made - but do I really deserve comments such as "I want Larry to be our server admin, he'll probably know better ", during a perfectly adminned game of CSS, where said player wanted a change of map? Would *you* not be ever so slightly spiteful at recieving comments such as this, just because a player didn't get their way?

I think this 'situation' could be resolved by 1) more effort on my part, and 2) less abuse on everyone else's part. I am only being spiteful in attitude because people are being spiteful to me. It's only fair, right?


Yes the servers worked well, but aside from steam fucking up we all know how much 'real' work went into getting it sorted (ie less than Niall/Strings spent on the flyer that was on peoples desks).
The flyers were something you could do and could be finished. The servers required ongoing attention. I did as good a job as I had time to before the LAN to set up, and so far the only reasons anyone has come up with for my job being a failure was "bad attitude". I agree, my attitude sucked - however, people's collective attitudes towards me last LAN sucked too. Thankless task indeed!

[YegaDoyai]

A perfect example of my dissapointment made manifest. Jan and I have spoken about this and it does not require further comment.

[Sid]

A perfect example of my dissapointment made manifest. Jan and I have spoken about this and it does not require further comment.

If you've spoken to him about it, why bring it up on the forums yourself?

[DAve]

I think this 'situation' could be resolved by 1) more effort on my part, and 2) less abuse on everyone else's part. I am only being spiteful in attitude because people are being spiteful to me. It's only fair, right?

That's a fair point. People have been rather on the sharp side of supportive. Constrictive critisism, chaps!

[GingerPrinz]

Or at the very least a quiet word in the man's ear. No need to be stressin him in front of his peeps. You know gamers though, blunt to the point of having retarded social skillz :P

Thanks Jan, best of luck for next time. Maybe a shift system could get sorted out so you have some gaming time?

EDIT: Oh yeah, topic. I had a good, not great time at the LAN, but it was my first time, I should have bought HL2 and not got too stoned to come back saturday night. I eagerly anticipate thee next one, and would recommend more BF2 if anything, as it's the bomb (that will bring us together). I also second the motion that the PA was annoying, but I think everyone has got the sound box out of their system now. Entrance music for teams/team captains. Now THERE's a plan that ties in wit the smoke machine + my camcorder.

[--Mogwai--]

with the february LAN fast approaching, this thread maybe should be looked over and some of the suggestions discussed by the committee to see if any can be implemented this time round. although after such a long break and exams, any LAN action will be welcome!

[Bluepixie]

No worries man, I'll be reading and checking everything!