LAN Party General Information And Concerns Long Post

[bmeister1]

Guys,
A few people have approached me about current LAN parties. The feeling is that we need more people to come out and support their local LAN'S. There is currently only one or two LAN parties in New Jersey. Not many people do not know that we exist. If someone wanted to search LAN parties in New Jersey, the most recent search that comes up is NJGamers.com or NJLANParty.com. Also for the websites, I was also approached to have files of the games that we play and the patches if it is not a steam game. I was also asked that the websites have more pictures of our LANS. That way in case someone wanted to attend, they could look at the pictures and see what really happens. I know that NJLP has a pictures section but not sure about NJ Gamers. Someone has also volunteered to assist in spicing up the websites and making them feel like more of a LAN party feeling. I understand that these suggestions might not be taken or accepted, but they are going in the right direction. I also want to get FragFestGamers going as a quarterly LAN. I was thinking about having some prizes and tournaments like FITES. That was a suggestion that we should go for NJ Gamers. Also, even though I do not like playing the games, I still play them at the LAN'S. They make the time with friends go buy so much faster and more memorable. That is why a few other guys come to these LAN'S is to play the games a group and be with one another. I think that we should make a schedule of what games we have and what we are going to be playing at these LAN's. That way if someone who dose not have the game can download the game or if it interests them in any way, they can come out and see how it is done. One of the reasons why I drive to Maryland, Pennsylvania or anywhere close to New Jersey, is that I want to be with people that share the same interest as I do. I really want to see more LAN's happening in New Jersey and want more people to come out and support the local LAN's. I really do not think that these LAN's are dying. One of the reasons is that we need to keep promoting our events and keep updating what we do and where we are headed to. I understand that the venue is also a issue as well as the dates. Getting people together is very hard. Why can we have a 250 man LAN in PA or have over 400 people for GXL and have people out the door wanting to come in. This is what I want to see happen at our LAN's. I also want to get our name out on twitch and youtube to say we are a group that is really looking for members of all ages to come and join us. These are just a few concerns that were brought up and I wold like to get more of a input to see how we can make LAN's more popular again. I will try and put in for a few sponsorships to get more of a crowed back to the LAN's. I am a full computer nerd that games full time. Gaming is my life and I choose to continue to support these LAN's. Let us keep adding fuel to this flame and let it never extinguish.

[Digger[NJLP]]

Nice post and I totally hear where your coming from.

But there is a finite range or demographic of who comes to these parties. At breakfast after the extra one event I mentioned my desire to host a large LAN, like Fites for NJLP. But Murdock brought up a good point, which is the difficulty of getting enough people. Your biggest clientele will be the 20 something single gamer who has the money to build a gaming rig, desktop or laptop. That group is dwindling in some respect due to the lower cost of consoles, as PC's and laptops lose out to tablets. I am not saying no, just saying the task of getting 250, 300, or 500 people to a LAN event would be challenging. But to be honest, if Fites can do it way out in bumblefuck PA, I know we could do it hear in the Metro area. If we hit the major technology/engineering schools, NJIT, NYIT, Stevens, Rutgers, St. Johns, Princeton, NYU, we should be able to get the numbers. As long as its not in a Firehouse in Butler, lol! It would have to be in a major highway area, such as Edison, or along the turnpike.

But anything over say a 100 person LAN will take the doing of multiple individuals, with an organized business structure. Its not a "business" per say, but to put it in perspective we would need in some fashion a,

CEO - Event coordinator, guy who annoys planning staff to get there s**t done, final word on policy and process.
This role could one person or even a committee, but we all know how long committees take to make a decision.

CIO - Handles all IT technology related responsibilities
Helpdesk
Networking
Server management
DHCP, DNS etc...

CPO/CSO Handles security, privacy concerns for youth, creates disclaimer, and deals with membership management.
Mans the membership table for entrance in to LAN, handles all security responsibilities.

CMO - Marketing dude that takes care of word of mouth and advertising, also handles sponsorship from vendors etc.
Marketing maven, gets the work out in area, talks to NVidia, hardware vendors, for sponsorship and gifties.

COO - Handles premise management, room, location, hotel packages, allocation of tables chairs, etc.
Would also handle special events within the weekend, outside of tournaments. Best built box, trivia stuff, etc..

CFO - Financial man, handles money, bank accounts, paying for location and taking in of funds from participants.

CTO - Chief Tournament Officer - handles all tournament planning structure and implementation.

Then within each title, they will have workers/volunteers who help in that specific role.
I could see having one or two managers per Chief role that might get to attend for free for their services.

Cash flow based on number to cost
250 * $40 = $10,000
250 * $30 = $7500
250 * $20 = $5000

We could easily find a hotel with a room to fit 250 with plenty of cash left over to buy awards for tournaments etc..
But the goal is getting the people to "work" so the organizers don't burn themselves out. Working out shifts so no one is stuck doing the same thing all weekend.
The only people I see we would really have to pay would be any security people who would need to be on site for the whole event to handle security of hardware and the handling of people.

Sadly I don't think we are going to be able to create a renaissance of the LAN gaming movement, if anything it will evolve more toward console LAN events. Which is something to consider if we want a bigger LAN like 300 to 500 people.

[Digger[NJLP]]

We could go the Ubercon route and include gaming tables and tournaments, vendors, we might be able to even include the comic book genre and I could bug Pete to be the star attraction!

[Digger[NJLP]]

Oh and once we are above and beyond the "hangout" local lan with people you know and we start bringing in people we do not know. You will need a nice disclaimer and a lawyer who is at least "in the know" to handle any legal issues with people. If you don't start an LLC to protect the organizers, you could be sued for multiple issues and as an organizer without the protection of an LLC, they can go after your house, your car, etc...

Yes the legal issues are a downer..

But I have a very close friend that would probably be willing to help us with that.

But you have to also realize, he core organizers will require them to put in time and especially money. The space for a weekend of gaming in a location like Fites uses, your easily looking at 2 to 3 thousand dollars for the room rental, probably more.

[Digger[NJLP]]

Not trying to be a downer, just putting what I know out there and the logistics of a big lan. Granted forming an LLC may not be a need, but its nice to protect yourself.

[GenTsoChiken]

Digger is right, if we wanna shoot high, A LOT of planning will be needed and protection in the unlikely event of backlash. Also, the biggest downfall now, which the more senior members know well, they want to game more than plan. Again, as digger said, it's not a no but just stuff to consider. Personally, im all for it and am willing to help. From experience throwing LANs for 7HM, going in shifts or having a non-participating crew will make or break supporting the LAN. We want to do it for the love of gaming but needing to be pulled away from that to work, kills the fun of the whole thing.

[bmeister1]

wow a lot of good information. Something that I need to get a few people to team up.

[Toraborakid]

Guys,
A few people have approached me about current LAN parties. The feeling is that we need more people to come out and support their local LAN'S. There is currently only one or two LAN parties in New Jersey. Not many people do not know that we exist. If someone wanted to search LAN parties in New Jersey, the most recent search that comes up is NJGamers.com or NJLANParty.com. Also for the websites, I was also approached to have files of the games that we play and the patches if it is not a steam game. I was also asked that the websites have more pictures of our LANS. That way in case someone wanted to attend, they could look at the pictures and see what really happens. I know that NJLP has a pictures section but not sure about NJ Gamers. Someone has also volunteered to assist in spicing up the websites and making them feel like more of a LAN party feeling. I understand that these suggestions might not be taken or accepted, but they are going in the right direction. I also want to get FragFestGamers going as a quarterly LAN. I was thinking about having some prizes and tournaments like FITES. That was a suggestion that we should go for NJ Gamers. Also, even though I do not like playing the games, I still play them at the LAN'S. They make the time with friends go buy so much faster and more memorable. That is why a few other guys come to these LAN'S is to play the games a group and be with one another. I think that we should make a schedule of what games we have and what we are going to be playing at these LAN's. That way if someone who dose not have the game can download the game or if it interests them in any way, they can come out and see how it is done. One of the reasons why I drive to Maryland, Pennsylvania or anywhere close to New Jersey, is that I want to be with people that share the same interest as I do. I really want to see more LAN's happening in New Jersey and want more people to come out and support the local LAN's. I really do not think that these LAN's are dying. One of the reasons is that we need to keep promoting our events and keep updating what we do and where we are headed to. I understand that the venue is also a issue as well as the dates. Getting people together is very hard. Why can we have a 250 man LAN in PA or have over 400 people for GXL and have people out the door wanting to come in. This is what I want to see happen at our LAN's. I also want to get our name out on twitch and youtube to say we are a group that is really looking for members of all ages to come and join us. These are just a few concerns that were brought up and I wold like to get more of a input to see how we can make LAN's more popular again. I will try and put in for a few sponsorships to get more of a crowed back to the LAN's. I am a full computer nerd that games full time. Gaming is my life and I choose to continue to support these LAN's. Let us keep adding fuel to this flame and let it never extinguish.

If i had a dollar for everyone who said they would like to start a lan i would have paid for my wedding 10x over.

Anyway, the concerns you have brought up have been out there for many years now and still exist today, the problem is that gaming as a whole is stagnant and has little to no innovation in the past 6 years coupled with the fact that console gaming is cheaper in terms of out of pocket cost not to mention the fact that people are becoming more and more lazy.

I mean why would you want to travel 100 + miles to an event, pay $40 + bucks just to get into the door to play let alone spend money for a place to stay for the event, by the time u add up the cost of everything food, hotel, gas, entrance fee, and other cost your looking at at a $40 event costing you about $120 to attend on average.

And to top it all off the hassle of lugging around your rig to these places can be a real pain in the ass after awhile and when you finally get setup and ready to game almost everyone is in a totally different game. Isn't the point of a lan party besides socializing is to play in the same games as your fellow gamers who also went through the same s**t you did.

look the point i'm making is the REAL future of lan gaming weather it be console or pc lies on a number of factors:

1: CONNECTIVITY: Specifically internet access, the reality of today's games is that the need an internet connection to authenticate let alone play the game.
2: LACK OF LAN SUPPORT: just look back a few years to see that joining from a local host is no longer an option let alone setting up your own server locally is even an option see bullet point 1 above.
3: IT'S A NICHE FACTOR: most people who do game, tend Not to goto lan's or other gaming events due to the cost and time expense they have to encore.We need to come up with Totally NEW WAYS of bringing people into the fold.
4: COST OF HOSTING THE EVENT: it needs to go way down but due to venue concerns in regards to pricing don't hold your breath the pricing is only going up and therefor going to raise the price of admission to about 60- 70 USD. per person.
5: THE GAMES WE PLAY: what is actually new out there that's even worth $60 bucks?

Now i'm not saying that lans are dead but These are things we need work on as a community in order to have lans survive let alone flourish.

i will add more to this in a bit.

[Digger[NJLP]]

I think we need to move to Sweden, 20,000 person LAN party!!!
http://kotaku.com/the-worlds-biggest-la ... e3:06%20PM

[bmeister1]

i'm down for this

[Digger[NJLP]]

Heh lest plan for next year! I gotta renew my passport!