WinterWonderLAN

WinterWonderLAN

Should have actually been swapped with oLANpics

Dates: 10am - 10pm 9th of September 2000
Venue: Penrith High School Hall
Attendance : 85 / 85

Photos

• Paixs Pics
• The Insiders WWL Pics

Overview

9th of September 2000
10am - 10pm
Penrith High School
Penrith NSW Australia

Fudd Speaks

*Rego Process
Actual "on the day" rego's went so smooth I couldn't believe it. We had everything rego side set up half an hour earlier than opening and we could then help out set up tp and tables etc.
On top of Kaboom and Splint big thanks to Viper and Steve for their great ideas in the morn such as the white board to be used as a map for tables. The only few adjustments to be made are to scrap being able to reserve your actual seats and also perhaps chalked lines for rego saying red green and blue tables here other there. Other fine tuning to be expected will be for us to actually keep count of who came : ) according to my counting stick here 84 expected with 3 welchers and 4 nite before jobs leaves 85, but we will have to confirm that 85 with the photo's and seating arrangements
Yes we discovered we are in a school hence we have an unlimited supply of chalk! So next LAN we will abuse that fact for rego. I would like to thank everyone for their patience and co-operation I think its all starting to come together.

*Tagging- Actual Structure and look
We decide to stick with the tags from oLANpics's. Once again they works well. Not everyone returned their tag afterwards leaving us with about 15 short. We ask for them back to comply with our environmental responsibilities not the obvious cost cutting attempt [shhh].
Also Reedy had the nerve to accuse them of being unfashionable; ). So he has now volunteered on the mailing list to make the design for the next batch for our next 3-day bash. I agree they weren't fantastic but since we had top knock em up the nite before they did they job.

*Tourneys
A little bit of a disappointing effort but oh well. If you are upset about the tourneys then you came to the LAN for the wrong reasons. CS [Intellimice] being taken out by Cartel [page under links] and the Q3 team dm [Xitel Headphones] taken out by Team Duck. I'll leave the details to Ben or Davo.

*Piracy / File Transfers
Haha my poor fully shared upload directory was prostituted! People didn't look on the white board and note the ftp address [ftp.bong.com.au] and instead decide that while looking at Fudd's upload directory with a funny shit folder [courtesy to anon.] they would upload Hollowman and misc assortment of Linux programs. Although I'm happy to share files someone deleted the funny shit directory that I was not happy about I was looking forward to checking that out at home.
I gave it a 5 in the beginning and a 9 towards the end due to my thinking my NIC can handle full duplex and also the network that was whacked up which I'll explain later under network.

*Jukebox
New and improved with download current song and upload song to server capabilities it has never been more fun! I got a few rarities that I was holding out for, a few new songs I haven't heard before and help upload some of my friend's music so they could be founded.
Soon to be implemented: Upload Recursive Directories and maybe a manual time limit on songs [no one wants to listen to a 56 minute song ala Paul Van Dyke, love the guy's stuff but he's delaying my other request]
Volume was another issue with the jukebox. Some people requested that it be turned down during their tourney, which is reasonable. I felt it was a lot weaker in the back then it is down the front, a minor issue none the less.

*Staff in General [helpfulness, friendliness etc]
We need more fulltime tech staff and also more full time tourney people. The tourneys could be deregulated so one-person handles one game. If we suffer another network problem we can handle more than a few people at the one time.
I tried my best to talk to most people, if you guys want feel free to come up and talk to us, we won't mind and quite look forward to it.

*Food
We really need macca's to sponsor us!? Oh yeah, we didn't get the keys to the kitchenette, sorry.
Although there was no actual food runs as promised I'm glad no one got lost or needed directions for macca's. Btw the 5 is for macca's being a saviour if their prices weren't so high they would have got a ten.

*Parking
Loading bays marked nice and clear [Courtesy Splint]. We left the gates open considering the length of the LAN. Next 3-day bash we will lock them during the night. We aren't trying to keep you in but rather keep others out. You will be able to get out though for the 24-hour macca's on Mulgoa rd, etc but you will have to request for the keys which we will be happy to give you.

*Security - [tagging and how good it is as security]
Manic commented on the mailing list that it was too easy to get in and out and no one checked for his tag. Rest Assured we know visually who is out of place and anyone, anyone at all that looks out of place we will ask for their tag. Your tag is your receipt. It is most useful in the morning where there is a huge amount of people who walk through at the same time and more important at multi-day events where your tag will get you back inside otherwise you can take it up with the security guard who is there throughout the whole nite. So rest assured manic they are useful and it'll help us bust the balls of anyone who looks shifty that we don't know about.

*Prizes [lucky door prises VS Tourney prises (good or token prises)]
Prises were pulled out of a hat, literally thrown away into a mosh pit and legitimately won by people with talent. When they were thrown away people complained they should be distributed evenly [you see, Zort can't throw stuff to the back of the hall without hurting someone].
I believe that those who won the tourneys deserved what they received but there were a few disappointed people who were complaining about minor details like script kiddies, screen watching, etc. Now wouldn't there be a better outcome if the stakes weren't so high and everyone could lose graciously and drop issue. I propose not releasing what the prises are until after the tournament. Insane you say? Maybe not.
Some very nice Gear being given by our gracious sponsors some of the Headliners include PNC, Logitech, Netgear, Xitel, etc who provided some impressive gear which we enjoyed giving away.

*Servers
Yeah they rocked! I'll let Dean, Finny or Davo fill in the gaps. Apparently Half-life is gay, as if we didn't know that anyway. Umm I'll make sure everyone knows the ftp server next time and other important info like intranet address.

*Network
It was pretty touch and go in the beginning with a small problem, which was caused by me. I didn't realise that the program I use for my LAN at home [Sygate] that runs its own dhcp server in the background hence screwing around with Xenomorph's dhcp server and chaos was unleashed. Im sorry for the Trouble I caused everyone, no wonder I keep getting booted off the network : ) that was dagger kicking me.

*Non-Gaming Activity
With some Mascot footy attempts that didn't initiate, there was little to talk about on the non-gaming side of things. But someone on the mailing list had a top idea of a table tennis table. I shall investigate! [Doesn't Robby C still have one in his living room?]
Also next LAN for the 3-day bash the common room upstairs will be the general non-gaming room and cinema. We will be showing several movies upstairs either on a projector or TV. With Myself, Dangermoose and Caffeine on the job we will making sure no one is bored during the LAN.

*Highlight of the LAN for you
Just walking around. Talking to people and generally milling about. Quake 3 Dm on dm17 running lagged [10 -12players] and leeched and coming 2nd at best times. Note figures may be embellished.

*What gave you the biggest shits?
Not having the processor power to play codename eagle without lag.
Missing the Action Quake 2 revival match.
Not renaming the songs I downloaded from the jukebox from current.mp3, hence each song overwrote the last.
Cleaning the hall with a broom as useful as a hairbrush.

*Shout Outs
Everyone mentioned previously
Carnage and his Mate - poor dudes had to leave early but they went out of their way to say goodbye and thanks. I know who is getting an extra can of jolt next LAN! Plus everyone else who said goodbye and thanks before they left, it really means a lot to us if we know you guys go home happy.
Those who stayed behind to help clean up!

Fudd
_________________________________
UIN: 52216515

DjZoRt! In-it

WinterWonderLAN was a huge success!! Everything went well (for a LAN) From the various reviews and write ups about, I think we are gaining alot of reputation. Being called "a big ass lan" was something of a pat on the back for me.

We still have alot of room to improve, but since our first event, some 14 months ago. Weve come along way. Most notably the network, our servers and the calibre of prizes. At WinterWonderLAN i think we gave our sponsors a good wrap without being too "in your face" about it.

The network was ace, thanks to NetGear's sponsorship. Everyone switched at 100mbps is a good feeling. Servers were fast and stable, thanks to Nepean Micro's provision of two p3 733 machines. Which when combined with a solid linux install (thanks to Finny and myself, both professional unix administrators *grin*) rocked the party all day. Not faulting even when i kicked the power out =(

Rego was excellent. Respect to Fudd and everyone else involved for preparing and presenting well.

People would have noticed the beginings of IntraLAN running at WLL. Expect to see it becoming a more central part of our LANs organisation as it becomes more and more functional.

Congrats to our tournament winner who walked away with some great gear. Hopefully we can do better next time! Special thanks to our sponsors who provided the giveaways and tournament prizes. We are in your debt!

Im out of stuff to say, so short of raving like i usually do, ill finish off with a thanks to everyone who gave us a plug and everyone who showed up and made WWL a great day. Hope to see you all next time!

• Other Past LANs