LAN Gaming/Parties (1 Viewer)

[JimmyK]

I'm just wondering if any of you have been to a LAN party.. or gaming center. What made it good, what made it bad - and what could have been done to improve it??
A friend and I run local LAN parties and we're just trying to do some market research to make the experience better for our gamers. We also hope to open our own gaming center as a business after we've finished our tertiary studies.
We have xBox system link, as well as PC's.

Cheers

 

[MedNez]

Been to LANs and gaming cafes.

Gaming Cafes:

Are good if:

* You're out somewhere;
* They have decent games;
* You have some money;
* There are rules against drinking, smoking et cetera on the premises;
* There are no network problems;
* Ergonomic equipment ready to go;
* Don't want to set things up yourself.

Are bad if:

* Overpriced;
* Bad atmosphere (13 year old Counter-Strike players threatening each other);
* Don't have good games, or equipment.

LANs:

Are good if:

* You have good fun friends;
* You have know-how to network;
* Everyone has a decent computer;
* You don't mind doing nothing else but LANing for however long.

Are bad if:

* People that are invited are sore losers, no fun;
* You are in a cramped space;
* Bad atmosphere;
* No-one can set up a network;
* People have temperamental computers that refuse to connect.

 

[RCMasterAA]

I've only been to Gaming Cafes cause LANs seem a little...well, nerdy but also hard to setup (to me). Good things in cafes definitely have to be up-to-date/great games.
I usually don't have copious amounts of money to keep up to date with PC games so trying them out at gaming cafes for a bit is always good.
Also, clean computers would be appreciated as I've seen people eating chips and using the keyboard and mouse at the same time :S
Headphones that work are nice too...

 

[jumb]

Lan's are great, however, it always sucks when all people want to do is leech of each other, slowing down the network. You need someway to disable the filesharing through the hub, that is not directly related to gaming, ie everything that's not patches and such.

 

[JimmyK]

Been to LANs and gaming cafes.

Gaming Cafes:

Are good if:

* You're out somewhere;
* They have decent games;
* You have some money;
* There are rules against drinking, smoking et cetera on the premises;
* There are no network problems;
* Ergonomic equipment ready to go;
* Don't want to set things up yourself.

Are bad if:

* Overpriced;
* Bad atmosphere (13 year old Counter-Strike players threatening each other);
* Don't have good games, or equipment.

LANs:

Are good if:

* You have good fun friends;
* You have know-how to network;
* Everyone has a decent computer;
* You don't mind doing nothing else but LANing for however long.

We actually charge people for our LANS because we organise pizza, drinks and we give a donation to the scout group, of whom we hire the hall from.
How much would you be willing to pay for either a afternoon/night time (including dinner and caffinated drinks) and/or a 24hr over night LAN (including drinks, dinner and breakfast)??
Networking has only been a problem once, where we had an issue with an IP address - but it was resolved quickly, and most of us have quite high spec computers - and we play games for those who cant quite keep up.
Has anyone got any suggestions on how to get people talking to each other, as we have a few different groups of people come - and were trying to build up a friendly group of people that get along great, and dont feel like they are being left out.

 

[loquasagacious]

Headphones.

Nothing is worse than either:
a) someone driving large speakers and drowning out other peoples sound, or
b) not having headphones (and hence no way to hear anything)

A is more of a problem at lan parties and B at lan cafes.

I disagree with the leeching, i think its great to just wind down between games and leech whilst enjoying a few beers.

 

[JimmyK]

yeah, we have a headphone rule - its either headphones, or no sound. people still bring speakers (eg me) for in between games when we wanna listen to music.
One thing we dont do though (as it appears you do), is have alcahol to much of a risk with expensive computers - but i guess it might make it a bit more social.

 

[WangzoR]

i lan quite often , sually at friends house coz hes got 1.5 mb internet connection , but if we dont feel like unpluggin our computers we go to istarzone in sydney...they have lounges OMG OMG soso sweet, yer , we ususally play generals zerohour and cs source! of course

 

[sladehk]

LAN parties are just too hard to set up because you need to have the right people, the right equipment and be lucky. Too much of an effort for me

 

[JimmyK]

i lan quite often , sually at friends house coz hes got 1.5 mb internet connection , but if we dont feel like unpluggin our computers we go to istarzone in sydney...they have lounges OMG OMG soso sweet, yer , we ususally play generals zerohour and cs source! of course

Wheres istarzone - i dont live in sydney, but if me and my friend move there for uni at the end of the year we'll wanna check it out!! Do they have a website??

 

[fatmuscle]

lol istar!

i used to go there, only cos it was free for us

 

[AntiHyper]

I only know of 'istardium' near my place (Glebe Point Rd). But places through george street are highly recommended. The place I most is at the corner of George street and Goulburn street in the western side of george street. It's got some nice airconditioned comfort, it's advised to sit around the middle since sometimes in the corners you get build-up of hot air that goes nowhere. The next one is near railway square in george st.

 

[JimmyK]

anyone got website addresses for any of the major ones, that you recommend - so i can find out more info??

 

[Reshie]

www.istar.com.au
i think thats it or look it up on msn(not google)

lans are awesome,but i wish i could have a smoke and a drink and play...but generally u have to smoke outside...SOOOOO ANNOYING!

 

[bekstah]

cool, i wouldnt mind going to that istar, i sooo want to open up my own lanning/bar/lounge venue that would be nicee.
ive never been to a gaming centre like SGL etc, though i really want to,
i host lans at my house with 2 of my close friends, which is fine for me but yeah it does take time to set up, i virtually have to rearrange my room each time :X
but now with the hsc i dont think ill be having lans any time soon :<

leeching is the other definition of lan ;p

 

[sunjet]

bekstah, I never knew girls host lans, not that there is anything wrong with it.
I've been to a few SGL's and been to istarzone in the city a few times mostly for gaming, it's always a good day and have heaps of laughs and can download without getting capped, but I quit/stopped that a while ago and I havn't lanned in ages.

 

[bekstah]

gamer girls do exist ;D

 

[sunjet]

yes, i've seen a few at sgl.

 

[bekstah]

wat games do yu play :?

 

[sunjet]

none i quit. i used to play cs~