As you can now doubt tell, the countdown has been updated. The next LAN will be December 27, 2005 and will run until December 29, 2005. That's right, a three day LAN. Now is a good time to inform you of the various things that make a three day LAN different than others.
A three day LAN has the general feel of a usual LAN, but typically can be even more exciting. The main thing to remember is that your computer will be at my house for three days. However, this does not necessarily mean one must stay here the entire time. We usually refer to the middle day as a rest day. Once waking up after fainting in an epileptic state, people are hungry, they might have something to do, whatever. During this day, people can go home, rest, take a shower, stare mindlessly at walls, etc. In the meanwhile, we will not play much in terms of LAN games. Doing it for that many hours in a row could get monotonous, so, we take a break. During this period, we might watch movies, play video games (not the same, but it's a break), or, hell, even sleep. Although I'm not going to tell people not to play LAN games, we normally will start around dusk or whenever everyone feels like starting up again.
So, for this LAN, I have a couple things that should make everything better. First of all, if things go correctly, we'll have a better method of keeping score. I think that among some of the veterans, we decided that simple winning is not necessarily the best way to gauge skill. Points, however, is far better. But, after a few matches, keeping track will take longer and longer. Fortunately for all of us, I happened to come across a very sweet mod. It's not very large, so you can download it when you get here. I will it in detail once everyone has arrived. Believe me, it will even change the party dynamic. Because of this, it is quite possible that we will keep the same teams for long stretches of time, instead of switching every game. This should make things move quicker and, hopefully, be more evenly matched, especially as the night goes on.
Soon, I hope, I will be able to purchase additional LAN equipment. However, to make it easier on all of us, if you have a surge protector, extension cord, or ethernet cable, please bring it. We might need it.
One other thing that we have rapidly run out of: room. Although there is enough physical space for us to put our computers, we are running out of seats and good places to put monitors. As a general rule, if you have an LCD display, bring it instead of a CRT. We need the monitor room. Also, if you have tables, bring them. If you also have chairs of an appropriate height for the tables, bring them too.
Another thing that was discovered from the last LAN is that we eat a shitload of pizza. Please bring at least 5 dollars to give towards food. If a couple people don't bring money, that's okay, but I don't want to have five of us paying for all the pizza and then 16 of us eating it.
In a little of my spare time, I happened to find maps that should work rather well. Some have been played at previous LANs, some haven't. The files are not tremendously large, but, if you have a dialup connection, press download and shoot yourself. Believe me, the speeds over the game won't be much faster, so do it beforehand. Here they are:
Other than that, the LAN is at 6 PM. The earlier you get here, the better parking space and computer space you get. So, if you get here last, you might have to park back in the street and get a really lame out of the way place. Don't say I didn't warn you.
- Ian - the crazy motherfucker who started this shit
To see general information on my LAN parties, go here.
