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Posted by: Tank Apr 11 2010, 10:53 PM

SO yep!

What did you like? What didn't you like?! What made the event awesome for you? What would be awesome if we did next time?

we appreciate both positive and negative, as both will get us to make better events in future

-Tank

Posted by: stocky Apr 11 2010, 11:05 PM

I posted my opinion in the computer chair thread below this, mainly because they were my biggest annoyance

Posted by: Redback Apr 11 2010, 11:15 PM

R4N needs to not yell into the mic
CS commentary can diaf
Music on the PA can also diaf

Posted by: SirSquidness Apr 12 2010, 01:23 AM

The sound of 400 dirty leechers makes for a quite dull atmosphere.

A dull atmosphere is not something we want.

The music is kept relatively quiet (when it's played at all) so you can easily drown it out with headphones or conversation.

Posted by: ThirtySix45 Apr 12 2010, 04:40 AM

God damn that CSS commentary was the lamest thing ive heard, ever!

Id have to say one of the most annoying things at the lan was peoples lack of patience and manners.
We had one guy setting up fairly late and he was clearly having a tough time. Instead of approaching us and being polite and asking nicely he decided to;

1. ask us to move our chairs with so much attitude it pretty much insured we got in his way everytime.
2. proceeded to barge past us knocking everyone in his way. Fair enough by this point because we had started to take up all the room lol.
3. Go cry to the admins like a 5 year old.
4. Then once we had been, finally, asked politely by the admin to move he doesnt walk past us for ages!

Was a good laugh for us in the end.

Respawn was all in all awesome again. Thanks to the great admins.

Posted by: Wombie Apr 12 2010, 07:48 AM

Personally, as a catch up with mates and a fun place to be i loved it.

There were a couple of areas i think you're getting weak on though, the gaming was non exsistant, and although it is up to the players to game it is up to the admins to make the atmosphere and the general gaming mood happen.

Posted by: Redback Apr 12 2010, 12:53 PM

The volume is set by someone in the admin area, who is not near any of the pa speakers.

Late on Sunday it was so loud I had to leave my pc.

Posted by: Zeplin Apr 12 2010, 01:28 PM

We enjoyed, Loosing the spot in line to move our cars out to the main road,
Being told to unload from there, To loose our spot in the line and stand outside with out gear in the rain.
After being told we'd be pushed through because of it. But wasn't.
Especially considering one of us is disabled and we had a disabled sticker on the car.

Enjoyed being told by a cod4 team never to come back, over and over in the server chat during the comp.

Enjoyed missing comps because not a single one was on time or you'd get misleading info from the schedule to the teams page or direct from admin.

Loved the constant threats to damage other peoples property by admin, Great form.

One of the people who was meant to be gaming with us, Ordered some hoodies and a shirt, However due to the rain and the situation above, his system was covered in water, so he went home to dry out his gear instead.
Later he was called up on the PA, so one of us went down to talk to them about it.
Obviously we had to arrange the cash, When we did, We found out in the end that the admin had given the hoodies away.

Posted by: Jeffy Apr 12 2010, 02:11 PM

I believe we spoke to you directly and advised that provided you had that disabled sticker there was no concerns with you parking there. Once we were made aware of your sticker, that was the end of it. In future we would appriciate via a PM to one of the key admins that you have a disability, and we'll make sure that provisions are made such that problems like these do not arise.



This is most concerning and I have added it to special list.

Posted by: Tank Apr 12 2010, 02:28 PM

As i explained yesterday, i was firstly told that he didn't want them, so gave one of them away. The someone said he did want it, but the one set aside had dissapeared. The was told he would want the shirt, so set it aside. then was told that one of your guys needed to go to the ATM for money, so i waited, and no one ever came back for the shirt.

I did apologise profusely at the time, but please be aware that it wasn't completely my fault in this situation, and i was only acting on the information given to me.

Posted by: Zeplin Apr 12 2010, 02:52 PM

Not a single person spoke to me about it. Just the demand to move our cars or we would be stuck out in the rain.
As for the shirts, I was there during our first contact regarding them. You were told we had to contact him about them, We had no idea he had even ordered them.

Posted by: Shub0xx Apr 12 2010, 02:56 PM

Good afternoon everyone,

Since this was the 1st LAN I have attended as a gamer, I must admit it opened my eyes to a lot of things, good and bad.

First, I'll start with the "bad".

Unless there was other comments made while I was out of the hall, I think this comment relates to the announcement made by Zardoz about someone having a virus on their system, and when he finds it he'll toss it outside. Whether he meant it or not, I do not know, but I found myself concerned and in turn running virus scanners on my system to make sure it wasn't me.

Some of the language shouted across the hall over the weekend which was directed at other players/teams may have been in the heat of the moment, but I felt it may be unwarranted. Try to remember that there are young people in the room and hey, it's just a game. Sure there was prize money up for grabs, but that doesn't mean foul language needs to be shouted.

More to follow, I'm sure.

Now, onto the "good".

Since I was getting around on crutches, mobility was limited at best for me. I have never been to an event where admins and/or players have made sure that things were pointed out to me, such as location of disabled toilets etc. This was much appreciated.

Just about everyone I spoke to over the weekend were very friendly, and made the event more enjoyable.

To all the admins, I thank you for putting in so much hard work each and every time to bring us this event. I cannot even begin to imagine how stressful the "behind the scenes" side of things is, and I think everyone should show u all some appreciation.

Tank, never before have I seen such a person with a passion for what they do. You seemed to be on the go the whole weekend, just like the energiser bunny, never giving up. If it wasn't for you, and the rest of the admin team, these events would be much worse off, if even running at all.

I'm sure I'll think of something else to add in the near future.

I can't wait for Respawn V17.

--Shub0xx.

Posted by: pexa Apr 12 2010, 04:23 PM

The Quake3 Tournament needs to be run at a reasonable hour.
6am to start a comp is just silly. It only takes 1.5 hours to run so i'm sure it could be slotted in somewhere without interfering with the other cash comps.
I had people waiting hours and hours for it to happen so i could drive them home.

Annoucements, while essential for some things, were very distracting when playing in comps that relied on sound. Particuarly when trying to balance Game sounds with hearing your teammates in real life.
To be honest i don't have a direct solution to this but some announcements could be delivered visually on the projector combined with the respawn notifier application.

The big desk chairs are rather anoying when people are leaning back on them, particuarly when trying to get your equipment in/out. navigating your way through is quite anoying, and i am sure it is anoying for the people i am constantly bumping. most people were good and didn't lean back too far but some were flying business class on a A380.

Otherwise most gaming servers were lag free and main tournaments ran well.
Thanks for the efforts involved Admins

Posted by: I.esus Apr 12 2010, 04:31 PM

+1 for high back chairs being annoying.

People should be required to lock them upright so they can't lean back covering at least half the aisle.
It still gives them comfort, and leaves a bit more room for people to get through without bumping into them too much.

Posted by: Zantikk Apr 12 2010, 04:35 PM

This is just a general discussion point and not directly related to v16 but more to Respawn itself.

It frustrates me that Respawn has turned into a massive Leech fest where it seems only 40% or so come to play games. In my previous threads I've been told Respawn isn't going to be "competition focused" and that people come for the "LANning atmosphere/party", in other words, leech a shitload and maybe catchup with a few onlines mates.

In posting this, I know I will get flamed by the Respawn veterans that come to respawn just to leech. But I'd really like to see Respawn become more gaming focused because it has so much potential.

Posted by: dead_man Apr 12 2010, 04:40 PM

i know how you feel, this has been a primary focus for me and squid for awhile, and a big part in increasing the prize money to get more people involved.

in regards to comps, this is a side affect of me trying todo so much that i get bogged down whilst other gets pushed aside, if anyone thinks they can help and has experiance in the area, please let me know, id like to bring more people on board

thanks

Posted by: wolfmother Apr 12 2010, 04:46 PM

Just to put this into perspective, the virus in question (Conficker) is capable of bringing down the entire network even with only one or two infected computers, and there's no easy way to work out whose computer it is. Of course he's not going to destroy someone else's property that's worth thousands of dollars, but considering the fact that this virus has caused problems at the last 4 events and that it's entirely possible to literally totally ruin the entire event as a result of nothing but one person's LAZINESS, I think he was actually quite civil about it.

Incidentally, Conficker's ability to cause damage isn't something that can be easily dealt with by reconfiguring the network; it remains a major and serious cause of damage to corporate networks. Even Microsoft have offered a $250,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the virus's creator(s).

Posted by: Sharks Apr 12 2010, 04:53 PM

What type of stuff? I know you guys get bogged down with stuff even with people just not being able to get on the network/being able to access a game.

I love respawn and wouldn't mind helping in any way I could.

Posted by: Shub0xx Apr 12 2010, 04:54 PM

Oooh, had I known it was that nasty bugger, I'd've understood completely. I've had issues with Conflicker in the past, with it bringing down corporate networks that I've been working on, so I understand his concern.

Posted by: Shub0xx Apr 12 2010, 04:58 PM

I'll put my hand up to help in any department that needs extra assistance.

Posted by: xevious Apr 12 2010, 05:05 PM

I wish i was 18 and had p's because i want to come down earlyer and help out if i was permitted by the admin staff.

But deadman if u need help me and/or sharks will be willing to help out any way possible.

but overal it was pretty epic and i enjoyed the lan... and to whomever i pissed off with my chair in the annexe i apologise...

I might suggest that the player limit be reduced back to 450 players because theres not much room with 500... and only 407 people checked in so?

Posted by: wolfmother Apr 12 2010, 05:08 PM

This is a really difficult topic to deal with and my experience with lanning has mostly told me that there's nothing that any individual person or group can really do about it. In the time I've been attending, the admin team have tried just about everything to get people to play more games at various times (reminding them over the PA to play something, starting specific games and asking people to join, holding more competitions, holding competitions with bigger prizes/cash prizes, etc) and to be honest I don't think there is any correlation whatsoever between these activities and the number of people who enter into the comps.

The most ridiculous moment of the LAN was when TF2 was about to start with a $300 prize and only a single team had entered. People were so averse to playing a reasonably popular and well-liked game (that has previously had a substantial number of serious teams entering) that they were essentially giving up a significant amount of free money. Then there are other games at other LANs which were barely promoted and had almost no prize and got a dozen teams or players entering - but the events before and after that got nothing.

I think the whole thing has more to do with the zeitgeist than the actions of the admins or individual players: a LAN is a social event and interest in the activities that go on within it naturally waxes and wanes over time. The reason Respawn isn't a competition focussed LAN is because most of the players don't seem to really want that, and the admins trying to go against that isn't going to help anyone.

Extreme LAN is an interesting example because they put a lot of work into actively pursuing people running filesharing and shutting down hubs etc. The practical upshot of this was that not only did the quality of the LAN suffer but there was still just as many people filesharing, and even those that did give up on it still didn't play games. That's just one of the things people are interested in, and IMO telling them to be interested in something else is futile and unproductive. Sucks, but that's life.

Posted by: Shub0xx Apr 12 2010, 05:16 PM

There are ways for admins to "police" filesharing, by blocking ports etc, but most of the time this doesn't work because when 1 port gets blocked, the hub "creator" can just pick another random port and continue sharing.

I know for certain I'd hate to be the one trying to shut down ports to block filesharing, because that's all I'd be doing all weekend, rather than having a good time playing games.

Posted by: wolfmother Apr 12 2010, 05:22 PM

Yeah, that's kind of what I was getting at. Even then, that can cause performance problems on the switches, and even the most complicated and performance-crippling filtering system will still be quite easy to get around (wouldn't life be great if Conroy understood this?)

Posted by: Zantikk Apr 12 2010, 05:30 PM

My point wasn't to block filesharing.

I understand that around 95%+ of the people that come Respawn fileshare, regardless if they play games or not.

My idea is to promote a larger population of Respawn who actually come to play games and compete in the competitions. My initial idea was to adjust the signup so that it is easiar for teams to get into Respawn and actually compete in the comps (this idea was highly debated in another thread).

It really is a confusing situation and I guess it really is up to the admins to decide what to do from here.

As for Respawn 16, I really enjoyed it. Another successful event with a great CoD4 comp.

My dislike was the shoutcasting over the PA. Yea I enjoyed GameStah casting the CS Final, but not everyone wants to hear it, especially when I'm playing the COD finals. It would be better if you could broadcast the shoutcast over the network (maybe through VLC somehow?). Same goes for the cast over the PA for the COD Grand Final.

Posted by: Shub0xx Apr 12 2010, 05:36 PM

For someone who has never really played CS, I had no idea what they were talking about, and then at times all I could hear was a mumble.

I like the thought of broadcasting thru VLC. That way those who want to watch/listen can, and those who don't really care don't need to listen to the commentary.

Posted by: SirSquidness Apr 12 2010, 05:45 PM

How would a small chill-out lounge work, with a small seperate PA system set up so that people who wanted to watch/listen could go and sit down, watch it and hear the commentary?

Posted by: ThirtySix45 Apr 12 2010, 05:46 PM

I come to leech but I love the games like Tron. Its easy to jump into while your system is being taxed by DC++.

my GF was disappointed by the chick comp. next time she'd like to see a games list before the event. She didnt even have the games installed so couldnt play.

Posted by: Shub0xx Apr 12 2010, 05:54 PM

That sounds like a possible solution. If I may make a suggestion, put up a poll on this question, and let it run until a month b4 the next respawn, allowing the admin team to guage a response from members.

This gives you all time to make the needed arrangements if required.

Posted by: mojo Apr 12 2010, 06:04 PM

Wasn't there a source tv network setup for exactly this sort of thing? If not there's no reason why the cs commentary can't be done over vlc or something like than..

One thing that really annoys me is steam, I actually love steam- but its barely works half the time on lans. It actually worked fine for me this time, but countless people seemed to be having problems. Get some more internet access

Overall it was an alright event, atmosphere was a bit dull at times D:

Posted by: Sharks Apr 12 2010, 06:07 PM

Steam is usually the users fault when they don't take a minute to boot their computer up, let steam offer to run in offline mode, run it, then plug their machine in. The games do LAN in offline mode...

Posted by: mojo Apr 12 2010, 06:11 PM

Sharks, the system is far from perfect. I've been lanning since Steam before steam was introduced.. I don't think I've been to a lan where there's been no problems with steam... It should work a lot better than it does.

Posted by: Jeffy Apr 12 2010, 06:14 PM

Yes. It has come into the venue before and whilst we can attempt to trace the source, it sends out packets of data that have spoofed information so its a pain the backside to catch. But thankfully a quick thinking admin put the conficker patches and repairs on the FTP for people to grab and confirm their machine was not the leading cause of issues. I can assure you the "RAGEBOAT" issue is a hot button one and one that will be discussed at length. We really thank you guys for being so blunt and honest with us. Without this, I know that from a group point of view, we'd never know whats wrong.

Cheers

Posted by: Andrewzor Apr 12 2010, 06:16 PM

I for one come to Respawn to file share and play small games like Tron, you really think banning file sharing even though its probably not possible is going to help your cause?

I'm sure there are alot of people like me out there

Posted by: Kommander_Kale Apr 12 2010, 06:24 PM

I really really wish this was the case. The only time I'm leeching at Respawn is because I can't find anything I want to play at that time, and am probably bored of Tron by that point. Obviously for a lot (most?) people leeching is the big drawcard, and what mainly if not exclusively for. It just saddens me because this is the biggest, most regular and successful LAN in Victoria, and maybe Australia (dno about fragfest/SGL). With such huge numbers and such a capable admin team, you can see so much potential for competitions, but relatively little results despite their efforts.

One big question I have is about internet games and how this can be approached. Someone mention using Steam offline in this thread, but I was under the impression that you guys opened a port or something to allow limited net access for steam to work? With games like MW2, BFBC2 and soon what will be one of the biggest competitive games around, SC2, all requiring some form of online access, is there any way the net can be set up through the uni so that bandwith is allocated specifically to allow these games to run? Otherwise I fear some of the great existing and upcoming games will never see the light at Respawn, and we'll be playing TF2, COD4 and WC3 for longer than we might wish.

Posted by: dead_man Apr 12 2010, 06:42 PM

whilst we try to allow steam access to login at the LAN, it gets fairly hard have 400 odd ppl loggin in over either 3g or a 768k connection, and this is where most of the problems occur afaik.

ill be taking down all of your suggestions for our next meeting, if there is anything else please PM me.

Posted by: wolfmother Apr 12 2010, 07:02 PM

Read a little more carefully . I'm not saying there are staff who want to block filesharing, but the fact that it is simply not technically possible means that that doesn't even matter.

Posted by: wolfmother Apr 12 2010, 07:12 PM

Read that again They've tried everything under the sun to promote the competitions (and more gaming in general) and there still seems to be absolutely no relationship between these efforts and the number of people who actually participate.

The team signup idea does sound like a very nice convenience and something that is definitely worth bringing up, but I do doubt that it would change the general direction of the LAN (short of turning it into something like AusHalo where you have to be in a team to register, but that wouldn't work nearly as well for a BYOPC/PC LAN as it does for an XBox one).

Posted by: Sharks Apr 12 2010, 07:28 PM

People could have/should have spammed their games/servers on the forums.

I always get the desire to play games like SA-MP at respawn but never get around to installing it/not sure about the server files. People enjoy mindless violence. It allows for people to play/game/get involved but still enjoy other aspects whilst not needing a beasty computer to run GTA4/Saints Row 2.

I think if people knew how appealing/fun games like Flatout 2 were, they would actually take 30 minutes to play it and maybe even enter the fun comp. (I orginially joined the competition for Flatout2 but had to pull out so I could go to the shops)

Posted by: Alioth Apr 12 2010, 08:03 PM

Was good trip.
No real down points, though I would like to see more non-gaming based comps or random prizes.
Admins did a good job having to put up with everyone's crap.

Posted by: Ultimate_Sacrifice Apr 12 2010, 08:21 PM

OK first things first, this is the best LAN in Australia.

Ok now the yelling abuse across the hall is not uncalled for but still probably should not happen. A lot of teasing and name calling happens online, so when it comes to real life of course there is going to be some *pay back*.

As for the shout casting i think it is a good thing to have that makes games slightly more interesting for a someone that knows the game and a lot more for people that done. I think that the showing it like you do the TV other the intranet would be a awesome idea .

Gamers vs Leechers. As for this a few people i talk to every LAN *not mentioning names there just 2 of the biggest file sharers there* are playing games all the time. They set up make a list to DL and let people leech. There always playing something like CSS or any kind of game for that matter. Proving you dont just need to sit there listening to music or watching movies but you have to enjoy games for that...

As for the big gaming fans Dead_man, 666 and myself are all working together on something big. Lets just say very big we will keep you posted gamers.

Posted by: Traffic Control Apr 12 2010, 08:37 PM

The CS competition was the best thing there, you are a moron if you hate gamestah volunteering for it.

Posted by: SirSquidness Apr 12 2010, 09:05 PM

We have three options in regards to Steam.

• Block it entirely
• Allow authentication, no downloads
• Allow all Steam ports

Options 1 and 3 are not viable. 1, because Steam is horrible. 3, because we just don't have the badnwidth for everyone to forget about (or just abuse) those Steam downloads.

We use option 2, because then people can actually log on in a reasonable amount of time. However, if your Steam client isn't up to date, or as with the beta it decides it wants to update all of the time, you get issues. Which is why we always remind you to update Steam before you come.



And this is why the rest of the LAN sit there on DC++ - because they have huge shares. The sharers are playing games because they've already got everything they want, or know what else they want. The leechers spend an hour going through each list of the big sharers looking for stuff, then wait for it to finish, then go home, maybe playing Tron in the middle.



This is entirely the point of the FunComps - regular (ish) small games that are easy to pick up, to encourage people such as yourself to get in a game and play.

We realise not everyone wants to play in the major comps, but it really is disappointing for us when no one wants to play, even in the small fun games that are free, legal to share and awesome fun.

Posted by: Alioth Apr 12 2010, 09:09 PM

I wanted me some Plain Sight LAN action but it was not too be. Too late of a release for it to get recognised
Glorious game though.

Posted by: SirSquidness Apr 12 2010, 09:28 PM

Me too, dude. Me too.

Pity I only got it the night before, and didn't get a chance to analyse it and figure out the ports we need - there's no documentation on their site about it

Next event!

Posted by: Alioth Apr 12 2010, 09:35 PM

I knew you'd have wanted to play it too. Can't go past suicidal ninja robots (unless it's a suicidal ninja robot wearing a Godzilla hat and has a flaming sword)!

I await eagerly for the next event then.

Posted by: Tank Apr 12 2010, 09:37 PM

I do apologize for the un-organisation of the chick comp, and ending up having it not run due to personal circumstances.

it will definately be better done next time

many apologies.

Posted by: Chard Apr 12 2010, 09:53 PM

Main reason why I drove 5hours to the event!

Anyway, Respawn was a very good experience and I enjoyed myself and shall be looking forward to it's future events
Kudos to the Respawn Team on the event.

P.S.
PLEASE HAVE THE CHICK COMP NEXT TIME FOR CHARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Sharks Apr 12 2010, 10:03 PM

Knowing you actually came around asking the girl players with us to join. You should be happy that you do so much for respawn.

p.s thanks for my warm hoodie :3

Posted by: Alioth Apr 12 2010, 10:11 PM

Would just like to thank Tank for all the effort put in to the Respawn apparel line. Lab coat and hoodie are awesome. Super big think you for finding them in my size!


P.S. I finally remembered something to grumble about. AIR CONDITIONING AT 4AM. WTF?!

Posted by: schnappy Apr 12 2010, 11:03 PM

I didn't play many games because I couldn't! All that was people played a lot was CSS and COD4 - two pretty mediocore games. There were 2 10 minute games of UT99 and UT2k4 - the two best games played. If all you can do is offer 'fun comps' to get people interested, make them last longer please! HL2DM was something else I was interested in, but the 'fun comp' was overly populated and the worst map chosen for a lot of people... server ran like crap! Split it up ala Flatout 2.

Needs more sourceforts too.

Overall I had a blast, will get to V17 if I can.

Regarding players vs leechers - I don't mind leechers (Would be hypocritic if I did), but the guys that come with their laptops and HDD's - with no intention to have fun at all... ho hum.

Posted by: seekz Apr 12 2010, 11:04 PM

This is just a small rant and I in no way mean to say this to offend anyone in anyway and if it does offend you please accept my early apologies.

I had a situation where one of the larger players at the event said some attempted offensive comments to me when I kindly asked him to move in with his chair for a second so I could get past. Now I know there's nothing that can be done by any staff or admins so I'm just directing this at anyone that could be reading, and I really try to word this without being offensive:

If you are one of the larger players that come to the event, please, for god's sake, if you are going to seat yourself near a wall, EXPECT other people to want to get past ! People HAVE to go to the toilet and you need to take 2 seconds out of your LAN'ing just to move in so someone can get past. They do it for you I'm sure, and without being rude about it either. I understand that it's probably an inconvenience and hard for you to move in because of the tight space confinements, but shit, expect it if you are seating near a wall.

Other than that, great LAN

That's all thnx xoxoxo

Posted by: Goob Apr 12 2010, 11:10 PM

I just came to leech, which as always was pretty good.
So much for seeing 500 plus people though, the whole signing up, confirming and not turning up thing is not cool.

Posted by: eskymobob Apr 13 2010, 12:26 AM

Would just like to say thanks to the power guys!

While there was only two/three blips during the event it looked like it was stable throughout the whole event!

-esky

Posted by: ohcool Apr 13 2010, 12:37 AM

Just coming to leech is so not cool too

Posted by: mojo Apr 13 2010, 12:47 AM

Funnily enough when lanning was big 5 odd years ago- it was the exact same thing with lans and file sharing.. I'm mainly talking about Shafted- For those who don't know, was also run in Union hall.
It came to a point that file sharing wasn't allowed, this came mainly because of a few raids on lan parties in various locations because of the mass illegal file sharing.
That didn't mean file sharing was stopped.. it more just meant everyone had their DC minimized ;P
Its always been there and always will..
Lan parties obviously happened because of dial connections being insufficient to play games multiplayer. With broadband connections everywhere- there is more of an incentive to come for the leeching with all the caps and slow speeds of Australia's internet.
But gaming is still fun at lans
For me, things like more dedicated servers ready to go and perhaps more limited internet to allow particular steam games to work better to create a hassle free gaming experience!

Posted by: oohms Apr 13 2010, 01:25 AM

Hey guys!!

We want you all to have as much fun as possible

So please provide some feedback in this poll, and we'll try and plan activities accordingly

http://respawn.com.au/forums/index.php?showtopic=1294

Posted by: eskymobob Apr 13 2010, 01:45 AM

As it stands there is quite a number of dedicated servers going for the fun comps being run, but i'm sure deadman/Sir Squid can tell you what exactly there is..but afaik. ut2k4/hl2dm/quake3/cs:s/babo violent 2/tron etc.. all have dedicated server support and are run as such. The fun comps are usually free legitimate games which are easy to install and most people have access to and are available on the ftp for download.

Perhaps one thing which could be looked at is more notification to people before the event what standard funcomps will be back before the event and what new ones will be tried so people can get ready beforehand.

There is also a poll up about this sort of thing! go vote on it we need to give the admins/gophers positive feedback on how to do things better!

AS stated many times before steam is an issue because of the pipe size at the venue, and it sounds like there looking for better options. Since people can't browse the net, play online games, use other internet features anyway the solution would not be further restrictions.

IE. The same setup would still be applied anyway option 2 as SirSquid stated, a bigger pipe would just allow hassle free logins to steam. Then once that is in place they can allow port changes so people could have an active connection to play SC2, CNC4 , whatever ... maybe even MW2..but we all know that's a terrible game ;P

Posted by: priorax Apr 13 2010, 02:10 AM

You can't say all laptop + hdd users are leechers.
My friend bought his because he couldnt afford a decent rig, played tf2 with me quite a bit, aswell as some tron.

Posted by: mojo Apr 13 2010, 02:17 AM

To clarify I just meant lighter restrictions.. But obviously- the ideal solution is unrestricted internet

Posted by: eskymobob Apr 13 2010, 03:07 AM

Nah the goal wouldn't be unrestricted internet, your at a lan..you can do all those things at home. If you really need to get on the net for facebook/msn/youtube and can't stand being away from it for 2 days then what's the point in coming, we would need quite a high capacity link to support 4/500 people and its not really feasible. If you however have something critical to check for email for example a cheap 3g option is your best bet since it would use very little of your quota, also having one then you can do whatever you want on it net related while still maintaining decent speeds.

A bigger pipe would probably allow for lighter restrictions for steam/active services yes, but not for online gaming. Really..again your at a lan convince the person next to you leeching to install a game and play it multiplayer with you! If you like RTS games come find me and i'll play

Posted by: R4N Apr 13 2010, 09:27 AM

Hi Guys.

Let me start by thanking each any every person for attending V16, It was probably our biggest achievement "415ish in the door + aushalo".

With a LAN this large it is sometimes easy to forget that not everyone is into the game YOU play.
So as an admin team it can get quite hard to plan around it.

What I would like to see and will be implementing is the following:

• More Funcomps
• Public servers up 24x7 (pretty much every game we have)
• (hopefully) extra projectors and easier notifications
• Lanner approved music for the even (I honestly think we need "something"
• A Chillout area for lanners to play some console games/sit on a couch and relax
• An area for gamestah to cast to people who want to listen (perhaps also the chillout area)

Regardless of all of these things, leeching will happen. No matter what we do at a network level people can transfer files. There is no longer a respawn hub (one of the players was hosting it at V16) and DC++ is no longer actively supported by the admin team "I turned down many peoples requests for help with DC++" But in the end, thats all we can do about it.

As wolfmother has made clear the admins are doing everything in their power to promote a gamer friendly atmosphere, however this is also a delicate balance. Respawn is in the unique position to attract both pro teams and casual players. We cannot ignore either, but we cannot pander to the will of either. This is where the idea of funcomps came from. We can always attract pro teams by bumping up prize money etc.
It is much harder to get a casual player to close his/her DC++ session, or his/her episode of house, to play a game.

• We now have alot more casual gamers with limited technical knowledge, who require assistance installing/running games well
• We need to get the casual/fun games to the players easier
• We need to make it easier/fun to join in a major tournament (some sort of random team entry system?)
• We need to take "Some" focus off competitive play (Funcomps and tournaments) and get back to basics (Just play some games )

Trust me, the admin/gopher team are working hard to address all the issues you guys have raised about V16, we listen, and we learn

Looking forward to seeing you all at V17

R4N

Posted by: Kommander_Kale Apr 13 2010, 10:47 AM

What I've always thought would be a sweet idea is some kind of easy to read and ammend list of games up. Have a list/forum (but not quite) somewhere that people can just go 'add wc3 battleships game' and that will show up and people will know that people are playing it somewhere and maybe who to contact to get in on it. In addition you could have all the servers Respawn is running permanently listed so you don't have to open 5 different games up just to check what servers are running and if anyone is actually in them. Maybe an IRC type chat below it as well? So if someone was to open it up, they could see all the games currently going, add something if they wanted to or look at the chat to see if anyone is asking for players in a game they might want to play.

A lot of the time you might be after a game of something and so might other ppl but you'd never know to join up with each other. I think more gaming could be much encouraged by increasing the opportunity of people to play, and this a great way to do it.

Posted by: B3NN Apr 13 2010, 11:16 AM

Kale - I use a program called HLSW. It's a free program which, when you run in offline mode, shows any game servers running on the network at any point.
It haven't ever noticed it running any blizzard games, but all CoD servers, HLDM, CSS, BF games etc are shown on there. I'm pretty sure it was recommended in one of the forum posts a while back, but it's pretty useful to see which games have people in them.

As for my own comments, I would really like to see more gaming. V16 was the first time I tried to get a team together for the comps and we all had a lot of fun. It just kinda sucks that once our team was out of the CoD4 comp it was really hard to get a game going because no one wanted to play after that. Unless, of course, you went into the Gungame server, which had one of the teams in it, working together in a FFA match.. that seemed a little unfair, but it was the only server with peopl in it, so I didn't really have much of a choice.. any time I made my own server I never got more than about 3 or 4 people.. because it was so quiet, everyone left the server within 5 mins..
I know I can always just play online once I get home, but the LAN atmosphere is just so much more fun for gaming.

I said it in another thread, but I think it will be more appropriate here:
From where I was sitting, which was in that side room and right near the back, I could not hear any of the announcements. I had the notifier running the whole time with alerts on for all post but all that seemed to be on there was "Tron server is up for fun comp" and "Come collect pizza" which were good, but for serious comps they were, in my opinion, pretty useless..

I think all announcements should be posted on the notifier, we're all running it for a reason, remember
Maybe at the start of each round, just post "team vs team - server #". I didn't find out until half way through round 1 that my team had a bye.. We were all wondering if we had missed out on being in the comp.
It all worked out eventually, but I think better use of the notifier will help things be more organised. But that's just my opinion
Other than that, I had a great time! Coming to Respawn is something I always enjoy, and I guess the negative comments are just to try and see if I can help improve anything

EDIT: What's the chance of Respawn investing in a coffee machine? McDonalds makes horrible coffee and I think if admins served coffe for say $2, they would easily make about $30 from me.. I love my coffee

Posted by: Finde Apr 13 2010, 11:24 AM

All of the CSS people need to shut up. They just make themselves sound like douchebags. The people who aren't playing don't care if you get a head shot. So shut up.
Their abuse ruined the atmosphere at times.

Posted by: Maelstrom Apr 13 2010, 11:34 AM

I got it the night before, heaps of fun. Would be great to get this going for next 'spawn

For anyone interested in having a game, nick alert me on #respawn IRC channel.




I was thinking the same thing. Forums are okay, but they're slow to update and not checked often enough. Maybe an extra tab on the website, where players can put up servers that they're running or ask for servers to be put up for certain games. It's kind of sad that most of this sort of chat happens in the DC atm...

AFAIK, there is still an irc server running at the event, so if more people were aware of it it would be a great way to advertise/ask what games are being played. You could talk about it there, and change your nick depending on what you were playing, eg.
Maelstrom|Tron or Maelstrom|AOE2

Not everyone is comfortable running and using and IRC client though, so maybe it needs website functionality.

Posted by: R4N Apr 13 2010, 11:37 AM

I should encourage everyone to join the respawn steam group. Because then we would actually see who's playing what and when

Posted by: dead_man Apr 13 2010, 11:39 AM

if your thinking of IRC at the lan, we already have an IRC applet in the EMS

Posted by: Queen Gainer Apr 13 2010, 11:45 AM

Because CSS is the only FPS game that was running. You have just proven that you have it out for people who might have different gaming taste to you. I heard people rage harder at playing Tron FFS.

Posted by: Wombie Apr 13 2010, 12:02 PM

Agreed Queenie, also take a moment to listen to the COD fags, much worse than us CSS Kids! They get violent D:

Posted by: Queen Gainer Apr 13 2010, 12:03 PM

Yeah, I heard real threatening shit going on with that lot. :/

Posted by: TechL Apr 13 2010, 12:12 PM

I yelled quite a bit... but that was only in COD and that was when my team of friends was vs'ing another team that was of my friends. I don't mean anything I say

Honestly this wasn't the best Respawn I attended, I can't quite figure it out why just yet. v15 was better and I can't seem to figure out what changed since v15. I mainly play Tron Flatout 2 and COD so I cannot really comment for the competitions. I don't think the admins are in the wrong though, it seems they are trying their best to make this as much enjoyable and such as possible.

Posted by: Queen Gainer Apr 13 2010, 12:54 PM

Most around me were amused when I would rage randomly while playing CSS GG.

...Most kinda expect it. >_>

Posted by: Queen Gainer Apr 13 2010, 12:54 PM

DURR I HAVE GOOD ENGLISH -Goes back to dying-

Posted by: Redback Apr 13 2010, 01:19 PM

No.

• The venue is generally fairly noisy as it is
• With the position of the PA speakers, its always going to be too loud for some and too quiet to hear for others
• Someone will hate anything you play
• People can listen to their own damn music

Posted by: R4N Apr 13 2010, 03:42 PM

Someone will hate anything we do, whenever we do it.
Its fairly simple imo to find an appropriate volume/EQ settings to please most of the lan.

However it might be better in the chillout area.

Posted by: Kommander_Kale Apr 13 2010, 05:06 PM

Yeah I know HSLW but it doesn't server everything, and I don't think it can be used as a chat client? It's the smaller games or the RTS games which are harder to see and that's why we really need a unified structure, not something that only services a part of the crowd. If you make it a text based kinda thing where the un-automated type stuff can be chucked up by people, then everyone can use and benefit from it.

Posted by: Redback Apr 13 2010, 05:14 PM

I'm definatly a fan of having a lounge area. Clearly needs to have rock band on projector.

Posted by: Sharks Apr 13 2010, 05:25 PM

Where the poker is played is big enough for 3-4 couches and a projector type setup? Whilst being easy enough to later push away for poker.

Posted by: SirSquidness Apr 13 2010, 05:34 PM

Most RTS games are peer to peer, and are only joinable for a limited time in the lobby - It's not so easy to browse for them in this way.



... I feel sorry for the people sitting near the lounge area....

Posted by: oohms Apr 13 2010, 05:43 PM

I really do think we need some kind of background music... doesn't need to be loud, stuff that is normally used as background music...

Otherwise it would be kinda dull

Posted by: MiniWalks Apr 13 2010, 05:47 PM

Would be fine, as speakers are banned right? RockBand on projector with Headphones ... no worries

Posted by: B3NN Apr 13 2010, 07:14 PM

Yeah, I must admit, the guy sitting just down from me was giving me the shits with his TV and rock band going all afternoon on saturday.. even though I had headphones on I could hear it maybe i'm starting to complain too much?

Posted by: Redback Apr 13 2010, 09:25 PM

So all you will hear is the out of time drumming and off key singing?

Posted by: Kitfox Apr 13 2010, 09:36 PM

remove mic, problem solved.

Posted by: Jeffy Apr 14 2010, 12:30 AM

or... crazy idea... DIFFERENT GAME! I know, its like so out there. Mulder from the xfiles suggested it because it was so out there.

Posted by: Tank Apr 14 2010, 07:10 AM

If he had speakers, which are BANNED, you should of come up to the admin desk and we would of spoken to him

-Tank

Posted by: B3NN Apr 14 2010, 02:26 PM

He was using a TV.. I guess he could have muted.. at least then I wouldn't have to listen to Nirvarna ALL F***ING AFTERNOON!!

Posted by: priorax Apr 14 2010, 06:03 PM

v14 we had reasonably volumed Aqua, Blackeyed Peas and youtube...
Would be more then happy to see the same person control music again

Posted by: Patryn Apr 14 2010, 11:54 PM

*agrees with priorax*
music on sunday morning was horrid (way too loud and wth was it?)... almost as bad as the commentating.
as long as the music is normalised, i think it should be fine. It was annoying coz we'd have a track that was too soft, and then a ultra loud one that is even louder because someone turned up the volume to hear the one before it!!!

it'd be nicer to have the speakers raised to the where the roof is, so the sound would be more even. It would be an idea to have the speakers behind the admins, so they could feel the pain too!

More easy games are good. The problem with many of the comp games is that when you get pro teams in, that scares away the amateur/casual gamers coz no1 likes being bulldozed.
I much prefer games just for the hell of it. go fun comps!

A good notification system of games would definitely be a plus.
Perhaps have a list of games people could choose to get notifications from similar to the notification system, but for everyone to use. And you'd send out a message to everyone who subscribed to the FlatOut2 list, or the TF2 list, or whatever.
Have template messages, so peoples couldn't use it for evils - "Server up now", "Game going in 5 mins", etc

I know I'd be subscribing to the Flatout2 one to join casual games if I wasn't busy with other stuff.
That'd take it out of DC chat and put it in the hands of people who actually care.

Posted by: Benevolent Bovine Apr 15 2010, 03:13 AM

Needs moar vomitting on the stairs IMO.

Posted by: Ultimate_Sacrifice Apr 15 2010, 10:04 AM

Well you cant stop that.... Its normal for someone to want to win, i myself want to win against the best. not just a few guys who just installed the game for the first time.... Competition will always be there its not unfair to play a really good team in the comps because there all double elim now so you get to play at least one "not pro" team.
I have competed in lots of different things for my whole life and everyone seems to want an easier win... I think you should just put a small amount of effort in and you mind find yourself winning some comps or at least placing well..

Pub servers are just for fun but there will always be someone better anyway. If there is any kind of prize people will be trying so you cant do anything about. Frookie one of the best gamers at this LAN entered Babo violent 2 never played it rolled out and won... you cant help good players betting you.

Posted by: Finde Apr 15 2010, 10:11 AM

No, I actually enjoy CS. It's just the people who play it that shit me. Is there really a need to stand up and start swearing at and abusing people across the room?

Posted by: Ultimate_Sacrifice Apr 15 2010, 10:33 AM

like i said in an earlier post a lot of it internet slander so when they bee the other team there like so who are the baddies now?!?!? or what up now sweeds? WOOOOOOOOO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXh1sKkcYb8

or just sometimes to get extra excited and turn into a train D:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_gj3c2HN28&NR=1

Posted by: Jeffy Apr 15 2010, 07:54 PM

As much as LaTrobe Uni love us, They wont pay for unnecessary capital works

Posted by: Tank Apr 15 2010, 08:40 PM

And hiring additional sound equipment when we dont really need to is.. silly

Posted by: xevious Apr 18 2010, 10:46 PM

quick question... when will the pics be up?

Posted by: Dekar Apr 19 2010, 04:08 AM

steam is fine if you prepare
players cursing at each other is fine
shoutcasting should be done through the network and optional
to get more gamers and teams, advertise respawn v16 a lot more and increase prizes
peace

Posted by: Tank Apr 19 2010, 12:06 PM

Zardoz is currently unavailiable untill i believe wednesday, so about a week and a half possibly longer, depending on his schedule.

-Tank

Posted by: xevious Apr 19 2010, 02:30 PM

Damn you zardoz why did you have to go and get a ipad!!!!!!!!!!


lol okay. thanks tank

Posted by: TechL Apr 19 2010, 02:45 PM

Did he really get an iPad?

Posted by: dead_man Apr 19 2010, 04:15 PM

We did advertise the comps around 4 weeks before the event for the major comps. and prize money was still inline with V15 except less for TF2.

we cannot raise the prizes further than this.

Posted by: Redback Apr 20 2010, 07:08 PM

He definitely went to a country where they are available. He definitely wants one.

Feel free to draw your own conclusions.

Posted by: Redact Apr 20 2010, 08:56 PM

i like the concept of a chillout area, maybe have some good old consoles with everyone favorite games (smash, halo, sf4 so on) for anyone to play, so on

otherwise sad to see no one cares about tf2, i find it so many people revert to watching movies instead of playing games because they prioritize leeching over that, and leeching as much as you possibly can affects the performance of your computer quite a bit, or at least for my and my friends computers

its hard to balance both worlds between leeching/gaming

otherwise it was a fun respawn, but not very entertaining since there was so little gaming going on, and so much leeching

but at least i got plenty of stuff to entertain me otherwise, but would rather more gaming than more leeching

Posted by: Patryn Apr 21 2010, 09:58 AM

don't rely on others to start games. just start one and advertise it around where you're sitting. xD or ask an admin to make an announcement over the notification system and over PA.

I think I shall try and bring back war3 Naval Combat in the respawn after the next one! easy game to pick up and play. xD

Posted by: Nims Apr 21 2010, 05:54 PM

Someone mentioned earlier that they don't know why, but v16 just didn't measure up to previous LANs. I know that a few people thought it was just 'more of the same'.

Soo, I really like the idea of the lounge area. I was going to suggest more DS gaming, and request at least sometime in the future a LAN with DDR? I dunno how many players there are at respawn, though. But it would be good to stretch/use your legs, after sitting on a hard plastic chair for a couple of hours.

I think respawn could really improve (read: less people only leeching) with a different range of games being played, or perhaps utilising the theme a lot more. Rather than just for prizes, themes should be integrated with the types of games played, what people wear etc (labcoats were a noble idea, but I didn't see too many people wearing them?). I really liked the Soviet LAN, with the trophies, the 'In Soviet Russia x y's you!', the banners and the RA3 comp (I think there was also RA3/Soviet music being played over PA for a bit?). It's probably the only LAN I could remember distinctly.

I'm also in favour of somehow listing the games that people play. Personally, I can't stand FPS games, which seem to be the bulk of what people play at respawn. But I'm sure there are other games out there, so why not create a list for people to refer to - perhaps even host the setup files (I know that the major games are hosted on the official server, but I don't like many of them. I doubt I'm the only one). The only games I've played at respawn so far (I've been about 5+ times) are RA3, Warcraft3 and (mostly) Tron.

I should probably be focusing this energy on my essay rather than ranting in the respawn forums, though. XP

Posted by: seekz Apr 21 2010, 09:38 PM

What about all the COD4 people put money in to play and the winner gets the pot aswell as the original prize ? I mean fuck.. the admins can't be giving you money out of their own pockets just because you're not happy with $100 for being good at putting your curser over someone's pixels and clicking

Posted by: Sikkent Apr 21 2010, 09:54 PM

I would say that trying to lower or restrict people from file sharing would def cause a lot less people to come to the events.

i know that every fun comp that was on while i has dc++ open i would join in on, and be apart of, as you would of seen when we had 6 or 7 tron servers up, i think we need a lot more mini games available.

although i dont download much i upload heaps, and i think its great that people can download lots of shit in 24hours, thats what a lans about cause where else can you download 1tb worth of shit in 1 night?

leechers and gamers both pay the same amount and should be able to do which ever they choose.

but more than 70% i would say are doing both.

i was quite happy with v16, but i hated the CSS commentating, i think that should go through something like event for people who want to tune in and listen, and have music playing over the PA insted.

i think also having random raffles and events for small prizes like a can of V, every half hour, to keep the excitment going would work aswel, like best dressed, funniest hair, most unique PC, etc etc

That is my input, Thanks
Sikkent

Posted by: Patryn Apr 22 2010, 08:52 PM

officially hosted setup files for games are only for the freeware ones, as it would be illegal to host copyright games. The best they can do is have the patch files there so everyone is playing the same version.

random raffles would be fun. rock paper scissors competition! and bring back a dedicated trivia server on DC or something! hahaha.
I liked it when the door prizes were given out at the end of the event. it was always funny watching the admins read out several names of ppls who had already left! xD and we were all like sux0rz! wel, not really, but we were all thinking something similar.

I forgot to use the notifier at v16. not that it really mattered from what I have read. It's a good idea, but not used enough.

Posted by: RaxaTrepe Apr 23 2010, 10:10 PM

+1

I can provide 2 JTAG'd 360's each with the entire RB2 DLC library to date, for the next event. Around 1500+ songs to choose from (RB1 + RB2 + LegoRB + AC/DC RB + Track Packs + All DLC + Imported songs from GHWT, GHSH, GHM and GH5).

Posted by: Redback Apr 24 2010, 10:56 AM

TBRB or GTFO

Posted by: zoo Apr 24 2010, 11:09 AM

prob a late post, but on the subject of leeching.... you stop/inhibit it you lose 50% of the people who come. Not everyone is into hardcore gaming anymore, they may play some of the games there sometimes, but its also a great way to catch up with people you dont run into everyday/share stuff/have a laugh.
Alot of us work everyday and dont get the chance to play anything much anymore so the leeching keeps us going til we find time. Not everyone that attends posts here so I would be wary with trying to exclude such a vital thing to a lan to try push people into a more purely gaming direction.

For example this is my first post and only come to the lan mainly for sharing with a bunch of the centrecom guys.

Posted by: Jeffy Apr 28 2010, 11:55 PM

Whilst this is a lovely offer, the concern we have at the minute is sound. We've always had a NO SPEAKERS policy this would entirely defeat the purpose of rock band 2. I'm sure we can figure out a solution but it'll be a tricky one given that not everyone like's the same thing.

Jeffy

Posted by: Chopz Apr 29 2010, 08:39 PM

Personally i dont have a problem with leeching, aslong as you play the games, its not the downloading that kills your computer, its the uploading, if you limit that to 3 or 4 places, it would combat some of the problems, as people wouldnt be able to focus on getting shit as they would just have to wait for a spot, and you would still be able to play most high end games

Posted by: GIARUS May 2 2010, 07:58 PM

just wish the would beef up security for next respawn and that players would sabotages other plays computer data.
i was very disapointed that one of my friends computers had all his games deleted on him very disapointed in how players could do this to other players who do this are sick minded people

Respawn is a place to make new friends play games and leach not to delete people computer data

other then that V16 was an exceptional respawn a very well done
except for the admin who keeps saying your banned to me every respawn he really needs to stop that its getting old

looking forward to V17 and hoping it to another good respawn once again

Posted by: SirSquidness May 2 2010, 09:43 PM

Nothing we can do about that! \o/

Passwording shares, or at the very least making them read only, is mandatory practice.

Posted by: GIARUS May 2 2010, 10:17 PM

we atleast my post warned others for next respawn

Posted by: Jeffy May 3 2010, 10:04 AM

Or... turning windows sharing off?

Posted by: Chopz May 3 2010, 11:38 AM

Yes, it had nothing to do with the security of the servers, if your friend isnt smart enough to know that it can happen if you have the write sharing on then its his own fault imo

Posted by: GIARUS May 3 2010, 03:13 PM

But still for players to do this act to other players is uncalled for

Posted by: R4N May 3 2010, 04:19 PM

Can i just make something absolutely clear for the folks reading this thread.

While respawn offers a very high class network for a gaming event, we do so for the benefit of GAMING.

Respawn is not a place to leech files, nor will be support or condone such an act.

We will not support DC++ issues
We will not tell you where you can find a DC hub.
We will not support any illegal activity on our network.

Unfortunately we cannot police 500 people and any effort to do port based restrictions to limit file sharing would hamper gaming performance across the board.

Im starting to think people think leeching is legal, and publicly announcing that you leech files on a PUBLIC forum is the smart thing to do.

We are here to provide you with the best network possible to play games, not to share files.

My 2 cents

Posted by: GIARUS May 3 2010, 05:35 PM

Agreed just wish that some people wouldn't sabotage others computers for no reason

Posted by: Chopz May 5 2010, 04:06 PM

Dude get over it, someone is a prick, there are pricks in all walks of life

Just Deal with it and you should know what to do or what not to do fo next time

Posted by: BRUTALiTY May 30 2010, 10:02 PM

With regards to activities and various things to keep the event interesting throughout the day/night, this might sound rather stupid - but what about doing small video interviews with people as the event unfolds and then play this on the projector for laughs?

So, every so often, walk around and ask people how they are enjoying the event, just get a few laughs, then chuck it up on the projector. It will all be just for lulz and wont exactly take any time to edit, tho maybe some humerous commentary might go down well.

Just a thought..I could see this being interesting, and I'd at least poke my head up to have a look. Despite knowing hardly anyone, let alone by face, I still get plenty of laughs on the forum, so this I'm sure would work in video

edit: sorry, just realised I bumped this thread a little, hope this isn't too annoying!