[Zenebatos]

Hey all,

So we just had our first back to school LAN. The staff and I would like to know what you guys though about it. Please provide any feedback you have via this thread.

Note: This is a serious feedback thread, anything in a trolly nature will result in an instant ban. No exceptions.

Thanks!

---Edited to add FAQ by tachyon
FAQ
Q: Is the staff aware that there are complaints about the noise level at the past LAN event?
A: The Staff has only two complaints on record during the lan about the same instance. However, the staff is now aware thanks to your feedback that there is an issue and are working on resolving the problem as soon as possible.

Q: Why is Jordan "Gamma" Toor still on LANKnights staff?
At this point, no one else has applied for the Web Admin appointed position. We need someone with expertise in server administration, PHP/AJAX coding proficiency, and free time and dedication. Gamma has been gracious enough to stay and help in that capacity. The Staff is very grateful to Jordan for volunteering his free time to help with the website as a UCF alumni. If you are interested and capable of applying for that position, we urge you to contact staff@lanknights.net as a current UCF student would be suitable for that position.

Q: Will the projector and communication technology be more efficiently leveraged at the next LAN?
Yes, Staff will be revisiting our powerpoint displays, broadcast systems, and network based tools such as Mumble for use during the next LAN. We'll be sharing more as we get updates.

This post has been edited by cyb.tachyon: 19 September 2011 - 03:42 PM
Reason for edit: added tachyon's FAQ

[SniperX]

Ok, well here are some concerns I have for the new members.

1. Why is RSVP open to everyone wen reserved seating was originally a members only perk? What was the point of all the new guys paying the $20 if they aren't getting anything for their money?

2. Why isn't there some form of etiquette enforced at the lans? I wasn't even there yet I could here people screaming constantly about SC2 through mumble as I talked to some people.

3. Why don't we close ports to say specific MMO's/Non-lan games? You've got people taking up seats so they can basically not participate in the lan but rather say "Hey gais look at me, ain't I so good at <insert irrelevant game>?"

[cyb.tachyon]

SniperX, on 18 September 2011 - 11:53 AM, said:

1. Why is RSVP open to everyone wen reserved seating was originally a members only perk? What was the point of all the new guys paying the $20 if they aren't getting anything for their money?

1. As far as I know, member RSVP is supposed to take priority over non-member RSVP, but I think only Gamma knows all the details of the RSVP system (I haven't seen the source code). A staff member suggested that members actually get to pick their seats on an online chart next time, which to me sounds awesome. What do you think?

SniperX, on 18 September 2011 - 11:53 AM, said:

2. Why isn't there some form of etiquette enforced at the lans? I wasn't even there yet I could here people screaming constantly about SC2 through mumble as I talked to some people.

2. Good idea! Guidelines are on the events page, but an actual etiquette document would be nice. Actually being there myself it wasn't bad at all, and I only had to ask one certain person to lower his volume. I feel like the staff should encourage people to speak up if they have a problem (with loudness or whatever) so we can fix it. We did have bright orange STAFF signs so people could find us for these things...

SniperX, on 18 September 2011 - 11:53 AM, said:

3. Why don't we close ports to say specific MMO's/Non-lan games? You've got people taking up seats so they can basically not participate in the lan but rather say "Hey gais look at me, ain't I so good at <insert irrelevant game>?"

3.I actually never thought about that! This LAN, we made sure to ask people playing these games (without spectators) what multiplayer game they were interested in and if we could find them some people to play with. Only two people turned down the offer (they were both watching TV shows). Do you think we should ask these people to leave if we hit max capacity? We did still have 6 seats left of the 96 available. (We were able to add one extra table thanks to being moved to Pegasus Ballroom last minute)


Thanks for the feedback!

This post has been edited by cyb.tachyon: 18 September 2011 - 12:32 PM

[SniperX]

cyb.tachyon, on 18 September 2011 - 01:32 PM, said:

1. As far as I know, member RSVP is supposed to take priority over non-member RSVP, but I think only Gamma knows all the details of the RSVP system (I haven't seen the source code). A staff member suggested that members actually get to pick their seats on an online chart next time, which to me sounds awesome. What do you think?

Seat choice would be a nice addition to being the group that gets to register. As far as anyone else is concerned I feel like they can either cough up the $20 or be walk ins. This is part of the reason why I didn't feel like I should member up again this year. Any benefit described always seemed non-existent and even t-shirts weren't available until the following semester which really is unacceptable.

cyb.tachyon, on 18 September 2011 - 01:32 PM, said:

2. Good idea! Guidelines are on the events page, but an actual etiquette document would be nice. Actually being there myself it wasn't bad at all, and I only had to ask one certain person to lower his volume. I feel like the staff should encourage people to speak up if they have a problem (with loudness or whatever) so we can fix it. We did have bright orange STAFF signs so people could find us for these things...

I can tell you that the behavior of certain people factored greatly into my not coming.

cyb.tachyon, on 18 September 2011 - 01:32 PM, said:

3.I actually never thought about that! This LAN, we made sure to ask people playing these games (without spectators) what multiplayer game they were interested in and if we could find them some people to play with. Only two people turned down the offer (they were both watching TV shows). Do you think we should ask these people to leave if we hit max capacity? We did still have 6 seats left of the 96 available. (We were able to add one extra table thanks to being moved to Pegasus Ballroom last minute)

If people are waiting to get in yes. This lan would have been at capacity if it were in its original location and from the numbers it seems 10 people would have been left out because other people were watching tv/doing non-lan things. We aren't the "let's watch tv club"

This post has been edited by SniperX: 18 September 2011 - 12:55 PM

[doomz]

people were screaming about sc2 whatever the hell they wanted to (ie: "WHO THE FUCK IS BEEPING,") yet when I was excited about an really nice kill in LoL (wasnt screaming that people "broke the rules")... I got dirty looks because my voice showed up on shoutcasts etc etc. btw im not bashing sc2 so dont bash LoL please.. not what this thread is about.

also, I don't really know if I either didn't look in the right place, or was just unaware being a "new" member, but the reason I payed my dues the night before the LAN after much thought was so that I could participate in the BC2 tourney, which was to my knowledge a 12v12 matchup. Well when everyone started to go signup in teams of 4, I was like "well gee, there's 20 dollars I wasted in this instance because
#1) I don't know many people in the club, and the ones I met yesterday (to my knowledge) do not have BC2... and
#2) Without just yelling throughout the LAN there was no way I would have found a team...

I'm not saying there won't be more tourneys at future LANs, and I DO get he Tshirt at the end of the year it seems, but as SniperX stated "1. Why is RSVP open to everyone wen reserved seating was originally a members only perk? What was the point of all the new guys paying the $20 if they aren't getting anything for their money?"

Just food for thought

[GreatDay]

1. Extra chairs
Ok not an MLG troll, a few extra chairs would be nice to have spread around the room in the case of people spectating matches like they were for SC2/BC2

2. Wider longer rows
It was a bit cramped letting people through without being pressed against the table and with people spectating it gets ridiculous.

3. Utilize the projector
It seems like it could have been used a little more effectively.

All of these are kind of suggestions if it is big again and in a big location, which I realize can't always be the case. Overall I thought it was great and went without a glitch. I personally loved the noise from the different tournies (And the precious rage).

Oh and for the blocked port thing, I can see how it would be annoying to be denied entrance and see someone watching TV, but as I understand it there was still space and additionally it would be tough to control/notice when someone is taking a break or relaxing as compared to someone who has no intention of utilizing the LAN nature of the event

You know besides SC2 players haha... ):

This post has been edited by GreatDay: 18 September 2011 - 02:50 PM

[Messer]

I always justified my contribution of $20 as less of "get a free shirt" and more of "help keep this club running."

That being said, I really liked the BC2 tourney we did, even if it was only squad rush (I was expecting larger teams, but whatever). And I did really like the mass TF2 match-up right up until the lag made the game unplayable. But my main complaint was just the lack of gaming cohesion. It's not fun when you get up and walk around trying to figure out what everyone is playing so you can play that to and, surprise, no one large group is playing anything in particular where you can join into that match as well. I still had fun, I'm still glad I came. I just wish there was more of half the room in the same server.

Also, as an odd suggestion, how would people be open to TF2 Highland tournaments (9v9, all classes have to be occupied)?

EDIT: And edit the event times to say it ends at an hour before we have to get out. I'm always worried people aren't going to take the "pack up your shit now" warning seriously.

This post has been edited by Messer: 18 September 2011 - 02:52 PM

[ibfreeekout]

GreatDay, on 18 September 2011 - 03:48 PM, said:

1. Extra chairs
Ok not an MLG troll, a few extra chairs would be nice to have spread around the room in the case of people spectating matches like they were for SC2/BC2

2. Wider longer rows
It was a bit cramped letting people through without being pressed against the table and with people spectating it gets ridiculous.

3. Utilize the projector
It seems like it could have been used a little more effectively.

All of these are kind of suggestions if it is big again and in a big location, which I realize can't always be the case. Overall I thought it was great and went without a glitch. I personally loved the noise from the different tournies (And the precious rage).

Oh and for the blocked port thing, I can see how it would be annoying to be denied entrance and see someone watching TV, but as I understand it there was still space and additionally it would be tough to control/notice when someone is taking a break or relaxing as compared to someone who has no intention of utilizing the LAN nature of the event

You know besides SC2 players haha... ):

Part of that reason was because we were supposed to be in 316 ABCD, rather than part of the Pegasus Ballroom. With the way the power situation was, that was really the only option I had to set it up. I definitely would have liked to set it up a little differently however. Video Game Night 3 will definitely be much better in the layout because we will have the full Pegasus Ballroom, rather than a little section of it.

Anyway, I'm trying to get some game servers setup so that we can have outside events as well as have servers set up and ready to go at all of our events rather than working on getting things set up at the event.

Thanks a lot for your feedback by the way! We really appreciate it and keep it coming!

[Iota]

To be honest, I didn't really have too many issues with the setup/seating, or anything like that (I guess a little bit cramped, but not really that bad). The shouting or w/e doesn't bother me, it just makes it feel more LAN-y, but I do think that the emphasis should be to a) quiet the seriously disruptive people and leave it to others to come to you guys with complaints about noise or something, if it's bothering them.

Overall, I've got to agree with Messer, the only real thing I really wish I saw, was more game cohesion, and also a seating format that would lend itself to it. Thus, I feel like being able to choose seating as a member while RSVPing is a great way, if possible, to both make members that want a specific worth out of their $20 rather than just helping the club out satisfied with the appropriate advantages of Member vs. Non-member, and to allow for some simple communication between the overall "big groups" (tf2 players, sc2 players, the mediumish size LoL group, BF and other stuff) to kinda sit more in sections, or at least in a way so that you could tell what all everyone is playing.

Also, @Messer, absolutely definitely would wanna those kinds of TF2 tournies, I was kinda dissapointed that I wasn't able to find a decent amount of people to play with in an actual 9v9 or competitive-style game (apparently there was a server, but didn't get that memo XD). I will say though, that I'm FAR more interested in just running a server or organizing the players to do highland matches as competitive play, but not like, one big tourney with X amount of 9-person teams. I'd rather have that feel of being at a LAN and playing semi-competitive style tf2 with cool people there, than of being there for the tourney. That may be just me though

It was a lot of fun, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next one!

[SniperX]

Messer, on 18 September 2011 - 03:49 PM, said:

I always justified my contribution of $20 as less of "get a free shirt" and more of "help keep this club running."

All I can tell you is the club ran much better before the $20 membership fee.

[Daman]

my main complaint is the people who ran the LAN servers aren't completely competent with running servers for those particular games. tbh whoever was running the tf2 server doesn't seem to administrate tf2 servers regularly, and I didn't know who it was so I couldn't contact them to fix their shit(it wasn't even sv_lan 1)(tickrate/rates could've def been higher). whose box was this server run on? if the box is just a server box that always has tf2/css/whatever hlds on it, perhaps we can get some common administration plugins so we could hold a vote to see what map people really want(!nominate/!rtv).

maybe bc2 is just a shitty console port with poor administration options, but not knowing how to switch people from one team to another(without kicking and hoping join order places them right) is sort of poor..

suggestion:
have a list of official servers that will be hosted

suggestion:
plan table layout ahead of time(that seat reservation idea is really ace), mark tables as "people who are going to do nothing but SC2/moba the entire LAN sit here" and "people who actually play other video games here" maybe??

suggestion:
get people to keep lanes between tables more clear or get a really long dvi(w/ optional vga adapter) cable(so they don't need to move, and it can be switched around between people easily) and a splitter so their output can be split and shown on a projector if people really wanna watch them



SC2 people being loud was only annoying when trying to actually play seriously and communicate(the bc2 tournament that was going on at the same time) (but this was prob my fault for me/teammates sitting near them) (see layout planning)

Quote

And edit the event times to say it ends at an hour before we have to get out. I'm always worried people aren't going to take the "pack up your shit now" warning seriously.

+1 to this

This post has been edited by Daman: 18 September 2011 - 03:48 PM

[Iota]

Daman, does that mean that someone like me who would love to play alot of TF2 with everyone, hopefully some 9v9 srs bsns type play, but ALSO would plan on playing sc2 as well, would sit on the not "sc2 forever" side? I think that concept of layout would work really well if organized beforehand via the seating chart selection, hopefully something like this comes to fruition.

[Blaze]

The LAN was fine, tons of fun (which I think the focus of the lan should be, not arguing about semantics like why we should play 'lan' games and how we should ban SC2 because we dislike the people that play it). I don't know why the people that (apparently) had issues decided to keep their criticisms to themselves until after the LAN is over and then post about it on the internet.

Quote

I can tell you that the behavior of certain people factored greatly into my not coming.

I assume this is referring to me and cecil?

Quote

3. Why don't we close ports to say specific MMO's/Non-lan games? You've got people taking up seats so they can basically not participate in the lan but rather say "Hey gais look at me, ain't I so good at <insert irrelevant game>?"

This really makes no sense, because, while our club is called LANknights, officially we are a "PC gaming" club. I say as long as people are playing PC games all should be fine. If you wanted to complain about ppl playing console games I would actually understand your stance, but as it is I don't know why you'd want to do this (force people to not play games they want to play? Why? what's the point?)

Quote

suggestion:
plan table layout ahead of time(that seat reservation idea is really ace), mark tables as "people who are going to do nothing but SC2/moba the entire LAN sit here" and "people who actually play other video games here" maybe??

I think this is probably the best solution to the issues everyone was bringing up. Also, to those who went to the LAN that was split up between SC2 in one room and other games in another room, was that LAN better because of that setup?

Quote

people were screaming about sc2 whatever the hell they wanted to (ie: "WHO THE FUCK IS BEEPING,") yet when I was excited about an really nice kill in LoL (wasnt screaming that people "broke the rules")... I got dirty looks because my voice showed up on shoutcasts etc etc. btw im not bashing sc2 so dont bash LoL please.. not what this thread is about.

let me paraphrase that for you: "I don't like cecil" is pretty much what you just said there. Just know that is how cecil is, and at future LANs hopefully we can have prepared seating and you can sit on the other side of the LAN.

This post has been edited by Blaze: 18 September 2011 - 04:16 PM

[Zenebatos]

Daman, on 18 September 2011 - 04:48 PM, said:

my main complaint is the people who ran the LAN servers aren't completely competent with running servers for those particular games. tbh whoever was running the tf2 server doesn't seem to administrate tf2 servers regularly, and I didn't know who it was so I couldn't contact them to fix their shit(it wasn't even sv_lan 1)(tickrate/rates could've def been higher). whose box was this server run on? if the box is just a server box that always has tf2/css/whatever hlds on it, perhaps we can get some common administration plugins so we could hold a vote to see what map people really want(!nominate/!rtv).

maybe bc2 is just a shitty console port with poor administration options, but not knowing how to switch people from one team to another(without kicking and hoping join order places them right) is sort of poor..

tbh, the tf2 server we have we dont even touch until it comes to LAN time. The server was actually very outdated, having a TF2 installation from june/july, and also having sourcemods and the other mod from probably january/april. I managed to update it on the spot(which included updating plugins and wiping the settings) to get it up and running, but it was barely workable after that. I do understand what you meant by this, and will try to get a more stable server come next LAN, with most of the popular options such as !rtv and !scramble enabled.

Regarding BC2, the server interface just sucks and we can't actually "switch" two players, only move one player to the other team, which caused issues when both teams were 4/4. Really more of a bad interface thing than not knowing how to do it.

[Zenebatos]

Blaze, on 18 September 2011 - 05:15 PM, said:

let me paraphrase that for you: "I don't like cecil" is pretty much what you just said there. Just know that is how cecil is, and at future LANs hopefully we can have prepared seating and you can sit on the other side of the LAN.

Nope. All I understood by that is that, while the SC2 guys got to yell, when he yelled he got bad looks. Dont need to twist his words into something else. Furthermore, from the looks of things, we'll actually have to go through with the prepared seating chart. Me chris and jordan will be working on this and we will hopefully have something prior to the next LAN event.

[Traverse]

Some ideas:

More in-house! We need to develop a simple/easy way to run SC2, HoN, LoL, TF2, etc. tournaments or just custom games. I felt as if those should all be running at once instead of just at the end. People had to resort to shouting out "Team monobattles!" or something like that, which leads me to my next point...

Better Communication! A chat channel or something that all the LAN participants need to be in to advertise what they are playing and if they need more people, etc. I rarely knew who was playing what.

Also I kinda wish the next LAN was on Oct. 25

My 2 cents.

Oh and the yelling was slightly distracting. Keep it civil people!

EDIT: I also had a really good time.

This post has been edited by Traverse: 18 September 2011 - 04:32 PM

[doomz]

problem solved.. all is good, delete this if possible

This post has been edited by doomz: 18 September 2011 - 05:18 PM
Reason for edit: Post moderation

[ibfreeekout]

Traverse, on 18 September 2011 - 05:31 PM, said:

Some ideas:

More in-house! We need to develop a simple/easy way to run SC2, HoN, LoL, TF2, etc. tournaments or just custom games. I felt as if those should all be running at once instead of just at the end. People had to resort to shouting out "Team monobattles!" or something like that, which leads me to my next point...

Better Communication! A chat channel or something that all the LAN participants need to be in to advertise what they are playing and if they need more people, etc. I rarely knew who was playing what.

Also I kinda wish the next LAN was on Oct. 25

My 2 cents.

Oh and the yelling was slightly distracting. Keep it civil people!

EDIT: I also had a really good time.

We do have a Mumble server that we use, but not many people were using it except for the BC2 tournament from what I saw. If you want to join it, just grab the program here and install it. From there, set it up and then in the server list, if you are on campus you should see LANKnights at the top. Another option would be to add 'lanknights.eecs.ucf.edu' with port 27000 to your server favorites list for easy access to our Mumble server.

[doomz]

deleted

This post has been edited by doomz: 18 September 2011 - 05:19 PM

[Daman]

regarding the chat channel/improving communication: Maybe we can get everyone in the LAN to get on the mumble, and allow people to send messages to the entire server? (or maybe have an admin announcing when groups of people start playing a new lan game or something)

Edit: also advertising the mumble server to everyone at the LAN as our primary communication/matchmaking vector would help

or if you want something that isn't as much of a clusterfuck, IRC? I connected to rizon perfectly fine on 6668, whatever block used to be in place wasn't in effect during the LAN.

This post has been edited by Daman: 18 September 2011 - 04:45 PM