LAN party organization questions

[dmw16]

Ok, my friends and I have hosted 3 LAN parties now. Every time we have had it at my friend church and it is always an overnight deal (fri-sat). Each time we have one it gets a little bigger. The first time it was 12, then 18, then 25. After the last time we decided we needed a new location. It kept blowing the circuit breaker and stuff. So we have found a hall that is $100 for the night, but we can accomedate more people - somewhere around 80. I don't expect we'll have that many, but 50 wouldnt suprise me. Last time we had a party, it got a little out of hand in terms of games. No one could agree on what to play or anything. Any suggestions on how to better regulate the games so that every game gets a decent play time, but no one is bored if they dont like that game? I was thinking of running 3-5 servers and alternating games during the course of the night (i figure we will have 12-16 hours). Also, is there any way to keep people from starting their own servers? I dont want to be a jerk, but I would like to keep everyone focused and prevent them from using the switches for non server games.
thanks,
-doug

 

[ServerMechanic]

Whenever I've hosted Medium sized LAN parties in the past, I've run 2 servers.

I usually run one server that is running Unreal Tournament, and Counter-Strike.

I also run a second server that us running Team Fortress, and some other game.

That way I have 4 games running at all times and anyone can jump into any game they want.

It works out best for me that way. If some people wanna start peer to peer games with like 2-3 players of some game I don't offer.....I can't stop that. That usually never happens, because the people that come to mine are my buddies and I know what they like to play.

I think more thatn 4 games per party is insane

I mostly do Unreal Tournament and Counter-Strike. We could play that stuff all night long

Also....depending on what size breaker you have, don't put more than like 4 PC's on each circuit. There could be many outlets on one circuit.

Check out http://www.lanparty.com for some kool info

Peace out man...

 

[profet]

Setup tournaments with small prizes for games /// incentive to play that game
Also, invite people that you know, or at least let everyone know that there will be sanctioned times for games

Lan parties can be rough to organize
good luck

 

[Thoreau]

I also hit that same problem with my last party (and we only had a dozen people.) Disclaimer: The following advice is untested, purly theoretical, and I am full of sh1t.

We had two servers, one was dedicated to music/file serving, while the second was running a ut2k3 server. For our next party, we're hoping to get a third server for more games, and load at least two game services on each of the game servers. My theory is that if we make enough games available at any given time, it'll keep more people happy. Personally, I was bored off my ass for a good portion of the party as everyone there seemed to want to play wc3 and nothing else. Great game, but too much of a good thing really sucks donkey rocks. We're also going to try to be a bit more organized about game scheduling so that every game/person gets a decent amount of play time.

Other than the above, the best advice I can render is to MAKE SURE everyone has the games installed that they intend to play in. I can't even begin to guess how much time was wasted on installing one game while everyone sits around and waits. Really sucks.

Enjoy! =)

 

[Marauder-]

Does that $100 reflect electricity usage? A bunch of NeRds are going to use up a lot more power than say a large get-together hosting a party.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: Thoreau
I also hit that same problem with my last party (and we only had a dozen people.) Disclaimer: The following advice is untested, purly theoretical, and I am full of sh1t.

We had two servers, one was dedicated to music/file serving, while the second was running a ut2k3 server. For our next party, we're hoping to get a third server for more games, and load at least two game services on each of the game servers. My theory is that if we make enough games available at any given time, it'll keep more people happy. Personally, I was bored off my ass for a good portion of the party as everyone there seemed to want to play wc3 and nothing else. Great game, but too much of a good thing really sucks donkey rocks. We're also going to try to be a bit more organized about game scheduling so that every game/person gets a decent amount of play time.

Other than the above, the best advice I can render is to MAKE SURE everyone has the games installed that they intend to play in. I can't even begin to guess how much time was wasted on installing one game while everyone sits around and waits. Really sucks.

Enjoy! =)

umm, so what were my parts doing?

I HOPE to have my rack together this time. My idiot of an uncle was supposed to meet with me to weld the last parts together 3 times over the past week and has skipped out every time. However, i may only have a single server available to general use as I don't think I will have my second server back by then.

 

[dmw16]

Yeah, just a flat $100....including electricity <wicked grin and evil laughter>
-doug

 

[Thoreau]

Originally posted by: dmw16
Yeah, just a flat $100....including electricity <wicked grin and evil laughter>
-doug

dare i ask what type of location your going to be using? I'm having one hell of a time trying to find someplace with enough space, and enough circuit breakers that we can actually afford. We're also shooting for about 50+ ppl for the next party.

 

[Thoreau]

Originally posted by: DeathByAnts

Originally posted by: Thoreau
I also hit that same problem with my last party (and we only had a dozen people.) Disclaimer: The following advice is untested, purly theoretical, and I am full of sh1t.

We had two servers, one was dedicated to music/file serving, while the second was running a ut2k3 server. For our next party, we're hoping to get a third server for more games, and load at least two game services on each of the game servers. My theory is that if we make enough games available at any given time, it'll keep more people happy. Personally, I was bored off my ass for a good portion of the party as everyone there seemed to want to play wc3 and nothing else. Great game, but too much of a good thing really sucks donkey rocks. We're also going to try to be a bit more organized about game scheduling so that every game/person gets a decent amount of play time.

Other than the above, the best advice I can render is to MAKE SURE everyone has the games installed that they intend to play in. I can't even begin to guess how much time was wasted on installing one game while everyone sits around and waits. Really sucks.

Enjoy! =)

umm, so what were my parts doing?

I HOPE to have my rack together this time. My idiot of an uncle was supposed to meet with me to weld the last parts together 3 times over the past week and has skipped out every time. However, i may only have a single server available to general use as I don't think I will have my second server back by then.

I'l be happy if we can simply snag some dollies or carts to move stuff around on. Although, the mobile rack would kick major donkey ass.

As far as your parts, they were running the game server. =)

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: Thoreau

Originally posted by: DeathByAnts

Originally posted by: Thoreau
I also hit that same problem with my last party (and we only had a dozen people.) Disclaimer: The following advice is untested, purly theoretical, and I am full of sh1t.

We had two servers, one was dedicated to music/file serving, while the second was running a ut2k3 server. For our next party, we're hoping to get a third server for more games, and load at least two game services on each of the game servers. My theory is that if we make enough games available at any given time, it'll keep more people happy. Personally, I was bored off my ass for a good portion of the party as everyone there seemed to want to play wc3 and nothing else. Great game, but too much of a good thing really sucks donkey rocks. We're also going to try to be a bit more organized about game scheduling so that every game/person gets a decent amount of play time.

Other than the above, the best advice I can render is to MAKE SURE everyone has the games installed that they intend to play in. I can't even begin to guess how much time was wasted on installing one game while everyone sits around and waits. Really sucks.

Enjoy! =)

umm, so what were my parts doing?

I HOPE to have my rack together this time. My idiot of an uncle was supposed to meet with me to weld the last parts together 3 times over the past week and has skipped out every time. However, i may only have a single server available to general use as I don't think I will have my second server back by then.

I'l be happy if we can simply snag some dollies or carts to move stuff around on. Although, the mobile rack would kick major donkey ass.

As far as your parts, they were running the game server. =)

Damn, I was hoping to have 40GB of porn on that drive