Lan Parties

By the way this is no way intended a flame or anything
Seeing as this is the main thread for LAN's,

I have been hacing a think at work this morning, want to know everyones opinions, mainly the older gamers here.

A lot of you would remember the big informal lans we used to have, my most memorable few would be the lans at the Carlton, or the 1 *week* long lan we had at the demountable at CDU... those were the good old times.

It's just lately it seems that some lans are lacking somewhat. DGA does a great job organising these lans and absolutely nothing wrong there. What im talking about is how for one lan we could all happily play one game because it was a lot of fun to play - IE Battlefield when it first came out. Could it be of the increased amount of games coming into the market, there is more of an option for lan games played or what? Developers aren't putting much thought into the gameplay of their games, as im finding now with myself and others games are becoming less and less involving, you get bored with them after a while...I dont know, may be thinking too much over this, but can anyone notice the same thing?

Let me add to that and say -Playing Battlefield 2 last night with friends and fellow board members renewed my faith, guess you just need the right atmosphere, people and game :)

Battlefield 2 will save us all! all hail battlefield 2!

i think a battlefield 2 comp will be excellent.. as long as we have good sqauds and commanders.

before u go looking at comps .. my thoughts would be too see how DGA can get people in the door more.

BF2 might be the answer .. but still working off that and keeping the numbers up, would be my aims.

Oh and my thoughts too make this happen.

Friendly environment within the Event.
Get rid of the yelling of the timetable, or have somebody with heart and soul doing it, not somebody yelling it because they have too.
Advertise beyond this board. Fliers are always good.
PA system within the event
Get people interested with the prizes within the event.
Having DGA Staff moving around the venue introducing themselves to people. Saying hello to the people that are there.

generally make the place a fun place too go too.

remember that BF2 has some heafty sys requirements. not all people will be able to play.

Having said that, I plan to attend the next DGA LAN and i will drag my friends along :D . I will even bring enterprise running the BF2 server with full demo recording, for later playback.

Thanks for the suggestions Unseen and Minorci. There always welcome and we will always look into them.
Without feedback weather it be good or bad we cannot better ourselves.

We are in the process of planning the next DGA event, trying to secure the venue and as soon as we do the date will be announced.

if your interested in a PA i think we may be able to do something for you. talk to burk because he normally organises the projector and i dont think u guys pay much for it if anything at all a SSPA (single speaker pa) is worth about 134.38 and a DSPA (2spk PA) is 212.76 to hire but we may be able to do you a good deal with them. just get burk to call... he knows who to call aswell. if he doesnt just get him to call me. (just dont want to advertise here is all.

new fancy games are just shit. i rather play a game of battle field desert combat or san andreas :).

and theres to much CS play going on at lans its F@$King annoying who gives a shit that game is over played and boring..

as for attendance

i rather sleep on my days off LOL... the whole o0o0o carry you pc to the lan o0o0o carry it back bah if you live in a unit 3 floors up no elevator (SCREW THAT) to much effort..

my monitor weighs are F@#King tone and half

Quote from Korny:
new fancy games are just shit. i rather play a game of battle field desert combat or san andreas :). you do realise san andreas is a 'new fancy game' don't you....

Quote from Korny:
new fancy games are just shit...

and theres to much CS play going on at lans its F@$King annoying who gives a shit that game is over played and boring..

And you realise CS isn't a "new fancy game" don't you :S

Quote from Korny:

and theres to much CS play going on at lans its F@$King annoying who gives a shit that game is over played and boring..

Yeh it's boring. That's why so many people play it.

I CANT WAIT FOR BF2!!! YEH BF2!!!

So in summary, you wont come to the LAN caus your slack and you dont like new games caus your a xenaphobe (sp).

..and your a wally.

best lan i've had in ages was last weekend, three of us WoWing in the same building. i guess 9 years of lanning is starting to wear thin.

Yeah we regularly get 5-8 guys playing Lineage2 in the one room, makes it much more fun.

san andreas isnt new its been out for ages :P and CS well its remade every 2 fricken months with patches or new levels o0o0o.. :P

id bring my laptop but i dont think the 9600 radeon would run bf2 LOL..

Wen the hell is next lan I haven't been to 1 in AGES god am i bored hurry up and host next 1 already =^)

The announcement will be made soon. Keep your pants on.

Quote from Seqo:
The announcement will be made soon. Keep your pants on.

but I want too take them off!!!! .. Have to wait for the lan to do it now.

Maybe some fun physical activities could be introduced, i dont know about everyone else but staring at the screen for so long is tireing and makes me feel like crap... if its just me i must be an amature, un pro hardcore screen starerreer..

That BBQ day was an interesting idea, its good to see DGA implimenting activities outdoors.

Maybe another one of these could be held in the near future, perhaps one of those days where u run around in ur cars looking for the cluess / answers... like - how many traffic lights are there from beaurepairs to hungry jakes? ect... u find them out. at the end, fastest times get prizes - movie tickets wat eva..... and we could have a nice bbq at the end of the run :D

That bbq day only 5 admins showed up... and no members showed up.. we were full as.. and had more softdrink to poke a stick at.. will be a while before DGA does another BBQ day :)

lol .. yer it didnt really apeal to me but i would join in on a street run around

yeah well. really the dga bbq was designed from the start to gauge how interested the lanning commnity is in actually interacting with other people away from a lan setting.

so from this we have learned that outdoor non-computer oriented events will not be succcessful.

Quote from Mungus:
interested the lanning commnity
I believe that event was for regsitred mmbers only, if it was open up to the 'joe public' then I would of went to it, see and catch up with old friends ... and get some sun :p

[Image: http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2005/20050603l.jpg]

Lol

"yeah well. really the dga bbq was designed from the start to gauge how interested the lanning commnity is in actually interacting with other people away from a lan setting.

so from this we have learned that outdoor non-computer oriented events will not be succcessful. "

I think your assumptions may be in error, delve deeper :)

being a members only event and not everyone in my family being a member is why i didn't go.

I also would have gone if it wasn't members only :)

you also have to understand that we're trying to encourage membership, and to do this we have to give members special benefits - such as prizes, lan discounts, invites to other dga events, etc.

and longy: non-member family members were welcome to attend. i realise this wasn't explicitly pointed out in the announcement, so that's probably our fault dude.

We're not saying we don't understand, but you also have to understand that perhaps that might have been one of the reasons why it was so unsuccessful.

fair enough Mungus, my bad. I will remember that for any possible future events. Cheers

Another factor i think that adds to low attendance is ADSL etc.

I used to go partly to get great pings with games such as CS etc, where the battlefield was more even, u didnt have 300-500 dialup ping against the southern 30-60 ping.

Now people can sit at home with a relative chance of actually hitting something, so it's just really the social aspect and the sharing of data thats the main drawcards now imo. Even file sharing is diminished now too with the advent of high speed connections.

Quote from Frenzy:
Another factor i think that adds to low attendance is ADSL etc.

I used to go partly to get great pings with games such as CS etc, where the battlefield was more even, u didnt have 300-500 dialup ping against the southern 30-60 ping.

Now people can sit at home with a relative chance of actually hitting something, so it's just really the social aspect and the sharing of data thats the main drawcards now imo. Even file sharing is diminished now too with the advent of high speed connections.

Whilst I agree that ADSL does have a factor. Why do LAN's have good attendences down south compared to here ?

And I dont believe its because they have more people. I think its because its enjoyable to go too and they offer more.

Maybe thats where DGA goes wrong, offering the same old thing over and over again.

I don't know. I always enjoyed file sharing. It was slow, and bullshit, but hey... It was fun.
There's an understandable need for rules, no porn, no alcohol. And the reality is that it's these rules along with other circumstances that have caused the lan scene such problems recently.

Before it was about what you could do at LAN's, now it's about what you can't do.

---

It used to be exciting to go to LAN's... 20% of the computers required a reformat by the end of the night, one or two computers would have some kind of catastrophic melt down (Computers falling off desks, Cable Roulette etc), Power failures (though sometimes is still a little bit of an issue). Here's the real problem though...

Admins. You're all nice blokes, but the majority (not all) of you are tucked away in a secluded area, and not involved with the people. I'm not saying you don't have a job to do, or that you don't do work.... What I'm saying is that part of what made the old lans great was that the then runners, EOS, TN1 etc would be bumming around with the normal people... Involving themselves with everybody else.

We're also not asking anybody to go out there and ask people what they think etc, or how they're enjoying the night. That doesn't work. Surround yourself in the groups, butt into conversations, be a little more 'jovial'. As it is at the moment, most of you are recluse.

As for the membership only BBQ, events like that shouldn't be posted in an open forum, where everybody can see it, then write as if gloating, 'Members only'. There are also things called membership drives. Perhaps a BBQ along those lines would have been more successful.
Add to that, it's not as though the NON member don't put anything into DGA. They do, and it's usually 5 bucks more then members.

Quote from Unseen:
Whilst I agree that ADSL does have a factor. Why do LAN's have good attendences down south compared to here ?

And I dont believe its because they have more people. I think its because its enjoyable to go too and they offer more.

Maybe thats where DGA goes wrong, offering the same old thing over and over again.

but by 'offer more', you mean...? keen to hear exactly what you believe dga could be offering but is not.

also, i'm afraid i personally disagree with your statement that the higher turnouts at southern lans has nothing to do with the higher population of that town/city.

in my opinion, higher population -> higher gaming base -> more people at lans. more people often also == more enjoyment.

Quote from Mungus:
but by 'offer more', you mean...? keen to hear exactly what you believe dga could be offering but is not.

also, i'm afraid i personally disagree with your statement that the higher turnouts at southern lans has nothing to do with the higher population of that town/city.

in my opinion, higher population -> higher gaming base -> more people at lans. more people often also == more enjoyment.

Two years ago the average DGA was 130-150 gamers
Now it is less than half that.

By your reasoning Darwin should have shrunk by half??

You guys aren't stupid, you know exactly why DGA is suffering but because noone wants to stick there neck out because you are afraid you will get it chopped off.

The only 'oldskool' dude left helping run DGA these days, is Eater.
He was one of the originals, and hes the last of them :(

One thing i've noticed, is at today's DGA's, nobody knows each other and nobody makes any attempt to get to know each other :P
When i first started going to DGA, i didnt know anyone at all, except for Cpl Punishment and tn1. From there, i met heaps of friendly faces and the list grew as long as my arms (i have long arms).

These days, its just 'rock up, play games, go home'. everyone sticks to their own social crowd. I thik part of the reason for this, is the venue.
The greek school, while excellent, is rather big/open. Everyone sticks to their social group and doesnt bother to talk to anyone. Thats their choice, its fair enough.

Remember police club lans? Heh, you were JAM PACKED in there like fkn sardines, and it was awesome. I met old skoolers who i sat next to, and got to talking. I didnt know em, but by the end of the day, we were file-sharing like we had known each other our whole lives. It really was a touching moment.

But yes, DGA has lost its 'air' of friendlyness.
I think the BIGGEST downfall of DGA, was it lost its face. When tn1 departed DGA, the LAN's lost its identity. Now dont get me wrong, tn1 you had every right to do what ever you want, im just saying, you were an icon and no-one can/will replace you as the face of DGA.

Over the last year or two, ive also watched as the golden oldies (no offense guys:P) like Clackers, Saxon, spongey, lataf, CrazyC, OD, Fleshy, Hellspawn*, Coco, fr3nzy etc, faded away from the DGA scene too :( They have lives to lead however, so its understandable. But i cant help but feel they stopped attending for a reason. Perhaps it was because CS was stale. Perhaps it was because the environment was stale? I dunno.

Id like to see people come back. 100 - 150 people LANs are TEH BOMB and we all know it. I honestly dont know how your going to do it (and i say your, because i havent been actively participating with DGA for the last few months), but something has to happen to get the people back in the seats and having some fun again!

Edit - in retrospect...i think Cutting alot of the bullshit would help ;p

Well said Milly and right-you-are Coco.

It's not that we don't know what the problems are, it's that there is no way to make DGA what it used to be without physically transporting it back in time. There are no accessible solutions to the problem. Everyone (including the admins) can only sit back after every LAN and go: "What made this LAN different to DGA XX two years ago?"

It used to be that people were getting annoyed at power loss, network problems and not enough organisation with gaming etc. That was implemented... only to see that the steady decline in attendance was continuing.

Personally, I don't know how to make DGA any better... From a technical point of view, the operation and management is going great... but there seems to be no motivation in people - gaming has become tedious (with the exception of WoW etc). People thought CS:S and the release of HL2 would bring people back... nope, no surprise I guess.

Quote from Seqo:

Personally, I don't know how to make DGA any better... From a technical point of view, the operation and management is going great... but there seems to be no motivation in people - gaming has become tedious (with the exception of WoW etc). People thought CS:S and the release of HL2 would bring people back... nope, no surprise I guess.

Quoting u cause its here ..

I dont think it was the games, that drove people away, nor do I think it will be games that bring people back.

In Saying, I am coming too the next DGA just too play BF2 .. and too fill up my hard drives again ..

Maybe looking at everything except games, would be a better start .. but then again maybe Im talking shit .. I dont know .. more then happy to talk to people about this from previous experiences in the NT and elsewhere, on lans and what draws people too them

To me, Its the fact that the environment has gone stale at DGA's... I never really went for the games because my shitbox couldn't run them properly but I would still go because the environment was brilliant... Even with all the flaws, that didn't seem to stop people from going and I would come out from most events with a sense of satisfaction.

Now its so flavourless... You rock up you game for a few hours, fill your HDD's with stuff (even with a lack of it available really) and then piss off home...

I think the main killer of DGA was the whole bullshit about becoming a fully fledged association... Politics came into play and ruined the whole thing... There was nothing wrong with DGA when it was under the radar and I never really understood the need for the whole official association thing...

Part of me is wishing for the scene to just come back to life because to me its dead... EVO this year was the biggest indicator of this... Last year we managed to rake in 200+ people and my god it was an awesome experience... This year it was kinda lame and whilst I commend the committee for getting it properly organised and whatnot it missed the wholesome goodness of its predecessors...

I still go to play games. I still think it's good. But it is easy to please me.

I dont know how lans could be any better. Apart from things that have no chance of happening.
I will be going to the next lan to play BF2.

Having lans at a friends place with 5-6 other people with broadband internet have been more fun then the last few DGAs i've been to.

As for the BBQ I would of gone but im not a member, Another of my friends who isn't a member would of gone too but coz we didnt go 3 more members didnt go too. so that's 5 more people who would of gone but didnt. Maybe if it was open to NON-Members you would of got more of a turnout.

Just on the whole BBQ member gripe thingy.

A few weeks prior to that BBQ it was whinged and complained that members were not getting a big enough benifit from being members. I mean discounted price, preferential treatment in respect to registration in the event of a full LAN and free food and drink just obviously was not enough, not to mention haveing every need catered for at a drop of a hat including deedicated dhcp servers, game servers and solutions to poor ping and lag across the network in the form of education on the FTP alternative. To this effect we organised a members day bbq , to which someone commented in that post, could family and friends attend. To which DGA responded instantly YES!!!! Are you people insane or just to narrow and short minded to see that the event was tailored to members and friends and family including non memebers and people who just wanted to see what was going on? FFS i have been doing this for a long time throwing money and time at this project hand over fist, and to see the same people finding new ways to whinge and jump on the whinging band wagon saddens me to the very depths of my heart. If you have a better way of doing it, put your hand up at the AGM and be a part of the Team that formed the soultions to cater to the Gamers needs on Darwin.
Everyone else has walked away from this, why dont I?

Work It Out

Awesome post Eater.

Unseen, I agree with you about the games, I guess that's what my badly worded post was trying to say. People thought that it was a lack of games that was driving them away - the response was that CS:S would bring them back. It didn't, because the games were not the issue.

http://gamers-underground.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18096&highlight=Members
There is nothing about Members bringing along family or non members

It was posted in the comments of the DGA websites (now decommissioned) news module.

meh how often is the dga website checked when you have GU? if I go to the DGA websites its to register and get outta there...

An issue that has already been looked into, and resolved.

Thanks to tireless effort and integration of databases spanning both sites, good work Neo

Quote from Milenko:
..and your a wally.

:mad:

i still have small lans regularly with a group of mates and they rock, i still love CS and play most nights at college with a large group of guys and BF2 roXors :D

Quote from Eater_Of_Souls:
put your hand up at the AGM and be a part of the Team that formed the soultions to cater to the Gamers needs on Darwin.

When is this by the way?

Date TBA Unseen.
Members will get a months notification of the AGM though.

Quote from Knight Of Nih:
Date TBA Unseen.
Members will get a months notification of the AGM though.

May I gently remind you then (not just you, Knight, but you, DGA) that you have LESS than a month to hold this, as we/DGA officially became an association on the 24th of July, last year?

AFAIK it doesn't have to be held within a year of the inception of the organisation.. if there is something i am missing though, let me know.

Quote from Xaine:
May I gently remind you then (not just you, Knight, but you, DGA) that you have LESS than a month to hold this, as we/DGA officially became an association on the 24th of July, last year?

[font=Arial][/font]

Quote:
[font=Arial]PART 6 – GENERAL MEETINGS[/font]

[font=Arial] [/font]

[font=Arial]44. Convening general meetings[/font]

[font=Arial](1) The Association must hold its first annual general meeting within[/font]

[font=Arial]18 months after its incorporation.[/font]

[font=Arial] [/font]

[font=Arial](2) The Association must hold all subsequent annual general meetings[/font]

[font=Arial]within 5 months after the end of the Association's financial year.[/font]

Dug up from the constatution.
Also i would like to mention this constatution is available to all DGA members apon request. If you would like to look at it feel free to ask and ill provide you with a copy.

Thanks Knight, knew i'd read something somewhere.

Although, the AGM will not be held next month, it will be well within the timeframes set out in the constitution.

So that means I have to renew membership in order to vote in the AGM?

Yes.

I think that we should extend the membership to cover this AGM as it is the first for DGA and a special occasion

Sheesh I see that a slight problem has occured here. Firtst off the 18 month is a actually incorrect. This is technically speaking of course. We are abiding by the Constitution however it obviously got through the Business Affairs section, Malcolm Bryant without being picked up as a minor error. It SHOULD be 12 months as this is a financial year.

Burk, as the current Public Officer you will have to call a special General Meeting and organise the "18 month" to be changed to "12 month". Thats not a real issue. Perhaps contact Malcolm Bryant and see what is needed to miodify it. He is very helpful.

Secondly can I ask that you pm me all the details of the current committee from President down so I can be up to speed on the current status.

I expect to be moving back to Darwin in the near future and intend to assist in steering this powerful steed in the intended direction, if of course the current commitee is willing.

Also when you have your AGM please advise me when the meeting will be held as I intened to apply for a position on the Executive committee by proxy vote if needed. I will be nominating as President or if EOS runs, as Vice President.

I can hold the position under the guidlines of the Constitution in Part 31

Regards

Sponge

Sponge Sponge Baby..

will convene a Special General Meeting in the near future to amend the constitution, will wait until after the AGM incase something else comes up.

I will organise a PM of current committee members to be sent in your direction.

Also, if it is meant to be 12 months after incorporation then we need to advertise very soon and hold the meeting.. (which means copious amounts of work for yours truly).

Hey Burk,
Okay this is what needs to be done in order.
1. Advertise the location and the time/date of AGM at least 30 days prior in the NT News. Invite all interested persons to attend.

2. The meeting is opened providing you have at least half the comittee members, ie half the quorum. The President opens the meeting, welcomes everyone and he asks for the following reports

Treasurers Report. The Treasurer reads this out. He MUST have the current copy of the total balance in the accounts and it must be accurate. (This must be typed up with additional copies with all costs recieved and paid out during the year. They must be dated and any grants if any recieved, and obviously they need to be aquitted.

Any outstanding debts that need to be paid or cheques that have yet to be presented. When this is read out a member is required to have it accepted and a second member needs to second the motion as to being correct.

The next is the Presidents report whereupon he reads out what has occured, his goals, achievments, problems etc. After this he declares all the positions open and stands aside.

A person then selected by the majority of the persons present, (paid up of course), then asks someone to act as Chairperson and nominations are then taken for the following in this order.

1. PRESIDENT
2.VICE PRESIDENT
3.SECRETARY
4. TREASURER
5. PUBLIC OFFICER
6 COMMITTEE MEMBERS.

You need one person to nominate each person and a second person to second it. If you have more than one nomination, a vote is required by show of hands or by secret ballot and that person is then selected. The nominated person must accept the position or the nomination.

Once the PRESIDENT is elected, the Chairperson stands down and the PRESIDENT steps in and continues until all positions are filled. Once this is completed the PRESIDENT makes a speech welcoming his new commitee and generally praises the leaving commitee for their work during the year.

Now DONT FORGET THIS.

All voting persons must be members of DGA.

All Nominations and comments form the commencement of the AGM must be recorded by someone including all nominations, seconding etc.

This is not a general meeting so no new business should be discussed period. You may make a time for the first general meeting with the new committee just prior to closing the AGM.

As soon as the new committee is elected, the Public Officer must inform the Dept of Business Affairs of the new details.

Please Please Please ensure when you have any meeting you have a quorum and do not under any circumstances have someone nominated if they have not been approached. Proxy votes by induviduals are accepted.

Do not break any rules in the Constitution, the results are disasterous for yourself and the DGA and penalties do include Jail. I kid you not. Do everything by the book.

As a matter of interest, the reason DGA formed a Constitution was not to become almighty powerful and to whip the members. It was done for two reasons and I hope you never lose sight of these reasons.

Burk as the current Public Officer, not only is this role a legal faction, if the shit goes down, you go with it. Its your job, task etc to ensure ALL decsions, actions etc are by the book and comply fully with the Constitution. Please if unsure ASK me. You need to understand the legal rammifications if corners are cut. Make sure your members and committee are following the guidelines. Im here to help.

1. To ensure the survival of a gaming fraternity that operates within bounds of the law. That is and includes the public liability factor that does not exist to a single individual. In other words to ensure public liabilty insurance and to prevent individuals being sued, the DGA became an official body.

2. Due to the number of junio gamers, the supporting and promiotion of gaming with youth in particualr Youth Sport and recreation whereupon the DGA as an offical body has the ability to apply for and obtain sporting grants for the specific purpose of gaming and your representation.

That is it.

No where was it designed to be used as a tool, sledgehammer or an unflexible tool for your own benifit or gain. Rememeber this because I can assure you there are alot of people who are sitting on the fence waiting to see which way it will go. You want the ones that left DGA to return, think before you act and ensure you act in the interests of DGA. It doesnt belong to you. You belong to it, and it lives only because gamers attend.

As I said before, regardless of when I return, my intention is to become part of the executive. I am aware there are others who will support me and join in getting this club back on track. I dont care about whos feelings I may offend, those who know me are well aware of my desires and intentions.

I am proud to be part of DGA and my goal is to realign with these tasks and ensure its survival well into the future.

Cheers

Sponge