BYOC LAN Party Comments

• BYOC LAN Parties

We need a facebook event for the byoc LAN. We need people who know people at Lyco to invite them.

• I have already started this, currently it is marked as ‘secret event’, but this will be opened as soon as the FH is reserved.
  • Let me know... I can get this to lyco through my girlfriend. — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32

Where does the police want everyone to park?

• Already Mentioned above, I assume since it is Saturday, the Student parking right in front of the FH will be used.
  • But we should still ask them if they want everyone there or in a different lot. — daneva76 2007/02/05 00:31

Parking will be in front of the Field House.  <del>Temporary Parking Permits will need to be issued.</del>

Should we get a cart to help people bring stuff in?

• This would be a good idea, I know there are carts around (think on campus move-in day) — keyand57 2007/02/05 00:40
• I think we should provide at least two. This would allow people to check all their equipment in, in one shot. — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32

This was not implemented and the lack of their usage didn't seem to be a problem. We did have two carts (one from E207A and one from Media Services) present that greatly helped with our setup process.

We need resolve counterstrike issues, not just because of the high profile nature of the event, but that we cannot expect people to have hacked clients. We just need a licensed copy of the server AND a connection to the internet.

• What do other non-Internet connected LAN Parties do? — keyand57 2007/02/05 00:40
  • We might be able to use offline mode with Steam. It will have to be looked into. — daneva76 2007/02/05 02:49
  • There is a TV connection there, and I’m wondering if my cable modem would sync. If it does, we can use it for (obviously) limited internet connectivity. — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32

We had an Internet connection thanks to ITS.

If we invite people who will only be there with/to play a console (including DDR/GH), I suggest different colored bracelets. 1 color for those who bring a PC, 1 color for those who don’t (console gamers), and 1 color for staff. — keyand57 2007/02/05 08:08

• Why? — daneva76 2007/02/06 01:12
  • Makes it easy to say if someone registered for console only, and they bring in equipment that isn’t checked, then complain later that something was taken/lost/etc. — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32
  • The bracelet doesn’t prevent their equipment from being stolen. What we should do is check equipment at the door, but that could be quite slow when everyone leaves. We don’t need bracelets for ourselves, it only serves as an ego booster. — daneva76 2007/02/06 07:13
• This idea would only be good if we got multiple colors in one set, otherwise it will cost us more. — keyand57 2007/02/06 08:42

Bracelets were not used for anyone. No problems existed from not having them.

We need a meeting with ITS. The whole server team will need to attend. We need to find out what their concerns are and already have resolutions for them.

Can we borrow the things that GS uses to allow wires to be protected when they cross sidewalks/roads? /|_|\ — keyand57 2007/02/05 08:08

• It’s called raceway. — daneva76 2007/02/06 01:12
• If we have the tables against the walls, as Sedorox and I discussed, the need for this would be eliminated. — keyand57 2007/02/06 08:42
  • We would probably still want to get it to put over the cables that run by the emergency doors, just in case. — penbra67 2007/02/06 11:08

I’m currently in favor of leaving the current (soon to be aka old) server in place and not using it for the LAN Party. Since that server hosts many people’s irssi sessions, and the website (which will provide information on the event), I think it would be most valuable if left online during the event in case people have to access it for directions, etc. — keyand57 2007/02/05 08:08

• We definitely want to use it, and it might be best to just host the website and shell on there (it might be set up as such for regular use), but we might need to host a few games on it (keeping in mind that we will need to run multiple servers for games that cannot provide an adequate experience with more than 30 players such as ET and CS). — daneva76 2007/02/06 01:12
  • I’m agreeing with Andrew on this. We still have the other ACM Server that we can use, plus one of my laptops (I Was gonna use one for monitoring of the network). This way we still have our website up with details, and even irssi session for people with questions. — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32
• I don’t think the new server by itself can handle the load of 150 (or however many) concurrent connections. — daneva76 2007/02/06 07:13
  • What is to stop us from having a second or third server for this purpose? I’m thinking personal machines (ours, not some random gamer), or any other source for a temporary machine. Servers handling one game don’t require that much. — keyand57 2007/02/06 08:42
• The new server should be able to handle it, I think. If not, again, we have the P4 ACM Server, and as Andrew said, our own personal machines that we can add. — penbra67 2007/02/06 11:08

Wally, the now 'old' server, remained in his place during the event.  Some personal computers were used as servers, but this needs to be better organized.

Should we allow people to bring their own chairs? — keyand57 2007/02/05 08:16

• I’m in favor of this, as it should increase the amount of time that people stay, which means more food consumed, etc. — keyand57 2007/02/05 08:16
• I agree too... one reason we left 6’ of space between the tables. — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32

No rules were set regarding this, and a couple people did bring chairs, this worked out just fine.

http://www.lanaddict.com/languides.php

“Staff have the right to remove anyone for any reason”

• This will be tricky, and we’ll need to work with Student Activities on this. Because it’s not in the ATHS, I’m not sure if I still have the power to tell people to leave. Is Student Activities going to want to provide their own staff for the event, given its location? — daneva76 2007/02/06 01:12
  • I don’t see how this is any different. Its still an event that we’re hosting. We should be able to eject people at our discretion. — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32
• I would consider ‘staff’ to refer to anyone working the event (PCT Staff, and ACM Officers) — keyand57 2007/02/06 01:51
  • To be clear the only people with the authority to kick anyone out are Penn College staff who are designated to do so by the appropriate department. For example, for the regular LAN Parties, Gallahad talked to Ron Miller who made sure the police knew that I am watching the labs. — daneva76 2007/02/06 07:13
  • While it’s a good idea to make it clear that we can remove people, I don’t know if we’ll be able to get away with saying “for any reason” and should avoid doing so to prevent anyone from abusing it. — daneva76 2007/02/06 07:13
• I don’t think we would have absolute power to remove anyone against their will, we would be able to call up Penn College Police to help with anyone who is causing problems. — keyand57 2007/02/06 08:42
• I agree, its not that we should be able to eject someone because they are too loud, or annoying, or we just don’t like them. It would have to be for a valid reason, and more then one staff member would have to agree with the reason. — penbra67 2007/02/06 11:08

No one caused a reason to be ejected. However, this should always be looked at ahead of time.

No file servers – will cause you to be disconnected from the network.

• Agreed... Same for DNS, DHCP, or any of the like. And if caught running a DHCP server, I think they should be removed. or at least tell them to remove the service or no more connection. — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32
  • We should be careful about automating this. If we do so we might end up with a headache when ports keep getting turned off. DHCP and DNS are obvious issues, but is a file server really going to have a big impact? — daneva76 2007/02/06 01:12
    • I’m not as much worried about the issue of network impact as much as I am worried about the liability of openly allowing file sharing. — keyand57 2007/02/06 01:26
    • I’m not talking about automation. We just Monitor what kind of traffic is flowing, and we can narrow it down to the switches. And depending on what switch, even the port. I want to leave the benefit of the doubt, as many people won’t be running these services on their normal PC, but you never know. — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32
    • As for DHCP servers (DNS??why), and the like, yes. If their operation interferes with the LAN party then it’s a problem. We shouldn’t ban file servers. We won’t be connected to the PCT network so there shouldn’t be any legal problems afoot. — kenand27 2007/02/06 06:40
    • While we might encourage the use of headphones, someone who chooses to use speakers accepts that they may or may not receive interference from other sources of noise that may or may not interfere with their ability to play the game, thereby making them FCC Part 15(b) compliant.
• I also want to voice support for allowing file servers. People expect it at LAN Parties, we don’t stop them from doing so at the current ones, the college is protected under the common carrier clauses of the DMCA, and we’d be restricting people too much (to the point where they’d be unsatisfied with the event), if we do. — daneva76 2007/02/06 07:13
  • Maybe the initial wording was a bit much. We should still have the right to limit/regulate this activity, especially if gaming performance takes a hit. — keyand57 2007/02/06 08:42
• DHCP We want to stop dead, as it will create problems for connectivity on the network. If we’re giving out 172.16.x.x/16, and there is another DHCP server giving out 192.168.0.x, then everyone on that switch will most likely get a 192.168.0.x number, and will wonder why they aren’t able to play. Of course we could just statically assign IPs, and give them a paper with details when they check in. For DNS, I think it would make it easy to say “type in ET for ET, or UT for UT2k4” etc... It would be that hard to setup a local DNS server (thats one reason .local was made for internal use) — penbra67 2007/02/06 11:08

Max (1 computer, 1 screen) or (1 laptop) per person, no speakers, no other external power requiring things

• I think we should allow speakers, as not everyone has headphone, but it should only be 2 small ones. If they bring any 3+ speaker systems, they become ours (either forever or just for the lan party) — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32
• There’s nothing wrong with a lot of noise. The field house is isolated and the sound adds to the atmosphere of a real LAN Party. It wont be as fun if everyone is sitting in silence. — daneva76 2007/02/06 01:04
• Why one computer? Definitely not one screen. People have dual screen setups. — daneva76 2007/02/06 01:12
• First off, can you use two machines at once? Second, how well will the Field House be able to cope with the stress of a LAN Party in terms of power consumption? — keyand57 2007/02/06 01:29
  • Also, Depending on how many people show up, table space will be at a premium. — keyand57 2007/02/06 01:29
  • I use two machines often, granted not both for gaming at the same time. I still think a lot of people use dual-head for gaming... however, not a lot of people will be bringing both screens when they travel, but I think we should leave it open for those that do. — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32
• Very few (if any) LAN Parties that I found allowed more than one screen. In my opinion, this will just add to the space required per person, and power used per person. Currently the floorplan already calls for quite a few tables. — keyand57 2007/02/06 01:51
  • So we give them only a certain amount of space. If the Field House can handle the rest of the lan party, it can handle speakers. I think you’re starting to put too many restriction on what people cannot do and it’s going to create a prison camp atmosphere. We should make the barrier to entry as low as possible. — daneva76 2007/02/06 07:13
  • Furthermore, my screen is 24”, Apple and Dell make 30” LCDs. Should we tell these people that they can bring their screens but people can’t bring two 15” screens? What about CRTs? They’re much bigger than LCDs. — daneva76 2007/02/06 07:13
    • I fail to see how any of this would be a ‘barrier’ for entry, or a ‘prison camp’. Most of my comments in here are based on documentation from successful LAN Parties. I just worry that we will be in a situation where allowing people to bring excess will bring up a problem (power consumption, greed, physical space, etc). — keyand57 2007/02/06 08:08
      • It works like this. People get an email or flyer for the LAN Party and it has a long list of things they cannot bring or do. This frustrates them and they decide not to come. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have restrictions, but they should be grounded in the actual problems we face. So if space is a problem we should tell people they cannot bring more equipment than what can fit in a 4’x4’ square or however much space we give them. If power is an issue then we should make sure they don’t bring a microwave oven, but a pair of speakers isn’t going to make a serious dent in the consumption. — daneva76 2007/02/06 08:15
        • The current estimate of space per person is 3’ x 1.5’ (not a solid number, as they might bleed into their neighbors space in areas, and vice versa. — keyand57 2007/02/06 08:42
        • I don’t think we should publish the rules outright, but make sure they are on the website, and when they come. As said, most of the rules we’re coming up with are what most big BYOC lanparty’s do. But of course this is getting off-topic of this particular part. I think we should allow nothing bigger then 19” CRT, 30” LCD, or 2x 15”. Of course I HIGHLY doubt anyone would bring their 30” LCD. I got a feeling most will be 17” LCD, 17” CRT, and a scattering of LCD’s from 15-21”. — penbra67 2007/02/06 11:08

Bring your own power strip if you need more than one outlet, no UPSs

• Isn’t several power strips plugged into one a fire hazard? How are we going to run power for this? — daneva76 2007/02/06 01:12
• Are we going to need to talk to the fire marshall about this? What is the maximum occupancy of the building? — daneva76 2007/02/06 01:21
  • It all depends on the gauge wire thats in the strips closets to the wall, and other factors. I know how we could do this properly... but I doubt the money would want to be spent, nor would GS allow us to hook in the way we need to. — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32

Should we sell network cables of adequate length? Many LAN Parties charge $5 for this.

• I don’t see why not, but we should still make every effort to provide them for free (to borrow) or we’re basically charging $5 for entry, and that wont go over well. — daneva76 2007/02/06 01:12
• What I think we should do, is hold something of value (id card, money (preferred) etc), until the cable is given back at the end. If it isn’t, then we have the money to replace it. — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32
  • That’s a really good idea. We should really write an inventory application for this event, so we can keep track of who has what. — daneva76 2007/02/06 07:30
• I like the idea of using a deposit for those people who need to borrow a network cable. At the end, they could either keep it (we profit a bit), or return it and get their $5 back. — keyand57 2007/02/06 07:58

Why can’t we open this up to anyone with a college ID or the entire community? — daneva76 2007/02/06 01:03

• I think it is going to be opened to everyone with a valid college ID — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32
• Should we even contact College Town, and make it a College Town event, inviting Newport Business (which I highly doubt anyone will come from anyway), but it would help with the promotion of it. — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:32

We need to ask Tom and Student Activities why we cannot use the balcony. It would be beneficial as it would allow us to take pictures and do crowd control (we have a much better view of what’s going on from up there). — daneva76 2007/02/06 01:08

• I know one thing was said is that there is an activity up there in the morning. Now what classifies the morning as ending, I’m not really sure. But we did have an idea to put the server/network/staff area up on a raised platform in the corner where the bathrooms are. — penbra67 2007/02/06 01:46

Since it was mentioned by a member and regular LAN Party attendant, how do we plan on dealing with cheating at this LAN Party? — keyand57 2007/02/06 14:23

• As part of the operations center or whatever we want to call it, we should have a display spectating each game. We should also have admins in each game. Since we control the network we should be able to just ban them, and not have to eject from the whole event. — daneva76 2007/02/06 14:32

Why is there so much empty space on the left side of the room in the floor plan? — daneva76 2007/02/06 19:40

• When you look at it, there really isn’t that much. The tables will come a little over half way across the room, and against the left wall will be console games. The in between space, will be used the aisle. — keyand57 2007/02/06 20:05
  • Half of the room is still a lot. I can’t imagine the aisle or console games taking up that much space, but I’ll play with the layout later and confirm/deny that. — daneva76 2007/02/06 20:13
    • Depends on the game... DDR can take up a lot of room... Plus, if we use projectors, you need to have, probably 10-20 feet for a decent screen. — penbra67 2007/02/06 20:35
      • Ah, but if it’s just DDR then we only need to worry about that for the row that DDR lines up with. We might be able to squeeze out some more space by moving the projectors closer together. — daneva76 2007/02/06 21:13
        • What is your thinking, to have more tables in each row? I personally don’t think that any more tables should be in the rows. The current seating already has up to 18 people in each row. Which is 18 computers in each row of tables, 18 people who will have to get in and out of the rows, etc. I’d personally rather go deeper (toward the back of the room) before thinking about taking that section wider. — keyand57 2007/02/06 21:29
          • I’m really just trying to find more space for tables period. We should leave no wasted space, and expect a full house *until* we get the preregisters back. If we had more space in the horizontal we could just split the tables into two groups with a space in the middle to walk through (provided it wasn’t covered with chords). — daneva76 2007/02/06 23:49