What way would work best for you at our LAN's

Myndmelt wrote: Maybe its just me but it seems like 80% of the time people are there playing LOL, the whole time. You cant really escape that as a number of years ago it would be people there just to play CS the whole time. I do like the idea of a chat server like irc. But I think it needs to be embedded on the ALP. Hardly anyone was using the mumble server unless they were on a tournament team. And then there were times where I was even on a team in a tournament and only one other person was on a mic talking. This is after the mumble server was there and there voice chat IN GAME.

Basically it just seems like if its not already done for people or isn't right there they wont do it. Like install mumble and actually set it up and open it. I realize some may not have a mic so mumble doesn't work for them.

I have felt its hard to connect with other Gamers at the lan, unless its 1 on 1.

As far as on the Mic announcements, its nearly impossible to hear them if you are on the other side of the room. OR if you have your headset on and the mic starts going off, you have to stop and whip off that headset and ask what was said at first. I think the PA ia great and effective if you are in a close range, but maybe it needs a couple other speakers daisy chained to cover more room, and maybe a tweak in the EQ.

I wish I had better suggestions but I would see if possible to embed an IRC style chat on a page on the ALP.

garfi3ld wrote: we actually tried to use steam at the last event, how many of you guys used it :-P


I was considering the idea of a VERY large dry erase board setup somewhere that everyone could write on

garfi3ld wrote: a great idea but looks to be out of date and unsupported now.

Another idea I was considering was people could let a member of the staff know and maintain a games being played list on the projector

Myndmelt wrote: We all know that steam rules the Lan Parties. Could someone that is infinitely more talented than I am look at this steam API stuff. Maybe we can use this to create a custom live page that refreshes every 20-30 seconds that would show who is in what games. This would give people a better idea of what to play. We would only add the steam names of people that are at the lan. And on the same page you could have the irc chat below all the info in case people want to change games.

I know if your looking at the steam group or whatever it shows that people are playing a game but maybe there is a better more organized way to see this data.

gameid
If the user is currently in-game, this value will be returned and set to the gameid of that game.

developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Steam_W...ity_pages_parameters

Just a thought.

-<inGameInfo> -<gameName>
<![CDATA[Audiosurf]]>
</gameName> -<gameLink>
<![CDATA[http://store.steampowered.com//app/12900]]>
</gameLink> -<gameIcon>
<![CDATA[http://media.steampowered.com/steamcommunity/public/images/apps/12900/ae6d0ac6d1dd5b23b961d9f32ea5a6c8d0305cf4.jpg]]>
</gameIcon> -<gameLogo>
<![CDATA[http://media.steampowered.com/steamcommunity/public/images/apps/12900/75dc0398efeae1cc994714e37c893b593f9c9a88.jpg]]>
</gameLogo> -<gameLogoSmall>
<![CDATA[http://media.steampowered.com/steamcommunity/public/images/apps/12900/75dc0398efeae1cc994714e37c893b593f9c9a88_thumb.jpg]]>
</gameLogoSmall>

Rhythmatic wrote: You could take the suggestions people have made in the Games of Interest thread, decide on what games you'll have tournaments in, and then all of the rest could be put up on the projector with a vote system. Have the full list available so people can be sure they have the game.

For example, every few hours a game is voted on from a list of 3-5 random games. Once the game is played, take it out of rotation for the next round. The thing is, it's merely a suggestion system and is really only there to grab people's attention with a "hivemind" idea. The more people that are aware of what's going on, the more likely they are to change up what they're doing. It's like in MW3, there are some people who simply refuse to play EITHER of the maps up for vote, so they leave. You'll have people who will want to play one specific game regardless of whatever voting is going on, which is fine.

I think a combo of projector+PA system+something posted to the LANOC steam group (where it gives those little popups) would be most effective. My biggest gripe when I go to LANs is that I am just sitting around not playing anything because it's tough to get any attention all by my lonesome.

Also, and this is probably a silly suggestion, but on the nametag LANyards (huhu) you could have that person's personal affinity for gametypes, so it's easier to suggest playing something to someone. Rhythmatic[FPS], or Enternamehere{FPS/RTS], or even just having their 2 favorite games on them as a fallback when they can't find anything else to do. Or instead of on the nametags, you could have little notecards that sit atop people's PCs so they're visible from afar. It would help some of the socially awkward penguins walk up and ask if someone who's got a DOTA/SC2/LoL sign up to start a game.

Dreyvas wrote: www.reddit.com/r/lanparty/comments/scyzq...play_the_same_games/

There are some good ideas here. Somewhat similar to Rhythmatic's idea:

"We do a "game of the hour contest". We pick a game and designate this game to be the game of the hour. During that hour, we'll walk around the LAN a bit and pic 3 people at random who are playing that game and give them a prize. Usually something small, a mouse or something."

Twodavez wrote: I like how you think a $60-$80 Mouse is a small item. I'd even be happy to get a Bawls or credit for 2 pops out of the fridge. If you're doing this once an hour, that's alot of gifts...

Dreyvas wrote:

Twodavez wrote: I like how you think a $60-$80 Mouse is a small item. I'd even be happy to get a Bawls or credit for 2 pops out of the fridge. If you're doing this once an hour, that's alot of gifts...

That was a copypasta comment from Reddit, not me. Believe it or not, not every event lasts 24+ hours. Regardless, yes, smaller items would be fine as well. Anything that gets people playing the same game.

Twodavez wrote: otherwise everyone is going to come for their own reasons, and i don't see the need to FORCE people to play something, but giving incentives to make it more rewarding than actually just playing the game, i could see doing...