Stompfest Review

[Malcore]

Ok, I'm gonna make it simple:


The Good:
Lots of sponsors with plenty of prizes.
Good power with a few minor power glitches.
Good tables (plenty of room) and the chairs were good too.
Friendly staff.

The Bad:
Handling of the prizes. (Having to "fight" over prizes is not cool IMO. Most, if not all of the "smaller" prizes should've been raffled off.)
Tournament issues, especially the Ut2k3 DM tourny where my friend was 6 frags away from winning (atleast I think it ws that close) and then a power glitch happens.
Lack of a bf1942 tournament.



Otherwise, the event was a good time.

[Archangel]

BF did not get voted in as a tourney. Anyone could have started one on the side, but in the end it did not have enough support from the players.

[OrnX]

Malcore is dead on, Stompfest needs to fix the throw out prizes. Make them door prizes, raffled, or pick a section out of a hat and give that section prizes of some sort. Having over 200 people jump around for a T-shirt is stupid and can be dangerous with the 8 yr olds I saw.

As per tournies, CoD and UT2k3/4 looked nicely ran. CS was a bitch for me to run from midnight to 6:30, but was accomplished.

As per CS players, please do not flame until you have to fix 50 kids computers for a whole day, for an event you paid for.

Also many of the CS players were upset over prizes going to CoD over CS and what not. 140 CoD players showed for a tourney, 90 showed for CS, there were different circumstances why and why not, that I will not get into. It mattered who showed, not the vote. Sponsors only care about the largest tourney turn out. I believe we screwed ourselves here... :(

[Archangel]

Yeah, if they were all run as smoothly as the CoD tourney, I don't see why we cannot do 2 team based tourneys in the same weekend. There was some good matches in the CoD tourney, and there is always a killer match or 2 in the CS tourney.

[flagg777]

I agree, the through out was bad! make program that all names are in.

Call name if they are not there move to the next.

A toss is good for little stuff like mouse pads, posters, magnets, and keychains. But not the other stuff...

[CodeZero]

Much props to OrnX for helping with CS.

As for tournament prizes. I'm sorry, but thats the way marketing goes. 140 people vs 90 people is just that. If you were giving away prizes out of your pocket which would you sponsor... the 140 people, or the 90 people. Regardless of the game, it's which draws more people "per" event. Not to mention almost all CS'rs go to CPL, and the CPL is sponsored by Nvidia and Intel... competitors of sponsors. However, that's not the point of what happened here. Just an insight.

As for drawings, if we move to doing only random name drawings, I will NOT bring in as many prizes as I did. Plain and simple. I bring in as much as I do, so I CAN do random throw-outs. I don't like sitting, calling names, waiting for them to come up, and then getting a pic... for 400-500 pieces of merchandise. So... you guys can make a choice going forward on how that will affect giveaways. No other LAN in the world does it any different than we do it. Just the facts... sorry.

I think thats all I wanted to address. :)

[Butters]

Well heres another pov on why the random drawing doesn't work.....the rude rapid 150+ gamer crowd who won't be happy until there name is called for the prize and let it be known that they aren't.

For Ex: My friend Rufus, he was up for the DFI mobo, cover yourself in DFI ad's contest. He was the guy who was going to rename his cat, well the final 2 should've been him and Foehammer, if it wasn't for the guys friends around thewith the FREAKIN CACTUS (WTF?) them screaming like little girls when the rest of the crowd was like ehh....

But thats not what the big deal is...Anyway, during the middle of the night prize give away, they decide to give away the ABit motherboard as a drawing (as all you guys told them too).

Rufus, (he said was there at first) was helping G4rth getting Steam running, he heard his name for the motherboard and came running up, it's not like he was sitting in his seat ignoring everybody, but all the cynical, rude as hell gamers started booing their heads off.

Codezero not wanting a freakin riot on his hands decided to draw another name, taking the motherboard right out of Rufus's hands (well almost, he was reaching out to give to him and pulled it back right at the last second). Rufus got a Anarchy Online: Random Expansion Pack(which isn't a bad game, but as Pittman said to him a few seconds later, you can download the whole thing online) for his troubles. Last time he helps somebody before thinking of himself and PRIZEZ PRIZEZ PRIZEZ~!!

If that wasn't bad enough they called another guy up who was on the side of the prize area, the crowd booed him out of the room, FOR NO APPARENT REASON. Finally the 3rd guy they called got it but they still booed the guy.

So THATS why random drawing really doesn't work, the gamer crowd is never happy and most of the time (not specifically any of you but a good 60-70% of them) are RUDE AS HELL and wouldn't be happy unless their name was called up there.

But other then that Stompfest was awesome (even if I did get stomped 90% of the time :))

[chaos]

Good Job :o
Stop complaining >:o

[Butters]

I'm not complaining about the EVENT, I'm complaining mainly about the people at the event, and how they weren't happy with the prize giveaway at all

[GallowGlass]

I thought the mob mentality really sucked. If your name gets pulled out of a hat you shouldn't be penalized for being at your seat playing a game, which is why you come to a LAN party. It would be different if you weren't at the event, but let's be real, mob mentality is not the way to give out a random raffle prize.

[Thumper]

Thought I'd pop in and share some my views as a fellow LAN party administrator. Over all, I thought the LAN was a pretty good event. The staff was great, responding to the few issues quickly. Having run events, I know what it is like to have to admin one, so I can't say enough good things about the stompfest staff. My hats off to you guys.

The location (other than being in Indiana) it was really nice. Lots of space, snack bar, parking etc. Downside was heat managment. For that many pc's and that many gamers, the AC really should have been turned on. I know it seems odd to run the AC in winter, but as it was, the heat was just oppresive.

The tournaments were run very well with one exception. I didn't like the fact that the format of the tournament changed after the power outage. When one player was clearly ahead before the outage, and then the format changed from 6 players to 12 and he ended up losing to someone who would have been eliminated had the power not gone out, thats just not right.

Prizes were excellent, but I have to agree that the tossing of prizes is not a great idea. It's far to dangerous to be worth it. Not only that, but I personally skipped out on trying to grab some stuff, just due to the general stank of too many unwashed gamers in one little space. I agree with Codezero though, that it would take far too long to raffle off the prizes at the event. What I would suggest, is to have someone code an application that can take the names from the pre-registration list, and generate names of winners (say you had 50 t-shirts, generate 50 names). Do this the week before the party, and then, since everyone reserves a seat, you can just have a few staff members walk around and hand out the smaller prizes and snap pictures. Then raffle off the fewer big prizes in a big group. Also, I'd suggest scheduling the times for the bigger item raffles. I was dismayed to find some great prizes had been given out while some friends and I went to eat, and we'd missed out just because we didn't know it was going to happen. The other issue I've heard people discuss was the raffle of the motherboard. Some people got irate because 2 people were not on the floor when their name was called. While I disagree with this kind of policy, I do agree with its application at that time, as Codezero announced that if you weren't on the floor, you wouldn't get the board.

Outside of the tournaments, I would like to see a few dedicated servers for games being up at all times. This keeps people from having to run listen servers on their own machines (at one point, I was hosting a UT2004 assault match on my pc, and had to stop playing and just watch, because my machine couldn't keep up enough for me to play). This also stops people from being subject to the whim of random people. You could even hall a few polls in the weeks before the event to decide which servers, maps and setting to run all day long. And if there are not enough servers to go around, maybe schedule game A on server B from Hour C to Hour D.

Bottom line is that this was a good event, with a awesome staff, but just enough minor issues to keep it from being a great event.

[oni]

I'm going to jump in on here.

Just a FYI(not yelling) The ac was all the way up, next time we are going to use some big fans or something.

As far as the power goes we realized this a little to late. With the more advance modings and what not ......21" monitors and 400-600 watt powers supplies. the computers are pulling more power then org. thought. So we had a few pops on certain FULL box's.So we are going to rethink the power so it wont happen again.

Tounments......I think that is a great ideal with the sculled of what will be up all the time.

Voting
As far as that goes IMOP If we did at the door voting with a 350+ event omg......
First off...how would we know what to set up on the servers and config for the event we cant do ever game out there.
Two...When would we cut off voting to count them all.
Three...it just plane wouldn't work

Well that my two cents.


ps. I would Like to thanks ever who came out and gamed It was awsome...THANKS!!!!!!!

[Brizad]

All pro's and con's will be used to help improve the next event. I want to mention a couple of things that we could not control. First is the AC was on max and the doors that we were allowed to have open were open. The room wasn't designed to cool 350 peeps and the computer equipment. Second is the amount of public (non Tourney) servers. StompFest does not have the funding to continually update the servers and buy the games to host. Actually, thanks to The Extreme Gaming Network (http://www.txgn.com), they provided the Uber server that the majority of the tournaments were run on. Perhaps I should setup a donation area for everyone who has extra parts donate and help support more non-tourney games.

Keep up the good suggestions,

Thanks,

[Teh_Rage]

I would like to comment on everyone complaining about how the prizes are distributed. It was brought to my attention that doing a random drawing/lottery for prizes is ILLEGAL in the state of indiana. I believe that the staff knows this so to avoid a lawsuit from the state they keep the drawings to a minimum. I someone knows more on this subject than I, please post. Otherwise you may want to do a little reasearch before you complain about why the stompfest staff does something a certain way.

[CodeZero]

I just heard this as well last night. Some of the other staff knew already, so we'll post more as we learn more.

[CodeZero]

Thanks Noober

[[Epi]Glacius]

Good post Thumper. I agree with everything you said.


BF did not get voted in as a tourney. Anyone could have started one on the side, but in the end it did not have enough support from the players.


No, it didn't get voted in as a tourney. That doesn't mean that it doesn't suck that more BF wasn't played. Hell, if there were no organized competition and just a populated server up all day on it - I'd be satisfied. But not getting to play against more than 10 people at a time at a LAN of 350 people was disappointing. I'm not blaming the staff or anyone else for that manner - just the way it worked out. Driving 320 miles to a 350 person LAN where your favorite game isn't really played to a grand capacity over a 36 hour period is disappointing.

[Teh_Rage]

sorry but I've been a fan of MOHAA for a long time and it has prolly only been played at a handful of parties. Its played alot online but the people that play just dont come out that much. Sorry that you dove all that way and didnt get to play much.

[Malcore]

Otherwise you may want to do a little reasearch before you complain about why the stompfest staff does something a certain way.

Some of us aren't from the state of Indiana nor do we have oodles of time to research every single law that Indiana has. And driving about 6 hours from Wisconsin, this is not the kind of nice constructive response we would have expected.

Anyways, if that's how Stompfest wants to deal with it's prizes, then I guess that's how they are going to do it. I'm just saying, if someone gets hurt fighting for a prize, which lawsuit would be more expensive?

[Teh_Rage]

thats y they have something called a waver.

[CodeZero]

From reading what Noober found, it looks like damn near every LAN in Indiana is doing everything illegally. We charge people to come in, and any type of giveaway from there on out is illegal without this so-called charity license.

I say we all move to another state.

[Teh_Rage]

It looks like every party has done it the wrong way. But iono maybe we should consult with a knowing mind about this sorta thing.

HEY HUNTER, GOT A MINUTE??

[Malcore]

Poor state of Indiana, after hearing everyone diss the IPS in IRC.. I started to wonder. Your state is messed up! :D

Next stompfest, a nerfbat with me to fend away the prize-sharks if any prizes come near me, and pretty much to ensure I don't get tackled by the mob.

[Malcore]

edit:

I'll BRING a nerfbat with me. *sigh* wish the EDIT button actually did it's job.

[CodeZero]

Brad is upgrading us to XMB VERY soon.

[Malcore]

"Brad is upgrading us to XMB VERY soon."

Sweet, maybe this will get more people to post and converse more. Though, I have noticed a slight increase in posting in the last couple days. :) (I wish more people would've been posting prior to the event).

I always say, a good lan should have a bustling and *active* forum.

[CodeZero]

*cough* www.indygamers.com *cough*

[flagg777]

Wow, this thread has had alot added....

I've gone to alot of lans in the Mich/detroit area AND let me point out none, NONE give out so much stuff. Example:

Milinman lan: 3 random draws at end all other prizes are bestcase, game winings etc.

Stumped Lan: your lucky if you get a badge to wear! but once they did through candy out.... Come to think about it, it was after holloween.

I guess the point I wanted to make was; see if you guys can come up with a controlled way so it is not like a mob scene. Man I loved that crap with "arm-wrestling" and the "worse case"! I do not nor ever will I go to a lan party for what they give out, it's cool that I "could" win somthing but I never count on it nore feel bad if I did not win somthing.

As for as someone getting hurt from what was tossed out, well I do not see that happening. I do however see a fist fight, common... I'ts late no sleep, grumpy, too much caffeine. and a scene that resembles a foot ball rally!

once again stickers and small items are great for toss outs, but not $150+ mobos and the like.

Just an opinion mixed with a suggestion, vodca, and an olive; makes for a tasty drink :)

[Archangel]

*cough* post deleters *cough*

[Archangel]

Damnit...the quote did not appear either....*kicks the message board monster*

[Eliasen]

Very well stated arch, unfortunately i've never found CS to run that smoothe. ^_^ Thanks ornx for being able to relate! :D All, you guys rock for making our event what it is. Thanks everyone for making a fabulous turn out!

[z.|nomad]

The Good:
overall, really fun, best lan party i've been to
not many problems

The Bad:
The handeling of the abit mobo giveaway. It's a freakin raffle, if he wins it, HE FREAKIN WINS IT MORON. who cares what the crowd says, it's not theirs to give away, they didn't get the sponsor, they won't attack anyone if the guy did get it.

Couple power problems. Telling us we didn't have to leave until 6pm then one of your staffers unplugging us at 5:05pm, geniuses?!?!

The Ugly:
The announcing, guess what guys, they make good sound in games for a reason, it's to hear where your opponents are, you can't do that when you have some guy or girl screaming constantly into the mic. One of my favorite parts of stompfest was when the majority of the announcers went to bed, my section was rejoicing like we just one a million dollars.

[Davy.Deagle]

hey nomad,
I apologize for your loss with power. That was my fault. I accidently pulled the wrong extension chord out. My bad. Ill make sure that I don't do that again :).

[q2tdphenom]

LOL sam said fuck and stuff but cencored S**t LOL:D....

Anywho. I just wanted to say it was my first <sf> And i quite enjoyed myself. I will be back with or without Emicrox.

<sf> RULES!!!!!!!!

Code let me know if you guys need any help..... I will let you borrow another geek (me)

[q2tdphenom]

O OK IT GOING TO EDIT ME because I didn't make it past tense....:P

ED...

[CodeZero]

I can always use another Geek. Do I have to sign a contract or anything? LOL.

[Butters]

For the Abit Motherboard my friend made the following comic..explains everything that was wrong with the party


http://www21.brinkster.com/jbcool/WTF1.jpg

[CodeZero]

I don't have glasses... :(

[Butters]

not suppoesd to be you, just a generic overlord

[Zoline]

As of now, link is dead :(

[oni]

up now