ATK lan

[ez64]

Right I have been thinking about this for a while and have a great amount of experience in setting up other peoples smaller lan's and general staffing.

It comes to thought that the little £80 lans in between the big summer i lans are a tad expensive so pushes away the majority of ATK members and so I wanted to try and gauge the amount of interest for a smaller lan in between for ATK members.

There is two options however, one if there’s not enough interest from ATK the members that do want to go and can attend a midlands lan somewhere, if there is however one I would look for a venue to start a lan maybe twice a year in-between ilans and rough guesstimates would be a £20/25 entry for the event (Fri-Sun) depending how many people we can rake in as well as ATK members.


Please post your general thoughts as it would be a good place to recruit new members as well as a fun lan for current members.

[Calneon]

Sounds good, i'd probably turn up.

[Colonel Mitch]

I made this post a year or so back.

I have a 16 port 100 meg hub and a 8 port 1gb switch here excluding my 4 port router.

[Paper Tiger]

I know (possibly) two people NOT from ATK who'd be interested, maybe even a third, though he's an x-box gamer...

I like the idea of it. 'Cos I love the whole LAN experience, but you're right, the i-series are damn expensive!

I don't mind helping set up/run/help in general! So yeah! :)

I'm up for it, specially if it's cheaper too! £20-£25 sound much more appealing than £80

EDIT: So, Piers's place it is? XD

[ez64]

I have the network sorted I have a decent 100mbps 24 port netgear switch with a very nice backbone (all ports are 100mbps on full load) and can get more if needed that stuff will help.

Looks like this will be an idea then I will look into it asap for a midlands area to be fair to mitch and general people up north.

The console market of gamers would also be catered for but the channels to advertise to them are very hard.

[Colonel Mitch]

Just looked through hundreds of threads and im thinking my previous post may have been from C2G or even earlier lol.

I have a 16 port Gigabit switch 2 for heavy high speed file transfers and super-g compatible wifi router with 4 port 10/100 base switch built in for anyone willing to use wifi lol. (it does actually work @ 108 meg if you have super g and does transfer faster than 10/100 lan)

[ez64]

It does most of the time with inherent packet loss and resending it's about the same with slightly higher latency.

[Isphera]

I might be interested - it would depend on timing, how many people would go, and how bothered I am.

[Chalex4]

When I started going to the i-series LANs back at i30, I always thought it would be awesome to run our own and even went as far as working out seating plans for local halls.

Obviously my local halls won't be close enough to the majority of us these days, but I think if we can narrow it down to about 3 venues then we can visit them and sort things out from there. Personally, I think anywhere between 20-50 people for a first LAN would be amazing if we advertised it enough. I'm also 95% sure I could sort out some awesome sponsors and prizes for a raffle :D.

I look forward to getting back from this course and thinking about possible plans!

[ez64]

With sponsors and raffles from the first event 20-50 people can be done otherwise that amount of people is hard to do :)

and of course the forum/sub domain could be used so lan attendee's accounts can be linked to the main ATK forums.

If needed I can setup a separate website for it though.

[Chalex4]

I'm ok with you making a website, but it definitely needs to be hosted on ATK with a sumdomain like:

http://lan.atkcommunity.com/ or maybe a new domain (on our reseller hosting account) like http://www.atklan.com/

Obviously all accounts would be linked to this site and forum whatever domain it was at. Also, for the first LAN we might need to either have a slightly higher ticket price or ask for donations to invest in hardware for future events, but I guess we need more research to really see what the costs would be.

[ez64]

I know the rough cost's of intial setup which I will front my self as raising the intial price of entry is just setting up for failure anything past £30 for smaller lans and people get twitchy.

[Chalex4]

Yeah true, we just need to remember that posters/signs will need to be made as well as tables rented and I expect we'll need a few microwaves and hot water machines too.

Obviously there's more than that, but I think an ATK lan is well worth doing.

[D_K_Head]

er... we ARE surposed to advertise the falcons, right? wouldn't a lan of 20-50 PC gamers who might be interested in it be a good place to sponser it? Hell, judging from the response last time, they'd get massive interest at a smaller lan...

[Vicious Horizon]

I'm up for it, sounds like a great idea.

[Target]

Good idea guys, Mitch had suggested this a while back after we had been to a lan in Manchester as it seemed pretty easy to do. I think we should be able to get enough people easily if we can keep the price down, and also if we can get some sponsors to provide prizes maybe have tournaments instead of a raffle.
1. Because a raffle really need quite a few prizes to be worth doing.
2. It would bring some more competitive players or teams to the Lan.

The cost will be kept down anyway as I'm sure all the ATK members are willing to help set-up / run / tidy during and after the Lan and we can always stock up at the cash & carry to set up a small omm nom nom, if we have the numbers

[Vicious Horizon]

If we see how much it'll cost for us to do anything, then divide the cost between the ATK members going, then the tickets should cost that much? (Just assuming it wont be tonnes), that way ATK pays for the whole thing. Just thinking aloud. (Aloud?)

[Target]

Then it will be expensive and tbh we won't lots of other people to go so we can have lol lan games of things like css and tf2 and the more people that go the cheaper it becomes.

[Chazlene]

This is an epic idea, after all it's how the I-series started out :D.

Course I'll be part of it... if my PC works again by then :p posters, banners, etc shouldn't be too hard to get done... should be similar to the t-shirts.

So I'm guessing we'll find some venue in the midlands like a town hall or hotel conference room maybe?

I agree with Target that getting enough prizes for a raffle may be hard for a first lan, so yeah having 6 fancy mice or summat for a winning tourney team.

Maybe we could get other clans we know like SBC to come along?

This could actually help with the ATK band idea, make it the first lan party/music festival :D.

[Target]

Good idea chazlene and yeh we should definately invite as many clans as possible as many members are put off by the price of a bigger Lan. The only thing that I think might be difficult is secruity to start with, actually finding a has decent not lol expensive outfit in the local area

[Colonel Mitch]

The phoenic lans host their events in venues that have their own 24/7 security, school hall, TA Centres, etc

[VoX]

The only thing that I think might be difficult is secruity to start with, actually finding a has decent not lol expensive outfit in the local area

This.

Anyone got any contacts (e.g. family members) who are police? I'm sure a minor cut and the knowledge that their relative is safe would be enough to tempt them into helping.


Inviting other clans/communities (SBC, PR Community? etc) would increase the numbers and give larger scope for advertising, hell if we could get sponsorship then we would be set.

[Trigger]

Nice idea, but a logistical nightmare, go for it if you think you can handle it

[Chazlene]

Maybe to begin with we should just test the water and try a lan without around 10 of us at someone's house or a small village hall which shouldn't be too expensive, so when we do go further we know how to cope better with all the networking, catering, etc...

[D_K_Head]

mitch or EZ then?

[Isphera]

You would need to divide the areas of the LAN into several areas and have one or two people managing each one, with an overall manager. For example, you would need Networking, Catering, Setup, Support, Sponsorship etc. And then, you would most likely need to do Health and Safety assessments and then you would have to fund some of it before you sold tickets.

Say you had a 50 person LAN with and entrance of £40 (assuming 50 people in the current climate would spend £40 on a new event, although tens of thousand just spend £170 on a new music festival). If you sold out, that is £2000 revenue. From that, you will have to fund all of the spending on the above, as well as funding prize, event hire, security, wages etc. You will also need a good bit of profit in order to re-invest into future events and expand it, as well as make it less reliant on personal funding or loaned funds, which the first few would be. Plus if you don't sell all the tickets, you will likely make a loss.

This assumes it will be a freely open commercial venture. If it was ATK-only, then costs would be estimated, and then all costs simply split among all members, with no profit made.

EDIT - If you were to do this as a commercial venture, I would be more than happy help run the business-side of the event, such as spreadsheets, cashflows and budgets, since that's the sort of thing I'm into and kind of the premise of my Uni course.

[bladeboi90]

I can get 6/7 or more if this gets going, maybe pro-hl will be interested in going as a community too :)

[Calneon]

EDIT - If you were to do this as a commercial venture, I would be more than happy help run the business-side of the event, such as spreadsheets, cashflows and budgets, since that's the sort of thing I'm into and kind of the premise of my Uni course.
Where all that time playing EVE comes in handy :D

[Isphera]

I prefer to see it as me using EVE to hone my skills :D

[Chalex4]

Everyone's made very valid points, and you're totally right Oric about needing to think things through very carefully.

I was thinking that since Ez64 and Mitch know more about networks than most of the rest of us, that they could be the 2 main network staff. I'm going to have loads of time from Saturday onwards, so I will be very happy with sorting out the venue and sponsors and any other areas that need more staffing.

Profit is an interesting area, and obviously we need to have safe margins but I think for the first LAN at least we should only make enough to pay for the event etc and make a bit of spare cash for the next few events and improvements. I guess once we cost things out though that we will be able to go into greater detail there.

As to starting small in someone's house, I completely disagree. 10 people isn't worth it in my opinion, and since I've already been to many house LANs and held one myself, it isn't really worth it if we ever want to upscale.

Security will always be one of the most important areas, and Mitch's idea of getting a venue with 24/7 security anyway is a great idea. Having said that, in Wizzo's announcement to us all at i37, he did say that many events have no security at all, so we'd need to work something out there. I'm not sure that we'd have enough money to properly hire a few security guys at the first LAN.

Thanks Chazlene for being up for the photoshopping, that's very good of you. We'll need loads of stuff :D. Finally, the other jobs like catering organisation are key too, and although I think we should definitely have some kind of mini-tuck shop, we should also expect people to bring their own stuff.

[Chazlene]

You would need to divide the areas of the LAN into several areas and have one or two people managing each one, with an overall manager. For example, you would need Networking, Catering, Setup, Support, Sponsorship etc. And then, you would most likely need to do Health and Safety assessments and then you would have to fund some of it before you sold tickets.

Say you had a 50 person LAN with and entrance of £40 (assuming 50 people in the current climate would spend £40 on a new event, although tens of thousand just spend £170 on a new music festival). If you sold out, that is £2000 revenue. From that, you will have to fund all of the spending on the above, as well as funding prize, event hire, security, wages etc. You will also need a good bit of profit in order to re-invest into future events and expand it, as well as make it less reliant on personal funding or loaned funds, which the first few would be. Plus if you don't sell all the tickets, you will likely make a loss.

This assumes it will be a freely open commercial venture. If it was ATK-only, then costs would be estimated, and then all costs simply split among all members, with no profit made.

EDIT - If you were to do this as a commercial venture, I would be more than happy help run the business-side of the event, such as spreadsheets, cashflows and budgets, since that's the sort of thing I'm into and kind of the premise of my Uni course.

You know something Oric, I was wrong about slagging you off for taking business and economics classes at school. :D

However you're assuming that the only income would come from ticket sales, we would also gain from the catering, with food and drink being able to be sold at a slight premium like at the I-series, plus there's the extra income from raffle tickets, plus maybe we could rent out spare equipment like monitors or even tents if people need them.


As to starting small in someone's house, I completely disagree. 10 people isn't worth it in my opinion, and since I've already been to many house LANs and held one myself, it isn't really worth it if we ever want to upscale.

I agree that a house lan wouldn't be particularly beneficial in terms of upscaling... but I'm just worried about diving into doing our own lan, inviting non-ATK people and then realising there's something massive we've forgotten about which messes everything up, or if something goes wrong and we don't know how to sort it out.

[ez64]

I have done plenty of those little house lans it's pointless, tbh as well security will be a big big waste of money and will cost more than £1000 for the weekend so it's just not viable or needed.


Everyone has seem to run away with ideas that are not scaled to the event, sponsorship/advertising is not a huge project for a 50 person lan.

I was just going to do this happily by myself and give a good amount of donation to ATK out of the very small amount of profit made from these events for the advertising/brand name/members attendance, the first event is normally a debt though due to cables/high initial event startup costs.

I'm off to france in the jag for a week this saturday, I will give it some serious startings when I get back but feel free to photoshop posters/ideal venue locations.

The biggest threat to these events I have ever seen though is chav's wandering into the event through the front doors which normally gets sorted by drunk chav haters very very quickly :D

[Isphera]

Your right Chaz. All this would have to be worked out when we find out what we would need and how many we would be supplying.

One thing everyone seems to do is thinking of starting this as a mini i-series with tents and the like. It is very unlikely that we would find a hall for 50-60 people straight off the bat with an area for camping and the feasibility of a raffle, because if we fail to secure high ticket items at low prices or from sponsorship, we will have to buy them which will severely impact profit. Also, some 'profit' areas are so negligible, they can be ignored. For example, the profit on a 48-box of Mars bars is £10. And the most you'll get through with 50 people and with other products on sale is likely to be two. But combined with other products, you could make a reasonable sum of money.

Remember also, some of the people helping or working won't want to give up their time and effort for no recompense as well, so some form of wage would need to be added into the costs.

[Target]

I think the main thing we need to do, is market research...actually go on some clan forums and see if anyone outside the community would be interested and maybe suggest a few venues and a possible price. If we get positive feed back from that then it will prob be viable. And i think mitches idea of using a TA centre is useful because it will provide 24/7 secruity and parking on the grounds and plenty of space. I can't see it being very expensive to hire out as the phoenix lans where held at one in Manchester and it was very secure.

[VoX]

I'm surprised no-one mentioned for Chalex to do the catering side :p.



I'm cool donating a bit of time towards general tech support, hell that can be down to me and Phantom, and providing I get some form of gratitude I'm cool.

[ez64]

I said midlands manchester is a bit too far 3.5 hours to drive to setup a lan is not fun, somewhere around coventry will be nicer.

[Darkeagle]

Sounds epic, i would go, and i would help out as much as possible.

You could always just take shifts looking over the hall in the nights? It would be a sucky job but would save some money

[Chazlene]

Ok Chalex has just rung me about all this, to discuss a few peoples' ideas. Ez, Chalex and I agreed that if the lan's in the name of ATK, it should be run by ATK. Plus he made a 21 point list of the areas that need to be covered (how Chalexish) such as networking, catering, security... and tbh we'd need several people to be in charge of all these areas, just seems like it'd be impossible for one person to keep track of it all.

Oric, I did think about wages myself, but none of the staff at the I-series get paid (with the exception of security guards, waiters, etc, who aren't with Multiplay) since they are getting free entry to the event basically, with their accommodation and food and drink covered as well. The same would happen with staff members at an ATK lan, having everything paid for them with ATK funds.

[ez64]

If I was not sorting the money myself I would not be Managing an event and providing network equipment for free.

And as well fronting about £800 for renting the place and buying new network equipment would not be done by me, but I'm quite happy not using the ATK branding and inviting people along.

[Chalex4]

You hit the nail on the head Chazlene, if there's ever an ATK LAN it needs to be ATK run through and through and not just someone using the name and giving us a donation at the end of it. Ez64, by all means run a LAN but ATK is now planning for a LAN as well in this thread, whether they are seperate or not is up to you ;).

As Chaz also said, I don't think it's right that people should expect to get paid to help at these LANs (for now at least). Obviously attendance would be free and you'd get free stuff to keep you alive and happy over the weekend :).

Also, I know getting sponsors will be hard ez64 but if we can secure a few it will be well worth it! Not even trying to get any is complete madness.

My list of stuff to think about is now at 22, and the whole event will need a huge amount of reasearch. I will be thinking more about this over the next few weeks once this course is over.

[Paper Tiger]

My points:

Security - ATK manage security in the same manor Multiplay do, checks, roaming, tagged kit etc. But, to save on costs, we do it ourselves. Set up a rota of people do do different bits of it, like roam round, bag checks etc.

Financial side - We should look to just break even. For a first LAN, you can't expect to make a profit. We'll have an initial payout to cover. So for the first one, we may even lose money - but what you need to think is, it's start up capital. You need to invest to gain profit. Initial payouts are horrible, but once we've got most of the kit, we won't need to rebuy it, until something breaks or needs upgrading. So, initally, a loss is likely, but we will need to risk another LAN to maybe see a profit (as we won't have to purchase any equipment, but will have to pay hire etc.)

Sponsorship - Many of us probably have contacts, I know I do. So it'll be down to us getting in contact with them and seeing what they're willing to do, if anything. But what we need to think is, anything is better than nothing. Even if they just give you a PSU, or a mouse, it's better than nothing! I will try get in contact with people I know (Used to work for 'em). They do corporate AV installs and stuff. I can see if I can get then give us some network kit or maybe some screens or whatever. Either way, I'll get in contact with them as soon as I can and post results. Also, my dad knows someone who's VERY big in event stuff, I can talk to him about bits too.

That's all I have to say for now, but I will let you know how my talks with people go!

I'm really up for this now! XD XD

[VoX]

AV equipment?


I can haz ATK projector even bigger?!

[Colonel Mitch]

My points:

Security - ATK manage security in the same manor Multiplay do, checks, roaming, tagged kit etc. But, to save on costs, we do it ourselves. Set up a rota of people do do different bits of it, like roam round, bag checks etc.

Financial side - We should look to just break even. For a first LAN, you can't expect to make a profit. We'll have an initial payout to cover. So for the first one, we may even lose money - but what you need to think is, it's start up capital. You need to invest to gain profit. Initial payouts are horrible, but once we've got most of the kit, we won't need to rebuy it, until something breaks or needs upgrading. So, initally, a loss is likely, but we will need to risk another LAN to maybe see a profit (as we won't have to purchase any equipment, but will have to pay hire etc.)

Sponsorship - Many of us probably have contacts, I know I do. So it'll be down to us getting in contact with them and seeing what they're willing to do, if anything. But what we need to think is, anything is better than nothing. Even if they just give you a PSU, or a mouse, it's better than nothing! I will try get in contact with people I know (Used to work for 'em). They do corporate AV installs and stuff. I can see if I can get then give us some network kit or maybe some screens or whatever. Either way, I'll get in contact with them as soon as I can and post results. Also, my dad knows someone who's VERY big in event stuff, I can talk to him about bits too.

That's all I have to say for now, but I will let you know how my talks with people go!

I'm really up for this now! XD XD

In terms of the equipemt all the stuff we need to bring technically we already have for a 40ish person lan. The only things we need are tables and lan cables, the rest is up to the venu having enough power.

[Paper Tiger]

I'll explain it all later. =] Gotta go to Martial arts now :)

[Target]

Tbh chalex it will a lot easier to organsie this with ez as his networking and computer skills are some of the best in the community. Also as it was his initial idea I think he should lead the project along side you, with you maybe concentrating on sponsorship

[Isphera]

Plus, I will refuse to do anything if you control freak it.

[VoX]

Tbh chalex it will a lot easier to organsie this with ez as his networking and computer skills are some of the best in the community. Also as it was his initial idea I think he should lead the project along side you, with you maybe concentrating on sponsorship

This.


The LAN is ez's brainchild, so I'm with him leading it if poss.

[ez64]

It's just I thought it was a good enough deal anyway by me taking all the risk and most of the setup logistics’ and for you guys just to have a good social lan then for the branding use you will have the website fully tied into these forums and thus you gain new members and perhaps donations on a regular basis to ATK meant special lan privileges/discounts but this ofc would need to be talked about with chalex/chazlene.

And then I have offered money from the profits if there are any and of course everyone would know the turnover figures from public entry costs.

If you do however want a fully ATK lan though please do go for it and I will give some help along the way but at the end I would expect to be a participant and not full time staff.

[Target]

Ez is part of ATK chalex therefore it will still be run by ATK and I think you would be out voted by most people in ATK on this chalex, just take a back seat and do the job your givin catering :D, no seriously you need to devote your time to finding sponsors as this is definately what your good at. Ez already said he will even front the initial set up costs and prob has most of the networking gear required.

Plus you have the common sense of a squirel chalex so I trust Ez judgement on somethings a bit more :D

[Calneon]

I definately think Ez should manage it, but I think Chalex does have good management skills so they can kind of work together on that. I'd be up for any hardware stuff and maybe help chalex with the catering. I think all of us would be able to sit down a game for a good amount of the time if we organise it well.

[Chazlene]

Gotta go to Martial arts now :)

Yeah I agree Gary, we should do security ourselves.

Also, great idea, how about we go on Dragon's Den?

[Isphera]

but I think Chalex does have good management skills

What weed have you been smoking??

EDIT;

Bring it

[ez64]

I did almost just piss myself :D, seriously though this will be a good LAN.


All in all after forum jokes though I will in the end want some kind of personal profit from the event and will pay for people's efforts personally once the events do bring in enough money and of course something around the 20% marker for ATK donations as well as LAN discounts for ATK donators or something along those lines.
(these numbers for personal profit unless every lan has 40+ people does usually amount to just about paying the petrol for a LAN, all of this highly depends on what kind of deals we get for venue renting/utility bills/table renting)

Chalex however I do believe however would not expect any money for running the lan for himself and would probably put everything back into ATK bare this in mind please if it does come to some kind of vote.

[Isphera]

Nah, I prefer your way. And like I said, I'm more than happy to manage the number crunching and business side of stuff.

[Target]

I don't think anyone minds you makin a small profit, so long as the ATK members go free or at cost. When I say free I mean, doing a lot of helping thoroughout the Lan to earn it ofc

[Chalex4]

Don't get me wrong, I would very much like to co-run a LAN with ez64 - that would be cool. What I'm not a big fan of is someone individually running something and taking the majority of the benefits from it and using the ATK name as well. I obviously need to talk to ez64 about this though, and will do asap.

As much as you joke about me and the ATK funds, just as ez64 said all revenue would go straight back to ATK if it was run in the conventional manner. This would mean that all the money that wasn't spent at the LAN would go straight into the next LAN, hopefully meaning a better LAN event next time and more discounts available for ATK.

[ez64]

Oh dont get me wrong the majority of profit would be spent on the next lans for better equipment/advertising/tournaments/raffle prizes/venue moves

[Isphera]

It's the situation I outlined before - Costs would include some recompense to those working and helping out over the weekend. But all profit after that has been removed would be used to invest in future lans.

EDIT - And you know my rule - If you don't want pics taken of you on the internet, don't get smashed off your face and ride dodgems where Harrison was camped with a camera.

[Chalex4]

Fair enough ez, but from my point of view having absolutely no control over what these so-called "ATK Lans" do just seems completely mad when I'm meant to be running ATK.

[Target]

LOL no one said you had no control Chalex :D Just less than usual, or does that scare you sooo much...OMG IVE LOST A TINY BIT OF CONTROL ARRAGRGRGGH

That aside, the most vital thing will be the timing as there will be a lot to consider for chalex and people who are in the first year at Uni

[Isphera]

LOL no one said you had no control Chalex :D Just less than usual, or does that scare you sooo much...OMG IVE LOST A TINY BIT OF CONTROL ARRAGRGRGGH

That aside, the most vital thing will be the timing as there will be a lot to consider for chalex and people who are in the first year at Uni

Basically the trend - Yes, your the leader of ATK. That doesn't mean you instantaneously get put in charge of every ATK venture, and reap the benefits guaranteed.

[ez64]

Obviously My third year at uni will be a big job but I can say I will run lans in between those dates with hopefully a first event starting september and if not then jan.

[Chazlene]

Guys I really don't see why we need to choose between Ez and Chalex, in my opinion they should just co-run it, with each of their skills being used and the responsibility shared.

[Target]

Yes Chazlene thats what where saying but chalex doesnt understand :D
It would have to be end of Jan or the week holiday we get in Feb because of exams and shizzle

[Calneon]

Ez is a core member of ATK, just because he's in charge doesn't mean it's not an ATK lan anymore. Jees, we'll have about 10 members of ATK doing all the catering, management, networking, is that not ATK enough for you?

[Paper Tiger]

Also, EZ will be putting a lot of effort and equipment into it, so I think he deserves some kind of payment for doing so, like a rental fee on the equipment he uses for it. It's only fair.

Chalex, I'm not saying you won't put effort/time into it, so don't shoot me down for that. We all know you'll put a lot of effort into it.

And as others have said, why not just co-manage? EZ in charge of the tech stuff, Chalex in charge of other bits, like venue, catering, sponsorship (Not saying that other people don't try too) etc.

EDIT: I know people who do a lot of event organising, so I'm going to talk to them about it, see if they can give any tips etc. Also, my dad is very handy in general and this sort of thing is right up his street! I'll talk to him. He'd probably love to help. He also has VERY many useful contacts!

Let's not get into a bitch fight about who has more control than who, or we'll be screwed when crunch time comes and we're actually doing this.

Also, ATK doing security means we save money, until we can afford separate security =]

[Target]

Also, ATK doing security means we save money, until we can afford separate security =]

Unless we find a venue that already has security such as a TA centre

[Paper Tiger]

Unless we do that, but if not, ATK security :P

[ez64]

:D I see paper tiger already wants "You are secure" T shirt

[Paper Tiger]

lol XD

It's just an idea to save money! XD

[Chalex4]

Don't get me wrong, I would very much like to co-run a LAN with ez64 - that would be cool.


Guys I really don't see why we need to choose between Ez and Chalex, in my opinion they should just co-run it, with each of their skills being used and the responsibility shared.


Yes Chazlene thats what where saying but chalex doesnt understand :D

If it was more of a partnership between me and Ez that would be great, but if ez wants to manage the event solely on his own then I don't think it's fair to use the ATK name.

That's all I was saying, so please read my posts before replying.

[D_K_Head]

What I'm not a big fan of is someone individually running something and taking the majority of the benefits from it and using the ATK name as well.

http://home.novint.com/novint/referral.php

ATK lan would be awesome. we all work well together. Chalex, your E-Peen remains intact, but it may not if you keep waving it around...

besides, if MMOs have taught me anything, it's that a group is comprised of different specs, with different skillsets. It's by utilising abilities and combining attacks that we acheive great things.

(Dibs on DPS)

[Isphera]

Since we have quite a few people interest in working something out, can we get a meeting on TS over the weekend to throw about ideas and how it would work, because if it doesn't happen soon, then this thread will rinse and repeat itself for weeks and then the idea will never get done.

[Chalex4]

Good point Oric, I was thinking we we should have another meeting. Personally, I would prefer a meeting on Sunday evening.

[Isphera]

Then we shall do one saturday evening :D.

No, seriously, people who seem to have interest in managing this or help out post up times there free this weekend and we shall sort some stuff out. So I'm thinking Giles, Piers, Me, Chris, Campbell, Chaz, Callum and Sam.

[Target]

Insert lock thread here plox

[Isphera]

Keep it open, but could people refrain from using personal insults. Even I will stop if it means we can keep this open as a clipboard for ideas.

EDIT - But you must admit, that picture was awesome.

[Chazlene]

Yeah keep this thread open, just so people can post any more ideas before they forget them. I should be able to get on TS in an evening, but ya know this aint my PC so it'll have to be in the evening when it's not in use by anyone else.

[Darkeagle]

Il be wanting to help out and will be on ts whenever

[Paper Tiger]

I'll be willing to help out, but if you've not guessed that from my posts, Oric, then forget it.

[Isphera]

I only listed people who I gathered would do the background work i.e. finding and renting pace, spreadsheets, actual network backbone etc. I know there are more people that will help out with the manual tasks, such as setting up and catering staff, but for the meeting, I meant in terms of the people overseeing every section - e.g EZ as king and Piers as prince of network, me as Lord Spreadsheet, Chalex as Kinder Candy, Chaz as Photoshop Legend etc.

That's not to say you can't come up with ideas - but in terms of running an event like this, having too many people running very small parts becomes untenable and undesirable, as it creates gross inefficiencies in terms of communication. Those who would help would probs do loads of stuff for all the sections, e.g. Setup tables, then help sell at the omm nom nom, then organise and run a tournament. This is why, ideally, we have 4 or 5 people in overall control, who then delegate tasks to those willing to help.

[Paper Tiger]

And from my posts, you've gathered that I won't do that?

I guess my help isn't wanted.

EDIT: Is this because I'm not a very active member?

I'm about to get in contact with a fwe people about sponsorship and also talk to my dad and his mates about anything they can think of that might help us. My dad practically runs a weekend football tournament himself, providing all the equipment. And also a school fair. I've helped with setting up both of them. He'd also be willing to help out too.

Still want to count me out, Oric?

[Darkeagle]

Yh same with me also, i would want to run the tornys, and things like that.

[Isphera]

Woah woah woah. I do not wish to count anyone out, and would love you to help. More to the point, the event would need help from members to work at all. And I would be delighted for you and other members to participate in the meeting and give ideas. The names I gave were the people I thought would run the event in a macro sense i.e Head of Networking, Head of Finances, Head of Sponsorship etc. Everyone would be helping a great deal.

The names I put down were the ones I thought would be most interested in taking a head role. Obviously I have overlooked you and would be more than willing to add you to the list. It's not a list to say 'if your not on it, you don't turn up to the meeting'. Everyone is welcome and I am sure everyone can put forward ideas. I wish I hadn't done it now :S.

In terms of a 'management team', it would be small. This is not to say anyone not in it would not be helping, as you would help perform tasks for each section, and most likely, more than one, as networking won't need a million people on it once it is done, so more people could be allocated to catering and overall smooth running. The picture I have in my head currently is;

EZ would be in charge of networking and the overall managing director. Piers would also be in charge of networking. In terms of spreadsheets, accounting and finance, I would be willing to accept that role and share it with one or two others. In terms of the role you promote, sponsorship, from what youv'e done in the past, you would be brilliant to be in control of that area. As Chalex has also had experience in this area, it may be a good idea for you to team up and explore different avenues of sponsorship. DE could be in charge of competitions and tournaments at the event - ensuring that they run smoothly.

That is where those not 'managing' would come in. To begin with, they help the networking guys set up the event, and layout tables etc. Then , following that, they would move into the role of tournament organizers and diplomats when disputes arise. Once the event is finished, they revert back to a networking/setup role as everything is taken apart.

It's worth noting this is my view so far, and that nothing has been decided. I may do a spider diagram to show what I mean later on, as I don't think this is explained perfectly. But work calls again, so I'll be back around 3ish. Also note that roles haven't even been discussed yet, so anything from me is purely throwing ideas out.

EDIT - And I don't wanna fall out with you Gary, since your one of the very few people I can actually call a friend in this community.

[Chalex4]

Wow, does Oric now run this thread lol? Anyway, we all appreciate your efforts Oric in trying to bring this all together, but it's probably best if it's an open discussion at this point.

Instead of me getting arsey about some of the stuff posted above, I'm going to wait until I can have a proper conversation with Giles about this, because right now this thread has way too many conflicting opinions and ideas.

[Isphera]

but it's probably best if it's an open discussion at this point.

I probs didn't say this in the post too much - this is only me putting my idea forward as to organization setup. Feel free to adopt, adapt or ignore as you choose. I didn't mean to offend or annoy anyone :D. Like I said, thread should stay open for people to post up ideas.

[Colonel Mitch]

DE could be in charge of competitions and tournaments at the event - ensuring that they run smoothly.

I can see the fail already lol.

And oric, you seem to think that chalex is okay with giving a small amount of power to somebody else..... thats not going to happen :P

Also on the networkign side my server i'd be bringing actually works as a server (DHCP, DNS, Active directory etc), and would be good for managing everyone. IE we can easily make high speed fileshares, control the internet conenction, have roaming user profiles for helping people on their own PC's when problems arise (which they will :P). Using somethinglike this would save alot of time messing about with configuring pcs to the correct IP addresses etc.

[Isphera]

Nothing has been decided yet, and I suspect that more than one person will be in charge of tournaments. Come on TS btw.

[Colonel Mitch]

Nothing has been decided yet, and I suspect that more than one person will be in charge of tournaments. Come on TS btw.

You forget im at work noob. Dont get home till half 8 or so - and thats past your bed time :D

[Calneon]

one of the very few people I can actually call a friend in this community.
Nice O.o

The rest of your post is pretty much bang on though. However you guys sort it out, as long as everyone is happy with their role and we have a good time it will be a success.

[Target]

Can anyone be arsed reading all the crap Oric's written :D, all i can say is everyone will want to help out and you can;t have one person doing all those jobs as they will also want to play some Lan games. And I'm sure most people will want to run a tourny or something as we all have different games we play especially. I think a rota will be needed and people will have to share jobs so that everyone gets a decent chance to game aswell.
Tbh everyone help will have to help for this to work, and we can use everyone even if they just get left with putting tables and chairs out. But we really need to have a meeting so Sunday @ 7?

[ez64]

Agreed that mutiple people can and will be helping but there does need to be a person making clear cut decisions and pushing the project forward otherwise things just get postponed and postponed.

[Paper Tiger]

I will post a proper reply to this later. Currently a bit busy and have other things on my mind.

[Deri]

babies

[Target]

sbc lan?....NOPE

[Paper Tiger]

Right, my proper reply to this.

As for my role when it comes to helping out, I'd quite like to help out with the sponsorship/promotion side of things, as well as helping out with the financial side of it, so like Oric said, the number crunching as I find that sort of thing quite interesting, (Sad, but true). I also don't mind being a roamer, helping wherever needed.

And as Oric said, he's not running this, but simply putting in ideas, full ones at that. Which is what we need - for this to be fully thought out, not just a bunch of random ideas stuck together.

Small management team, like the Heads of each part. But meeting should be for all involved in helping.

I don't mean to get pissy with people about this, but I am rather distracted by other things at the moment, those who I've told will understand. So I also apologise for any random absences, snapping at people etc.

[Isphera]

Don't worry about - we all love you anyway. Just bring a 2x4 and some Fuel.

Back on the LAN, I drew up an diagram for organizational structure in my break today, I'll upload it when I get back and can digitize it. Also, I found a good site to get cheapish wristbands, if we decided to get them to distinguish peeps at the LAN, and stop non-payee's.

[Deri]

sbc lan?....NOPE

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/3328/1250161264263.jpg

[Paper Tiger]

I had a feeling this would happen!

We'd talk and talk about it, then soon after, it'd be forgotten!

So this is just a bumper post to remind people about this awesome idea!!

[Isphera]

I had a feeling this would happen!

We'd talk and talk about it, then soon after, it'd be forgotten!

So this is just a bumper post to remind people about this awesome idea!!

Typical ATK that :D. And /agree

[Paper Tiger]

Glad someone shares the same view as me!

Come on, guys. This is an awesome idea that we can take quite far!

We have the people to pull it off! So lets stop messing around and stuff sorted.

[Isphera]

If no-one does it, then I'll ask Gary, Piers and Giles to form a four man team with me and we can do it without you guys. I'm more than willing to work on this with 100% of my calculator and dictatorship skills ;D

[Darkeagle]

Look, Just wait, its not some peoples fault that nothing has been organised, i think people sometimes forget that we actually HAVE a leader.

We should set up a meeting on teamspeak next week to through some ideas toghether

[Chalex4]

Well said Darkeagle, after I've sorted out the new ATK servers and some other parts of the site I will be devoting a couple of weeks to fully investigating the LAN idea.

Due to birthdays and exam celebrations I am going out most nights this week, but I'm sure we could organise a meeting on TS for this Sunday?

[Isphera]

Look, Just wait, its not some peoples fault that nothing has been organised, i think people sometimes forget that we actually HAVE a leader.

It's peoples fault that nothing has been organised. If people could be bothered to get their ass in gear and sort shit out, then we might be somewhere with this. And what use is a leader who is hardly ever on, and does jack all when he is. Besides, he isn't in a leading role in this, as we have already discussed in the thread.


but I'm sure we could organise a meeting on TS for this Sunday?

I dislike the fact that we have to organize around your schedule. So we are not going to listen to this point. The meeting for this will be taking place at around 8pm THIS SUNDAY.. And I will slap, bitch, moan and be an absolute tool to everyone until we get this fucking sorted.

[VoX]

You are however, already acting toolish...

[Isphera]

Exactly my point. Unless someone takes control and directs this to a point where we can start pulling things together, it's just going to be typical ATK - an idea on the forum, which will get inactive after a couple weeks.

[Chalex4]

Well Marcus I find it very arrogant of you that you expect me to be on TS on the evening of my 19th Birthday (this saturday) instead of having a fun joint birthday meal with Chazlene and 10 friends - an event which YOU KNEW existed, and you said you were "unfortunately busy" for.

[Isphera]

I'm busy from 9 till 6.30-7. Which means I will be available for the meeting.

[Bloo]

Well this thread has made my daily lulz, I've got nothing useful to say so I thought I'd chip that in.

[Calneon]

and does jack all when he is.
Lawl.

Oric stop being a retard, the world doesn't revolve around your schedule.

[Snerfs]

Well, i've only read through the first page and cba reading another 100 replies but sounds like an amazing idea, depending on the distance and the willingness of Mitch driving, I would probably attend (or I might even be able to drive). I'd have nothing to offer but a good time :) (and a height advantage over Alex, besides the point...)

I'd willingly pay like... £30+ to get into a ATK lan, it'd be sweet, I suppose i could bring my xBox if we needed a spare.

[Target]

Omg if we had just locked this thread we would have saved all this pointless BS being posted. The best thing to do is for chalex and giles to talk about this and then chalex can annouce on the forum the decision they came to and his proposal and then we can flame it :D

[D_K_Head]

meh, it would have manifisted itself in other forms of ATK BS. at least the bad blood is out of the wound...

Saves months of sucking ass to extract the poison...

[Colonel Mitch]

This seems to have been pushed under the carpet......

Im going to uni soon in dumfries (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=dumfries&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=52.77044,114.082031&ie=UTF8&z=9&iwloc=A).

If it is possible for me to get facilities sorted for one there who would attend?

[voxfree A.K.A tom]

it does sound like a cool plan. even though im off to uni soon im still up for it if i can make it. sounds like gd fun

[Paper Tiger]

I would, simply to see people again! :)

[ez64]

I would'nt attend at dumfries as it's far too long a journey unless it was a week long lan, midlands would be ok.

[ez64]

Update:

I didnt quite guess how much work there actually is on a 3rd years honors course.

I will be happy to attend/provide equipment but wont be able to plan for it, Next summer looks like the nearest date possible I could start this idea up.

Most of us are dotted around the country due to University any way so makes sense to run the first event on a unilateral holiday.

[Vicious Horizon]

Agreed, I think with the 1st gen ATK members all at uni, it can't just be a spur of the moment thing anymore, summer holidays sound good, though that may run some competition with i40 xD

[Colonel Mitch]

Agreed, I think with the 1st gen ATK members all at uni, it can't just be a spur of the moment thing anymore, summer holidays sound good, though that may run some competition with i40 xD

OH NOES! i CANT POSSIBLY DO TO TWO WEEKEND EVENTS IN THE SAME 2 MONTH PERIOD :eek:

[Vicious Horizon]

Well most people would rather just go to one, Mitch, I know I would.

[ez64]

When I say summer I mean University off time, mine was april to september so its not exactly short of time :D

[Target]

I think we should have a meeting for this around xmas time when everyone will be back from Uni and round so we can get something sorted maybe for this summer pre- i series as not everyone will go to the i series this year if they wuld rather go to festivals or abroad

[Isphera]

Agreed, I think with the 1st gen ATK members all at uni, it can't just be a spur of the moment thing anymore

I resent that statement. And yeah, Christmas meeting sounds good Chris. It'll probs have to be summerish though - I'm planning an American holiday which will be for about a month around April-May time. That's if you guys want me there...

EDIT - And yes, I am still alive.

[Colonel Mitch]

Well most people would rather just go to one, Mitch, I know I would.

I think your wrong.

(but then again.... you are VH.)

Im up for hosting one somewhere in the midlands.

If i can find a venue somewhere around Coventry / Birmingham area for a not lol price and make it not leave me out of pocket i dont mind sorting out the legwork.

Who'd be up for that?

[Target]

Yeh sounds goood, do some research then and at xmas we can get it sorted :D
Summet to look forward to

[Isphera]

Just a quick aside for arranging - I'll probs have a PS3 and a few games at this point, inc. Rock Band(1 and 2), Madden and GT5. If you wanted, we could organise a Gran Turismo Tournament, Rock Band Band-off or an Oric vs. The World Madden event? I probs won't have a HDTV though, so someone would need to transport one in.

[Colonel Mitch]

Just a quick aside for arranging - I'll probs have a PS3 and a few games at this point, inc. Rock Band(1 and 2), Madden and GT5. If you wanted, we could organise a Gran Turismo Tournament, Rock Band Band-off or an Oric vs. The World Madden event? I probs won't have a HDTV though, so someone would need to transport one in.

Projector oric.........

lol noob :P

[Vicious Horizon]

Well... If I get cheap tickets to the ATK one I'd go to it and i40 :p

[Colonel Mitch]

Did somebody say NECRO!!

[Target]

Ban this troll ^