Winter WonderLAN 2008 wrap-up

Well the first LAN of 2008 has come and gone, BAWLS and Mtn. Dew consumed, and waaaaaay too much CoD4 played (J/K). This LAN was probably one of the smoothest in quite awhile with the exception of one network glitch caused by a certain someone and a cheap gigabit card that shall remain nameless. Talking with a few people I did come to find that they preferred MindScapes over the Best Western because of many factors. Those where namely the amount of space we had, no dealing with the bar people or what problems that brought with it, the ability to bring in food without consequences, and a more relaxed atmosphere.

I did here the negative things as well and trust me we will correct what we can by spring. The biggest one was people couldn’t hear us on the P/A system. The one other negative I heard was a rather BS one as I told people at check-in and it was in the rotation on the ppt on the projector and the 42” LCD was they weren’t aware of the pizza tickets and the time cutoff for us to be able to order it…

Because of this miscommunication I am going to make sure every person is given a flyer at check-in with all major information. This will include food prices, pizza ticket prices and cutoff times, address to ALP, and addresses to the file share servers. The first time you will see this is Spring LAN 2008 and beyond. PA system will be corrected thanks to a donation by some friends of a Bose PA Speaker system. They get LOUD and should be able to get over the sound from Console play and you yelling at your monitor because you got PWNed by Sciman’s .50 Cal Sniper Rifle in CoD4.

Snotco has again donated a few new toys to WLP for LAN Party use, we will be going over this new equipment and determining it’s usability in the coming month. I would like to thank Joe (Snotco) for his continued support of WLP and the toys he has given us, not to many LAN’s can say they have such a good backer!

I would like to thank Tonya, Steve and the rest of the Witherspoon Family for allowing us to invade MindScapes for the weekend. I was very pleased on how well everyone took care of the facility while attending the event. We found very little trash left behind on tables and such unlike past events at the Best Western. We have been welcomed back any time and I look forward to do more events there this year.

Be sure to leave us some feedback in the sound off section of the forums on any positive or negative about the event. We try very hard to make it as fun and relaxed as possible, so please be honest about anything you liked or disliked about the event. If you feel that your issue should remain private please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it about it and we will try to rectify it asap.

Again, thanks everyone for making this event very successful, we made some money this event that will go to some much needed power cords and power strips for future WLP events! We keep going at the rate we did this event we will have lots of new toys for people to use…

-=wlp=-drupi

You forgot to mention the best raffle prize ever!!! The ice scrapper!!!! I'm going to be using it today I can tell.

dang I am at work... I guess I will yank the Picture off the camera tonight and put it up as THE BEST RAFFLE PRIZE EVAR!!11!!11!1!!

I was overall pleased with this LAN. I met some awesome folks and it was a nice way to spend the weekend. Mindscapes was really nice, and much better than the Hotel. Although I liked the event overall, I do have a concern:

Have the event organizers ever played TF2? If you have, you should know that it is not a serious game. I feel that any tournament for TF2 shouldn't be that serious, let alone pay-in. I felt that what was at stake took away from the fun factor of the game. This isn't Counter-Strike guys...

Other than that, I enjoyed myself.

Yeah I agree with you there. TF2 isn't like BF, I say we do like small sponser prizes or something next time instead of cash. Maybe ice scrappers for everyone.

I have to say TF2 will not be a serious tourny at this point. I am looking at COD4 as the next big game to have a cash tourny. But yes any tourny comments should be directed my way, I am the sole person responsible for that stuff

I think if I could redo everything,

A) I would have not relied of Valve who both did not provide the Spontanius tourny game on time or its prizes I got them today... Or at the very least had a more tried and true backup...

b) Gone with the gut instinct and used COD4 as a the Cash game

C) Had TF2 as a game that had a bawls per person and a wind shield scraper as a prizes....

D) Been more direct with the flow of information.