CherryPopper

After the last MonsterLAN event where I took my recently purchased Guitar Hero World Tour kit, the poor drum kit was a little worse for ware. The cymbals were cracked underneath and weren't responding as well as they should have been and the red drum pad was pretty much dead. I guess letting a room full of gamers and a few real drummers loose on them wasn't the greatest idea.

But since it was still under warranty I decided to go through the returns process to try my luck at getting them replaced. I went through the activision website and it said to do the parts separately so the drum pads would have to be sent separately from the cymbals. So I sent each part off in their own package and hoped for the best.

Three weeks later (normally 2 weeks but we had Christmas in between me sending them), I got the new cymbals back, no questions asked. A few days later I got the drums back but instead of just sending me the drum pads that I had sent them they had sent me the entire drum box that you get when you purchase the game. The drum box includes a usb mic, drum pads, kick pad, drum stand, 2 cymbals and 2 drum sticks.

So now I have spares of the cymbals, drum sticks, kick pad, drum stand and a usb mic. I guess I can use the extra usb mic for some duet action and the extra kick pedal will come in handy with the new Guitar Hero: Metacilla comes out as it makes use of 2 kick pads on the drums.

At the end of the day I can't fault activision as they replaced the beaten to death parts without question and even did me one better by sending the extra parts. So finally I can get the band back together so we can pretend to rock out once again... well at least boxy and me can cause Rogue's lame and wouldn't join us in our rocking out on stage!!!

This New Years I decided not to go down to Falls Festival or NYE by the waterfront and do the lighting but instead hang at home and make the most of the great views I have and watch the fireworks from the comfort of my own balcony. So I invited my family & my girlfriends family over for a BBQ and drinks so they could see in the new year with us while watching the fireworks not only in Melbourne but also the western suburbs.

I got a BBQ for Christmas so I fired it up and cooked up a charcoal storm for everyone and my girlfriend Andi made some yummy salads and deserts. The "family" fireworks kicked off at 9:15pm and gave us a glimpse of what to expect at midnight. After that we kicked back played some guitar hero and watched the full monty

As the clocked ticked closer to midnight a glance out the window we noticed that there were already fireworks going off in the suburbs some 15 mins before midnight. It wasn't just one but at least 7-8 little fireworks displays getting in early it seemed. Then as the clocked finally ticked midnight Melbourne put on a show, a beautiful one at that too.

As I looked over to the suburbs again you could see across the horizon at least 20 fireworks displays going off against the nights sky which looked just amazing. There were still some of them going off until 12:45am!!!

All up it was a great night worth every cent in rent... well at least for one month

Happy New Year.

This is the final Part 3 of what goes into running MonsterLAN behind the scenes. I've already covered what happens before the MonsterLAN events in Running the Monster - Part 1 and the running of the event in Running the Monster - Part 2. So following on from that this is the final part 3 of a 3 part walk through of what goes on behind the scenes of MonsterLAN. Part 1 will cover what we do before the doors open, Part 2 will cover the running of the event and the final part 3 will be the aftermath of the event.

After the last gamer leaves

After 2 days of little to no sleep, lots of gaming and other random fun its time to put the MonsterLAN back in its cage until the next event. While all the lucky gamers leave the mess to the admins to packup its also a time for the admin to discuss what went right and what didn't at the event. With everything fresh in our minds its good to go through this straight after the event plus it takes your mind off lugging tables & chairs.

The packup is the worst part of a LAN because your all tired and just want sleep like all the gamers who attended are getting as you start to roll up the cables. Getting as many helpers at this point will lessen the work load, so will being a little smarter about how you packup the gear. Having bundles of network cables helps as you can just unplug them quickly roll them into a bundle and use the velcro tie that is attached to it to keep it tidy for next time. Ensure your bags & boxes are kept tidy during the packup so it doesn't take you 4 times as long to setup when your next event rolls around.

While we're working away the admins discuss the event in detail and work through what was successful and what failed as well as other possible improvements. Everything from the layout of the arena to tournament timing and even possible future admins is discussed. Its the small things that really turn a good event into a great one and with very little sleep some really crazy ideas come out as well... how do you think dodgeball was born!!!

Once everything is packed up and the admins have had some sleep & a shower we post our own admin feedback thread in the forums so we can keep track of everything we talked about after the event as well as discuss the ideas & comments being posted on the gamer feedback thread. It very important to ask for feedback from the gamers as we are providing a service for a fee and if the gamers aren't happy they wont come back. The one big mistake i see in post event feedback threads from other events is some gamer posts that they didn't enjoy the event for some reason and all the admins just flame them for it, why ask for feedback if your not going to listen? Sure some people will bitch at certain things that really aren't under your control or are just unrealistic demands like turning your event into a CSS only event with a $10,000 cash prize. But instead of just flaming them explain why its not possible and that you need to cater for more than just one type of gamer or don't want to attract that type of serious gamer crowd, then flame them for just playing CSS!

The next thing I have to do is send all the sponsors some pictures of us giving away the prizes (yes they want proof) as well as a bit of a wrap up about how the event went. This is VERY important because if you don't do this your sponsors will soon stop sending you goodies to give away. Its a two way street with sponsors, they give you prizes and they expect you to do a little work in return giving them feedback. Keeping a good relationship with sponsors also help with the quality & amount of prizes you'll get for your events so be sure to look after these relationships so you can both benefit from them.

By now the bills will start to flow in from the Arena, Total Events (guys who setup the lights, projector, stage, dodgeball, etc), VicLAN and any other stuff we have hired like arcade machines. Keeping track of the financial side of things is always a pain but everything costs money and to keep the high standard that you've all come to expect means we also have to keep our bills paid on time so they'll help us keep that high standards for the following events.

The only thing left that I always seem to forget about is the Wrap Up. While most other LAN events just post the pictures in a gallery and be done with it, there is always more to an event than just what can be seen in the pictures. So i started to do the wrap up that would fill in the gaps of the event that the pictures couldn't explain. While it is amusing to the people who attended it also gives a glimpse of what to expect for those yet to attend a MonsterLAN event. In some of the earlier events i also did a bit of a video wrap up that was shown at the next event which was great fun but man it was a lot of work to get it to the standard i wanted, the gamers loved it though. Its pretty simple... gamers love to see themselves on the web so just remember to take lots of pictures at your events as you can never have too many pictures.

The last but most important thing to do during the post event is to ensure your admin team are happy. Take it from me without a great admin team your event wont last long so ensuing they are still enjoying running the event is most important. Talk about what you can do to help make everyone's life easier during all stages of the event, make sure things like servers are easy to run, everyone gets time to grab some sleep and even getting food during the event for the admins as if they are like me we forget till we're faint with hunger. Just be sure to talk to your admin team and listen to any issues they have and try to accommodate them as a happy admin means happy gamers.

Running an event like MonsterLAN is a labour of love its a hell of a lot of work and if you don't enjoy it your event isn't going to last long. Sure there are crap times but with a great team of admins and a real community of gamers to attend your events means your always going to get that warm and fuzzy feeling when you get told by a first timer that they've had the best time at your event and can't wait for the next one. Its something i still get a buzz from after running MonsterLAN for the past 6 years.

I recently got back from a trip to Queenstown (New Zealand) where my girlfriend Andi and I went snowboarding for a week. Here are a few hightlights:

• Once we boarded we were able to play with Emirates awesome inflight entertainment system which had heaps of movies, music, tv shows & games some of which where even multiplayer. You could create a multiplayer game then request someone in another seat to join you which was awesome because of the multiplayer games was PONG!!! Oh yeah hours of block fun.
• First day snowboarding on The Remarkables was great fun but i was more assboarding than snowboarding
• Third day snowboarding on Codrona was great blue skys and some decent lessons saw me now resembling something like a snowboarder
• Fifth day snowboarding on Codrona I can now link turns both toe & heal side and can stay on my feet all the way down the green runs

One Small Step for Chatto, One Giant Leap for Chatto Kind

The snow & mountains are just a sight to behold i was just blown away by the sights.

Codrona Lift

Codrona View From The Top

Snow Angel

This is Part 2 of what goes into running MonsterLAN behind the scenes. I've already covered what happens before the MonsterLAN events in Running the Monster - Part 1. So following on from that this is part 2 of a 3 part walk through of what goes on behind the scenes of MonsterLAN. Part 1 will cover what we do before the doors open, part 2 will cover the running of the event and part 3 will be the aftermath of the event.

The Event

Once the admins are happy with the venue setup, we run around and check the venue from a safety point of view making sure cables are covered & taped down, signs are up and all power is connected correctly. The last thing we need is to hurt anyone at an event, the paper work would be a nightmare!!

There is also the fun job of making sure the toilets are open and filled with toilet paper as we have come close to running out before, not being able to relieve yourself after stuffing yourself full of pizza is a sure fire way to annoy your gamers into leaving. Who said gaming LAN's were just about gaming!

The doors are then swung open to the masses of eager gamers awaiting the awesomeness that is MonsterLAN. As they all file into the venue we're starting game servers for public play so the first people in will have something to play from the second they are connected. We also ensure that at least two of our Admins are roaming around making sure everyone is getting on the network okay and to help any first timers that might not know what to do or where to get all the info they need.

The friendly face of a helpful admin is an important part of any event especially a Gaming LAN event where its not always the most structured of events. First time gamers popping their Gaming LAN cherries are always a little lost as to how an event such as MonsterLAN actually works. They need some help so having people roaming around looking for that "I've got no clue" looking face, ready to help is the best way I've found to ensure everyone enjoys themselves. It also helps to have a slideshow on the projector that displays the most important info like website of the Intranet site, tournament times & other info to save you answering the same question hundreds of times.

It also helps with the people having issues like all the power plugs being taken by someone with every electronic device known to man plugged in or a network cable that was taken by someone at the end of the table instead of using the one right in front of them. There are always random odd things that happen when the masses walk in so its best to be close by to help fix them before it becomes a real issue because they have "attempted" to fix it themselves by re-routing all the power via an extension lead from the emergency exit sign or plugging the network for that row into a 10mb hub someone had with them.

One thing I will say is you have to be prepared for anything as they keep inventing a better idiot every LAN event we run. From people bringing toasters to microwave ovens, 2 gamers having the same wireless kb & mouse set to the same channels controlling each others PC without knowing what was happening and even people being total idiots by rocking up drunk. Keep your mind open as the possibilities are endless as to what idiots will do at your event.

Some of the big issues you will have to contend with are normally related to power. Hopefully you will have worked out the power layout before the event so you know how many PC's each circuit can handle. MonsterLAN runs 8 PC's off each power point (14 PC's per circuit). Its also good to have the ability to move a row to another circuit if you do run into issues as we have done in the past because of some gamer with a power hungry rig.

While all this is happening there are the smiling admins at the desk collecting your money and enabling you onto the MonsterLAN network via our custom DHCP server (aka LAN NAZI). This allows us to do a few things as well as restrict the network to only those who have paid. Our LAN NAZI system also lets us know how many people we have at the event, if any of them have a network bound virus like blaster (not so much an issue nowadays) and if they are attempting to disrupt our network. We can also quickly kick these people off the network to ensure the event runs as fault free as possible.

Once everyone is settled its normally time for the first competition and this is where your preparation comes into play. If you have put a lot of time into setting up and testing your game servers then starting them up should be simple and you can concentrate on the painful part of getting gamers into the correct teams, servers and on time to start each round. This is where I wish we could wire up all the seats with some sort of electric shock device as it seems no matter how much yelling over the PA or slapping of gamers heads there will always be some people in the wrong server, wrong team or totally missing because they went to KFC just as the tournament was starting. This is where most of the time will be spent in the tournaments and not having your servers ready to rock at the click of a button just means it will take twice as long to run a tournament.

Its also good to try to limit the amount of time a tournament goes for as people will get bored if they aren't into that game or get knocked out in the first round. If your tournament takes 3-4 hours and your not just a Counter-Strike Source Gaming LAN then you need to find a way to shorten it so other tournaments can be played to keep things fun for everyone, not just the CSS players. Finding the balance is the hard part but talking to your community about these things helps keep everyone happy, ok so almost everyone. Shortening things like round times, score limits & map times helps keep the tournament to a respectable timeframe. At MonsterLAN we aim for around 2hrs for each tournament with the expectation that noobs could blow this out to 3hrs at the most.

While the tournaments are running don't forget that not everyone will be in that tournament or wont be in it till the end so be sure to run some public servers to keep them entertained and to practise during round byes. We have also found that having some consoles hooked up to a big screen helps in this area & gives the gamers a reason to socialise a little away from their PC's. They are also great just for the spectacle part of gaming as having a crowd around you oohh'ing and aarrhhh'ing as you hit the notes in Guitar Hero really gets the fun factor into gaming and helps create a great vibe for the event. At the larger events we have even hired an arcade machine like sega rally to help give gamers something else to do that's a little more social. Remember they can sit at home and play games without all the pain of packing up their PC's so you have to make it worthwhile to rock up to your event for something they can't easily do at home.

By now the event should be kicking along nicely and now its time to organise the pizza run and ensuring everyone has ordered & paid for their dinner. We use a pizza ordering system on the Intranet as in the past we have had gamers forget what they ordered, said they have paid when they haven't or just totally forgot they ordered pizza and got food elsewhere.

Next up is the major prize giveaways and at MonsterLAN this normally means someone is going to look like an idiot and most of the time its me, even when I don't mean it. We have tried lots of different ways to giveaway prizes from gameshows to paper plane making and even piggy back races (which ended in carnage for the admins). Its silly things like this that make an otherwise boring event have a spectacle part to it where everyone stops to watch & win something, or throw ML balls back at me. It might seem lame to some but we have gotten some of our best feedback from the silly non-gaming related things we have done, plus us admins enjoy it most of the time. We have even done things like "Lupin's Loons" movies of funny pics put to music to enjoy over dinner, the ML movies I have done of previous events and just the random youtube videos put on the projector at various times to keep the event fun for everyone.

As the event goes on the other tournaments are run, random "Big Organised Games" are run to fill in the downtime between the tournaments, more prizes are given away in crazy ways the admins just thought of and the gamers start to settle into the event. One thing that can happen if your not on the ball is your event starts to slowly die and doing the random things like prize giveaways or funny videos on the projector help keep the events great vibe going into the weeeee hours.

Its about now that the admins adrenalin is all pumped out and we need to let some grab some sleep as we still have to pack the event up at the end. The graveyard shift is hard to do as your already tired but you don't want the event to die a boring death. So having a few things planned for the early hours always helps as we have even run dodgeball at these times to give everyone a kick to get them through till the morning.

One thing I haven't touched on yet is keeping your admin crew happy throughout the event. If they aren't happy then the events vibe will die quickly as the gamers wont have fun with grumpy admins. Doing things like feeding them & making sure that all of your admins get a chance to game helps keep a big fat smile on their face so that they will be having as much fun running the event as your gamers do attending it.

After the last gamer has fragged his last frag and left its time to packup & some tired admin discussion about the event.

Part 3 will be on the aftermath of the event. Stay tuned.