Any tips for running a small lan?

Loser777

1931 Posts

November 19 2010 05:35 GMT

If you aren't familiar with my previous blogs, my Club's first ranking tournament is on Monday the 22 (A Holiday for us).
I've got the basic logistics figured out: it's going to be at a friend's house, with a 16port switch at the heart of everything. I've arranged for food and drink as well as computers, and everything's pretty much set. Keep in mind that this is a pretty small tournament <16 people are going to be playing at any one time.

Do any organizers out there have tips/potential problems that could arise?

baller

527 Posts

November 19 2010 05:44 GMT

make sure game u play has LAN mode

Loser777

1931 Posts

November 19 2010 05:45 GMT

On November 19 2010 14:44 baller wrote:
make sure game u play has LAN mode

We're playing StarCraft 1 :D

deth

Australia1757 Posts

November 19 2010 05:48 GMT

baller wins again, your lan cannot go wrong now.

xmShake

United States1100 Posts

November 19 2010 05:49 GMT

Make sure you have enough power where you're going to put all the computers, have extras of EVERYTHING, especially ethernet cables. Extra power cord, mice, keyboards, monitors, computers are all good things to have extras of if you can. Make sure the tables you're going to put the monitors on are steady, and make sure you have adequate seating.

Buy a lot of food and drink, nerds get hungry, and tell everyone to wear deodorant to avoid that notorious nerd funk. Seriously, TELL THEM ALL TO WEAR DEODORANT. You're still probably going to experience nerd funk after an hour but at least you can minimize the impact this way. Also, make sure some suckers stay around to help you clean up, its a bitch trying to put back all those wires and shit.

For the tournament, it would be pretty advantageous to have a whiteboard with the brackets on it for easy keeping track but just use whatever you got at hand. A dedicated tv to brackets, a giant poster board, whatever, since inevitably you'll get all 16 people asking who theyre playing next, who one and what not. This way you can just point them to the board with a marker attached to it and let them do the hard stuff.

mizU

United States12125 Posts

November 19 2010 05:49 GMT

Make sure you have enough desks/chairs/tables for people.
Also make sure you have enough power strips.

voss

Australia146 Posts

November 19 2010 05:57 GMT

If the computers haven't been set up on that network before, then there's a 95% chance you will have problems, like random computers not being able to connect.

This is usually caused by stupid network config settings set up by the computer store where the owner got his comp from.

Space is usually an issue at people's houses - comfortable computer space is larger than you'd imagine, and dealing with cables can be a trouble. You said you've got the computers sorted out, so I assume people aren't bringing them, which means you're setting them up before the tournament starts. Give yourself loads of time for this.

Another good idea for sc2 tourneys is having watching space behind the players. Especially as the torunament gets closer to bigger matchers, people want to watch on. Keep this in mind when you're doing the layout.

Also, you've got baller's advice, so you will be in no trouble.

Other than that, just take care of the atmosphere: simple background things like music / airflow / food etc. You should be sweet.

Versita

Canada1032 Posts

November 19 2010 06:10 GMT

every event at a friend's house i've been to, there have been spills. try to get bottled drinks for individuals rather than 2L bottles that you pour into tiny styrofoam cups.

also: you're playing bw. make sure the computers have bw on them!!!

mmp

United States2130 Posts

November 19 2010 10:37 GMT

Don't expect people to remember to bring ethernet cables.

Try to keep refreshments away from computers.

NukeTheBunnys

United States1004 Posts

November 19 2010 17:15 GMT

#10

make sure the electricity is distributed over several different circuits. This frequently means running power from different rooms. When too many computers are on one circuit you will pull more power then the circuit breaker allows and poof, power is off.

MasterOfChaos

Germany2896 Posts

November 19 2010 19:06 GMT

#11

* Take some ethernet cables with you, people tend to forget those
* Get some multi-way connectors
* Figure out a way to distribute IPs and clearly communicate it. Either tell everybody to use DHCP or give anybody an IP when he arrives. Get some tool to monitor IPs so you find conflicts.
* If you're planning to play games not everybody has installed yet, prepare a way to distribute them. If you want do to it over the network make sure that it's one big file and not 10000 small ones, or it takes ages to copy. Or use an external HDD.
* Find a way to coordinate what games gets played and who hosts the game. Nothing more annoying than having to players fractured in many small groups.

@baller
The game doesn't need a LAN mode if you can set up a server

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