![shaftwhores only by [EXE]dann](/files/avatars/2007/51852-shaftwhore.gif "shaftwhores only by [EXE]dann"){kind=small}
Indeed, it has been a funny old week. Two weeks on from Dallas and Quakecon, I attend a lan purely for fun and no work involved. Yes, thats right, the evervescent insomnia lan in Newbury, UK. i25 this time round and with it a chance to catch up with some good friends and maybe play a few more games than I would normally get to play at a typical event these days. Not that im complaining, its just nice to go to an event to participate for a change.
i25 had a good feel to it, the bank holiday LAN's always do it seems. Plenty of the usual beer, games, beer, more beer and of course curry. For anyone that has never attended these lans, let me set the scene. 1000-1200 players every event, held in a grandstand of a horse racing track over 3 floors. Plenty of indoor and outdoor sleeping areas (for those brave enough with the tents) and a healthy spattering of showers and wash areas. Add in a few food type kiosks and a few exhibitors (we had the frag dolls attend with ubisoft this time) and the very popular guys from kustompc.com with a shop area and you have a great venue. Furthermore, you get helpful staff, excellent security for your pride and joy and all the finals on three large screens in the bar area on finals day. Oh, did I mention they tend to give away some mega prizes via the raffle as well, £1000 PC's, motherboards, leather jackets, keyboards etc. There is also the domino's pizza ordering service which delivers straight to your desk as well.
So there we are, thats how its setup, but really thats not even half the story of this well run and organised event. The real deal comes with the sections and admins that run the tourneys and generally make sure everyone has something to play nearly all the time. For me, that section was the UT section and has been now for over 2 and a half years of attendance. Heres just a snippet of the kind of games I personally played while at the event this weekend. UT CTF 4way Excessive, UT2004 iCTF 2v2, UT2004 BR, CTF, TDM, TAM, minigun instagib (!!!!!!), Quake3, CS:S, Revolt (car racing), Unwheel and BF2. Just because I was sat in the UT section doesnt mean i cant just jump onto one of the sub 10ms servers setup for CS:S for instance. You can play what you want, when you want, but theres something mighty fun about organised play sessions with 20 other guys from the same section that means you get a hell of a lot of fun.
Don't mistake this LAN as something "un-pro" either, sure it doesnt have a major $100,000 tourney or such like, but that doesnt stop the pro players turning up either. There were many attending this time too, including a few of the PK guys (warming up for CPL this coming weekend), Zaccubus, Stermy, Forrest, pbx, Garpy and AphexTwin to name but a few. The final of the 2v2 iCTF for instance was between myself (partnered by the very excellent Lucifax) against Zacc and Garpy. A fun match on a very silly map (sorry Limited but it is!) in a final of a tournament, won by myself and Lucifax for a little over 100 euros in prize money. Big deal you might think, but it was hottly contested and included a lot of very good players. The point though, is that it was fun above all else.
Several other tourneys were arranged too, one including TAM which culminated in a final between an odd ball of players without a clan (called SMB) and divine clan. SMB coming out the winners, proving that you dont even need to attend as a clan to win these things. We had the three screens up in the bar area and commentry from yours truely, although it was somewhat light hearted and fueled by beer :)
The highlight for me was the UT v CS section match though, where each section would pick 10 players to battle in CS:S and then in UT against the other section. Predictably the UT boys got a whiping in CS:S (although a score of 23-7 wasnt that bad for a bunch of noobs). Likewise the CS guys got royally owned in the UT game. CTF and Citadel proving too much for the CS players, going down 38-0 with Xilly from DOA completing more flag runs than I can remember and a score of well over 400... UT 1 CS 0.
What else made this lan and those before it so great? I cant really place my finger on it entirely, you'll just have to get along to one of them to see for yourself.
Although I would say, a lot of what goes on is to do with the people in the UT section too. I picked up pbx before we left for the lan and he was an "insomnia virgin" who seemed to genuinely enjoy himself (even if he didnt drink nearly enough beer!). Nicky also attended for a day (aka Levi\\240) but sadly only as a spectator. She also had a screaming headache all day long, which didnt aid her enjoyment, but even then she still seemed to enjoy being there. I also picked up Rogue on Saturday who attended in a likewise fashion, spectator mode only for him. Of all the people though, the maddest is Meshed from DOA (aka SHEDBOY, aka maker of the funniest UT movie ever (SUP MOVIE for those who wanna grab it from the web)). He brings a sense of fun to the whole UT area, forver getting up to mischief (i.e. tampering with my PC and making it use all the accesability options like magnifier on boot (GIT!)). Plenty of other high jinks goes on here too, removing Limiteds monitor leads, making silly home movies in the car park, lighting cigarettes with a camping gas stove, playing a "LEEEEEEROY JENKINS" as an alarm on the mobile far too early in the morning, waking everyone up... its all good for a laugh :)
Every one of these lan events has a theme too, i21 was famous for the Astz is a cock movie (he claimed his mouse had been stolen and it was in his bag the whole time...) and i25 was no exception. "doing a leroy" became the theme. Whenever we were camped up in in the cs:s match against the CS players, someone would invariably shout out "ok, lets do this, LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROY...." etc. and then run in and get owned with the first shot. Well, it made us laugh anyway.
Id like to thank the guys at Multiplay for another great weekend of fun and beer and also to the guys in the UT section for sharing so many laughs and games. It is events like this that truelly remind me why I love gaming.
i25 had a good feel to it, the bank holiday LAN's always do it seems. Plenty of the usual beer, games, beer, more beer and of course curry. For anyone that has never attended these lans, let me set the scene. 1000-1200 players every event, held in a grandstand of a horse racing track over 3 floors. Plenty of indoor and outdoor sleeping areas (for those brave enough with the tents) and a healthy spattering of showers and wash areas. Add in a few food type kiosks and a few exhibitors (we had the frag dolls attend with ubisoft this time) and the very popular guys from kustompc.com with a shop area and you have a great venue. Furthermore, you get helpful staff, excellent security for your pride and joy and all the finals on three large screens in the bar area on finals day. Oh, did I mention they tend to give away some mega prizes via the raffle as well, £1000 PC's, motherboards, leather jackets, keyboards etc. There is also the domino's pizza ordering service which delivers straight to your desk as well.
So there we are, thats how its setup, but really thats not even half the story of this well run and organised event. The real deal comes with the sections and admins that run the tourneys and generally make sure everyone has something to play nearly all the time. For me, that section was the UT section and has been now for over 2 and a half years of attendance. Heres just a snippet of the kind of games I personally played while at the event this weekend. UT CTF 4way Excessive, UT2004 iCTF 2v2, UT2004 BR, CTF, TDM, TAM, minigun instagib (!!!!!!), Quake3, CS:S, Revolt (car racing), Unwheel and BF2. Just because I was sat in the UT section doesnt mean i cant just jump onto one of the sub 10ms servers setup for CS:S for instance. You can play what you want, when you want, but theres something mighty fun about organised play sessions with 20 other guys from the same section that means you get a hell of a lot of fun.
Don't mistake this LAN as something "un-pro" either, sure it doesnt have a major $100,000 tourney or such like, but that doesnt stop the pro players turning up either. There were many attending this time too, including a few of the PK guys (warming up for CPL this coming weekend), Zaccubus, Stermy, Forrest, pbx, Garpy and AphexTwin to name but a few. The final of the 2v2 iCTF for instance was between myself (partnered by the very excellent Lucifax) against Zacc and Garpy. A fun match on a very silly map (sorry Limited but it is!) in a final of a tournament, won by myself and Lucifax for a little over 100 euros in prize money. Big deal you might think, but it was hottly contested and included a lot of very good players. The point though, is that it was fun above all else.
Several other tourneys were arranged too, one including TAM which culminated in a final between an odd ball of players without a clan (called SMB) and divine clan. SMB coming out the winners, proving that you dont even need to attend as a clan to win these things. We had the three screens up in the bar area and commentry from yours truely, although it was somewhat light hearted and fueled by beer :)
The highlight for me was the UT v CS section match though, where each section would pick 10 players to battle in CS:S and then in UT against the other section. Predictably the UT boys got a whiping in CS:S (although a score of 23-7 wasnt that bad for a bunch of noobs). Likewise the CS guys got royally owned in the UT game. CTF and Citadel proving too much for the CS players, going down 38-0 with Xilly from DOA completing more flag runs than I can remember and a score of well over 400... UT 1 CS 0.
What else made this lan and those before it so great? I cant really place my finger on it entirely, you'll just have to get along to one of them to see for yourself.
Although I would say, a lot of what goes on is to do with the people in the UT section too. I picked up pbx before we left for the lan and he was an "insomnia virgin" who seemed to genuinely enjoy himself (even if he didnt drink nearly enough beer!). Nicky also attended for a day (aka Levi\\240) but sadly only as a spectator. She also had a screaming headache all day long, which didnt aid her enjoyment, but even then she still seemed to enjoy being there. I also picked up Rogue on Saturday who attended in a likewise fashion, spectator mode only for him. Of all the people though, the maddest is Meshed from DOA (aka SHEDBOY, aka maker of the funniest UT movie ever (SUP MOVIE for those who wanna grab it from the web)). He brings a sense of fun to the whole UT area, forver getting up to mischief (i.e. tampering with my PC and making it use all the accesability options like magnifier on boot (GIT!)). Plenty of other high jinks goes on here too, removing Limiteds monitor leads, making silly home movies in the car park, lighting cigarettes with a camping gas stove, playing a "LEEEEEEROY JENKINS" as an alarm on the mobile far too early in the morning, waking everyone up... its all good for a laugh :)
Every one of these lan events has a theme too, i21 was famous for the Astz is a cock movie (he claimed his mouse had been stolen and it was in his bag the whole time...) and i25 was no exception. "doing a leroy" became the theme. Whenever we were camped up in in the cs:s match against the CS players, someone would invariably shout out "ok, lets do this, LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEROY...." etc. and then run in and get owned with the first shot. Well, it made us laugh anyway.
Id like to thank the guys at Multiplay for another great weekend of fun and beer and also to the guys in the UT section for sharing so many laughs and games. It is events like this that truelly remind me why I love gaming.
Edited by iTG`ReDeYe at 01:16 GMT, 30th Aug 2005 - 15594 Hits
jaffeh
