This poll is to gauge how to best improve handling of things outside the larger competitions, to make V17 more fun for you guys

If there is something that I haven't mentioned, or a poll option missing, reply and let us know.

Your feedback is much appreciated

I really liked the idea of the Diablo 2 - Highest level in 60 minutes.
I didn't have the game isntalled so I didn't get a chance to enter, and to be honest, I never actually found out if it went ahead.. but it's a game everyone has played before and could make for an interesting comp.
From where I sat (in the side room, right near the back) we couldn't really hear announcements, so I was relying heavily on the notifier for competition information, but never really got anything useful, instead I was just asking my team mates, who were sitting closer to the speaker, what was happening with our comp.. The notifier is great, but it just doesn't get used enough.
Well.. I've said my bit Looking forward to V17!

More RTS Comps. I was really looking forward to playing Starcraft but it got to 5am and I couldn't stay awake for it. I woke up just as the winner was being announced

In relation to having Diablo 2 exp. there is a mod for diablo 2 exp called medianXL that brings a whole bunch of new stuff to the game. It might be an idea to try getting a game of this going? it should be compatible with pvpgn and it is very easy to install (just copy a .patch file to the d2 dir), i dont know how easy it would be to orginise but i think it would be well worth it.
If you enjoyed D2 but you are abit bored with the game now you should try MedianXL, its awesome.
http://modsbylaz.hugelaser.com/

Imo at V17 you guys need to be more firm with your times.

I am unsure why competitions get delayed etc, but if it's because teams come up to you and say "Oh one of our players will be back in 15 mins" or something like that, and you allow them that extra 15, that's probably why.

If you have a time set in stone, firm & unmovable, it allows people to work their schedule around that, instead of expecting a competition to start at 4, it hits 5:00 then you get hungry and go to Macca's and return halfway through the competition

Also, if you have a set time and someone asks you to wait for one of their players to get back from Macca's or something, just say bad luck you knew what time it started, play without him or forfeit.

MORE GG PLZ K 8D

Nah, but really, I honestly don't see much point in RTS at a LAN. But then again, I'm pro-FPS, so I guess I'm being bias in that argument.

Apart from that, I would also like to see more Funcomps, since they always bring more casuals out to play (since they're all leeching mostly), it's just we need to have a firmer grasp on timetables. Like, I wanted to play in the girl's comp, but it was pushed back so many times that I kinda gave up on it.

Agreed with seekz. It's pretty annoying, too.

I know ;-;

we were meant t go at midnight, then we were going after tf2, then it all went horrible, then bleh

next time i was thinking we could go after dinner, no matter what

This one is top fo my list.

un related to the pol but i;d love to see the full stage back, kick the gophers and VIPS out of th eadmin area and have it JUST for admins again, se tup the gopher table outside the admin area liek you used to and have the prize presentations something fancy again Make people WANT to win more!

I think respawn needs 2 things:
1) Coffee machine I'm going to complain about this until I get coffee! Energy drinks are great, but saturday night was really cold, i'm still trying to figure out why all the doors and windows stayed open until 8AM.. that really didn't make sense to me..

2) More chat options. The DC++ chat is ridiculous. I admit that it's entertaining, and when I get tired I just join in on the random conversations that happen. There does need to be a chat that is set aside purely for gaming purposes. Most people looking to set up a server for particular games get ignore or spammed out of screen before anyone gets a chance to reply. I think a gaming chat would help boost the amout of games being played and everyone would have a lot more fun.

Are u referring to RT chat, similar to wot DC++ offered, or more post based, like on here?

I'm pretty certain there are some great RT chat modules available on the net. Shouldn't b too hard to set up multiple "rooms" for different discussions.

I know IRC is still around, but not everyone knows about it. Maybe more advertisement of chat options is needed on the overhead projectors.

I'll have a look around, even if to satisfy my own curiousity.

--Shub0xx

IRC is perfect.

We have a java applet that runs in the browser and will automatically connect to a network and a channel. Running an IRC server is trivial.

I'mma put this on the list for next event.

Sounds like a winner. If people r more than happy to use DC++ chat module, then using IRC is easy as. Different channels for different chat topics, and I think that would help with notifications as well. Global messages to all channels about an event starting at xx:xx time etc.

Just wanted to put something out there, way different to what we have been discussing so far.

With v17 being in July, I can imagine it is going to be wet, windy and cold. So, with that in mind, I can see 2 options in regards to check-in. I'm sure there are other options, as well as things being worked on by the admin teams, but I thought I'd throw this out there.

1. Keep the existing check-in as it stands, with the exception that when they 1st come in, they get reservation signs 2 put where they want to sit, and then retrieve their gear from the car, limiting the chances of getting it too wet.

Or,

2. Deploy some sort of marquee system, that extends from the front of the building all the way up to the top of the hill.

While both options would work, I think the 1st option would help to reduce the number or cars at the front of the hall, and keep latrobe security happy.

--Shub0xx

More UT. Lots more UT. LOTS.

That is all.

As I talked about in the other thread, some sort of integrated chat/game list system.
And also yeh comps need to start on time, people realise admins are too nice atm I think and abuse that fact. WE should have to work around the admins, not the other way around. It ends up affecting everyone unfairly when you wait for a comp, it doesn't happen, you wait some more, decide fk it, then you end up getting screwed over cos you were somewhere else/doing something else cbf by teh time the comp started. I think if you take a hard line on it (given the announcements are made clearly and with time to prepare), people will start being more punctual.

DC++ can actually be helpful if people are posting their servers/where the action is at.

I usually jump on GTA4 with other users and we have a blast for like 2/3hours but nobody was interested this LAN/nobody has the steam version/I wasn't at my computer a lot of the time.

More fun comps and spamming/advertising them whatever chat we use is a good idea, maybe even someone suggesting a good open source game and organising a game for it. Problem is some people don't even know about epic games like flat out 2. Crap, I didn't even know about it till I went to respawn and a friend said to enter the comp!

IRC would be good - just make sure there is a fully configured, half arsed client on the FTP! IRC always shits me when it comes to setting it up, hence I don't really ever bother with it.

More UT would be nice. Also how about an approximate/proposed date for V17? I read July somewhere... would it be during the school holidays? And will there be more UT?

As a services operator on another network. I know bringing an IRCd online for the event would be far from hard and very low drain on resources. Because IRC uses barely bugger all traffic.

First weekend of July.

3rd/4th?? I really hope so, because i'm busy the weekend after that...

so are we, headed to adelaide for another LAN

It will certainly be a nice break from the stresses involved with studying and partaking in mid year exams.

i also agree with seekz. this "chick comp" that was suppose to happen....never even happened. was quite disappointed.

I was dissapointed to. we were waiting for tf2 to finish, then tf2 was maorly delayed, then some personal issues occured which mean i had to leave

+1 Not a huge fan of energy drinks, but when the sun was coming in, a couple of short blacks would have perked me right up, Maybe one of those mobile coffee vans say between 7am and 9am.

we tried that once... like 8 people (out of ~450) bought coffee

Umm I have a gas burner and an espresso jug and a small machine. I could knock out some pick me ups if it's just a few!

Fixed.

Those in charge of the microphone need to learn how to speak into a microphone.

7 out of 10 times whatever was said was distorted to the point where it was barely distingishable from the background noise.

Everything else I took part in was pretty good, did see some minor issues that need to be taken up directly with Zardoz.

Coffee would have been a top choice if Pings was open although a Maccas Run fixed that.

Next Time I do a High Powered Macca's Run for the admins I am dragging one of them with me

Heroes of Newerth

(being released with LAN support in a few months)

lookout for it, I'm expecting a major comp

That's always been difficult. The mic's they use are decent quality but they have to reject the crapton of background noise in the hall while still getting decent levels on the person speaking. As a result they have to play silly buggers with the gain and working out the exact volume and pace to speak at (particularly when you can't actually hear the announcement yourself) is more an art than a science.

The only two ways of dealing with this that I can see are moving the mic to the back rooms with a gain meter visible there, and using the notifier instead.

I'll think about bringing an espresso machine to the next event.

I did have a Quake 3 server running (there was a few in it from memory, not alot though), Do remember if you want a server of any kinda please come up front and ask squid/deadman or ask one of them me and i'll happily stick one up for you (assuming i have the linux binaries for it)

It doesn't have to be us that puts a server up. You are more than welcome to run your own.

That is true, just a friendly reminder if they don't want host them selfs they can nicely ask an admin to stick one up for them to play on..

i was keen for fastest diablo 2 level in 60 mins, would have been fun to see, but doesnt seem like it ever happened unfortunately

as for what i want to see, well i wouldnt mind said comp going ahead

as for new comps i can only hope hon gets lan soon

i wouldn't mind if u made the quake 3 comp a free for all type instead 1V1 or bring quake 4 into the miss maybe and how about some commander and conquerer comps

R4N and myself would love a CnC comp. The problem is, you get two half smart players and the game can drag on for 8 hours without even trying. Thus making it not very feasable.

While that's entirely true for Generals, the design of CnC 3 and 4 mean these games have a practical match length limit of not much more than an hour, and in competitive play it would be even lower. In CnC3 once the tiberium runs out on a map (it regenerates extremely slowly) the match is pretty much destined to be decided by the remaining units in play, resulting in the game being called fairly quickly. Generals does not have this economic depletion, so players' economies and unit counts can just keep growing and growing.

There is absolutely no reason we couldn't have a CnC3 comp except for simple lack of interest and the fact that the game is cumbersome and slow to install, and the match structure can be complex for tournaments. CnC4 does not feature LAN play.

have dc blackout times take away the leech at certain times try and get people a bit more involved

the prob with cnc is netcode

If i run a kanes wrath 3v3, i can almost GUARANTEE one game in three will drop out before the game ends.
This would make the comp last forever essentially

RA3 is far more stable, but no one seems to play it anymore

and don't even get me started on CNC4, the day that crap pile becomes a comp is the day i set fire to my own eyebrows.

Policed how?

Any form of port based limiting will affect game performance.
We dont have enough gophers to check everyones PC
and shutting down one DChub will only spawn several more.

i dont know how much policing would be required i mean ppl are always goin to leech but when ya take down a main dc hub it would at least reduce it. Its not goin to stop it but it at least might get a few more ppl gaming

Or a lot more people leaving...

I know if there were scheduled downtimes someone big would just put a dchub and say screw it to the main one. Why does everyone want people playing games? It would encourage more crap in the games as well, I know if I got kicked off DC when I didn't want to I'd probably just join the game and just screw up my own team, sabotage whatever I can till DC comes back on. Bit of fun when I can't leech

its a gaming lan the idea is for ppl to play games there is nothing wrong with leeching but goin to a lan just to leech i think takes away from the lan

Relevant

but what if we were getting things by leaching that weren't illegal like fan made movies or free games

Which is fine, and another reason why it is hard to police file sharing.
Alot of it is legitimate trading of patches etc...