[SURVEY] Hosting a LAN/Comp

WarlordZim

WarlordZim

New member
Hey guys, I'd like to ask the GAMERS a few questions regarding lans and tournaments.

For some background. Myself and a few friends are in the process of gathering local sponsors and hosting a small-time lan that will hopefully bloom into a monthly event. We are currently in klerksdorp, but are maybe willing to change the venue to potch if the majority of the market demand lies there. I'm mostly going to ask some general questions, and would like you to answer truthfully, as this information could just lead to the next great thing that happened to a small town of gamers.

I'm going to start right at the basics. I'd like simply the answer in a list format, with a short sentence (if possible) describing your decision.
*What platform do you play on ? (eg PC, Xbox360)
*What is your favorite genre ? (eg. moba (that's the genre for dota), RTS, FPS)
*What is the most competitive genre (in your opinion) - in other words, which genre would you like to play at tournaments ?
*Which genre needs the most "skill" ? (this is entirely opinion based)
*Which games, of the above mentioned questions do you play the most, or would like featured in tournaments ?
*How many players are in a team/clan for the above mentioned games, and how do you think this would affect the prizes to be won (as a whole) ?
*What sort of prize would you like, and how do you think a person should go around arranging these prizes at sponsors ? (eg. Gfx card would be nice, get one for each member of the team please.)
*How far are you willing to travel for the above mentioned prizes, and where do you draw the line ? (eg. you're not going to drive from cpt to jhb to win a lousy 1gb flash stick - under normal circumstances)
*What sort of venue is acceptable ? (Eg. Would you like a sleeping place, would you like an on-site refreshments bar/kiosk. Do you like big halls, or do you like tight fit community halls?)
*How much are you willing to pay to attend the tournament, and any extra features mentioned above ?
*Would you attend a gaming LAN/Tournament event to have fun and to share your data ?
*Do you think that DC's should be allowed at these events ? If yes, do you think this DC should be put on another network as not to disturb the players ?
*How Frequently would you like an event to be hosted ? (Obviously, the structure of the even would be changed as not to deplete the sponsors resources)
*Is there anything you think that I left out, or would like to share any information that could benefit said LAN/tournament event ?
 
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So I'll start, just to get the ball going...


1. PC, The only console I own is a PSP. I can't play RTS/FPS games on console and find it quite frustrating trying to get headshots with an analog stick.

2. I mostly play RTS (it's my fav genre), but I also play FPS when I can.

3. FPS/RTS/Moba (go google moba guys).

4. I'd say FPS, because you need to be able to have map control, map awareness, have super fast reflexes, which you can then change into razor-sharp accuracy. Strategy is still involved, and it's a team game.

moba (like dota) has the same to a degree, where you need to know which spell to cast when, and how will it affect their team as well as yours. Many people mistake moba games for 1v1 games, but the fact remains that it's a team game and combo's within the team do better than picking the strongest carries in the game.

RTS: I like RTS because it's 1v1 (mostly), and thus demonstrates your strategic superiority as a person. This is where my signature's motto comes into play.

5. FPS: CSS/COD4. The thing is, that some area's are still very CSS dominant, but I personally think COD4 is a better game, and should be showcased at tournaments, but as tournaments don't revolve around one guy and his opinions, I need to find out how many people like COD4, and how many CSS, then make a decision.

moba: DotA. This is simply because everyone still has dota. I do believe that there's a majority of players who have converted to HoN, but then again, not everyone has it. So showcasing a game like hon at tournaments might become temperamental.

RTS: War3/SC2. War3, once again, is available for play by everyone, whilst sc2 needs a tournament license and tournament LAN edition, which includes a blizzard employee having to attend your tournament before you're allowed to play sc2 lan. If I were to host a sc2 tournament, I'd have to host it at some area where there's internet, and if there is none, I'd have to pay to install and hire internet for the month that the tournament is hosted in.

6. I don't know what the rules and regulations for most of the above mentioned games are. I only know that dota is still 5, and RTS games are usually only 1v1 or 2v2.

7. I personally would like more hard drive space, but I know there are people that won't attend a tournament if the prizes don't appeal to them. This is the problem.

8. Well, we have travelled as far as JHB to attend tournaments there, for some reasonable prizes I might add. But driving to CPT seems the more unlikely choice, unless - ofcourse - I can win one of those NAG dream machines :P.

9. Well, we have had places where people couldn't reach, we've had places where people couldn't move out of his seat without bumping into the guy behind him. I personally like going to a school hall or sports hall, since there is usually already toilet and refreshment facilities (:P), and you can, for instance, use the matric balcony for a sleeping area.

This type of venue starts to become impractical when you start having a larger base of players, and you'd have to start using university exam halls, etc.

10. This is usually the tough one, because you need to keep in mind that the tournament hosted usually has to cover all their expenses, then make enough money to provide prizes, and then comes the very little percentage of profit. I personally would start getting awry if the prize went above R70p/p, unless the prizes are really big, in which case I'd lift it to around R150p/p.

11. I do think that there are people who aren't competitive enough to attend the tournament, but would like to join as a LAN-buddy. In which case the price would be changed, to let's say, 1/2 price per person, just so that more of them would join. After a while, when the player-base has reached saturation, the price scheme would obviously change once again, but starting out small requires a few... sacrifices.

12. These things are horrible for networks, although I'm not a network technicion myself - I'd just usually create a "leachers network", and let all the data-hungry people go chill over in that corner. I think it's impractical to get 40ms on a lan network. Seriously.

13. We have thought maybe monthly, but then the prizes won't be as big as if, let's say, you hosted it quarterly on school holidays (in the same period that students still have their holidays). The price to attend will also vary accordingly.

14. I'd like to know if there are any of you people who are too lazy to type these things out, where then I'd have to go to some stupid survey monkey generator thingermagiker, just so that you don't have to type out a number and a few words.
This doesn't take much of your time, so I'd appreciate if you'd attend.

Also, I'd like to know about any gaming forums you use, where I could post this survey. As this is going to - in the long run - affect the South African gaming society as a whole.
 
Well here's my input, hope this helps

1.PC, And whatever console I can play

2.Strategy, FPS, Fighting

3.Strategy and FPS

4.All genre's need skill so I don't see the point of this question

5.Blizzards Games (Warcraft, Starcraft), and Call of duty games

6.Well, COD games are usually team games, so Round Robin Tournament style maybe?, And Blizzard games can also be both Team and Single

7.Prizes can be anything really, but the monetary value it has, obviously the better (You can go about it via meeting up with the various sponsors that would be interested in such an event (The bigger the event the more likely sponsors will want to sponsor you)) (Usually computer orientated companies or companies interested in the gaming-side of SA will want to sponsor such events)

8.The bigger the prize and the bigger the size of the competition the more likely I will go there for it.

9.A Big Clean Place, That Holds good parking, and Clean Working Toilets

10.About R50 - 300 dependent on size of lan, and prize (TBH I wouldn't go if there was no prize)

11.Yes to have Fun, No to sharing Data

12.No

13.Monthly or Yearly or every 3 months (Quarterly)
 
Reply

@iOverflow : thanks for posting.
I've had multiple people reply with fighting. Meaning Tekken or Street fighter, or the sorts. I'd like to know, if we do decide to host a console contest, would you be willing to bring your own custom controller, or will you be willing to play on the provided default controller. I haven't seen or heard of any console (tekken/Street Fighter) contests before, and it will obviously start to evolve as time goes on.

Next : I noticed you mentioned Blizzard games. This requires internet access - and will only start to look viable if there are more people attending, this will also mean that I might need to rent multiple internet lines, or the sorts - which will eventually increase the entry cost, but won't necessarily increase the value of the prize. Just keep this in mind ;-).
 
WarlordZim said:
@iOverflow : thanks for posting.
I've had multiple people reply with fighting. Meaning Tekken or Street fighter, or the sorts. I'd like to know, if we do decide to host a console contest, would you be willing to bring your own custom controller, or will you be willing to play on the provided default controller. I haven't seen or heard of any console (tekken/Street Fighter) contests before, and it will obviously start to evolve as time goes on.
Click to expand...

I would be willing to play with a provided default controller as long as it's clean (just mustn't be to oily) and working.
 
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