Introducing...


Respawn LAN is back with yet another fun-filled weekend of solid gaming. Watch this space for announcements throughout this week... this will be our biggest event yet!

For the first time ever, we've booked both the main hall and the smaller venue to bring you the AusHalo Melbourne event with a $3500 prize pool for console gamers. This event will be run seperate to Respawn so registration will be via AusHalo's forums. More detail in an upcoming newspost!

Brief details include:

Competitions!

• Counter-Strike: Source 5v5
• Call Of Duty 4 5v5
• Team Fortress 2: 6v6
• GRiD
• Flatout 2
• HAWX
• Quake III Arena duel
• Armagetron
• CS:S GUNGAME
• Regular fun competitions!

And other fun activitues such as: watch the admins destroy a Macintosh!

We've already opened registrations and we're full but don't fret, just make sure you confirm early and you still stand a chance!

can't wait

Yay v16 wow... cant wait man epic shiz

i sure wish i could pay entry online.

its so stupid that i cant pay for the event using paypal or something

Yeah cuz I know that I want my fee going to pay for paypal fees....

whats so hard about paying on the day?

takes ages to get in! xD
that's the only benefit i can think of aside from the people who come later than 2pm...
would it be feasible to have registration start earlier and then doors opening at 10am?

I would say no, it wouldn't. I suggest if the wait annoys you, feel free to camp out over night. You'll be first in line.

online payments means that people could be bothered to turn up. the paypal fee is insignificant compared to the money lost from no shows.

cost of 500 people paying via paypal = $500

cost of 50 people not showing up = $1500

there is no way the event can get bigger without paying before hand.

Lans I went to a while ago had a pre-pay option, but I'm sure they've already thought this through.

Just saw the post above me^

Alot of people don't have access to paypal and debit cards such as <18 lanners. Still a good idea.

It would be a good idea but it wouldn't really speed things up (short of sending out the lanyards which would be be costly in itself)

I mean when we get in we hand over the money and they just tick us off and boom we get a lanyard and go. If they didn't send out the lanyards then we'd have to show ID / transaction ids or something when we rock up which would probably take longer then just handing over cash.

Still a cool idea if they did send out, could make the online price like $31 to cover sending out the lanyards, then once the doors are open we can just walk straight in

we are currently looking at improving the way we work on this part of the LAN, including pre-pay options and barcodes.

thanks guys

yeh and what happens if somthing comes up u lose money atleast if u pay when u get there its easier

at fragfest we have 90% of people paying online (~100 attending), of which only 4 or so dont show up - but as you would expect there is no refunds for no shows [1]. we also charge $10 more for payment at the door and we do transfer payments to future events if you contact us prior to the event.

40% of our attendance is under 18. paypal allows direct debit payments in addition to credit card, and we also allow arbitrary group payments. so people just register, then anyone with a paypal account can select 1 or more registered people and pay for them. group payments also reduce the transaction fee.

we have alienated a few people, but have improved from a 20% no show to generally having more people turn up than register. so i would propose that with 700 people registered, if you alienate 10% of people the resultant 630 registrations still the venue, but you will have substantially reduced the risk and will be preparing people for a larger event where admins cant afford to fork out cash to cover deposits etc.

regular cash flow allows us to use the lans money to pay for things rather than risking our own personal incomes. this helps keep the LAN sustainable. the uber LAN's in europe and england all sell tickets and sell out weeks and months before hand.

changing from at the door to online payments is a slow culture shift, but people are used to paying for events when they register. at the end of the day, people dont lose out if they register and dont bother showing up - but lan admins do and other people miss out. but if people pay, they DO lose out if they dont show up.

were looking into having people print tickets with barcodes for express entry, but with the resultant minimal cash handing we already have (and ushering paid people to the front of the queue) we can process about 80 people in 20 minutes with just 2 people ticking off names.

just my 2c.

[1] no refunds if you buy a movie ticket, or a concert ticket and dont show up.

Just to clarify:


We are very much aware of what, how and why online/pre-pay ticketing works and how it will benefit us.

We have our reasons for not having implemented it yet.

When we do implement it, and yes, it will almost certainly happen at some point in the future, we will let you know (obviously).

to clarify my suggestion of having rego start early:
i meant that instead of the table being inside the LAN area, it be in the foyer area at like 9:30am and people could pay and get their lanyards and stuff before the doors opened.
and then they could go grab their computers and come back and just take in their computers when doors opened at 10am. This would just make it quicker for most people to setup and start lanning! ^^

security is a concern though, so not sure if that's a problem or not.

but yesh, online payment would be awesome to reduce the no-shows. if they paid and don't show up, then it's their own fault. sending out lanyards wouldn't be a good idea though methinks. lot of manual processing, and then you get ppls trying to screw the system, or just plain forgot to bring their lanyard on the day. easier to just pickup. ^^

meh, how it is now is fine. just want to start lanning sooner. ^^

are people with exact change ushered to the front? thats a pretty simple way to speed up rego.
also i recommend a policy of no tech support in the first hour, all staff should be focused on people getting in the door. this helps to reduce the occurrences of when there is a line of 200 people, and the 4th person in the door asks the staff on rego to help them with their dhcp settings (sure why not hold up 200 people?)

what would be really neat would taking a page out of macdonalds book and have some people roaming the line with a PDA taking rego. even if they were just taking exact change, things would still move more quickly.

another 2c

i don't think all staff should be doing rego. 2 or 3 is enough, otherwise there'd be too many people trying to get a tag from the box.
but those ppls on rego shouldn't be asked to do anything else till the line is smaller. There are plenty of other admins around who can help. usually...

I think if there's a power or network issue, they need to be sorted out pretty soon as well. it's not just about rego. *nods*

how the hell are we going to power 2 halls ? 1 at 500 is hard enough

With SCIENCE!

Can i kick this guy next time i see him ?

You can try.

Different event, let them do their own

yey will u stand still ?

lol but seriously , point im tryin to make is that there is no more physical 3 phase power ports left and the main board is at / near capacity nice if ltu would upgrade there power. but cost outweighs profit

I believe the AusHalo folks have organised for a generator or something along those lines.

-Tank

this lan should be win

ruh roh, /me runs and hides from MiniWalks.

The Pay early before the doors open scheme is stupid, why would you all line up to pay, then go back outside and wait 30 minutes for it to open, it is exactly the same as opening at 10am, with an extra step, most people dont hold up the line with their computers, as they get their tickets and go back outside and grab their comps.

um... u just explained why getting ur rego before doors opened would be useful. and to get rego, u'd have to pay. -.- and it's not a stupid idea. you just haven't thought about it enough. It might need changes or not be possible at all, but it's far from stupid.

Anyways, for those who dun understand the reasoning behind the advantages of being able to pay early:
1. Open Registration at 9:30am
2. Players can register/pay and get their passes before doors opened (means no lugging hardware/bags through line)
3. Regged players can return to their cars and unload stuff and head back to door, with aforementioned stuff, before they opened and head straight in to start setting up at 10am.
4. Doors open, and lots of people can start setting up straight away.
5. Registration continues while 30mins worth of people can set up simultaneously.
6. ???
7. Profit ($$$)

anyway, the benefit of this would be that you'd be able to process 30mins worth of people before doors opened so everyone can start LANning earlier. There's 500 people at Respawn, and not all of them can be processed immediately once rego opens. If you process 100 people before doors open, that's 100 fewer people in the line and already setting up.

Disadvantages:
1. Gotta watch out for stampeding lanners trying to get the best spot once doors opened. This may cause damage to PCs, Equipment and/or people.
2. People complaining because they don't understanding the difference between "registration" and "doors open"
3. Resource drain from main hall
4. Security concerns
5. Others that I haven't thought of (quite likely).

All that for an extra 30 mins of sitting behind your PC doing crap all...
Really not worth it. You have ~30 hours over the weekend to do what you want to do at the LAN,. An extra half an hour isn't going to make all that much difference.

System is fine how it is.

simple. at 9:30. let 20 people through the first set of doors at a time to pay and get their tag. meanwhile you only need like 5 admins. 1-2 for taking zeh moneee, and like 3 to watch the people (armed with the latest in nerf guns technology of course).
once you open the doors, force lanners to line up a bit more proper. one line for non-payers, another for people who have tags already, piece-o-piss

and i dont say this so i get "half an hour extra to do nothing" its cuz it shits me carrying my monitor in the que so i have something to put down when get in to get a spot i like.

Why dont you just get your ticket at 10am when they open and then go back to the hall after you get your equipment? like people before me have said, its probably going to to be 30 mins of doing nothing because not that mant people are on dc++ or are ready to play games yet.

Or be like me and bring a suitcase Fit everything into something that has wheels

because at 10am, you'll be at the end of a rather long line that takes about an hour to get through. and people sometimes prefer to sit in certain areas.

The point of the idea is to get people set up faster!

Doing anything at 9:30 is the same thing as opening at 9:30. If people still knew about it, the queue would be just as long at 9:30 as it is now at 10.

Best thing to do is to bring something luggable in line, and then reserve your spot after you pay for your ticket.

My luggable is a hapless mate or two.

Zardoz, make up your mind. Is it $2000 or $3500 in the prize pool?

Patryn, drunkeez and whoever else.. 9:30am would become the new 10am. Simple as that.

I'm also interested to know if the people that have suggested electronic fund transfers have experience in submitting BAS statements or generally organising the accounting side of non-profit organisations let alone a LAN itself. I would guess none bar the unlucky respawn admins, myself and djzort.

What you've got to understand is it opens a whole heap of issues that currently do not exist and I would bet that there is a distinct lack of experienced volunteers in the respawn ranks willing to take on that burden.

Anyway, V16 FTW. See you all there.

If we start getting more and more complex, financially, i'm going to have to go take an accounting course hahah!

Rest assured we are always working on making the event better, in every single aspect! This does include our check-in situation and over the next lan or so there will be vast improvements (SOOOO exciting :3)

Is anyone getting psyched for the event yet? i sure am! wooo!


hugs all round

tank

PROTIP: Have the correct change in the least amount of bills possible ready before you get there so you can breeze through check-in.
Nothing shits me more than when waiting in line at a supermarket checkout and the douche in front of you waits until they're told how much their crap is BEFORE they even get their wallet out. Have your shit ready, people!

AGREED!

have your correct money in your hand! (1 x $10 + 1 x $20. or a $50. actually whatever change you have ,if it's correct or easily changed = better) don't have it in your wallet in your back pocket.... like i'm going to forget to ask you to pay. HAVE YOUR MONEY READY!

OHOH

KNOW HOW TO SPELL YOUR NICK DANGIT! print it out / write it down if it's anything more complex than 'tank' or such. seriously, these two things alone = saving buckets of time.

hugs

tank

just wish it would happen already

just found out im rostered for work next weekend.. fml..
have to try ninja the corner tip of the table in the evening. noooooeeessssssssss..
what ya reckon of the likelyhood of free spots by around 6-7pm

prolly lowish. if you made that 11pm, then there'd prolly be a few spots. even more the later it is. I think some ppls start packing up at 10pm or something! crazy!

Give money to a friend, get them to pay for your entry, and they are able to reserve you a spot for the entire LAN.

See The Jumbo Q&A Thead for more information.