Previous TusLANs: the
history of the TusCon LANparty & Computer Gaming
TusLAN: the 2006 LAN Party
& Computer Gaming Room at TusCon33
WHAT: LAN party and computer gaming at a Science Fiction
Convention
WHEN: November
10-12, 2006
WHERE: the
Inn Suites Hotel in downtown
HOST:
TusCon, the 33rd annual SF
convention in
Updated November 26,
2006
The computer gaming at TusLAN
2006 generally went very well. Hardcastle Cards and Games sponsored the event
with 8 computers and Pelstar Computers provided 6 computers. We also had about
8 participants with their own gaming PCs.
Members of the [REC]king Crew clan provided several servers and a few
loaner gaming PCs, plus networking hardware as well as staffing for the
event. We mostly played Unreal
Tournament 2004 in several different modes, and Star Wars: Battlefront 2. Other games included Battlefield 2 and World
of Warcraft. Tournaments were held and
prizes given out. My personal thanks to:
Fodder, isurus, and Ziggy from [REC]king Crew, and REMF and Argon from [ARL].
The Copper Ballroom at the Inn Suites Hotel provided plenty of room and power
for all these computers. And we still
had room and power for more!
TusLAN: the 2005 LAN Party
& Computer Gaming Room at TusCon32
Updated December 31,
2005
We had great fun at
TusLAN2005. The move to the Copper
Ballroom (a new location for TusLAN this year) was very well received - sharing
the ballroom with the non-computer gaming was not a problem.
Here we are, having a great time LANning, and gaming!
We had plenty of room for YOUR computer
here!
TusLAN2004: the TusCon31
LANparty & Computer Gaming Room
Updated July 30, 2005
TusLAN2004 has come and
gone, and it was a great success, with 12 computers and two servers provided by
the
Updated October 11, 2004
Hello, and welcome to
TusLAN2004, which will take place November 5-7, 2004, at the 31st annual
SF convention in
WE NEED
COMPUTERS! More is better at a LAN Party, and
typically at TusCon we have more members who want to play than we have
computers. If you can bring an extra computer (or several), or let others use
your one computer when you are not, there will be a discount on your convention
membership.
Members bringing computers
are requested to allow other convention attendees to use them when they are not
(you might want to participate in other aspects of the convention). This
maximizes the number of active LAN participants at any one time. I realize that
this is quite different from your typical BYOC LAN party, and that it is not
for everyone, but the people who participate have a great time. At all times,
we realize that your computer is your computer, and no one will be allowed to
touch it without your permission.
We are seeking corporate
sponsors. Last
year, we had two corporate sponsors who donated the use of some computers, and
I am trying to get them back for TusLAN31:
Technical Data Systems http://www.tdscomputer.com
The convention takes place
at the Inn Suites Hotel in downtown
Computer gaming room hours
of operation:
Friday: 12 Noon to 11PM (setup starts at 10AM)
Saturday: 10AM to 11PM
Sunday: 10AM to 3PM
These hours may be extended if there is popular demand and volunteers become
available.
Plans are still being made,
and suggestions welcomed. The primary games anticipated at TusLAN2004 are:
Star Wars: Battlefront
Unreal Tournament 2004 and mods, especially ChaosUT
and ChaosUT2004
Other games being considered
are:
DOOM3
Battle Field 1942/Vietnam and expansion pacs
Halo
Serious Sam Second Edition
Typically, we have "open" game sessions, with mixture of pure
deathmatch versus team play or cooperative play, usually by request. If there
is an expression of interest, I will set up tournaments.
Here is a plan layout of
the computer gaming room:
TusLAN2003:
Updated 2003 October 29
Hello, and welcome to TusLAN2003,
which will take place November 14-16, 2003, at the 30th annual SF
convention in
WE NEED
COMPUTERS! More is better at a LAN Party, and
typically at TusCon we have more members who want to play than we have
computers. If you can bring an extra computer (or several), or let others use
your one computer when you are not, there will be a discount on your convention
membership.
Members bringing computers
are requested to allow other convention attendees to use them when they are not
(you might want to participate in other aspects of the convention). This
maximizes the number of active LAN participants at any one time. I realize that
this is quite different from your typical BYOC LAN party, and that it is not
for everyone, but the people who participate have a great time. At all times,
we realize that your computer is your computer, and no one will be allowed to
touch it without your permission.
Good news! We have two corporate sponsors who
will donate the use of some computers:
4 computers from: Technical Data Systems http://www.tdscomputer.com
6 computers from:
The convention takes place
at the Inn Suites Hotel in downtown
We have a special guest
for computer gaming at Tuscon!
Rob Beckwith has been going to conventions from an early age. However, until a
few years ago, did not participate very heavily in them. In 2003, Rob started
running computer gaming at several
On July 26, 2003, I took
some photos of the computer gaming area at HexaCon13 in
TusLAN2002: Updated 2002 November 24
The computer gaming at TusLAN2002 went very well. We had a total of 20 participants, including myself.
Doug Compton from Technical Data Systems provided three computers for use by TusCon29 members, I brought my computer, and Daniel Du brought his computer. On Friday afternoon, two TusCon members brought in their computers, but they both would not work on our network, so the members left with them. Several other people who had told me they would be bringing computers did not show up, so for most of the event, we only had five computers. This was an improvement from last year, when we had only four computers.
I got the three computers from TDS on a rental agreement with Doug Compton, so I collected $1.00 per hour of use as a "fee demonstration program". This was intended to offset the cost of renting the computers from TDS, and I collected $45.00 for the use of these computers. At the end of the event, Doug decided to donate the remaining balance of the rent we had negotiated of $150.00 per computer for the weekend, and settled for the $45.00 collected.
This was a great relief to me, since this limited my out-of-pocket expenses to the power cords and network cables I obtained for this event, but since I will be retaining these items and they are "durable goods", I will not be requesting reimbursement for any expenses.
Doug also helped set-up and pack-up the room, and provided the Ethernet Switch at no charge. Thank You, Doug, for your invaluable help!
Daniel Du (aka, "Dino") was also a tremendous help with TusLAN2002. He helped set-up the room, and he brought his own computer from which he hosted a server for most of the games we played. He was also an advisor and mentor for players new to a particular game, as well as an unflagging participant. Thank You, Dino, for your indispensible help!
Please send me your suggestions for next year. I am going to work harder at
getting more computers on-line, especially computers brought by members for
their own use. I would also like to rent more computers for other members to
use, at least four, preferably six or eight. I made a more detailed inspection
of the electrical wiring of the
I know that the TusCon committee can not afford to subsidize the renting of computers, so I will look for other sources to subsidize the additional computers. I hope that this will be successful enough that I will not need to charge additional fees for the computer use. Any suggestions on how best to accomplish this will be gratefully considered.
Background: TusLAN2002:
Hello, and welcome to TusLAN2002, which will take place November 15-17,
2002, at the 29th annual SF convention in
The computer gaming will be in the El Dorado and MacArthur rooms in the Tower Building of the Inn Suites Hotel. Each of these rooms is 24' x 16', and include a wet bar and a bathroom. They are on the first floor, connect through a double door, and have direct access to the parking lot in addition to the main, hallway, entrance.
TusLAN2001:
I was in charge of LAN gaming for the 2001 annual SF convention in
TusCon is a science fiction convention held annually in
TusCon28 was held Nov 9-11 at Tucson InnSuites Hotel and Resort on Granada Ave.
at St. Mary's Rd.
The computer gaming was in the El Dorado room in the Tower Building.
This room is 24' x 16', and includes a wet bar and a bathroom.
It is on the first floor, and has direct access to the parking lot
in addition to the main, hallway, entrance.
We had four computers for gaming at TusCon 28. I would like to thank those
people who provided computers and assistance:
Doug Compton, President of Technical Data Systems http://www.tdscomputer.com
Chris Dimaggio, Sales/Network Engineer, Technical Data Systems
John Brownlee
I have tried to run computer gaming at TusCon as a LANparty. The deal with a
LAN Party is that participants are invited to bring their own computers and set
them up with a local area network. This allows people to play multiuser
computer games without the time lag experienced on the Internet, and with
personal interaction with the other players. I am seeking volunteers to bring
computers to use during this event. Computer owners will use their own
computers while convention attendees spectate. Computer owners are encouraged
to allow convention attendees to play on their computers when they are not, but
this is not required. The computer room will be supervised by convention staff
members at all times while it is open, and locked up otherwise. Computer owners
are encouraged to participate on the staff of the computer room.
Next year, I would like to have many more computers than we have had in the
past, but a LAN party depends on people to bring their own computers. At
TusCon, the LAN party sometimes was more of a computer gaming room, with all of
the computer games being played by people other than the owners of their
computers. So, I need to hear from people who would like to see computer gaming
at TusCon which type of computer gaming they would like to see:
1. A LAN Party, where participants bring their own computers and hardly anyone
else gets to play.
2. A computer gaming room, where the computers are provided by the organizer,
and the participants pay to play (to defray the cost of the computers) unless
commercial sponsorship can be found (such as at DragonCon
<http://www.dragoncon.org>).
I got a lot of compliments about the computer gaming at TusCon last year from
convention members and committee, and I feel that the success last year was
almost entirely due to the participation of the Arizona LAN Enthusiasts. I am
seeking support from ALE members again for future TusCon computer gaming. To be
completely accurate, I should include the following:
DISLAIMER: This event is neither sponsored, endorsed nor sanctioned by ALE.
No warrenty express or implied, your mileage may vary, etc.
Link back to TusLAN home page