i61 Recap
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These pictures pretty much sums it up...
Toilets tournament was fun, and it's a casual game that works very well at an event like this. However the first few games, and the last few (finals), were the most fun ones. All the ones in the middle, which were once every hour +delaaaaaays, were a bit tiring. It also stretched on for three whole days which was just too much time. Felt a bit sorry for the few people who didn't even play. (Still not as bad as super serious, no drinking, eternal delays, anti climactic, tf2 higlander LAN a few years ago)
Shame there was no Dota tournament. It was really fun the past two years, and they took up an appropriate amount of time.
We were even worse than usual at playing casual games, board games or just leaving the hall for a couple of hours and doing something else. I say this every year, but if we don't actually plan it ahead of time then it is not going to happen. We are largely a group of strangers and shut ins who meet once a year, so it's too easy for people to just sit around doing their own thing.
Pub quiz was not as fun as it has been in past years.
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Yep those photos pretty much sum it up. No Dota tournament sucked indeed
but might have been a good thing considering we didn't play much recently. Might have just ended up being stressful, but if there had been one we might have played some leading up to LAN. The middle pubg games that got delayed were a bit annoying, but that only really happened on the one where people's games bugged out, mostly they were happening consistently on the hour every hour, no?I've only been to 2 pub quizzes, and this one was an improvement on the autistic masses screeching about harambe 24/7 last time.
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As someone that doesn't play PUBG, I must say it was still entertaining watching others play it, although I 100% agree that we missed out on some of the more social aspects.
iHunt was good fun and kept the rest of us occupied for the weekend (Although the Sunday puzzles did turn into a bit of a slog, but that is feedback for another thread on another forum
)As for social games, we (me, vaette, Alex, kovah, CUFC, mast) did have a bit of fun heading over to the social games area and playing some bucket of doom, but I would have liked to get more people in on these games.
I think next year we need to have more plans like you say, because if it's not planned then we don't do it.
Also yes, pub quiz was a bit shit this year. Being plonked on the edge under the fluorescent light sucked, and it felt like we never really got to join in the fun. But again, that's feedback for a different thread!
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Haha, I had forgotten about the Harambe madness last year, the only actually funny party of that was how angered beach got
In general though the pub quiz was really disjointed, reason stuff like the harambe stuff happened was the otherwise really fun interactive commentary on the screens as things unfolded in the crowd. This year they didn't even manage the prescripted bits smoothly, e.g. starting some silly gif but fail to queue up the music for 30 seconds. I suspect some tech or preparation issue that'll be worked out for next year.
Just a quick comment on the go this, I'll gather my own thoughts a bit later
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It happened at least a couple of times that the tournament was one or more games behind schedule. It also seemed that every game started 5-15 minutes later than they were suppose to. When you have already waited half an hour for the next game then it adds up.
If there was a Dota tournament then I would have been playing much more Dota recently. The fact that there wasn't is why my motivation has been a bit lackluster.
If people didn't notice: our pub quiz tables were on the extreme and opposite ends of the first row, me and Bob did a bit of switching.
It also felt like our seats were really far away in the hall, but I realize there were reasons for this switch, and I am very grateful for Katie's job on managing the seats.
I really should have booked my next hotel while in the lan hall, or maybe I should just book for 2019 now, because most are already sold out. I grabbed a room with 2 beds in the Ibis at least, if someone wants to share, but we can discuss that in like 11 months...
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My own recap completed
First, the awards:
The Rookie of the year: CuJo taking the PUBG in a weirdly hype game of hiding in a bush for an extended period of time (actually mostly hype because he did resolutely run for the kill at the end, despite the peanut gallery having some notion that he could keep sneaking in a 1v1).
The Lazarus: Eagles troubles travelling the lands, with cunning and resolve (well.) making it for the second day despite a (semi-) exploded turbo.
The Ninkasi: Qjacker was actually pretty damn good (!), the 4-packs of drinks were fairly reasonably priced for anyone wanting something cold, effectively getting three beers for the price of one at the bar. Lucky, as the bar was inconveniently placed and pretty ho-hum (the pub quiz bar was hilariously bad meanwhile, not least they closed it 30 minutes before the end, which was prime time for a sillier drink of some sort).
The Brutus: beach setting up a 5-man DOTA queue the moment I step out of view. Bastard.
The Kabuki: Security was a lot more complicated-seeming this year, while being no more secure in any discernable way. There were dogs though, so that was good.
The Rosemary Verey: Bobs beard.
The Riddler: iHunt was awesome, I only rather elbowed in when there were puzzles that seemed interesting, but I will certainly take a more focused interest next time I have the opportunity. Collaborative spirit was high!
The Hestia: Perennially kovah for all the organization efforts, the least effect of which is us getting a section of seats, and the largest no doubt that people are way more likely to show up if they are actually asked if they will.
So, actual recap:
Thanks all for a great lan, a treat to hang out with you guys for a weekend! Extra needed this year as I have been sort of distant from the community for the past year (unfortunately a situation that will not vastly improve over the next year either). The lack of a DOTA tournament was my main disappointment with the lan, I was very much set to play it quite seriously. Hopefully comes back, but it is not a huge deal still. Can't say I minded PUBG that much, should probably have just taken b0nes' advice and bought it just for the lan, but I had enough to do so no big deal either way. While a second game may have been the plan for me, between the iHunt, some casual games (thanks to the Overwatch crowd for carrying me through a few rounds, skill difference makes it a bit too hopeless though ;)), plenty of beer, spectating others a bit, I had a plenty busy/relaxed time.
As Tango notes there was again a bit of a lack of getting out doing things, but I suspect if the PUBG hadn't been run every hour we would have managed (e.g. Worms W.M.D. got played and would have been played more without the deadlines, Nandos visit, another go at the card/board-games). I suspect this'll be a thing that changes a bit for coming years, but, if not, we should just plan a bit more strictly and the PUBG fans get to steel themselves and skip an hour. For next year it would probably be wise to scare up some additional silly card games, CSaurs bucket-of-something was very fun. I particularly enjoyed Mast giving up on the objective of the game after a certain point, instead just making up maximally dreary/disgusting stories. However, the immediate replayability of that game was not that high, or I suspect we'd have strolled to the casual area again.
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4 cold Heineken for £7, delivered in five minutes, was nice. Much better than walking to the bar or having a case of warm Fosters under your desk.
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I think it went really well!
Really enjoyed seeing you all even if we didn't get to chat much because some people were at the other end of the row and/or in PUBG ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the time
But it was nice to have a bit of social drinking on the Sunday night! As well as playing Overwatch! Wish my wrist had been up to more Dota but didn't have too much control over that.
ihunt was loads of fun, feel like everyone involved contributed to different parts, the seats turned out pretty good. I know it was abit of a walk to the bar and expo but I think worth it not to be drowned out by the stage.
I will say that taking the tuesday off means you get almost an extra day of LAN on the monday rather than leaving first thing, most people had gone by the time we got there and missed out on a good few hours more of gaming and would have been a good time to get some dota in I think. Just something to consider next time.
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Aye I would've stayed longer if I hadn't been driving back up to Durham after stopping off at home, is a shame it's pretty far overall.
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@kovah said in i61 Recap:
the seats turned out pretty good. I know it was abit of a walk to the bar and expo but I think worth it not to be drowned out by the stage.
Oh yeah, the seats were either fine or perfect depending on ones view. I skew towards perfect, I tire pretty quick when there is too much noise and people around me (sort of screwed myself Saturday by going to the expo for a fairly long stint, lost the energy to do much of anything for the rest of the day ;p).
Next time I make it to LAN I will be sure not to have flights first thing Monday morning, this "take Tuesdays off" plan sounds hugely next-level compared to what I managed this year
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I will also consider going a day earlier, like vaette, because I am so incredibly tired on the first and even second day. Little awkward that the venue is at BHX however, not like there is anywhere to stop on the way there. Like one year I went to Birmingham for one day before continuing to Telford.
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I specifically should somehow visit Bletchley Park in connection with one of these trips sometime. Had pretty advanced plans like two years ago (CSaur with a strong recommendation that I should make the visit as I recall), but I got lazy at the end and booked flights. It is indeed, if anything, too convenient that BHX is right there at the site.
