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LAN Party at a High School? 143

Posted by Cliff from the better-than-a-bake-sale dept.
Coolnat2004 asks: "I'm a high school student and a member of our technology group. Our school needs extra money for our technology, and I thought that a LAN party would be an effective, and exciting, solution. How can we make a great LAN party with the supplies at hand and make a profit while doing it? We have a network, but not a large enough room with enough ports. We're most likely going to create a detached network for the party, but don't know how to set it up because we have limited supplies. I guess we could seek a sponsorship from a local company, but that is unlikely to happen. Any suggestions on network layout, power layout, and general party to-do's?"
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LAN Party at a High School? More

LAN Party at a High School?

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  • What exactly do you need to raise money for? Can your group exist without fundraisers, or can you get funding directly from the school?

    Groups are a lot more fun when money isn't a big issue. Yes, I know it's tough, but if you try to cut out things like "rewards for officers" or whatnot, clubs are easier to run.
    • during my 10th-12th grade years in HS (I graduated in 99, do the math), we had a videogame club. When we started, all of the machines were Pentium1/133s with 32mb of RAM and windows95 and we pretty much were only playing starcraft, duke nukem, doom2 and quake1 on the 32-computer network. We charged 10$ for the year to join and had constant fund raisers selling candy and soda and stuff like that (pretty much 90% of the funds we took in were from the people who were playing after school).

      It was the only club
    • I know how the money thing goes; every club I'm in at school does independent fund-raising. Trust me, schools pay for nothing anymore. One club at my school sponsored a Halo 2 tournament. They had a 4-port router, 4 xboxes, and 4 projectors (courtesy of the school's library). It was tons of fun. About 30 people showed up throughout the day, and they charged 6 dollars for entrance. I'm not sure how much you need (probably a lot more than $180) but things ran smoothly, and setup was very easy.

  • Consider It Carefully (Score:5, Interesting)

    by American AC in Paris ( 230456 ) * on Monday December 20, 2004 @04:57PM (#11140353) Homepage
    Well, unless you can get your hands on the necessary hardware and space, you're not going to be able to pull this one off. For a LAN party of any significant size, you're going to need large amounts of cabling, a solid power source, better-than-consumer-grade LAN hardware, folding chairs/tables, food, and a dedicated security team. You might consider contacting your local conference center, as they may have the capacity for such an event, because odds are that your school isn't really equipped to handle such a thing--even the power requirements would be tricky for your typical high school.

    Consider, too, that a LAN party can be a logistical nightmare; Google around and check out some of the horror stories out there about mid/large-scale LAN parties that have gone horribly awry due to a lack of planning. Consider that the onus of "getting it done right" will fall squarely on your shoulders, and that you'll need to be prepared to handle such things as n00bs with viruses, jerks with aimbots, kleptomaniacs with quick fingers, and chest-beaters who aren't afraid to let the bloodletting spill over into Real Life. Consider, too, that you'll need to coordinate with folks at your school in advance to decide on which games they're willing to let you all play. Finally, understand that you're not likely to have a single second to sit down and actually play if you're the organizer. You'll be busy days in advance and hours after the last person has gone home.

    Seriously--you may want to look at candy bars and car washes if your goal is to raise money. LAN parties are neither easy nor lucrative for the small operator.

    • Re:Consider It Carefully (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Tr0mBoNe- ( 708581 ) on Monday December 20, 2004 @05:07PM (#11140461) Homepage Journal
      I agree with this statement. Often, the LAN parties need to be run in structures that are designed for it. I know in Halifax, where I live, we have a few buildings designed, and fully stocked for small scale lans. These are rentable for a modest fee, and if you play your cards right, you can mark it up a bit and make a few bucks.

      LAN parties have never been known a profit magnas, so I would suggest something different. Mabey some sort of sale/car wash. They tend to produce some modest buckeroos, and are considerably easier to make.

      At my university, we have regular LAN parties, but we use classrooms that are wired with gigabit LANs and all the security we need from the university. Since each student gets a decently powered laptop, it's simple to run and the gamers just bring their computers with any prefiera they want. ,mmmmmmm cookie bake sales....

    • Re:Consider It Carefully (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Otter ( 3800 ) on Monday December 20, 2004 @05:12PM (#11140525) Journal
      To be a little more optimistic, maybe what you want to do is start small. Instead of trying to make money, try organizing a school LAN party, for free or minimal expenses. If you can make that fly a few times this year, then it's time to start thinking about opening up to a larger audience and maybe trying to make some money.

      Think about all the posts from dysfunctional-sounding people here -- do you want do have a learning experience at the expense of your friends' afternoon and three dollars apiece, or at the expense of some rabid nerd with no empathy or patience?

    • Re:Consider It Carefully (Score:5, Interesting)

      by TopShelf ( 92521 ) on Monday December 20, 2004 @05:41PM (#11140812) Homepage Journal
      Bah - you complicate the issue too much. There's only one thing you truly need to make this a success:

      Cheerleaders.

      Seriously, an easy way to raise $$$ is by selling t-shirts. Come up with a clever design, and you can easily get people to pay $10 apiece for something that costs less than half that to procure. When I was in high school a group I belonged to did that and we raised well over $2000 in just a couple weekends...

      • There's only one thing you truly need to make this a success: Cheerleaders.

        I know you're kidding, but

        Problem #1) Cheerleaders won't want anything to do with it.
        Problem #2) Most high school kids who would go to LAN parties are terrified of women (note I said most, not all)

        Actually more to the point - how many high schoolers even own significant enough PC's to game with? I mean, that they own, not their parents. Most kids with jobs tend to pay for cars and such.

        Throw a HALO party - TV's and Xboxe

        • I want to recognize the nerd factor at work here, but lets face it, every red blooded american boy and lots of girls love to play video games (dont mean to exclude the other 6 continents, sorry). Playing against people that you know and in the same room is just fuking fun, geeks or no geeks. If you can get the non nerd types to buy in , then even better ! I live in NYC and have lots of friends with kids, and let me tell you, white black, puerto rican, asian, all of these kids love games. It doesn't have to
      • I'm for the cheerleaders, but against the t-shirts ;)
      • Bah - you complicate the issue too much. There's only one thing you truly need to make this a success:

        Cheerleaders.
        Put the Chearleaders in the t-shirts and you will sell even more shirts.

    • I'll have to agree with the parent post. You can't make a lot of money with LAN party, except if you use this as front to get people to donate money.

      But if you are just looking for a reason to trow a Lan Party, you better PLAN that Lan Party. If you fail to Plan, you Plan to fail.. This might help:
      http://www.lanparty.com/theguide/ [lanparty.com]

      Anyway, good luck

    • Re:Consider It Carefully (Score:5, Insightful)

      by dougmc ( 70836 ) <dougmc+slashdot@frenzied.us> on Monday December 20, 2004 @05:58PM (#11140997) Homepage
      too, that a LAN party can be a logistical nightmare;
      It gets worse. How do you think the school board will react when they learn that people are playing games that involve people shooting guns at each other? (I assume you won't all be playing Mario Kart or the equivilent?)

      How will the school feel about people who aren't students (I assume you won't restrict it to students) using the faculties? What if something goes wrong, either inside or out? A fight? Stolen equipment? (happens a lot when it's not just a bunch of friends) People smoking pot outside? (and trying to smoke (hopefully just tobacco) inside?)

      Or suppose that the principal decides to come down and make sure everybody has a legitimate copy of each game they're playing?

      Seriously, this doesn't sound like something the school would ever permit if they fully understood what they were getting into. And if you get them to approve it without them knowing what they're getting into, you run the risk of big trouble if things go wrong -- and the odds of that are pretty high, unless it's a small informal thing with just your friends, which isn't likely to generate any money whatsoever.

      • This is exactally the point I was going to bring up. I once held a LAN at my former school district's central office which had large rooms they will rent to anyone (for a nice fee). They almost didn't rent the room to me (as a paying adult) because of those very same fears (none of it happened, tho, and the party was a great success).

        There's no WAY you'll be allowed to play games like CS, Quake, Starcraft, World of Warcraft, etc. at school, especially as a school-related fundraiser.

        Your best bet
      • Your Mario Kart comment actually inspired an idea.

        I've found Mario Kart to be EXTREMELY popular with every type of gamer out there, guy or girl, big time gamer, jock, cheerleader, you name it.

        Rather than set up a LAN party, try getting a few game consoles and controllers and copies of some games, and some TVs. Hold a tournament, charge an entry fee, give the winner a tshirt, or a share of the pot, or something like that, and keep the rest.

        Dirt cheap, MUCH easier to set up than a LAN party, and has the pote

    • I agree that it will be tough to pull off, but I think this can be done and might be quite lucrative for your group. It will be a lot of work, but if you do this right, it's something you can repeat again and again and make money on. It will be a little easier every time you host it.
    • Id also agree with this post, as well as the reply's (at least the ones I read).

      Some things you might want to consider, try having just a couple small lan parties at your house or somethin, just so you can get the feel of what needs to be setup. Try looking at these sites:

      LAN Party Setup Info [computerhope.com]
      Lanparty.com [lanparty.com]

      Or just search google for "Hosting Lan Party" (without quotes, not sure if it matters).

      Good luck to ya, a well-setup lan party can be a blast. The last one I went to, it was quite a few years a

    • First Slashdot Post so forgive me if i sound like i am repeating something anyone has said. As a former poor college student, and a veteran of many lan parties....I can safely say that, planning iwll be the key to your event. 1. First off Roughly how many users will be connecting a. is this going to be a small group roughly 15-20 b. medium group around 50 or more, c. or are we talking 100+ nodes. 2. Second find out who is oging, and see what kind of equipment is already available on ha
      • Heck I set up a wireless lan for a friends bachelor party, 50 computers between four smal motel rooms,

        Nothing personal, but what the fuck kind of bachelor party is that, with computers and shit? I'm a huge geek/college student, but by God, when I get married, my friends had better have strippers and more booze than is drinkable in 24 hours.
        I'm going to assume that instead of bachelor party, you meant an engagement celebration or something, and that your friend didn't spend his last single night playing

  • Detached network. (Score:3, Informative)

    by Short Circuit ( 52384 ) <mikemol@gmail.com> on Monday December 20, 2004 @04:58PM (#11140358) Homepage Journal
    Go with the detached network. With enough people at a party, someone's going to have fun digitally spelunking. Better it be on machines owned by attendees than on machines owned by the school.

  • Sponsors are easy (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Pacifix ( 465793 )
    Call up the local mom and pop computer hardware store and ask to use their floor model routers and to donate a spool of ethernet cable, then let them plaster the place with fliers. Take personal responsibility for the borrowed hardware. Treat it well and return it. Repeat.
  • You could always have multiple rooms, if you have several rooms with ports, or get people who are helping with the event to bring some hardware of their own to help out (like routers).

    As for games, I think they released the original Tribes, or Tribes 2 for free download. Tribes 1/2 is an old enough game so it will more than likely run smoothly only school computers, but the graphics are outdated. I remember setting Tribes 2 up in one of the school labs and playing it with half the class, It was some good
    • They released them [sierra.com] both [fileplanet.com]. Unfortunately, though, Tribes 2 (second link there) only had a limited number of keys available for downloading it. It appears that they may add more keys later on, but for now you can definitely get the first one no problem. That might be for the best, considering that the hardware being used might not be the latest and greatest, Tribes 1 is probably going to be able to run on a wider range of hardware than the sequel.

  • Local Business (Score:4, Insightful)

    by np_bernstein ( 453840 ) on Monday December 20, 2004 @05:00PM (#11140387) Homepage
    Seriously man, try local business first. Highschool is hard enough; if you're the kid responsible for organising a lan party to raise money for the technology group.... that's like waiving a flag that says 'kick my ass'. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing actually wrong with the idea, and the people who will give you shit now will be talking about how selling cars is rewarding at the 10-year reunion, but you've got a good shot of getting money by going around and finding companies in your town that work in the technology area who would be willing to cut a check, so why deal with it.

  • Ask the kids. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by MagneticMountain ( 666496 ) on Monday December 20, 2004 @05:01PM (#11140395)
    Most kids in High School that are into technology should have most of the stuff you need. Try to find a few leaders that are interested and have they ask students to see if they have cables, hubs and other networking gear that they would want to lend. Maybe let the people that allow stuff to be used to play for free or cheaper as well.

  • One piece of technology. (Score:4, Funny)

    by GoofyBoy ( 44399 ) on Monday December 20, 2004 @05:03PM (#11140418) Journal

    Never underestimate the usefullness of a good ventilation system at a LAN party.

    No, this is not a troll. I've been to many gaming conventions and LAN parties to notice that this is the difference between a professional and amateur hosting.

  • Why not sponsership? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BigZaphod ( 12942 ) on Monday December 20, 2004 @05:06PM (#11140452) Homepage
    I don't see why local sponsorship would be unlikely. Ever try, ya know, asking? When I was in high school we had a few projects that required some money (including racing an all-electric vehicle). It took some doing, but when you start asking around, like, "where does your dad work?" and such, you inevitably find that someone's dad or mom is some executive somewhere local and or close to the executive or close enough that an inquiry from them will land the school a nice chunk of money.

    We got a few hundred dollars as well as actual materials donated in exchange for stickers on our car. I'm sure you could do something similar. Make it known via local radio stations and you'll get companies more than willing to sign up. Spin it as something safe and entertaining for area teens to do on a saturday night (or whatever) and you might even get some TV time out of it. It doesn't take much. Just a phone call or two to a TV station and radio station and newspaper. They love local interest student-run things. Makes for great fluff stories. It is easier to get attention for this kind of thing than you might expect.

  • First we need to break down your question(s) (Score:4, Insightful)

    by cdrudge ( 68377 ) * on Monday December 20, 2004 @05:10PM (#11140501) Homepage
    I'm a high school student and a member of our technology group.
    It's easier to just say "I'm a geek." It's more to the point and doesn't make it seem like you are trying to disguise what you really are.

    Our school needs extra money for our technology, and I thought that a LAN party would be an effective, and exciting, solution.
    All public schools need extra money for technology. It's part of the requirement for being a public school I believe. That being said, a LAN party is going to raise about 2.98 for technology after you pay for expenses. No food, no drinks, no prizes...no people.

    How can we make a great LAN party with the supplies at hand and make a profit while doing it? We have a network, but not a large enough room with enough ports. We're most likely going to create a detached network for the party, but don't know how to set it up because we have limited supplies.
    You are going to have to find one or more switches with enough ports. A 24 port unmanaged switch will cost $60+ bucks. You could get by with more switches with fewer ports, but then becomes a hassle with getting everything wired. You'll also need Cat5 cable ($40/1000 feet at Lowes) and RJ-45 connectors (prices vary depending on how many you buy). Also some crimpers...and some time to crimp a bunch of ends.

    I guess we could seek a sponsorship from a local company, but that is unlikely to happen. Any suggestions on network layout, power layout, and general party to-do's?
    (Extended) Star topology 100baseT will be more then enough for what you are doing. For power, you will have to see how the room is wired. If the room is normally a computer room, you should be fine. If it's a class room, you could start tripping breakers depending on how many computers you have running.

    You also are going to have to get permission from the school system, provide security, as well as likely get a teacher to act as a sponsor. Without this, and with no outside sponsorship, your idea won't go anywhere.

  • Ask the voice of experience (Score:5, Informative)

    by saintp ( 595331 ) <stpierre@nospAM.nebrwesleyan.edu> on Monday December 20, 2004 @05:13PM (#11140532) Homepage
    These guys [nerdclub.net] have held a few very successful LAN parties near me, and have even written a piece of OS software (Automated LAN Party, or ALP) to help smooth things out. I'm sure that if you ask around in your area, you'll find people with similar experience.

    One caveat, though: I don't know anyone who has profited from a LAN party. Usually, it's considered a stellar success if they break even. However, since yours is for an educational institution, you might be able to work the sponsorship angle extra hard and make a few bucks.

  • Check your game licensing. Most require permission for public display or charging for play.
    • The key here is they would not be charging for playing the game, but rather for entrance to the site, and for hooking your computer up to the network. If all you wanted to do was play a game, you could do that at home.
    • Licensing? Correct me if I'm wrong, but if everyone comes and plays their game they bought, why would they have to license it?

  • Do X-box LAN Party (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 20, 2004 @05:15PM (#11140554)
    You don't really to buy extra hardware with xbox LAN party. I am sure your school has a TV in every classroom. Bring in a TV from home (or move a TV from another class), connect 2 xbox to the TV, then have 2 Halo2 multiple players game going.
    you would need a teacher to "sponsor" you though.
    some high school kids would rather play on xbox than on PC.
    that's really cheap set-up for 8 players, considering what it would otherwise cost with PCs..
    • X-box lan party could work very well too. Alot cheaper, and easier to set up. Plus you can rent the x-boxes from your local videostore if you need several.

      The biggest issue of bringing your own stuff that other people actively use is damage. Some people get angry and like to throw the controllers around, or make a mess with them. As mentioned, someone walking out of there with a game, or a controller is possible, so keeping tabs on everything would be needed.
    • I'll second this one. At my high school, one of the clubs was able to have semi-profitable and successful Halo and Madden tournaments [using consoles].

      This way, the equipment is 'standardized' so fear of hacks/cheats is less than PC; as well as the kids don't have to haul in a $500+ computer [instead a console no more than $300].
      Plus, instead of one huge room of a LAN, there can be multiple classrooms, where one segment or bracket [of 4-8 people @ a time] can be held, as the tourney progresses.

      As you shou
    • To replace a PC based LAN party with an XBOX based LAN party, there are still many hardware requirements. You need lots of TVs (Hard to get enough of), and network cables, switches, etc.

      Considering how difficult it is to get a bunch of TVs, it's probably way easier to go with a traditional LAN party. Somebody made the comment about high-school students not being able to go to LAN parties. That's rediculous, I've been hosting and going to LAN parties since mid highschool, from 4 people up to 400 people. Man
  • If you do it w/ a friend, make sure you outline who does what, and who gets what. Make sure it is signed, and you have a witness.

    I made this mistake hosting a lan w/ a friend. Bascally, he decided to keep the cash, I had nothing saying otherwise. The only payment I received was 8 copies of call of duty I could not sell(that came after the lan), and 2 eight port switches.
  • If you're trying to do this on the cheap, Wolfenstein: Enemey Territory [splashdamage.com] is great. Free to download, & the hardware requirements aren't all that outrageous if your computer is 3yrs old. Over the last couple of years, the personal LANs i've attended always seem to come back to this old standby. If ET's not your flavor of carnage, there's a listing of free games that was mentioned on /. that I can't seem to find the URL for...(anyone?)

  • From prior experience (Score:2, Interesting)

    by btornado ( 612847 )
    I atttended a LAN party at our crosstown rival's high school once, so I feel obliged to share my experience.

    LAN parties at schools are risky because they are government buildings and you're basically leaching off their supplies and resources. Take for granted what you are offered. The whole trick to getting our LAN party off the ground was that the person who organized it had a friendly relationship with the head of technology at the school. You state that you're in a technology group, so that's a start. I

  • Easy (Score:2, Interesting)

    by vasqzr ( 619165 )

    I'd suggest using the cafeteria. Plenty of electrical power, and you probably have tables in there already.

    Go to Lowes/Home Depot, buy a box or two of CAT5 cable. Have some students make the ends. Get a couple of cheap switches. Small companies like mine throw them out all the time. In the last year I've thrown out 2 100MB hubs, 5 10MB hubs, and 2 100MB switches.

    You're just running games so you're not going to saturate them.

    We did this at a high school I previously worked at, and it went pretty well. We
    • We can easily borrow switches from the system admin, and possibly cat5, if there is any. We could likely get cable anyway.
    • Small companies like mine throw them out all the time. In the last year I've thrown out 2 100MB hubs, 5 10MB hubs, and 2 100MB switches.

      What company do you work for? Where is it? Do you lock your dumpster (will I need bolt cutters)?

      Thanks!

  • I recently did a lot of research into LAN centers with the hopes of opening one, but have since then been moving away from that direction due to some serious issues that such a thing presents. There are three main considerations for a successful commercial LAN: 1) The hardware and space. This is probably the easiest issue to overcome because it is the most straight forward. You just need enough desks and open space to set up your systems, and a good switch/router (don't want to use a hub, if you can eve

  • Dear Slashdot, (Score:5, Funny)

    by Wwolmack ( 731212 ) on Monday December 20, 2004 @05:27PM (#11140667)
    Dear Slashdot,
    I am a 15 year old geek and I need a fundraiser. I thought that a LAN party would be an effective, and exciting, 'solution'.
    Then I realized that we don't have the space, equipment, know-how, experience or startup funding. Please figure this out for me.

    -Kid "the yellow dart" planner


    P.S. Make it profitable! Even though most experienced LAN parties don't.

    P.P.S. Oh, its due tomorrow too, so please hurry!
    • Explain your yellow dart reasoning! Most of that is correct, though. o_O

    • Re:Dear Slashdot, (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Bill Walker ( 835082 )
      Out of curiosity, what topic for Ask Slashdot would be acceptable to you? It seems that every time we have one of these someone questions the motives of the asker.

      It's not like he's asking us to give him a brief history of computing, with bibliography. He needs help from people with direct experience in an esoteric pastime, and I think he's come to the right place.

      Christ, please, just once, give something the benefit of the doubt. Not everyone is out to take advantage of you.

      • I didn't mean to imply that he's taking advantage of me/us/the Intarweb.

        I meant that this is a very difficult thing to do, even when you already have a plan AND the necessary hardware AND a space in mind AND sponsors... and STILL expect turn a profit. Some other posters have pointed out that LAN parties are considered runaway sucesses if they break even. And thats at a hotel conference room (or similar venue), with sponsors, prizes, the right hardware and knowledgable, dedicated organizers and staff.

        I

  • it's not that hard (Score:2, Informative)

    by topgun601 ( 832042 )
    the comp sci department thows one 3 or 4 times a semester at the college i go to. it is not that hard to do.

    i would sugest that you tell every one to bring there own computer. we geranly swipe a few from the school too in case someone has an old one or cant lugg it down to where the partys at.

    you need to get a switch form somewhere if the you might even be able to bribe the netadmin of the school to let you barrow one (from my own exparnce doubtful but anything possable) or even do it wireless if every
  • If your school or school district has a full-time IT department, see if you can enlist the help of a person or people from there. They may be able to midnight requisition the cabling and other network equipment for you.

    You definitely need to get buy-in from those guys, though, in addition to what others have said about getting a signed letter of permission from the principal. I know that when I worked for the local school district, nothing happened on the network without us knowing about it.

  • LANs don't make money (Score:2, Insightful)

    by badnova ( 615305 )
    Simply put it's very hard to make money from a lan. I've been involved in several large scale lans (500+ people) and with venue costs, equipment costs, food costs, transportation costs, and a million and one other little costs that you haven't even thought about, it all adds up to a pricey sum, which means you have to set the ticket price to be very high if you want to make anything. I'm not saying it can't be done; I'm just saying it's not as easy as you might imagine. There's a lot more to it than putt
  • At my highschool my friends and I run the tech department. We set up the network all around the school and are responsible for maintaining every computer in the school. With that freedom comes the power to do basically whatever we want. Some of the students at lunch have a LAN party set up and charge 1 dollar for 1 hour of CS:S, Unreal, BF1942, Warcraft, etc...
    Overall I'd say its pretty successful. One year they raised enough to buy cheap video cards for all the computers.
  • when i was still in highschool, stories from around the school district were floating about that school choirs and the like, who were wanting to charge a buck or 2 a person for a concert were not going to going to be able to keep any of that money as the football team had the rights to all tickets sold. the concert was to raise money for new bleechers, and its not like they were a club, it was a full blown class in school, and yet sports still got to cash in on it. they ended up just not having the concer

  • I taught in High School after Columbine, and folks were pretty tense about anything that resembled violence on the school property--after hours or not. If you have to rule out FPS, I can't imagine you'll get many folks interested--and if things haven't loosened up in the last few years, I think getting FPS approved would be tough. Worse, they'll say "okay", but then shut you down once you start playing and they can see what is meant by FPS.

    So before you go much further, I would demo the games that you wa
  • yeah, the topic really says it all.

    it's great for fun, but not really for raising funds. if you have a smallish party(that you would have) chances of breaking profit are pretty small, and chances of breaking enough profit that it would really matter are much smaller.

  • Lan Party Suggestions - it's a long list...sorry (Score:5, Informative)

    by MrMagooAZ ( 595319 ) on Monday December 20, 2004 @06:37PM (#11141355)
    Some thoughts and suggestions in no particular order...

    It sounds like you're a little hazy on some of the technical details. If I were you, I'd check around and find a LAN party in your town and check it out. See how it works. The second thing I'd do is try getting this setup with just your computer club. Try and get some of the kinks worked out BEFORE you charge people for the service you are providing. If you put on a good event people will come back for the next one. If you put on a bad show (can't get the network up, food sucks or is too expensive, etc.) then no one will come to the next one. Make it a good one and you might be able to do this once every couple of months or so.

    Door prizes might be fun. Check with some local businesses and see if they'll donate cash or items for door prizes. They don't have to be big or even computer-related. Fun stuff that kids like.

    I think the money to be made at a LAN party is in the food. Sure, you can charge everyone who comes $5 to get in the door or whatever, but then have all the eats and drinks you can think of ready to be purchased. Get it from Costco, and have folks lined up to work the food booth (cute chicks would probably work best). Plan a pizza run and charge everyone a fair markup for running for the pizza. See if you can get the pizza for free/cheap.

    On the physical setup, you'll need a computer or router to act as the DHCP server. Then just get a mess of switches/hubs and hook all that up. DO NOT worry about cabling from the switches to the player's computers...make the players bring a cable.

    Tables and chairs should be no problem at a school. Just make sure you give everyone plenty of space to spread out.

    You will also need some extension cords for power. Again, I'd require everyone to bring their own power strip.

    In general players should be required to supply: Computer with network card installed, monitor, power cables, power strip, network cable (15-25 feet should be plenty) and the games.

    You might also think about setting some minimum requirements. Require Win98/ME/2K/XP, machine speeds, etc. You don't want someone showing up with their parents old Pentium 166 and wondering why they can't play.

    Create a game list so people know what to bring and to make sure their systems can handle it. You might also specify patches that should be applied and possibly have a server or some CD's burned with all the relevant patches.

    There are a lot of free demos out there for games. I'd make sure at least one of these was on the list. That way, anyone can come and take part even if they don't own any of the games.

    Have some folks on-hand to do tech support. They should be familiar with setting up TCP/IP networking on the various Windows systems and configuring the games you will play. Depending on the size of the group, you might also want them well-marked (special hats or shirts).

    Security is an issue. I'd make everyone aware that they are responsible for their own data security. If they have their computer open to the world and someone else sniffs into it and copies whatever, then it's the COMPUTER OWNER's fault.

    Anti-Virus - REQUIRE everyone to have anti-virus software installed on their computer BEFORE they are allowed to connect to the network. Seems like every time I go to a private LAN party, there is always one idiot who doesn't have it, and of course is INFESTED. If they don't have one of the commercial packages they can get one of the free ones.

    Physical security - tell all of your participants to mark their hardware and keep track of it. There are a lot of stories about folks going to some of the big public LAN parties around here where they get up for 5 minutes and come back to find their uber-cool headphones and joystick missing.

    Allow a couple of hours for setup. It takes longer than you think.

    Plan that you'll have at least one person who will need dedicated help fo
    • Great list, I'd suggest adding a projector it's pretty sweet if you can display the images from either in game or the visualizations from your MP3 player on the big screen. Also, let folks play lots of games, seems like at every LAN party I was ever at, there was a big Quake (or the newest release from id) game and several smaller games (Tribes, HoM&M, Diablo etc) for those who hadn't mastered the twitch. You might throw a free lan party and rather than door prizes raise money with by raffling any don
  • i would say that your only surefire bet is prostitution... its the world's oldest profession for a reason

  • lan suggestions (Score:2, Informative)

    by DaPh00z ( 840056 )
    I'm on staff for a local Lan party and have dealt with a lot of the issues. I recommend that you start with power. Having enough electricity is usually more of a problem than the actual floor space. We tested our systems with an Ammeter and found that an 'average' gaming system will pull around 3-4 amps under gaming load. (less when idle). Obviously it depends on the number of components and lcd vs crt monitor, etc. Most buildings will run with 20 amp circuits but you'll have to get a electrical bluepr

  • Here's your problem. (Score:3, Informative)

    by focitrixilous P ( 690813 ) on Monday December 20, 2004 @07:01PM (#11141631) Journal
    See, in high school, the kinds of people who want to play LAN games have the means to do so with each other over the internet. Why should they pay you for the priveledge to do it inside the school building, a place of learning and other boring stuff? That's right, they won't. It's bulky, inneffcient, easy to break, and not a good way to introduce the staff to videogames.

    What my school got away with is setting up a console game tournament. It is MUCH easier than setting up even an 8 player LAN, it's much easier to bring a GameCube and a box of games and controllers than to set up 4 PCs on a LAN. Charge a buck or two for tournament entry, have a couple freebies for the cheapskates, give a cut of the entry fees to the winner of a tournament, and watch the cash flow in. The anime club at my school (2000 students) did this a month ago and got around a hundred bucks, so don't expect to buy a new alienware box, but you could get a huge hub for the lan party you host later on.

    Good luck to you, whatever games you manage to sneak into school.

  • If you are doing this just to make money, stop. Try and run all the numbers... plain and simple, you will not make much of a profit, if any.
    • they could potentially make a profit.

      Remember, this is at their school which means they probobly arent paying for the space and as a school fundraiser they may be able to get donations in the form of LAN hardware

      I think the biggest problem soon becomes serving up the games if they arent used to it.

  • ... a tall order ... (Score:3, Informative)

    by ninjagin ( 631183 ) on Monday December 20, 2004 @07:23PM (#11141812)
    You have, one might say, your work cut out for yourself. Many of the posts here allude to the challenges, but I felt like I could add some planning advice. I'm in a LAN group of about 6 people that meets weekly at various locations, and we've been doing this for years.

    My first suggestion is to hold your own informal LAN party at home every week for a couple months to get a feel for the logistics. You'll get a feeling for the challenges very very quickly. If you're planning on playing for six hours and you end up spending three on machine setup, network config and game patching, your LAN party idea is doomed. You have to get people set up and ready to play in 15 minutes, so planning is important. You may be able to get five or six people to play regularly, and maybe someone else can get a different group of 5-6 players meeting this way. Share notes on what works and what doesn't, decide on the games you'd like to play and what patch level you want to be at.

    You didn't say what your materials are, for one thing, and you didn't say how many people would be interested. These are BIG questions that you need to answer.

    It sounds like you might have one network jack in each classroom, at least in a few rooms. Your school's network should already accommodate fast ethernet and should be able to hand out IP addresses via DHCP. Putting one 8-port switch in each room should be sufficient.

    Decide what you're going to play! If you have to meet the approval of a teacher or chaperon sponsor, make sure they know what you're going to play. UT2K4 can be a great game for a larger LAN party, because it has a number of different game types. You can rotate from onslaught to CTF to assault, for example. If it's too gory or violent, then you'll have to pick from other options. As with questions others have raised about licensing, each person will have to buy their own copy of the game, unless you can get a game company to donate copies. Remember that everyone will have to have the proper patches applied, and if you plan on using add-on maps/skins, you'll have to make sure that these are also available. Burning five or six setup CDs withe the game patches and add-ons will make setting up each player's environment as easy as possible. Another thing to look at is if you're going to be running servers (such as UT2K4 or Call of Duty or Rise of Nations or whatever), bear in mind that it's often nice to have servers that are set up and named for the skill level of the players that will be playing on them. Having just one UT server with the bots cranked up to godlike abilities is not going to appeal to people that only frag every few months.

    If people are going to bring their own machines, decide on what the minimum standards are for the hardware. If you pick a game that requires top-flight hardware, not everyone's parents will be interested in having to pony up 100-500 dollars for the necessary upgrades. You have to pick a game that fits the hardware constraints you have, and pick hardware constraints that will make the game you choose equally playable by everyone. One of the nice things about the XBOX suggestion posted by someone else is that the hardware is pretty standardized and the titles are probably familiar enough to most parents. If you're running servers, make sure they're well-oufitted with RAM and decent processing power to handle the load. A server meltdown can bring the whole show down very quickly.

    Power is important. If you're playing with PCs, each person will need a minimum of three power outlets: 1 for monitor 1 for PC and 1 for something else (speakers, mebbe). How many power strips can you get together in one place? Remember that extension cords will become pretty valuable in getting power to each seating area

    Decide in advance what people must bring to the event. Is everyone supposed to bring their own power cords/strips/monitor/PC/mouse/keyboard/joystick? One thing to remember is that people will be more likely to abuse hardware they do not own, so if you're using machines from

  • What games could you play at a LAN party that nobody in the local PTA wouldn't be up in arms about?
  • Damn why attack a kid? I bet some of you were the geeks in High School. How about you lay off and help the kid out? Give him some ideas, I am sure most of you had your own personal lan party or even x-box events. Come on... grow the %$*# up and take the stick out of your arse.
    • How about you lay off and help the kid out?

      That's what most people here are trying to do. LAN parties aren't easy to plan, generally unprofitable, and it's unlikely that the school would allow one that doesn't suck. Telling the guy that is the best help he could get.

    • Agreed. Most of what's been posted is pretty helpful stuff, too, so I don't think everyone's been negative, despite your perception. I didn't see any attacks, per se.

      It should be noted that a LAN party is not necessarily the easiest thing to set up. Ours (6 people) comes together and is taken apart in less than five minutes each way. That's after years of practice and gathering all the necessary equipment. We recently brought in a new guy and just getting him outfitted to play with us took a full hour. Kn

  • It may be better to hold it on school grounds if it's an event for a school club. But, have you considered renting out a local internet cafe? Depending on the turnout, you may be better off at one of these places. Many of them offer gaming services. Some are set up specifically for gaming. Although it means you have to spend a little, there's a good chance that you can get a deal on the hourly rate if you bring a number of people. Most of these places will usually have the latest games, and the security an
  • You can find a lot of "old-but-still-correct" discussions about this subject in the two following Ask-Slashdot post: [1] [slashdot.org] and [2] [slashdot.org].

    "Not at all, thank you to mentionning it" ((c) Mr Fawlty)

  • One of the most important things, don't put all your eggs in one basket. Get some big, long, industrial grade orange extension cords and run them from places as far apart as humanly possible. You want to make sure that you don't have 15 computers running on one circuit.

    Secondly, I echo the previous comment about good ventilation. Leaving a door open with a box fan in it should be enough. Even if it's 10 degrees out, your room will heat up rather quickly.

    Third: Headphones. Beat people that do not have
  • I really wish I had some mod points, so I could mod the XBox [slashdot.org] post up. If you want a LAN party at a high-school level, going with an X-Box [Halo/Madden] tourney is the best idea, for all the points they already mentioned. I have small (8 person) X-Box LAN parties regularly, and it's always a lot of fun. Just make sure everything is planned out in advance (teams, maps, gamestyles [ctf/deathmatch, etc]), and that you're explicit about it. I would recommend having people sign up in teams of two or four, with ea
  • I am my class' president, so I have been through my fair share of fundraisers. I know that most of these won't be suitable (or desirable) for your club, but perhaps they could spark some ideas.

    Our largest fundraiser is Homecoming, specifically the dance. I know, not something you probably want to do (I don't like doing it anyway), but dances do have incredible profit margins.... Unless, of course, you have school who doesn't have much spirit, in which case dances are a total flop. We only have one major,
  • The majority of the past NukemLAN [nukemlan.com]s have been held at Seneca Valley HS in PA, right around Cranberry/Harmony/Zelionople. We've never had any problems. Watch out, though, don't expect to have Internet access. We do, but when we need patches, we have to otherway it a lot.
  • It's been said before in this thread, and is worthy of saying again. Start out with a console lan party. The logistics are just so much simpler:

    1) less equipment needed. One Xbox + one TV accomodates 4 players. Setup is a snap, so you won't spend hours trying to get everything up and running. The school should have TV's that you can use, so that shouldn't be an issue. Plus, you can probably snag a couple of projectors, which is really cool for console play.

    2) Equipment is standardized. You're
    • *I hate to say it, but there are not as many PC gamers as there are console.*

      however.. of people that would like to go to a lan party, and play over the weekend there, practically all are into pc gaming.

      • It'll be easier to get someone who isn't a "hardcore gamer" to show up to a console party where all they have to bring is their hands, and cash for drinks/snacks. Joe student isn't going to drag his computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and powerstrip to school. (I know I wouldn't, and I'm a pc gamer)

        Using consoles will make it easier to boost attendance up.

        Again, I love PC games. But there is a lot to be learned from the simplicity of console gaming.
        • yes.. but a full fledged lan party really *needs* hardcore gamers to fly.

          if we were talking about an evening of play or something.. just as a way to get to know people or meet chicks, then consoles and some ddr would be in order.
  • The FIRST team I work with had the same idea, but the logistics of setting up a LAN (everyone having legit copies of games being the big one, the pain of bringing so many computers to one place, the actual organization and set-up/clean-up of such an event would've taken forever) were too much for them, and so a Halo/DDR party was planned instead.

    It is much easier to set-up 10 Xboxes then 10 computers. It was a 2v2 tournament, double elimination, with a $25 or so gift card to EB/Best Buy for the top team.
  • If you HS is anything like the HS I went to, people are going to want to walk out with whatever gadgets, cables, etc. that they can find.
  • I (along with a few others) founded a LAN organization that operated out of our school for 4 events; and then we took it to a firehouse shortly after we graduated. We started small (25-30 people) and eventually ended up mid-sized (60-65 people). Our school provided us with the means of handling money (a club account; buying purposes) our first LAN was run with mostly Hubs and house switches.

    We were later able to buy switches (after the first LAN) that were more than adequate for a mid-range LAN-party. Th
  • Just a little story before you get caught in the same trap as these children with your school.

    Once upon a time at a school district I once worked for, one of the technology classes wanted to hold a LAN party as an end-of-semester celebration. They wanted to host it in the high school building since the building was fully wired with switched 100 MB drops and had power and space.

    Their teacher agreed to supervise this all-night party and parental agreement slips were signed by all the students parents. The I
    • We won't have problems with people messing with the network, because it will be detatched from the school's network. This frees us from any rules regarding the use of 'network resources'.
    • Not sure why you would need these kids to be connected to the School's network anyway. All you need to do is have a simple DSL or Cable connection to the outside for authentication, file patches, and email. You do not need to be connected to the school network for that. We turned out fine with no network connection at all.

      Poor planning on the IT department; they should have been smarter than to allow access to the network. They could setup an alternate means of connecting the switches (seperate switches)
  • I was in charge of the lan party at our high school. It was a blast. We played the trial version of halo, so we did not have to worry about copyright issues or people not having the game. We simply installed the trial on all the computers in the computer lab (They are relatively new: Horrid graphics, but it works.). We only had one port left on the hub, so I was the only one allowed to bring my computer up so it could act as the server. It was amazing. We bought some food, but a lot of food was donated. We

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