ASLG stands for the Alice Springs LAN Group. The ASLG has been running LAN’s for over 15 years. The members of the ASLG have been running LAN’s for even longer.
The ASLG is a not-for-profit organisation made up of volunteers, donating time and experience to help the gaming community in Alice Springs. The main objective of the ASLG is the organize and run the ThunderLAN event.
On the announcements for a LAN you’ll usually see a schedule, including the times some games are run. You might also notice that we say that attendees arn’t locked into certain games. So what are these?
Organised games, as the name suggests, are games that are actually organised. Attendees don’t have to play these if they don’t want to, but they do solve a couple issues.
- They allow us to host games that have prizes, and as such, need to be monitored for the winners, and hosted on official servers
- It gives direction to attendees on what to play. Some people just rock up to have fun, and arn’t particular on what game they actually play. They want to just play whatever everyone else is playing. Having the game organised allows people to see what everyone is playing.
- Attendees have a chance to install the games onto their computer before the LAN starts, making the actual event go much smoother.
- It allows for a schedule, which in and of itself, allows people to plan their activities during the LAN.
This isn’t a rule or anything along those line, its just comes more from experience in hosting LAN’s for over a decade.
When your hosting a PC or Console gaming event, it can actually be quite difficult to organise and run. By running “older” games, we solve a couple problems
- Price.People need to own the game to play it. We don’t actively hunt down non-legit games, but it does make it easier for everyone if the games we play are cheaply available.
- Compatibility. The games need to run on a range of hardware. While we defiantly have our fair share of monster PC rigs, some people don’t have the luxury to have the latest graphics card, or even a gaming PC at all. Its not rare at all to see some attendees with laptops.
- Setup. To save people having to install new games everytime they come to the LAN, we have a list of core games that work well for the event. Newer games have a habit of being updated constantly, which can be an issue at a LAN event.
- Acceptance. When running a game for the whole LAN to enjoy, its important that people actually like the game. Over time we have developed a list of games that people have enjoyed as a whole, and as a natural effect, that list of games is of more established games.
Even with these points laid out, we don’t avoid new games, and have been known to try new things from time to time. Also, with the latest, biggest games, you’ll usually find people playing them around the LAN outside of the organised games, so feel free to ask them to join in.
Certainly not inside you can’t, but there is a spot outside. Unfortunately for you guys it’s a school, so there’s no smoking on the grounds. The grounds end fairly close to the building so its not a far walk off the school.
I’m sure we’d all love to, but unfortunately for the same reasons as above, you cant bring alcohol. No drinking/smoking/drugs on school property. We don’t want to hire a bouncer to kick out drunks.
The LAN has no “You must play this game at that time” rule. Your free to play whatever you want at any time during the event. There is a list of games and times shown up on the site and on the projector at the night for organized games. These games are listed in advance and spaced out so only one is played at a time. This allows people to choose when they want to do there own thing or join in for a change to win a prize.
Absolutely!, That’s half the fun, running around like an idiot and having your mate headshot you from across the map, Then laughing about it. The best part is, if they are here to check it out (no device) then they get in free!
- Power boards for your computer
- Table to rest the computer on
- Chair to rest your butt on
- Food (usually Pizza or KFC)
- Drinks (2x soft drink cans)
- Everything else, Leave it to us.
- Computer/Console – Laptop or Desktop is fine
- Only 1 Screen/TV (We have a power budget)
- Ethernet/LAN cables.
- Input Stuff, Keyboards, Mice, Gamepads
- Power Cables
- Headphones – NO SPEAKERS!!!
- Good Attitude, Make sure you have a good supply
- $25 for the entry fee – As a Not-For-Profit, all money goes straight back to the LAN.