LAN Gaming centre (East UK)

[JC]

This I guess is information only for those of you who live in the east of the UK. A couple of friends and myself have set up a LAN gaming centre 16 miles west of Norwich. The venue has 20 PC's of which 2 are game servers, 16 are gaming PC's and 2 are Internet/gaming PC's.

I dont know how many of you people are interested in this type of venue but we've had loads of interest so far - lag free 16 player CS, UT, Q3 and many others.

The URL is www.planet-lan.co.uk - don't expect too much on the site yet but it gives you the basics. Have a look and if you feel like it - come take a look. We're also open 7 days a week now.

Jax.

[Pace]

I was thinking of the same idea!

How much do you charge? For how long?

And how do you run the servers?

Regards,

Paul.

Edit: I got the prices (eventually )
£4.50 per hour or £18 per day for non-members - I charge £5 per day at my house! Though that's just a small contrib to costs.

[This message has been edited by Pace (edited 03 January 2001).]

[JC]

Hi Pace, thanks for responding. I agree that from a non-member perspective it does look expensive, thats why we encourage people to become members. A £20 membership will give you 4 free hours of play and from then on, £3 per hour or £12 for a full days play which is quite favourable when compared other places.

Regualarly all machines are full and yesterday for instance, all machines including the internet machines were occupied - all day playing CS.

Jax.

[SteveC]

Good idea JC!

Actually, I'm hosting a LAN game weekend after next, but I've only got room for a few people I've now got to learn how to do Quake3 and UT servers properly...

I've got to find a hall somewhere nearby so everyone in the world can come!!

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Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[Pace]

I know - I wasn't saying that it was exceptionally expensive, but the guys that pay at my house would think so! I wasn't sure about starting to charge, but I do get some strangers coming (friends of friends of friends) who are only coming for the game - so it is certainly justified here, and still doesn't cover the cost.

Though, I was meaning how do you run the servers? That is...what OS? How powerful? How are they administrated? Are all games installed locally? What kind of clients?

I'd probably pop in if I'm down that way! Though I'd want at least a free can of juice for saying I'm a MURCer

Also, what kind of level (skill) are you's at? Do you ever plan on helping 'newbie' gamers by having separate games running for the weaker and stronger players? Or indeed, do you already do that!

Regards,

Paul.

[Pace]

Steve - want to go halfers on the Millennium Dome? Though I think a rename would be in order...Millennium 2000 Max? Fusion Dome Plus?

Send me a cheque for a fiver and I'll send our bid to the Gov't

Paul.

[JC]

Ok Pace, well all the machines are Win98 SE, Duron 700's 128MB (133) RAM. The servers are quite happy to run 2 or 3 dedicated server games simultaneously. The games are installed on every machine (which seems to be ok with most software houses).

There is currently a single 24 port 10base hub which is fine but we're looking to upgrade to a 100 soon.

We're pretty good at most of the games, UT and Q3 being my speciality and im getting better at CS (its a bit slow moving for my tastes). We're quite happy to offer the newer players a separate game from the experienced people as I know it can get frustrating. We're always willing to help people develop their gaming skills.

Anyone new that comes down gets 30 mins free to see if they like it.

Jax.

[SteveC]

Originally posted by Pace:
Steve - want to go halfers on the Millennium Dome? Though I think a rename would be in order...Millennium 2000 Max? Fusion Dome Plus?

Send me a cheque for a fiver and I'll send our bid to the Gov't

Paul.

Done deal. But I think a fiver's pushing the boat out a bit, isn't it!?!


------------------
Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[Pace]

Ok Steve - how's about £3, a Mars bar and a can of Coke?

Cheers

Paul.