Good seeing you out there Tibbs. Enjoy the case and enjoy the Trophy!

P.S. Clean fans are happy fans : )

I'm pretty sure the FITES 200 (wo)man LAN gets better every year. Must be the awesomely cool staff! Thank you all again for your hard work in putting it together, I know that all of us appreciate it greatly.  Can't wait for next year!

I second the comment about having a schedule + projector combo to keep people informed.  This also gives high visibility to pick-up games and alternate events such as giant games of prophunt and whatnot .

I'd also like to voice an argument against putting the raffle mid-day on Saturdays:  I missed the traditional "Wrap-up" meetings that occurred on Sunday mornings.  Those usually instilled a sense of community, whereas this year Sunday morning everybody was mostly packed up and out of the building after 2-3am.  Moving the raffle up seemed to shorten the event by a day, as people were packing up and leaving after their events were finished.

Also, there should be a trophy awarded for "Loudest snorer".  Presented without comment. 

Hey all,  (CAUTION  ::  WALL OF TEXT  At least read the first two paragraphs and the last two!)

First off, this was my first FITES lan.  I flew from California to make it and battle it out with my great friends and I had an AMAZING time.  I haven't felt like that since 2005 at a CS tournament in Pittsburgh!  Great event and nicely organized as far as I can tell.  If you are trying to put a face to a name, I am the tall guy with the black Pirates hat and a full beard wearing the black Vitality Gaming t-shirt with the name ntgCleaner on the back.  (Hi, if we didn't meet)

My impressions (which could be taken as final thoughts):
Unfortunately, flying from California takes a long ass time to begin with (7.5 hrs travel time) then, getting delayed in Cleveland (of all places) for 6 hours due to "mechanical issues" on a crop duster just pisses me off and scares me a little.  So, I unfortunately missed the opening of the event and the UT3 tournament.  Oh well.  I guess I'll have to see it next year.

When I got there, I was greeted by very friendly staff (I assume if I had gotten there on time, they would have been waiting at the front table) by the vending machines and was shown into the event by The Shoctor (Thank you again, sir!).  Wow, I thought, That's a lot of people and that's a lot of glowing lights!  Walking in, I thought I had a sense of how large the room was but I was completely mistaken and underestimated the size of how many people there were.  I actually thought at one point "oh, this is one of those places with mirrors on the walls to make it look bigger".  But no - I was wrong, it was just a big ass room with a lot of sweaty people... 

Eventually The Shoctor and I found the Vitality Gaming banner and I found my spot among old best friends from college.  Here is where the whirlwind of adventure and time began.  From this moment on, I didn't know what time it was until I went to bed.  It was all just a big whirlwind.

in the first 24 hours of no sleep blur, I felt a little lost.  Of course, I had my set up - I installed all the drivers I needed on a friends machine (Thanks Gri3v!) and set up all of the settings I needed.  But after that, I felt like I needed to be doing something (besides practicing).  In the front of my mind, I was telling myself; "there's nothing you need to do until a tournament that you signed up for happens" but in the back of my mind, I felt like I needed to be somewhere...  Again, this could all lead to the fact that I didn't attend the opening where they may have given this vital information. 

Anyways, in that time, I got to meet a lot of great people and put faces to names.  It's always surreal to hear a voice and recognize it before you know what the ugly mug on the other side looks like (Just kidding, no one's ugly....  Except that one guy.  Did you all see him?!!)  <-- That's a joke if you're that paranoid

One big gripe I had was the lack of information in non-internet form.  I would have loved to see a whiteboard or something with a grid on it that showed competition times or winners of competitions or something like that.  Or as previously mentioned, some projectors, but projecting this same information. 

I would also like to see the FITES "HeadQuarters" in the middle of the room, rather than being all the way at one end of the room.  Being able to see what was happening, for me is key and you can get people's attention much easier.  I felt this way especially for the raffle drawing.  Having to wait for people who were playing a game walk alllll the way down.  oh - and, come on guys, a little more intensity from the crowd?  These guys are giving away some nice free stuff!  at least a couple claps?!  Anyways - I was playing some BF3 as they started to announce and I had my headphones on and I was really intense in the game.  I would like to see some more indication of when there's an announcement made.  Like flash the lights before making a big announcement like that.  Those Logitech G35 headphones don't allow outside noise in!

As for the timing of events.  I get it - technical issues.  I can see that as the only thing holding back a tournament (DAMN YOU ORIGIN).  But when we had to wait for a person for 20-30 minutes....  That got annoying.  My suggestion would be to have the server for that particular game up for 30 minutes before the "Setup" of the round which would also be indicated on some sort of whiteboard or projector screen.  So anyone can jump in, have their obligatory crash and BE THERE for the start of the match.  If the player is not there - it's their fault.  I don't want that team DQ'ed so they can have the option of starting without them.  Also - no ready checks.  Yes. It sucks when someone crashes or something happens when everyone is getting ready but we’re all in the same room.  BE THERE OR DON’T PLAY.

Also, if it gets pushed back, make an announcement with a time to be back.  You guys did a great job organizing this and most of the time this happened, but I would like to be able to come look at some physical thing that shows times, like a departure board at an airport (sorry, I’m still reeling from the first flight).  When the time changes, so does the whiteboard or projector.

As for the rewarding of the awards, I felt it was a bit lack-luster.  My team got the chance to play some awesome people in BF3 (among others) and we were fortunate enough to win.  When we were called down to claim our prize, they said “they are over there on the table.  Grab them and we’ll take a picture”.  Listen – I understand there’s a lot of stuff going on and I don’t expect an award ceremony or anything like that and I can’t thank you guys enough for doing everything!  But I’m human, and just like everyone else; I like to be cheered for!   Building on with the rest of what I said up there, it would be nice to have an attention getting (flashing lights) announcement and possibly someone at least handing a trophy to the players. If you’re interested, I am a User Experience expert and may have more suggestions to implement for next year!


Remember FITES guys, these are only Suggestions and NOT Criticisms.  You guys really know how to throw a good LAN.  I had a [explatory]ing Amazing Time.  And it was worth every penny of cost to get there and every minute of listening to the wife ask why I would spend that much going here to play games but not organize a vacation for us.  You are all great people and I didn’t have one real complaint (only suggestions)… except for that one guy…  We all know who I’m talking about.  Yeah, we get it, you killed someone, yay! *golfclap – but hey, at least he was having fun too…   That’s what’s important  ← that’s not necessarily a joke…

FITES crew, Thank you again.  You are all wonderful people and know how to show a guy a good time !

So this was my first time at a FITES LAN, and I had a good time. I have some input for future events, but first let me bring up a few things that I thought were really good, and that I've never seen before at a LAN.

Trophies: these were very cool, the only other time I've seen anythig like it is the medals that PAX gives out to tournament/event winners... And these were much nicer. The dog tags were pretty neat too.

Admins: the fites admins I talked too were all very cool and open to suggestions for the tournaments (even last minute ones). The only other LAN I've been to where the admins are that good is the GXL, but I am slightly biased because I AM a gxl admin

Intranet: the intranet site was very handy and was updated all the time which was a huge help.

Overlapping: I loved the fact that you guys didn't overlap any of the tournaments. There is nothing I hate more then going to a LAN wanting to play in several tournaments but I am forced to pick just one or two.

Now a few negative things...

Security: when I got there I walked up, gave my name and walked in. They didn't scan my ticket or even ask for it. They didn't take note of anything I was bringing in, and when I left after the L4D tournament they didn't even check my stuff. Every LAN Ive been to has some type of security and equipment registration. At GXL we take your picture and check the gear you are bringing in, we put that info on a sticker on the back of your LAN badge and if you try to leave with ANYTHING at any time the admin at the door checks to make sure it's actually yours. LPANE does something like this as well, and pax takes a list of your stuff and barcodes your gear to scan it in/out.

At fifes I could have walked up and said "hey I'm (insert name here)" walked in with an empty case, grabbed a few laptops, stuffed them in the empty tower and left (something like that happened at LPANES nor'easter in 09 I think. So yeah... Security is a must.

Seating: this was kind of a mess. Some people just sat wherever they wanted, others never reserved a seat. The worst thing was individuals who weren't playing with a team reserving a seat in the middle of a row. Too man people do that and it doesn't leave groups of seats open for teams to sit together.

That's about it for negative feedback... Now a few suggestions. Since we were just talking about it...

Seating: either have it be first come first serve, or you could try this... Rather then make teams for each event on the site, give players the chance to make a team, or join a team on registration. So players can select a team or list themselves as "no team/group". Once registration closes the admins can create a seating chart so that it's best laid out so teams sit together. Maybe putting names on the back of chairs on the first day to help People find their seats.

Prizes: more ways to win! You guys had a lot of prizes, but the only way anyone got one was in the raffle. No prizes were given out for tournaments. Most LANs (especially ones part of intels lanfest) give out some sort of prize for tournament winners. Now I'm not saying that the CSS winners should get all the i7s or anything, but maybe something. Got a bunch of $40 headsets? Prizes! If that's not doable then at the very least give anyone who wins a tournament or event extra raffle tickets!

Speaking of "events"... Most LANs do random unscheduled events for prizes. These are events that dont require a team and anyone can win. Something random like gun game or prophunt. Last person standing wins a video card or something.

Better tournament planing/settings: I can't really say how the settings were for some of the games, but the TF2 maplist was... Interesting lol. Maybe get some input from each games competitive scene on thr forums prior to the LAN to make sure the settings are correct.

Overall though it was a great LAN. I'll definitely attend it again!

Thanks so much to you guys for putting together such a fun event.  We appreciate all of your hard work!  Gold stars all around! ♥

-Thoughts -

1.  As a girl, I was giddy with joy when you handed out personalized name tags.  Girls ♥ their accessories and it was a clever idea! Can girls have pink next year? 

2.  I thought the lights stayed on too much this time.  I like that glowy, pretty, computers buzzing ambiance that the ballroom provides when the lights are down. (anyone else notice that the hanging lights resemble Minecraft wheat growing upside down? )

3.  Tournaments/Times were a little disappointing - Sadly the L4D2 tourney started so late (1:30 am) that we had to bail. 

4.  I agree that a big whiteboard or projector screen with detailed information about times and so forth, that can be changed as things pop up, would rock! It would be an easy way to clear up some of the confusion that sometimes arises when people are trying to plan sleeping a bit, or leaving to get some food, etc.   Also would be a nice way to announce winners and so forth.

5.  I agree with fndragon - I really missed the prize/raffle give away on Sunday morning - The Grand Finale.  It was always a fun way to end the event, and a nice way to kind of say your goodbyes together while hoping you won something awesome.  It did feel like changing it to Saturday shortened everything by a day.  And it ate into time when a tournament could have been going on.

6. A note about seating - in response to Thrasher's post - If Fites started telling people where to sit instead of letting people pick where they wanted, I don't think it would go over well.  i.e. - Some groups like to sit where they always sit - some people like to be close to a door - some people want to be in the back - it's all a matter of preference.  Plus it's not a wedding, and trying to create a seating chart seems like it would just create a lot of unnecessary work for the FITES guys.  It's not difficult to just pick a seat.  And the FITES guys provide the seating chart at the end of each table.  

7.  Prizes and trophies this year rocked!  Yay

8.  I have never felt uncomfortable about leaving any of my gear at a FITES party.  There is a cozy, friendly atmosphere, and everyone is always so nice.  That's one of the reasons we all enjoy coming to this Lan Party so much.

The first thing i noticed was the simple ammout of how many people more attended this year then previous! it was incredible and me and my team of 8 had a great time and met some pretty awsome people... thats right i still love you vitality folks even tho you steam rolled us in BF3. The tournaments were SOOOOO much better and there was simply just more of them... noww for the negative

CS tournament at 10am... TOOOOO early everyone was alseep lol... my whole team overslept the tournament and were kinda bummed.. but thats our fault cuz were lazy and clearly didnt have enough redbull in our blood

I love the projector idea with a schedule that would be sweeet

The announcements/raffles could be done eaither more organized, or simply louder... i could barely hear the ticket numbers being called and i didnt even realize the raffle started due to being in the middle of a game for the first 20 minutes of it. Also i think the fact that you gave away an entire PC is sweet... BUT there was like 10 things in that package.. you could have broken those two things up into countless people winning individual things.

Also seating... MY GOD THE SEATING. me and my team registered 8 seats in a row. three people were forced to up and move to the other side while the other 5 of us were put literally ontop of one another(thank god one had a laptop or it would have never worked) because you had 3 people scheduled to sit on a table for 2. We had all our seats setup but then a team of 5 walked up on us out of no where and we were forced to move about. Some people feel that when they come to a lan they get 10 feet to themselves. You do not, and dont intentionally spread yourself so that you have room forcing others to sit ontop of other players.

Next, the people there... best in the entire lan community. due to my seating i was forced to sit in the middle of two tables and the guy next too me(never met him before) actually spread out his gaming mat for me... to cover the metal edges.. holy Crap that guy saved me SOOO much frustration and that was prob one of the nicest things ive seen done at a lan. Also just the general halariousness(yeap just made that word up) of the others around me was astounding. The king, literally made my lan the funniest experience of my life and i feel you needed a shoutout.

Next DWRoelands, this is aimed at you. Lan parties are places to go and scream things such as this. Ive been at sensored lans before were if you say Crap you get a warning... Thats simple rediculous. everyone there is an adult and the funny playfull Crap talking is what makes the experience of a lan great. the F-bomb i understand not really being workable but things like screaming "rape"... really if you cant take that word you dont belong at a lan party, its a video game and people will say the word. Clearly noone is getting raped at a lan party...

But on a better note, Fites was the best its been yet. You guys did an incredible job with everything and despite my small grievences it was fantastic! I have a group of about 15 guys lined up raving for next year... maybe you could do 2 a year? i had a guy take an 11 hour train ride to get there and the moment he got home he was raving on skype about how he couldnt wait to go back... again a Fantastic job with the whole lan. you guys are my lan gods!