MSLAN's Big Announcement...

[Matrix]

MSLAN, the future

For over 10 years I have been organizing LAN events. I remember one of the first games I played multiplayer was Red alert. I would setup a modem connection between computers, and play 1 vs 1 for hours on end.

It didn’t take long until we learned how to setup a network connection, and started out on a 10mbps coax connection with “T” connectors, and terminators. We had windows 95/98 computers, with no real video cards to speak of.

We soon moved onto the likes of Age of Empires, and Total Annihilation. And then began to discover the wonders of actual 3d graphics, with Open GL. Tribes and Starseige began, along with Voodoo video cards. The posters that now say Nvidia, once said “3Dfx”.

We have come a long way. From lan’s in the empty office next to my dad’s office, to my parent’s garage, to an empty office building on Hixson pike, to some random unused space up in Cleveland. From the old rental cabin, to the mountain house up on lookout mountain. We finally found a home in the LANroom at my current residence, with custom tables, a huge screen, and tons of air conditioners.

All along the way, we’ve had plenty of drama, plenty of action, and lots and lots of fun. We’ve had Epic tourneys with games like FEAR, and less than epic tourneys with games like PAIN. We’ve enjoyed watching funny videos, and blasting awful music.

We’ve constantly yelled at Melkor for his super bright computer case.

We’ve seen admins break their legs, while others broke their computers.

We’ve witnessed the name Diego take on a whole new meaning.

We’ve sat through a constant onslaught of “I can’t see the server”

We’ve performed constant OS reloads on firewire’s spyware infected computer.

We’ve felt the heart breaking moment of silence that is a power breaker failure.

We’ve thrown countless unsuccessful football throws, and shown our nerdiness in the circle of the soccer ball.

We’ve watched Huggheez single handedly destroy the passenger window of Esos’s truck.

We’ve eaten more slices of pizza than can be counted.

We’ve all had to wait that extra 20 minutes to finish installing those final programs off of MSLANSERVER, before leaving for the night.

We’ve all felt the frustration of someone shooting the wrong person or thing in operation flashpoint, and Arma after 30 minutes into the mission, and having to start all over.

We’ve all witnessed an awesome group of awesome guys come together time after time just to hang out, and play games for a day.

So, where do we go from here?

As some of you may know, I have begun a renovation in my basement. The LANroom as we know it, no longer exists. The current plans are to remount the LAN tables in the garage once it has been finished drywall, and finished.

Back in February, I lost my job, and had to reevaluate a lot of things in life. In may we had an event that was a lot of fun, but saw that attendance was down quite a bit. Airsoft, while being an incredibly awesome new interest of almost all of us, has taken quite a bite out of MSLAN.net activity.

Financially speaking, LAN parties have never proven to be profitable by any means. But for me, was a necessary expense because of the fun it brought to everyone. But since my job changes, and the mobilization of my 1 year old boy, I recently began to reevaluate the use of my basement for events that were becoming fewer and farther between.

All of this has been said to say this. MSLAN event’s as we know them now, will soon change indefinitely.

1) Only 2 official events will be scheduled a year. Initial Assault will be held as usual at the mountain house, in early January as an overnight event. And the second event will be held in late summer before our college guys go back to school, and will either be at the mountain house, or in my garage once it is completed.

2) More than likely every single event that we do will be absolutely free, however, nothing will be provided at the event.

3) We will most definitely will continue to host mini-lan’s with emphasis on certain games, and or as requested by you guys.

4) We hope to do more unofficial movie nights, and console nights in the new theatre.

5) We hope to expand more into online gaming than we have in the past and possibly dedicate every 6 months to a certain game

All of these changes may come as a surprise to most of you guys, and I don’t plan to close my doors by any means. Each and every one of you guys have proven to be a great friend, and I would gladly fight along side any one of you in the future.

To all Core gamers, and Admins… As a token of gratitude to your loyalty, I am offering everyone a option to buy out their gaming chair for $25.

Again, thanks to everyone for being a part of MSLAN. It’s been incredible escaping reality with you all.
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---Matrix---
MSLAN Admin

The red pill it is, good choice.

[Bael]

Sad time indeed. . .
I remember a few of those events. I kind of wish Diego could have stuck around long enough to get into airsoft. Those games would have gone from 2 even teams to Zafsk v Everyone else tk'ng him. Great way to vent your frustration with him.

Oh and to all the core gamers: if you don't want your chair I need one and I'll pay you for it.

[ESOS]

well i kinda saw this coming and i understand it as well... but thats not to say that its goign away forever we still get to get together and kick some arse.

oh and i have already claimed my chair i just got to pick it up... sorry bael.
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Moo Point - Like a cows opinion, it doesnt matter... It's Moo.
01000101 01010011 01001111 01010011

[Bael]

You're not the only one, hopefully out of all those chairs one won't find a home (I'm thinking Firewires is the best bet unless he wants to buy a plane ticket to bring it with him).

And yeah, it's not that shocking since the forums have been all but dead recently, bots excluded.

[Firewire]

Yeah bael you can have mine.

[Line]

Its been hella fun, to say the least. Its hard to believe time has passed so quickly. Seems like yesterday I was up at the log cabin gettin my POS acura stuck in the mud and gaming on my Dell laptop, onboard graphics and a Pentium 4 mobile proc, lol.

We've all gone from having tons of time, tons of money (no bills) to accepting responsibilities and growing up.

Sad day indeed.. Maybe in matrix's spare, spare.... spare time he can work on a MSLAN compilation video. Would be neat , and it must include that horrible photoshoped picture of hugheez I did and loaded on the server's screensaver when nobody was looking!

[Matrix]

Thanks for understanding everyone, and thanks for the feedback.

Indeed it wasn't a easy decision to come to.

And yes, the forums have been pretty dead lately. heck, its probably been a year since Striker has even been here! LOL
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---Matrix---
MSLAN Admin

The red pill it is, good choice.

[Melkor]

i'm gonna have to agree with everyone, and say MSLAN has been an absolute blast! I have had a great time with everyone in past events and get-togethers... and hope to continue to as life goes on.
Times have changed, we're all older now, have more responsibilities and what not... but i won't let that hinder me from enjoying whatever unfolds for the future of MSLAN...

...with the admin/core chairs, whenever they absolutely must go (the ones that are left) i'll see if they can be used at work/church.
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i think i like jeeps...

[reerun865]

Thanks coordinating all the events and i am sure that having an addition in the family puts a strain but kudos to you for all you have done. I haven been a homebody for the past year but i will be more active and i hope to get into some more action with you guys.
If any of you guys need anything just holler at me.