Every event, we collect your feedback. For epic.THREE this was through speaking to people at the event, our surveys and from the forums.

We collect this feedback, not just to give you an opportunity to say what you thought about the event, but so that we can go away, consider it and make actual improvements to make sure that you all keep coming back to our LAN Parties.

However, we're also quite honest when there is feedback about something that either we cannot fix, or do not feel that changing that particular aspect would work for our events, we hope that you appreciate our being honest in these cases and explaining our reasoning.

We've now gone through all of your epic.THREE feedback with the team and also with the venue and can now confirm some of the improvements we'll be making for our next main LAN in July.

Systems Developments

Big Screen

This was a new system for epic.THREE which was web based to allow easier updating of the screens and live queries of gameservers and in fact the network as a whole for running servers. Further usability improvements are scheduled in to make it easier to read and we’ll look at relaying on a few other screens in the venue now we know what we need in terms of connections. For the time being we wont be adding the option for users to upload items to the screen as we need to focus our development time elsewhere.

Music Control

Again, this was a trial for epic.THREE, the concept worked but with some implementation issues. The system will be re-written to cache the tracks, make it easier to navigate etc. There will not be the function for users to upload their own music as that would involve file sharing which would not be legal.

Internet

Unfortunately, we had issues routing over one of our internet connections which we hope to resolve by epic.FOUR. The internet connection is not provided for online gaming and traffic is prioritised to make sure that games can authorise on platforms such as Steam, followed by web browsing, IM and IRC. Anything else really is a bonus and without significant investment we can’t just throw a bigger internet connection in. We’ll continue to improve our traffic prioritisation to keep a stable network.

Message Pop-Ups

We are currently working on an application which you will be able to install and run at the events which will relay message announcements via a pop-up on your screen. This application will be optional but will allow people to have a visual confirmation of any announcements as well as those over the PA system.

Event Development

Hunt Question Balance

We apologise for some of the last hunt questions, unfortunately the pressure of moving into a new venue meant some of our questions were rushed. Murray-Mint will be looking after the hunt and coordinating the questions much earlier on. The hunt will still be a bit “wtf out-of-the-box” full of cryptic thinking though, we know not everybody likes that sort of thing, but that’s what the hunt is about!

‘Social Games’ (Werewolves etc)

These definitely have a place at our events, but we don’t feel as though “scheduling” them into the timetable would be the right thing to do. The timetable is already quite comprehensive and these sort of games provide down-time for people and are more down to participants to organise themselves spontaneously!

Music – Speaker Locations

We increased the number of speakers for epic.THREE to put one in each corner, rather than concentrating the sound all from one end of the room, unfortunately people ended up sitting next to the speakers who didn’t want to at this event. The seating plan now has the locations of the speakers on so people can pick where to sit accordingly.

BBQ

There wasn’t a BBQ in February because...it was February! It will be back for the July event with the usual world of meat.

Console Area

The location for this worked well, unfortunately the speakers from the main hall kept getting pointed at the console area. Now that the speakers are on the seating plan, people will know that they are sitting next to the speakers and we would ask that they are not moved during the event to keep the sound as balanced as possible around the room. We are going to look at some cosmetic improvements to the console area and see if we can afford to replace the projector with something a bit brighter.

DJ Face Off

Sorry to those who missed this because it was late in the night. Watch this space for details on similar activities at epic.FOUR

Voice Comms

Local voice comms servers were made available later during the event, specifically Mumble as there are licensing issues with some of the other providers. We will be making sure these are available from the start of the event next time.

Shop “food”

Unfortunately we wont be selling things like sandwiches and microwavable food from the shop area. It is too risky for us to buy in fresh food that will go off if it isn’t sold and with Tesco and the town centres only within walking distance we’ll leave those sort of sales to the supermarkets.

Netting obscuring staff

This was something that was done to give character to the event, and we thought it looked pretty good! But it did obscure the staff from view which meant that people may not have been seen while waiting to be served, it wont be back for epic.FOUR.

Venue Issues

Showers

We have followed the shower issues up with the venue and will be looking at an alternative shower provider for epic.FOUR as well as more regular cleaning and some matting outside. However some responsibility is of the participants. It’s only fair for you all to give the showers a quick rinse down as well when you’ve finished ready for the next person.

Sleeping Room Leak

This has been reported and will be fixed shortly.

Sleeping Room Heat

Won’t be a problem in July, especially with the leak fixed. We did arrange for some extra heaters and checked the permanent ones when this was reported after the first night. Unfortunately on the first evening, the doors were left open for quite a long time for various reasons and we had an unusually cold February this year which mean the room didn’t hold the heat. We don’t anticipate any problems with this next time.

Breakfast Variety/Pricing/Times

A different catering provider will be brought in for breakfasts and we will negotiate a menu and pricing options with them. As staff are being brought in for the serving, unfortunately it’s difficult to negotiate cheaper prices and longer servings so it is likely to remain as 9am-11am, plenty of alternative food options are available in town for later breakfasts and other meals.

Other Meal Times

As above really, people like to make their own food arrangements at events with meals out, self-catering and takeaways. Breakfast is normally well utilised because many of these options aren’t available, but the take-up of later meals would be very small and it is not worth outside caterers coming in to provide such a low number of meals. We will ensure that we get up-to-date takeaway menus for the local providers and see if we can negotiate any discounts on your behalf for those suppliers.

Toilet Tap Temperatures

These have now been checked by the racecourse and we are assured are operating within acceptable ranges.

Plates/Cutlery/Microwave/Kettle Be Available

Unfortunately it seems people did not find the microwave/kettle etc that was provided, so we’ll look at improving the notices/information to make sure this does not happen again, however we would emphasise that the intranet is full of useful information like this! We wont be providing metal cutlery, proper plates etc, as things don’t get washed up and we don’t have access to full kitchen facilities. We will continue to provide disposable plates/cutlery free of charge but we would ask that people do throw these away when they’ve finished their meals and don’t just leave them lying around for the staff to clear up.

Bar

The bar prices may appear steep, but again to have the longer opening hours, staff wages to cover etc. and the convenience then prices are going to be higher than some northern pubs! The prices were negotiated down from the normal raceday prices quite considerably and if you bear in mind that they only had 100 people to serve at the LAN, compared to 1000s at the racedays we feel that this was still quite a reasonable price.

Bring Own Chairs

Just to clarify, it’s fine to bring your own chairs. You did have more row spacing than we would normally allow because of the numbers at the event this time, but even with our normal spacing people have had enough room to bring their own chairs before.

Toilets

These were being cleaned twice per day by the venue cleaning staff as well as regular checks from our team. Unfortunately some people seem to struggle with their aim without a crosshair and aimbot. We’ll keep to our checks and cleaning, but again would ask that people help us out by cleaning up after themselves.

Bin bags on desks

We agreed this worked well on the first day and will make sure that we continue this through the event.

Lights in Eyes

Sorry if this affected anybody at the event, where people notified us we re-adjusted them very quickly. If this happens at future events, please let us know there and then and we’ll sort. One of the reasons for having the coloured lighting is partly atmosphere, but it also allows us to maintain a minimum safe and constant light level throughout the event rather than having the nasty fluorescent lights on and off throughout.

Music During Announcements

Agreed that we need to make sure staff cut the volume when making announcements, will make sure some training is done on this at the next event.

Smoking Bins

There were actually 2 smoking bins provided in that area, one portable, one on the wall. Some people decided not to use them, again, please help us out by putting the ends in the bins provided. We’ll also ask that smokers use the area next to the locked doors rather than the open doors to prevent the smoke coming into the venue.