LAN Party at a High School?

Coolnat2004 asks: "I'm a high school student and a member of our technology group. Our school needs extra money for our technology, and I thought that a LAN party would be an effective, and exciting, solution. How can we make a great LAN party with the supplies at hand and make a profit while doing it? We have a network, but not a large enough room with enough ports. We're most likely going to create a detached network for the party, but don't know how to set it up because we have limited supplies. I guess we could seek a sponsorship from a local company, but that is unlikely to happen. Any suggestions on network layout, power layout, and general party to-do's?"

Comments

Why do you need money?

[scythian]

What exactly do you need to raise money for? Can your group exist without fundraisers, or can you get funding directly from the school?

Groups are a lot more fun when money isn't a big issue. Yes, I know it's tough, but if you try to cut out things like "rewards for officers" or whatnot, clubs are easier to run.

Local Business

[np_bernstein]

Seriously man, try local business first. Highschool is hard enough; if you're the kid responsible for organising a lan party to raise money for the technology group.... that's like waiving a flag that says 'kick my ass'. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing actually wrong with the idea, and the people who will give you shit now will be talking about how selling cars is rewarding at the 10-year reunion, but you've got a good shot of getting money by going around and finding companies in your town that work in the technology area who would be willing to cut a check, so why deal with it.

Ask the kids.

[MagneticMountain]

Most kids in High School that are into technology should have most of the stuff you need. Try to find a few leaders that are interested and have they ask students to see if they have cables, hubs and other networking gear that they would want to lend. Maybe let the people that allow stuff to be used to play for free or cheaper as well.

Re:Consider It Carefully

[Tr0mBoNe-]

I agree with this statement. Often, the LAN parties need to be run in structures that are designed for it. I know in Halifax, where I live, we have a few buildings designed, and fully stocked for small scale lans. These are rentable for a modest fee, and if you play your cards right, you can mark it up a bit and make a few bucks.

LAN parties have never been known a profit magnas, so I would suggest something different. Mabey some sort of sale/car wash. They tend to produce some modest buckeroos, and are considerably easier to make.

At my university, we have regular LAN parties, but we use classrooms that are wired with gigabit LANs and all the security we need from the university. Since each student gets a decently powered laptop, it's simple to run and the gamers just bring their computers with any prefiera they want. ,mmmmmmm cookie bake sales....

First we need to break down your question(s)

[cdrudge]

I'm a high school student and a member of our technology group.

It's easier to just say "I'm a geek." It's more to the point and doesn't make it seem like you are trying to disguise what you really are.

Our school needs extra money for our technology, and I thought that a LAN party would be an effective, and exciting, solution.

All public schools need extra money for technology. It's part of the requirement for being a public school I believe. That being said, a LAN party is going to raise about 2.98 for technology after you pay for expenses. No food, no drinks, no prizes...no people.

How can we make a great LAN party with the supplies at hand and make a profit while doing it? We have a network, but not a large enough room with enough ports. We're most likely going to create a detached network for the party, but don't know how to set it up because we have limited supplies.

You are going to have to find one or more switches with enough ports. A 24 port unmanaged switch will cost $60+ bucks. You could get by with more switches with fewer ports, but then becomes a hassle with getting everything wired. You'll also need Cat5 cable ($40/1000 feet at Lowes) and RJ-45 connectors (prices vary depending on how many you buy). Also some crimpers...and some time to crimp a bunch of ends.

I guess we could seek a sponsorship from a local company, but that is unlikely to happen. Any suggestions on network layout, power layout, and general party to-do's?

(Extended) Star topology 100baseT will be more then enough for what you are doing. For power, you will have to see how the room is wired. If the room is normally a computer room, you should be fine. If it's a class room, you could start tripping breakers depending on how many computers you have running.

You also are going to have to get permission from the school system, provide security, as well as likely get a teacher to act as a sponsor. Without this, and with no outside sponsorship, your idea won't go anywhere.

Re:Consider It Carefully

[Otter]

To be a little more optimistic, maybe what you want to do is start small. Instead of trying to make money, try organizing a school LAN party, for free or minimal expenses. If you can make that fly a few times this year, then it's time to start thinking about opening up to a larger audience and maybe trying to make some money.

Think about all the posts from dysfunctional-sounding people here -- do you want do have a learning experience at the expense of your friends' afternoon and three dollars apiece, or at the expense of some rabid nerd with no empathy or patience?

Do X-box LAN Party

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't really to buy extra hardware with xbox LAN party. I am sure your school has a TV in every classroom. Bring in a TV from home (or move a TV from another class), connect 2 xbox to the TV, then have 2 Halo2 multiple players game going.
you would need a teacher to "sponsor" you though.
some high school kids would rather play on xbox than on PC.
that's really cheap set-up for 8 players, considering what it would otherwise cost with PCs..

Re:Do X-box LAN Party

[keyshawn632]

I'll second this one. At my high school, one of the clubs was able to have semi-profitable and successful Halo and Madden tournaments [using consoles].

This way, the equipment is 'standardized' so fear of hacks/cheats is less than PC; as well as the kids don't have to haul in a $500+ computer [instead a console no more than $300].
Plus, instead of one huge room of a LAN, there can be multiple classrooms, where one segment or bracket [of 4-8 people @ a time] can be held, as the tourney progresses.

As you should know as well - most geeks are recluse ! This means to have flyers displayed around school and get some exposure on the school announcements. /Linux troll

Or you could just use your Comp. lab, get a bunch of knoppixgames discs and have a bzflag tourney. Any kid capable of reaking havoc on that network should already be your ally :p

LANs don't make money

[badnova]

Simply put it's very hard to make money from a lan. I've been involved in several large scale lans (500+ people) and with venue costs, equipment costs, food costs, transportation costs, and a million and one other little costs that you haven't even thought about, it all adds up to a pricey sum, which means you have to set the ticket price to be very high if you want to make anything. I'm not saying it can't be done; I'm just saying it's not as easy as you might imagine. There's a lot more to it than putting up some tables and stringing together some switches.

Re:Consider It Carefully

[dougmc]

too, that a LAN party can be a logistical nightmare;

It gets worse. How do you think the school board will react when they learn that people are playing games that involve people shooting guns at each other? (I assume you won't all be playing Mario Kart or the equivilent?)

How will the school feel about people who aren't students (I assume you won't restrict it to students) using the faculties? What if something goes wrong, either inside or out? A fight? Stolen equipment? (happens a lot when it's not just a bunch of friends) People smoking pot outside? (and trying to smoke (hopefully just tobacco) inside?)

Or suppose that the principal decides to come down and make sure everybody has a legitimate copy of each game they're playing?

Seriously, this doesn't sound like something the school would ever permit if they fully understood what they were getting into. And if you get them to approve it without them knowing what they're getting into, you run the risk of big trouble if things go wrong -- and the odds of that are pretty high, unless it's a small informal thing with just your friends, which isn't likely to generate any money whatsoever.

Re:Dear Slashdot,

[Bill Walker]

Out of curiosity, what topic for Ask Slashdot would be acceptable to you? It seems that every time we have one of these someone questions the motives of the asker.

It's not like he's asking us to give him a brief history of computing, with bibliography. He needs help from people with direct experience in an esoteric pastime, and I think he's come to the right place.

Christ, please, just once, give something the benefit of the doubt. Not everyone is out to take advantage of you.