I wana make a LAN party

[broken&confused]

Ok, so my friend steve was over at my house to help fix my compuer and give me linux, and we had our computers on the ground, and our LAN was stretched across the floor, and he just said, "dude, your house would be perfect for a LAN party" So i've done some reserch and thought about it, but i don't really feel satisfied with the info i've gotten.
Here are some of my SPESIFACATIONS:
I have 2 bigish rooms (one of them used to be a 2 car garage) that it could be in that are right next to each other. (i will upload screanshots later if i can)
I live next to an office depoet in case of emerginces
I live next to a McDonalds
My school has a video game club, so i can find plenty of people to come
I don't know which games i should use, but i know i want one RTS, and one FPS
I am 17, so i live at my mom's house, and this could mean that it is not allowed at all, so i have to put the LAN party in a favorable light, since she will probably not be able to sleep that night...
I want people to bring their own stuff, and buy their own food and drinks
I will probably want it to take place some weekend in november.

QUESTION
Could i get people to bring their own hubs, and connect them to just a couple of phone lines via splitters?

I can't remember anything else right now, cus its kind of late, and i don't feel to good, cus i ate too much ham.
Pleese give me some helpful sugestions, and lead me in the right path.

[Cellus]

Well I've had the luxury of participating in several "house" LANs during the past few years, so I'll help with some personal observations and tips.

First thing you want to do, above all else, is get your parents permission. There's no use setting up a LAN and hosting it in your house if your mother says "No." You will want to find out beforehand approximately how many people may be attending - your parents may enforce a limit on the number of people, so find out how many can come and then clear it with your parents. You will also want to set some firm house rules and make it clear to everyone involved. For example:

* No alcohol
* No horseplay
* Fair play at all times. That means no cheating by peeking at other people's monitors during play (aka. "LAN Hacking"). Sportsmanship is required.
* All computers brought to the LAN are to have any serious problems resolved and must run anti-virus and anti-spyware scans before being brought to the LAN. You do not want your LAN to stall because someone's computer is continuously Blue Screening or trying to infect other computers on the LAN. Believe me when I say it has been an issue at LANs enough times to warrant this house rule.
* No downloading, torrenting, or streaming over the Internet without express permission (to conserve available throughput and bandwidth).
* Everyone must bring:
-Their computer, plus monitor, mouse, and keyboard.
-A CAT5e or better ethernet cable (two if possible for a spare).
-Some snacks/drinks if possible (if food isn't to be provided, then a potluck is recommended).
-A power bar.
-Their games.
-Deodorant (no joke, bring it).
-A good attitude, and the willingness to have fun.
(addition)* Insurance that all attendees have a way of getting home afterwards. When the LAN is over, no one should be left to "couch surf" at your place unexpectedly.
(addition)* All allergies and medical conditions are to be known beforehand, and all preparations to ensure a safe LAN are in place.

Make sure to run through a checklist before you even start to organize the LAN:

* Do I have enough space for all the people, computers, and their things?
* Do I have enough tables and chairs?
* Do I have enough power outlets? Can I run all these computers on all these outlets without blowing a fuse/breaker? (ie. are some on separate circuits, etc).
* Can I run the Internet through the room?
* Do I have enough switches/hubs to network all the computers together?
* Is there enough ventilation in the room?
* Do I have enough games to play?

If you can not provide all the above articles, some can be provided by other attendees (eg. games, switches/hubs, network cables, power bars, etc). As for the Internet connection, the real question is what kind of Internet and plan with your ISP you have. For most home Internet connections, you may not be able to play on any Internet game servers if there are too many people.

When it comes to games, have at least two you know for sure everyone will want to play. Make sure you check with all attendees beforehand if they are willing to play these games at the LAN with everyone.

And above all, have fun!

[Nik00117]

Heres how we do it for house lans

The person hosting typically have his own switches, and a supply of cables. Our club however pitches in to buy new switchs, and so forth.

A tip stick to switches they make life easier and keep to a simpleton netwokring scheme.

Don't do a open invite for a house lan, only invite how poeple you can plus a few extra (poeple always drop out and if they don't just ensure you can ford to house them with a few mods)

Our ground reules are this

1. No internet, internet ruins LANs
2. No touching other poeples stuff PERIOD
3. No cheating, no hacking
4. No porn (varies on age group i've been to lans where they are fine with it but typically for your age group stick to no porn) in our main event this applies to folders that are shared etc.

Besides that not much I can say, but in my eyes expecting poepple to bring cat5 cables and hubs/switchs is unrealstic. Esp hubs and switches. I would suspect you woudln't get to many poeple, you could simply buy a 16 or so man hub maybe get a 20 or so.

[broken&confused]

Um, could anyone give me some tips on how to ask my mom about the LAN party, since it kind of means that she won't be able to sleep...at all that night.

Could I have a couple of my closer friends bring hubs, and have people try to bring their own cables? I have a computer store right next to where i live, so if someone forgot, we could force them to pay up, and pay for one. A small note: I don't really want to charge myself anything, or the other people anything unless absolutely necessary (aka, i'me cheep)

[Indoril Nerevar]

Hi,

First important thing you have to note: you can't have a free LAN party. As the host, you're going to have to pay for some things. Generally, the host is expected to have the hubs, cables, tables, chairs and food. You can get away with making everyone buy their own food, and maybe asking them to bring a network cable or two, but since it's your LAN party, it's your responsibility to make sure you have all the necessary bits to make it work. People are bound to show up without a network cable, for example, so it's best if you make sure you have spares of everything. Just as you can't buy a new computer without paying money, you can't host a LAN party without paying money. You can always ask your close friends to pitch in and help, but you can't rely on the guests to bring the requirements for your LAN.

Secondly, you're the only person who knows how best to ask your mother, as you know her better than we do. However, I would just be honest with her - tell her what you want to do, tell her you realise it will be rather noisy, but that you really want to do it, and would very much appreciate her allowing it. One of the rules she may impose will be a curfew - she may say you need to end the LAN by a certain time.

[ebackhus]

It'll be pretty easy to do. If you're planning a LAN party you'll first need electricity. The room(s) you'll be using should have only 2 computers for every one outlet. Use NEW surge protectors for every machine and make sure the room(s) has/have adequate cooling. You'll also want to invest in a basic router and a hub with at least 8 ports. Make sure cables are routed BEHIND desks/tables and not across the floor as that's a trip hazard.

Game on!

[broken&confused]

Ok... i think i am coming up with a good asking strategy, and I am actually starting to look at things realistically. Could i have a small entrance fee, and tell people beforehand that if they forget things, they would have to pay a small amount of $ to rent one for me (so i could get extra funds), and could i sell energy drinks for more funds?

[1 g0t 0wn3d]

Go for it =) charge like $3 for a monster

[Fox]

Hi B&C!

Just ask around to see if anyone has network hardware already. It's probably the case, and you don't want to buy something you already have access to. It seems no matter how prepared LAN'ers think they are, they always forget something, be it a power cable, power strip, etc.

And as far as asking your mom: Just be totally upfront about it. Pick a night where she won't mind much anyway, and let her know it'll be loud. Usually works pretty well.

[broken&confused]

ok, now that i believe i understand all of the planing, how do I make the networks? Does it depend on the game? (Sorry for being such a noob, but i usually don't play online)

[Cellus]

When it comes to networking, so long as everyone is hooked up to a hub or switch (not a router), you should be fine when it comes to using a game's LAN function. The only problem you may come across is someone's Personal Firewall on their computer (especially Norton Internet Security - you can turn the firewall and Internet Worm Protection off, everything off, and it will still log that it is actively blocking!). Personally at LANs what I usually make sure is done is have the connection to the Internet severed so it becomes an isolated, closed network and have everyone turn off their Personal Firewall. It beats troubleshooting why one person or another can't see/connect to a game.

[broken&confused]

ok... whats the difference between a hub and a router? Cus i know i already have 8 slots that i can comendear, but i am not sure wether they are from hubs or routers.

[ebackhus]

A hub will shuffle traffic between devices but cannot assign IPs. A router will actively assign an IP to each connected device and route traffic from a data source like an ISP.

[Nik00117]

Use a switch its fast easy painless and effective.

A switch will use your MAC addressses which you do not configure to do the switching therefore theres no hassle with assiging and getting a router up or the collisions a hub causes. I have done a lan on a hub and I found once we passed 10 poeple or so it got exessivelly lagging my best guess is that collisions (because hubs are stupid and don't direct traffic) that was causing lag.

So get a switch and use that very easy to set up, make sure everyone disables firewalls etc.

[broken&confused]

Um, just ran into a slight problem: people at my school don't belive lan parties should have fees involved with them, and i'me not willing to buy a $50 pice of equipment that i am only going to use for parties, especially since i don't have a job. So i'm probably going to have problems with networking, and making sure i have all the equipment. Ok... I probably then can't have too many people... maby only 8. It will be a smallish lan party, but thats all i can do when people are cheep (including myself). If anyone has any sugestions on how to counter this, be my guest to help, but i think that i have most of what i need now. My mom probably woundn't have wanted people i didn't know over at all to come anyways...

[Fox]

Don't buy your switch new; get it from a surplus store or off ebay.

My university sells used 16-port switches for 5 dollars. You can find them on ebay for a bit more (+shipping).

For instance: this one

That way, you could ask them to just bring food and LAN cables, and the cost would be about even.

[broken&confused]

THATS AWESOME!!!!!!!
Thanks for the tip! Mua ha ha, i can start actual planing now!...once i get time...