You've heard rumbings about a kickstarter, seen twitter posts, saw it on TnT, and heard it on 2old2type, but now the official Chicago LAN annoucment is here. After 2 years the LAN will be back November 9-11 at the Hyatt Hotel in Schaumburg, Ill.
If you hadn't noticed, last year 2old2play decided to skip the LAN party due to a poor economy. A lot of people were pretty bummed and on a personal note I felt like we missed out on an opportunity to jump-start the community. There is no question that things around 2old2play have fragmented. Clans left, others isolated, and we lost the sense of overall community that we had in years past. The LAN always had a way of sealing these fragments and revitalizing us as a whole
So this time around we set out to create a LAN party for the community at large. In order to do this we felt the need to hold the LAN after a lot of new titles were released. Previous LANs were set in the middle of summer which generally meant a dead zone for new gamers. For 2012 we're holding the LAN just 3 days after the release of Halo 4 on November 9th -11th! This means a completely new game for the community to play on top of the other great titles coming this fall like Guild Wars 2, BorderLands 2, and others.
As mentioned above, Halo wont be the only game at our LAN either. We're looking for other community leaders and clan members to support their game. That means large Divisions like Forza, Mindcraft, CoD, BF3, and GOW3 will all be present. To help with this we're asking these clan and division leaders aid us in building events, races, and tournaments into our LAN schedule. So if you'd like to see your game at the LAN, shoot us an email admin@2old2play.com and let us know what your planning.
Paying for it all
As with all previous LAN parties there will be a fee associated with the LAN to cover 3200 Sq.Ft. of space, networking, cables, power, Monitor Rental, speakers, internet, and more. However this year we wanted to try something different. As you can see at the top of this email we've decided to use Kickstarter to fund the LAN. Kickstarter is an all or nothing funding platform where we're able to set a goal to reach and need to reach that goal before our 60 days are up. If we don't reach the goal, the money is refunded and the project fails. However if the goal is met we get to move forward and build the LAN we've been waiting for.
Even if you don't want to go to the LAN, we've tried to set up a ton of options for site members. Whether it's clan shirts, banners, or the removal of site ads we tried to put something within Kickstarter for everyone. We hope that this fund won't just help to build a LAN, but to also secure the cost of 2old2plays servers and development for the year to come. 2old2play has always survived on the generosity of our members and while ads do exist they do very little to carrry the burden server fees, coding, and hardware.
Clan Leaders Get in Free
Another thing we want to do to ensure more clan support is offer free admission to the LAN to any clan leader on 2o2p. It's important that clan leaders on 2o2p are given the tools to bring their clans together and hope this will be a way for them to take an opportunity to meet up with their members and other 2o2p gamers. All you have to do is be in a clan of 15 or more with a creation date before May 2012 and you're in for free. If you'd like your ticket send an email to admin@2old2play.com for more info. If you've already purchased a ticket to the LAN via our Kickstarter fund, then we will be sure to refund the cash upon request.
Hotel Accommodations
The LAN will take place at the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg, Chicago on November the 9th - 11th. Hotel reservations can be booked by using our group rates code at the following link: https://resweb.passkey.com/go/2Old2Play. Booking without using our group code means we are not properly counted for each night we stay which raises the cost of our LAN room significantly so please use this link! As for location, the Hyatt is situated in downtown Schaumburg and is only minutes away from Chicago's, O'Hare Airport. Transportation to the hotel must be done via cab service as there are currently no shuttle services available. For more information call 1-847-605-1234. Room rates for 2old2play include King Beds for only $75 a night with Doubles at $85. This is a nice change from our normal $120 rate we've paid at other hotels in previous years!
Lan Questions
If you have any other questions about the LAN, please don't hesitate to email us at lan@2old2play.com or better yet, visit both the KickStarter page or the 2old2play LAN page for more information. Also, feel free to leave a comment on the page as we plan to check it often with added information. Thanks so much for the support and I can't wait to see you all at the LAN!
P.S. On a personal note I'd just like to say thank you so much to all the clan leaders, division heads, writers, editors, admins, mods, and staff that help 2old2play to run. While members come and go you continue to stick around and keep 2o2p a place for older gamers to enjoy their hobbies. I know how tempting it can be to utilize the 2o2p resources and leave, but you continue to help us thrive. Though we often don't get the chance to game together one on one, we share a passion for gaming with the friends we've made. Whether 2old2play is 100 or 100k, I'll keep the lights on for ya. Thanks
- Jay "doodirock" Albert
