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Fragstock 1 was the first party over 20 people that I attended and did not help host myself. In my opinion, Fragstock 1 and 3 were pretty lame. I saw a lot of issues at those two parties that really sucked the fun out of being at the party. This latest Fragstock party had some good points, some bad points, and managed to correct some really BIG problems previous parties had. I'll cover the bad, and then get on to the good with improvements in the middle.

No personality. Fragstock has no flavor to it. I chalk this up to not having a good, clear communication from staff to attendees. There were two nice sized speakers set up in the center of the room, but their placement wasn't designed to clearly reach everyone. Noise pollution was very HIGH. Sound levels weren't enforced and speakers seemed to be the norm, not headphones. Anyone who did try to speak via the PA system, was annoying and ignored. Not because of what they said, but because no one could understand them clearly. Being heard as a staff member is important to keep people up to date, and to keep things under control. Perhaps requiring headphones for such a large party and placing the speakers to reach the entire floor would be better. And don't worry about blasting people with announcements when there's no tourney going on. It's more important to let people know what's going on than letting everyone play their music so loud.

While tournaments are not the single most important ingredient in a LAN party, they are pretty important. People who attend love to be ranked and see how they stack up against other attendees. At Fragstock there seemed to be no real organization or planning involving the tournaments. A muddled sound environment didn't help the staff announce tournaments either. I think most tournament participants wasted a lot of time waiting to find out what was happening, not knowing who or when they would play next. Not to mention never seeing a tournament bracket or knowing if the servers would be configured correctly. I think more planning and attention was in order for tournemants at Fragstock.

Prizes. I think there were 4 or 5 prizes. One of which was $1000. Need I say more? Get more prizes that rock. Everyone loves to get stuff. SirJev says there were some Razor mice handed out for tournament trophies. I had to leave before then, unfortunately.

Power was improved from previous parties. While there were a few power issues, I didn't spend 20 minutes with no power while staff struggled to find power. House power blew and that forced people to move some machines onto the main power feeds that had been set up for the party. And DHAC freaking unplugged my damn power one night while I was getting some shut-eye. That pissed me off, but wasn't anything near Fragstock's fault. Once power was in the room, there wasn't much to do. I'm just glad there was enough. This made all the difference and was my biggest complaint at previous Fragstocks. Way to go Fragstock staff!

Network was also much better. Despite a poor choice in running the server backbone at the same speed as the clients, there were only minor network issues. No down times or network outages. Lag spikes, some latency issues and a saturated T1 connection to the Internet were the only real bad points in the network layout. And considering the party and layout, it was a marked improvement from the past and could be made even better with a few small changes. Again, this really made the party more fun. Few things are as irritating as being at a LAN where the LAN isn't happening.

The layout was much nicer. Cables were kept off the floors and hanging wires didn't sag to the floor this time around. That was really nice when it came time to walk to the bathrooms or go visit some friends.

I really liked having access to the mall during the day. It made finding food really easy. I'm not too fond of paying $1.50 for a bottle of Bawls, but no one made me buy any. If the price were lower, I probably would have guzzled more.

As for the people who put Fragstock together. They have really made some improvements that made this Fragstock more pleasant than any other. I know Ouch and the rest really do want to host a good party and they do work hard to get Fragstock off the ground.

The people who attend Fragstock are pretty cool. Visiting with outLan and the other regular attendees is always a blast. There were lots of people there, which is always good. All in all, Fragstock was closer to a good party than at any other point in the past. While I'm not sure what Fragstock's goal is as a party, they aren't the worst party in the world. If anything, this 4th shot was enjoyable.

Here's some pics from Fragstock.

• The tunnel on the way there
• Entrance to Fragstock
• Watching PS2 and Dreamcast get it on
• Dreamcast vs PS2
• Dreamcast and PS2 side by side
• Exile making an appearance
• FathrTime
• Ro and Jess playing Soul Calibur
• Gouki at rest
• Gouki in action
• Grunge
• The Oop hummer
• Ro
• SirJev and Ro
• SirJev, Ro, and dhac's computers
• Turn off the lights!
• Where do I plug in?
• The view in front of me
• Packing up
• The whole enchilada!

PS: Fragstock staff, don't let Visceral in. He's a total jerk. He was supposed to be banned after almost starting a fist fight with outLan. But you guys let him back in. :(

since june 7 1999