Can someone tell me something...

[Zemo]

Right, why the hell do Multiplay need sponsering?? They don't give out good prizes & charge £75 for 4 days... Surelly they are not that hard up for cash... I make it out they will make aprox £63,750 <--- for 850 ppl which they claim to have for the weekend, surelly that would pay for worldwide advertising & the whole event lol! But they still need sponsers! Erm??

When compared to other ways you can spend your weekend, we believe that the i-series represents excellent value for money. We must be doing something right to be sold out every event!

Erm yer ok, I could go on holiday for a week for that.
_______________________________________________
From Zemo :o
:madhatter

[Tom]

Complete n00bie doesn't do you justice!!

You would probably be right with that figure (although I thought it was £70 for the 4 days ?? ) BUT they have to spend that on certain things.

Think about it.. Newbury Race Course Stands dont come cheap I would imagine. So thats a large lump of that figure gone.

Then comes the Network Equipment. All of it is their own. Including the power supply and generators or whatever they use. To support 840 players, thats a lot of wiring ;)

Whats left of that sum has to go towards other switches that either need buying or repairing. The servers might need upgrading for better performance. There are too many things to think about. This also might go towards some staff at the event. Security etc.

So that sum has suddenly been reduced by quite a bit. I heard something that if they dont fill this place, MPUK hardly break even with the event. I'm not sure if that is true but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

I can remember I started off a thread about the price for i8 with it being 4 days instead of 3 and there were huge arguements about the price going up but then there was a single recurring comment.

For the service that the customers recieve at the i-series, I think the price is quite reasonable. It makes for an expensive weekend if you live quite a bit away from London (like muyself) but its certainly worth it. You get the oppertunity to meet people you only know a a bunch of pixels and the atmosphere at them is unbeleiveable. Better than anything you might get in your local Scout Hut.

There is food on the premises, drink is on the premises and showers too. What else do you need?? You barely have to leave your seat for the whole 4 days.

If you want to go on holiday for a week on £70, feel free. But you would be missing out.

[Zemo]

Yer, thats right i'm a newbie only been playing Online games for 7 years... Plus all that **** would not come to £64,000! (plus all the sponsership they have).
__________________________________________
From,
Zemo :o
:madhatter

[Tom]

Playing online games for 7 years means jack.

I means that for 7 years of your life you have been playing over the INTERNET.

If you had been playing at LANs for 7 years, then that would make it different. You probalby have been to LANs before but nothing like the i-series.

I am not sure about this but have you been to an i-series event before? Have you seen the current stand at Newbury?

If you have, you will probably understand that it isn't exactly small and the amount of equipment isn't small either.

If you haven't, its huge! To fit 840 players including PC's, servers, network equipment, power equipment and about 2000 Domino's pizza boxes (:)), its got to be big.

I strolled into the admin room at i7 and was amazed at the amount of PC's and equipment within that room.

Why Blueyonder have sponsored Multiplay, to be honest, I dont really know. They offer broadband services for online gaming and i suppose it comes reasonably close to LAN gaming. Low ping etc.

I understand that Blueyonder are aiming to get quite a lot out of i8 too. As in advertising and getting new customers. They will be having a stand or desk at i8 with some representatives of BY.

If BY give Multiplay money, I dont know. Nothing like that has been made public. The "sponsorship" word suggests that it is money but BY are able to supply other forms of sponsorship apart from Money. Internet connections perhaps, more servers etc. Nothing has been said apart from they are the sponsors. They might supply some prizes for i8 too (like Microsoft did). In what form, I dont know. All speculation here.

If you want to know how much it all costs, I would point you in the direction of Wizzo. Hes the p1mp who knows all about it.

[Tok'Ra]

OMFG. what in the hell are you on about ?

:rolleyes:

Why do they need a sponsor ?... FOOL

Well let me think...
A) Publicity for both parties
B) Publicity for both parties
and erm...
C) Publicity for both parties
...etc..etc..etc
Sponsors are NOT JUST for money.
Ohhh hell yes money does matter and that is pretty helpful from a sponser but thats not the be all and end all.

[Zemo]

Yer, I have been playing @ lans for the past 4 years... Been to The Playing Fields I don't know how many times...

I have a network & electrical company so I have a pretty good idea on how much it would cost to put a 'tempory' setup up (which the cables r used again & again, so cable cost is 1).

They probably get almost all the equipment from Sponsership... To promote the companies stuff they use.
________________________________________
From,
Zemo :o
:madhatter

[Tom]

Tokra has also hit another point,

Advertising

[Tom]

You say they get all their equipment from Sponsorship, they once did. They learned from their mistakes.

Now, Multiplay own all their equipment. Thats where the money goes!

Not into Wizzos back pocket.

Obviously, IBM (one of the old sponsors) let them down with some of the equipment so they invested money into the company to buy their own.

[Tom]

Zemo, I tell you what, join #multiplay on mIRC and take it up with the admins in there. They will at least be able to back up their claims with some evidence.

[Zemo]

Do you not have anything better to do with your life, been away for a hour & you've posted 3 new messages... Is your pc your life? If it is I find that rather sad....

The Reading festival is on the same weekend, so I am going to that.
_____________________________________________
From,
Zemo :o
:madhatter

[Jazza]

It's your choice, and your money. If you think it's a rip off, then don't go. Simple as that. If you want to play games for 4 days then come to I8.

Originally posted by Zemo
The Reading festival is on the same weekend, so I am going to that.
[/B]

[Tom]

Zemo, please notice the times on the post. All posted within 15 mins. Less than that.

Please notice these things before running your mouth about them.

Thanks.

To quote FH,

GG
WP
Thanks for coming.

[Big Giant Head]

You might also note that your figure of roughly 65k goes pretty quick

almost 15k goes just on VAT ;)

Then take away power infrastructure, venue costs for this number of people - believe me the price-size ratio is exponential, its not exactly a scout hut that's £30 for the weekend.

Then add everything else not just in the lan but outside and around it and the money goes pretty quick

At the end of the day I think its great value and will continue to go to them

if you don't think its good value then don't go but you'll miss out

That simple :)

[wishy]

Its a bloody expencive weekend, but local lans simply don't come close to it. If your that interested, go to comanies house type in "Multiplay Uk Ltd", pay your fiver and see how much they make, it aint much.

[Culture]

this old chestnut :)

Just as an aside, i told some of my friends at work (who play quake - yuk ;) ) about multiplay and a 4 day lan at newbury racecourse and they were "mmm sounds cool" when i told them how much it was they (and i do quote) said "Hey that's pretty cheap".

Its all about perspective, but when you start having to fund your weekends away and dont live at home then the cost of weekends takes on a whole new perspective.....

[Big Giant Head]

Well put cult

I rather quickly realised that with the time off work its gonna cost me more to go to i8 as staff than it would if I came as a player, with the time I have to take off work

Kinda puts the price for entry into perspective for me :)

[wishy]

I get nice paid holidays (4 weekends a year) :D The advantages it having a ****e job.

It really depends on what your used to doing, ticket cost can be nothing if you start drinking at newbury racecourse bar.

[LordPhil]

I think the deal is overall good. Wizzo and Co. have a life to live and that means wages. The business can't run by its self it neads some income. Newbury racecourse must cost alot by it's self, but think about the bar staff, security and everything else. It doesn't all come free.

If you don't like the prices just go away and let us get on with what we are doing.

Originally posted by - Big Giant Head -

Then add everything else not just in the lan but outside and around it and the money goes pretty quick

[Scarr]

Monk would be able to tell you more about the cost of this, but i believe they also have to pay to have the bars and food bits open which also cost them a bit of money.

[wishy]

You have to pay for the bar to charge 2.40 a pint?

[Space Cowboy]

Ahh, I love Capitalism.

[Cabe]

i dont, the bastards keep taking my money, why cant i just have computer components and high speed net access for free?

[LordPhil]

Thoose prices sux. Ten pints for £24, a rip off. Yeah but they do have to pay for the bar staff.

Originally posted by wishy
You have to pay for the bar to charge 2.40 a pint?

[wishy]

And beer, TV and music

[LordPhil]

Showers, heating, tables. The list will go on.........

[Cabe]

at least MPUK doesnt have to subsidise the Pizza Girls

[wishy]

Why is it no matter how the thread starts, it always ends up with pizza girls mentioned

[Tom]

Cos most of them are fit? :D

[wishy]

That'd be it

[TheGuyver]

Impressive.

it never ceases to amaze me that we have this one re-occouring thread over and over.

I think the others have done a sterling job of answering this persons questions. (wont stop me adding my 2 quids worth tho :P)

it doesnt take a lot to do 850 x 70 quid. congrats.

But then 60 of those people are staff....

- vat

then table and chair hire

then the sparkys to come install the Power we need ( guess what? they are an outside company too, with their margins)

Ah yes power... unless its changed we get charged per unit of power we consume over the lan.

Secuirty staff

Bar staff

Network cables... Well if you are in the business you will also know that you cannot just use the same cable, screwed around, tied up shoved in a box time and time again (unless u have questionable business practices) so its not just a one off cost. We do have a replacement plan, and we test all cables after an event. any that fail get ditched.

Power cables.. this isnt hired and at about 3 quid per metre (not including the power boxes) this is expensive. considering we have nearly 1/2 a ton of power cabling. How do we know its half a ton? well the tail lift very nearly didnt get the trolley onto the back of the lorry.

Oh, venue costs.... almost for got that one.

Public liability insurance. Premuim on that is quite nice :)

extra equipment, replacing old switches or ones that had drink spilled on them and took out a segment, replacing any aging servers that are not up to the job of providing top quality gaming service.

fgs the 2 main switches themselves come to more than i earn in a year!

Its very very easy to do 70 x 850. Ive been with multiplay since i2, and to put it bluntly i dont get paid. all of my holiday last year was put into MPUK events. dont get me wrong, im not complaining. I actaully like what i do very much or i wouldnt do it. and more to the point, if i thought MPUK were ripping off the gamer, providing a **** service etc. then i would not be working for them. I think its very safe to say that all the old crew staff feel the same way.

And why do we need sponsering? who knows, maybe we want to upgrade all the switches to 1gb fibre back bone. maybe we want to run larger events than we comfortably take on financially. Its not all about money you know.

You are entitled to your opinion, even if i feel its ill thought out. But please, give us a little bit of respect. Maybe even give one of our events a try. i dont think you will be disapointed.

Thanks

[Space Cowboy]

Amen.

[fossil]

Well put Ross...........

A Multiplay event is all about everyone having FUN, as soon as that stops then I think it will be time to quit.

If you don't have fun at our event then we want to hear about it please. Constructive critism only though.:angel2:

[Tom]

/me polishes his diplomatic skillz ;)

So really, Can I have +v now please? :D;)

[Wizzo]

Excellent thread... it's reminded me to ring up the builders of my new chateau on the south of france to check up on it's progress. Also those damn sunseeker layabots are taking forever with my new luxury yacht.

/me wonders if the thick sarcasm got across there :)

[Tom]

You have a chateau in the South of France??!! You kept that one quiet!! ;)

Now, about my +v.... :D:);)

[LordPhil]

I just saw the i8 advert on GameNetwork..... That must have cost them something:)

[fossil]

You wait till you see the new promo video that has been done - it is GREAT - can't stop playing it........

[Tom]

Fossil, do you know when the Promo Vid will be available?

Is it going to be the same as i7 where its available on the FTP on the last day of the event? :P

[LordPhil]

Do you know when it will be coming out?

Originally posted by fossil
You wait till you see the new promo video that has been done - it is GREAT - can't stop playing it........

[fossil]

I'm told it isn't finished yet, I just managed to get a preview of the first bit, which I think is brilliant and is quite funny.

Everything comes to he who waits, and it is well worth waiting for......

[wishy]

Lets have nice tight compression, none of this divx 4 windows rubbish, DivX 3.222 codec if you don't mind

[Cabe]

wishy i thought you liked it loose?

[LordPhil]

lol.....

[Tom]

/me hands a handbag to Cabe and Wishy

Now, I want a nice clean bitch fight.

LETS GET IT ON!

[Cabe]

/me just beats the **** outta Wishy fcuk the handbags.

[wishy]

/Me was talking about divx, F off cabe

[TheGuyver]

Well unless we have any major hitches we are aiming to release the promo around 8pm tonite. but i will warn you now, its probably going to be larger than the i7 one, since its longer and has more inside it.

Fine for isdn, asdl etc but those with a modem u might wanna fit a couple of more heat sinks to it... :)

it will of course be available at i8 :) Although this time not quite some many repeats on the Main screen eh Fossil/bof ? :)

So fingers crossed, tonite.

[LordPhil]

How big is it apporxametly? I only have a 56k so might struggle.

Originally posted by TheGuyver

Fine for isdn, asdl etc but those with a modem u might wanna fit a couple of more heat sinks to it... :)

[Tom]

the i7 promo was around 14.5 Meg so its gonna be bigger than that. Your looking at about. thats about 1-2 hours on a 56K (as long as it isn't being hosted off some pe0ns connection)

[LordPhil]

Thanks alot.... 2hours on 56k is fine. I'll do it while sleeping.

[TheGuyver]

http://www.multiplay.co.uk/content/videos/i8promo_divx.zip

only 10mb as well.

the brill version will be avalible to get at i8

[MONK]

Begger that I'll get whiteknight to bring it around on CD ;)

[Tom]

T'is well worth the wait Monk.

Its a good promo.

[Danykebab]

omg zemo
N00bIE
if u havent been to a i-series lan then shut - cause this is newbury racecourse we are talking about, it has showers to old ladies coming around in the morning picking up all ure **** off the floor and on U!!!! :)
newbury racecourse would cost ALOT to hire out!
when u goto 1 then ull understand what i meen cause it i F 'in HUGE!!!!!!!!!!
:0

[Reborn Phoenix]

Hmmmmz, thanx for the input Dany. ;)

[MONK]

Bloody good video :D

d/l in the end had so many people telling me to do it :)

Two old ladies picking stuff up!.... well thats got me going ;)

[Tom]

Two old ladies picking stuff up!.... well thats got me going

Two old ladies?? Did I miss something??

No doubt I probably did... ;)