21 July, 2008

The Nerdery: s02e13: On WCG

My room is an absolute mess. Normally I have crap piled on my desk, but today the crap has found it's way to the floor. Unlike some days though, today is a particularly good day, as it just concluded a weekend that I look forward to: the World Cyber Games NZ Qualifier (aka xLAN).

For those not in the know, it's an annual event held in Auckland. The winners of some selected tournaments go on to compete in the APAC finals, and then the world finals (this year held in Germany). It's held on the weekend before the second semester starts back, people come on Friday and leave Sunday afternoon. Sleeping is optional, and very few people get over 12 hours of it. Many cans and cans of energy drinks are consumed. This year we had 760 people, so after crew, tournament computers and expo people, about 850 computers. About 900 amps of power was being constantly used, and you thought your last power bill was bad!

It's not all tournaments though, as many people come to just have a few fun games with their friends. And not to mention, there are quite a few of us from waiKato who are crazy enough to volunteer, but we all love it. Especially when Zapman (aka Daniel (congrats, 4th ever plug!)) starts to be... himself. I'm the network administrator, and It's no small job running an enterprise grade network comprising of computers you've never seen or configured before.

I strongly suggest anyone with an interest in computer gaming to come along next year, although you have to get in quick as seats sell out quite quickly. A splendid time is guaranteed for all. Ok, I'm going to end it here before my brain really goes to mush from tiredness (according to Google Docs this is 7th grade level writing... I'm very disappointed). And, finally, yes I did dance again. 4 times. Only one of them was any good IMO, I was very disappointed in myself, but if you wanna come back to my site in a few days, and I'll of hopefully uploaded it by then.