Minnits - 29th November 1999

Mon 29 Nov 1999 Meeting Minutes

Compsoc Exec Minnits

29th November 1999

Attended

Contents

1: Gaming on Uni Computers

The letter to CSV has been sent, Chris Smith to check pigeon hole for a possible reply, and to Mike about a follow-up email to the letter. The suggestion was made that investigations into using the SU computers might be useful.

2: Dreamcast demo by Sega

Nothing new was added.

Chris Smith to mail Sega, Baz to mail Ben Carter, Mike to mail his games developing friend.

3: LAN Party

This was seen by all to be a roaring success. 13 people turned up, with only a few problems; one network card problem, and one (not unusual) Win98 problem. This was a lot better than anticipated. A big thankyou to Ben Carter for printing IP/IPX address cards and idiot sheets - this was most useful!

However, the exec noted some room for improvement. Significat time wasa spent installing software, which could be eliminated if fore-knowledge of the games that are going to be played can be distributed to the participants. The exec suggested an on-line voting system for popular games, and event sign-up on the website. This is to be the responsibility of the new webmaster. This is dependent on getting the SU webspace up-and-running.

The exec decided that next term than LAN parties could be scheduled on a regular basis, i.e. every even week, with a tournament about week 6, and an Allnighter. This would hopefully involve staying up all night, but an alternative would be a weekend event, where computers are locked in overnight. The details of this are to be researched. (Chris Smith has already been told that a ‘lock-in’ in Meeting Rooms 4/5 is not possible).

The exec decided that the LAN parties should be kept members-only, but that anybody wanting to play can sign-up on the day etc at the SU reception.

Another observation, was that not all computers underwent a virus-check before connecting to the LAN. This is to be more strictly enforced next time. The exec noted that the capacity of the rooms was not even close to being reached, and that they hope to attract more members once the parties become more regular and start getting a following. Also, the exec recommends that members with cars park in the short-stay car park as opposed to parking right outside the Union, as one member was threatened with a fine for doing so.

One other note, was that exec could purchase spare networking equipment, just enough to cover any unforseeable problems (such as the network card problems experienced at the last social). It was decided to buy 1 spare network card, and about 3, 2m bits of BNC cable.

4: Treasure Hunt

This was decided to consist only of item gathering, due to the greater simplicity of divising the treasure hunt, and the lack of a need for people to stay in a particular location to give teams their next clue. An example of the kind of tasks, is that teams get 1 point for each beermat collected.

The social is to start at 7pm, and consist of a normal pub social for an hour whilst the exec waits for stragglers, explains the hunt and gets people into groups. Entry is to be 50p, with a 45ukp prize for the winning team of no less than 3 people. The date for the hunt is to be Wednesday week 10, and entries will not be accepted after 12pm. However, entries will be accepted until 12:30 but will incurr a 10% penalty.

5: New Webmaster

The applicants for the job were: J.S.McCarthy, Michael Sackur amd Phil Ross. The exec voted 2 in favour of Phil Ross, with 2 abstentions. This was because of Phil’s experience with ASP’s, which can be used from the Union web space. Chris Salmon to mail Phil with society account details, and the other two to notify them of our decision.

Phil’s responsibilities are to involve (among other things):

It was agreed that Phil should have a free reign on the site and it’s implementation. However, it was decided that any visible changes (i.e. style changes) to the site should be check by the exec first.

6: Prospective Socials for next term

Possible, unscheduled events: Laserquest Soc games, night event in Zippy’s (though this was decided to be very administratively tricky, with the need to organise some women attending), Gaming at CSV/SU, Dreamcast talk (or other), Computer Trade shows.

Baz to mail LaserQuest Soc for more info about team entrance and commitment.

7: Treasurer

Chris Smith to mail the members to offer the job of treasurer.

8: Lan Soc

Chris Smith to post the society’s reply to the proposed LAN Soc.

h5.

The next meeting is set for Mon 6th at 14:00, meeting at the Fyshbowl.