Event!? Hopefully! =)

Hi guys

I'm Vincent, I'm a volunteer leader with Initi8 at the Student's Union and I basically would like to ask if you guys are interested in being involved with an event.

I'm planning to host an e-world cup FIFA style in The Pulse sometime after the Easter break to help fundraise for NORSACA which is a Trent endorsed RAG charity.

I've spoken with Aaron Lee; the Gaming Editor for Platform Magazine at Trent and he said he is happy to provide coverage for the event in Platform, as well as send a message to EA's corporate responsibility department to ask for a few copies of FIFA 2010 as prizes.
I've also got a contact for PC world at the union to ask for prizes for an event.

Basically, it will be the 32 teams going to South Africa this year up for grabs.
Top seeded teams such as England and Brazil are worth 5.00 GBP to enter into the tournament with.
Second seeded teams like the USA are worth 4.00 GBP to enter with
Unseeded teams such as Slovakia (France and Portugal inclusive) will cost 3.50 to enter with.

The seeding will take place very officially and transparently should the event take off and it will be as reflective of real life as possible. The tournament will take place in The Pulse at a yet to be decided time and the students union has very kindly offered to give me the venue, projector screen and a PS3 console up for loan for the event.

I will also draw up a registration form, rules list and other paperwork that needs to be done

Basically, if you are interested what I would need from you guys are
- additional PS3 consoles if you have them (I need these as I'm trying to get my hands on some from all places)
- additional TVs if you have them (not as important, but still useful for the event)
- to promote the event within the society and get as many gamers to volunteer for the event.

In exchange, what's in it for you guys!?
- all gamersoc members get discounted prices when opting to choose teams
- Coverage of the gamers society within platform magazine
- Event easily made for all the e-football players within the the society
- At the event, Gamers society insignia and designs can be set up around the Pulse as well as a sign up stand for Gamersoc
- The event will be promoted as "in conjunction with" the gamers society and therefore you guys will be spread about through the Initi8 newsletter
- something to boost your CV with as you will be provided a Monitoring Form at the event should you sign up to confirm your voluntary involvement in fundraising.
- A fun time!

I will send this to RadicalEwok or Geoffrey Jackson Hicks via his e-mail as I've got them from the societies co-ordinator at the union but I do hope you guys are interested in it at least! It would be quite difficult to pull off without you guys. I'm actually also a member of the Gamers Society officially and I've been to the first ever meeting and none after that because I've been so busy but I know what you guys are like, so it is with confidence that I approach you guys.

If you do need to get back to me, please call 07794614839 or e-mail n0255301@ntu.ac.uk

Thanks! /endwalloftext
Vincent Au
Initi8 Project Leader

Hey! Speaking as an offical member for two years \o/

As a society I dont think we are that big on football games, I would guess that the consensus would be an appreciation more for first person shooters and possiby beat 'em up games - which translate easy to tournaments too.

Personally I am god awful at FIFA / PES, but would gladly take part and fail horribly!

Scanned your post, couldnt find a proposed date... some of us third years are kinda busy with dissertations and stuff with deadline being end of April, so was wondering what the proposed date was for this?

But yeah, I'm sure a few members will be up for it as we have been talking about doing some form of gaming for charity.

Hey Amaya.

Can I just say that in my original consideration for the event, the game that I chose was Guitar Hero because I felt it was much more sociable and I personally prefer Guitar Hero to FIFA although I'm not good at it myself.

I did feel that the Gamers society isn't too keen on FIFA and that's perfectly understandable but my objective is just to raise as much as I can and I feel that a game like FIFA which is more well known would attract more people to it as opposed to Guitar Hero.

That, and I play Guitar Hero very casually and I wouldn't know how to formulate a tournament for it myself. I'm also a bit worried on how many people would show up to FPS and beat em up games.

Can I say though that since this is still in the idea stage, I'm open to suggestions.

Regarding a proposed date. I'm going to go out on a limb here and give a very, very rough estimate of anywhere between 20th-27th of April. I understand you guys have deadlines and work comes first, but this event shouldn't last more then 2 hours and being a first year, I will do most of the organization myself, I just need to procure equipment and promotion.

Anyway, it's good to hear that you guys are interested in bring gaming and charity together because one of my ideas was actually Guitar Hero jam-about with young carers Nottingham but it didn't materialize because they never got back to me. I will ask you guys again though should an oppurtunity arise.

Also, could someone bring this to the attention to someone in the GamerSoc committee? You probably are one Amaya, judging by your tenure with Gamersoc, but yeah I'd like to know if you guys are interested in it.

Thanks!

Now this is something I can use to get the Uni off my back about extra-curricular activities.

I'd like to say I'm a dab hand with FIFA. Played ISS2 for a while, got Ukraine to win a big hoodoo match or something. Whenever someone at my college brought in their GCN or 360 there would always be a football game along with it, so I got some practice in. Also good with Guitar Hero, pity that idea never came to fruition.

April time is ok, I think. I dunno, might need to get some revision going, plus got some coursework to do, and my exams start at the end of May. But 2 hours would be fine.

Only problem I might have is that this could be made into a 'big thing', as in everyone talks about it and people turn up for those hours to watch. I'm not really one for big crowds and lots of attention, especially with all the cheering and booing and yelling. And those eyes, all on you and what you are doing.

Haha dude.

Don't worry about it, if it does happen, I'll try to make your games on a TV instead of the projector (cause we only can get one anyway) so hopefully that'll minimize the public factor of it.

Dickov wrote:

Also, could someone bring this to the attention to someone in the GamerSoc committee? You probably are one Amaya, judging by your tenure with Gamersoc, but yeah I'd like to know if you guys are interested in it.

Nah Im not a committee member, but the committee are quite laid back and am sure theyd have no problem with me at least letting you know that your thread has been noticed and to give you an idea of how people will react.

But yeah, will text one of the committe so they respond fairly soonish.

April 20th-27th is definately not good for me, that 2 hours could be spent revising my dissertation which is due April 27th and is kinda really important Early May would be perfect tbh. I reckon it would probly last more than 2 hours though - these things never go according to plan!

Youre probly right about FIFA being more appealing to the masses though, hopefully someone from gamersoc is good - would look pretty lame if we all did shit!

Hey i'm very interested in doing this. I'll reply in detail to the email you sent me

Thanks for your feedback Amaya.

Again, Early May was my intention initially, but from my perspective, all of Nottingham Law School has the merry month of May dedicated to "revision" and by that it means that people will probably leave for home in droves and there won't be anyone left in uni for the event.

Thank you very much for bringing it to the attention of the committee, I appreciate it and in all honesty, I'd really like to see this happen.

On a side note, does anyone know if you can rent PS3 consoles? I might pursue that option if it's available.

Ninja edit since someone posted before I did : Thanks RadicalEwok, I'm assuming you're Geoffrey then because I'm unsure of it.

Yeah, that's him.
Thanks for the heads-up.

I'll let Jay do the talkin', though. =D

Hey guys!

I spoke to the union people today, they confirmed that their union PS3 is the gamersoc PS3 so we only actually have one PS3 with us now.
I've been offered the Sub Bar as well as the Pulse by Matt Proudfoot of the exec. We probably will need another controller and the display cable, as apparently the current display cable is broken. I'm not sure who will fund it between the union and gamersoc. Just a heads up for RadicalEwok cause he said that purchasing another controller shouldn't be a problem.

I spoke to Aaron Lee again and he said that he's sent EA games a message asking for the FIFA 2010 World Cup game edition but he says that I can expect it to be a while as these companies do take their time with CSR.

All we need now are possibly;
two more PS3 consoles (or if anyone knows where I can rent them, that's even better)
PC world contact for prizes (I will get this done by next week)
Promotion and coverage (Aaron will sort it once I have a confirmed date, I'll set up a poster as well if I can)
Two additional TVs that can support consoles (Union said they might look into this but
if you guys have spare TVs that'd be great too)
2-3 copies of FIFA 2010 World cup edition or otherwise (Hopefully EA will sort this out)

If you guys are interested, you could set up maybe a small console of Guitar Hero at the day itself to entice people into the "true" nature of gamersoc. It'd be good to help you sign up members as well as provide something to kill time with for players who are waiting their turns.

I hope it all works out, we really need some PS3s so if you guys know anywhere we can rent them, that'd be awesome.

Cheers guys, have a good Easter!

They're wrong about pulse bar's PS3 being the gamer soc's PS3. Our's is still in storage unless they sold it (which they wouldn't do). The committee has been keeping this quite but we have a copy of Fifa '10 that came with our PS3. We can't give it away as a prize but it means we won't have to get an adition copy from somewhere.

I'll drop the societies president an email telling him i'm coming in to get the PS3 from storage at the begining of next term. There are also rumors about the societies storage room having TVs/projectors so i'll look into that too.

Dickov wrote:

If you guys are interested, you could set up maybe a small console of Guitar Hero at the day itself to entice people into the "true" nature of gamersoc. It'd be good to help you sign up members as well as provide something to kill time with for players who are waiting their turns.

Guitar Hero or Rock Band? That is the question. The society might have both, not sure, but they usually break out Rock Band when the feeling is right.

Hey guys

How's your Easter break, hope it's been alright. Anyway, I'd just like to update you guys with the project a bit.

I spoke to PC world, they were incredibly lame and said that they were unable to help at all.
I've been given a contact for Sony Nottingham to try and wrangle some CSR from.
Aaron's in talks with EA, I'm not sure how that's progressing.

I'm sorta desperate at this moment of time; the gamersoc has 1 PS3 which is great as it's half the battle won but;
Each game in FIFA lasts about 13 or so minutes (may be 9 minutes depending)
There are 48 games played in the group stages alone, 8 after that, 4 after that, 2 after that and a final.
In total there are 63 games in a 32-player format. 1 PS3 working at 13 minutes per game or 9 can't handle the load.

I'll keep asking around but does anyone in the gamersoc have their own PS3 which they're willing to loan out? The SU can pay a deposit on my behalf for the security of the console and we really just need 1 more PS3 console before we can get this event kicked off.

Tentatively, the event timing I had in mind is on Friday 23rd April at 2pm in the Sub bar. We really just need this extra PS3 console from somewhere and we can get this event sorted. Promotion is ready and raring to go but we just need the assurance of an extra PS3 console.

Alternatively if anyone knows where you can rent them out in Nottingham, that'd be great too! Please help out if you can guys, I appreciate the efforts but it's crunch time now! I'll keep searching for CSR from companies.

I'm too poor and Irish to own a PS3. Sorry I cannot help in that area.

Anyone else can help!?

Appreciate the effort anyway Garionepsilon, thanks!

Me again.

Am fairly certain that the console of choice is xbox in gamersoc, and those who dont game on xbox do on pc. I cant think of anyone who has a PS3 cos it has no games tbh, which I think is part of the reason jay got a PS3 for gamersoc! I may be wrong though, which means that I havent been helpful at all... but meh.

I know blockbuster do game rentals and stuff and they also sell consoles. Could see if they rent consoles or if they would be willing to rent one out. Equally you could try gamestation or game, as they have used consoles and there wouldnt be so much of a quarry about opening up a new console and lowering its value. Maybe offer them something in return, invite them to the tournament or something. I'm sure games shops especially, would employ people who like games and might be persuaded if they were involved.

Yeah, I tried calling Sony, Blockbuster and GAME.

Sony said they couldn't help flat out.
Blockbuster said they stopped the renting of consoles policy a few years ago.
GAME could not be reached.

Sad to say chaps, this FIFA idea is not looking realistically feasible till we get that one extra PS3 console.

My contingency plan however may be in motion!

Could I enquire as to what consoles gamersoc has and also what quantity of it? I remembered from my first meeting I saw like... 3 xboxes and 1 PS3 or something like that, with the full rockband or guitar hero set including drums and mic...

I might like to see if we can still do some gaming for charity! I'll update RadicalEwok and Aaron Lee after I finalize stuff.

Sounds pretty good. We were talking about doing some sort of 24 hour straight game-a-thon for charity, but we never really got around to organising it or deciding which charity to donate to. I'd be pretty up for most fps games, some guitar hero/rock band, possibly even an rpg (although 1 person per console might be an issue). Either way it sounds pretty good.

Sorry that I haven't checked the forum in a while, this is interesting.

I do believe there is somewhere in nottingham you can rent PS3's from, I think it's on parliament street (upper/lower somewhere) but I am unsure, I have not been there and it may be a figment of my imagination, did some research but came up short unfortunately.

Does this have to be on PS3? I know the society has a large resource of Xboxes that frequently get used (mine included).

If the FIFA thing is not working out, I am sure the society could very easily get behind a guitar hero/rock band competition (which would work pretty much the same as a FIFA tourney) or indeed, just a casual jam-session. I myself have an Xbox with most of the kit required and games for RB2, GH etc, plus some DLC.

The charity thing has been discussed before, though hasn't got very far as of yet, see: Charity gaming thread

Anyway, if I can help let me know, always interested in this sort of thing

Hi Eagle_Lander

Thanks for your detailed response.

Yeah, I did notice that the gamers society has more xboxes then PS3s from my first session with them in Chaucer. Correct me if I'm wrong but it's about 3 or 4 numerically if I'm not mistaken.

Logistically, a 'competition' per se would be difficult due to major companies not practicing what they preach in terms of the community. I've tried calling on EA, Sony, Game and PC world and the response has been disappointing. While I'm all up for competition, it's just difficlult to locate prizes for it and if I create a competition, I wouldn't want to divulge a portion of money raised towards prizes as it defeats the purpose of a fundraiser. I am all the more reluctant as I know next to nothing about competitive GH/RB and just play it because it's cooler socially then a Wii.

Now, I've e-mailed this to Jay Jackson-Hicks but he's yet to reply because he's on Easter break; I've sourced two local organizations that I can invite to the SU in city for a gaming session. They are Playworks and the Refugee Forum (child refugees apparently, lol). My plan was to invite Playworks down as my primary choice to just have a games event for 2-3 hours and then gtfo. The beauty in this project is in its simplicity, due to the resources available for the gamersociety, setting up this shouldn't be a problem. As I've mentioned before, we have a venue, we have projectors and TVs and we still have coverage in Platform from Aaron.

The problem I have now is whether you guys are still interested in a project like this as it doesn't raise money for charity as you originally intended to do. However it's still giving to the community and in the volunteer year, Playworks is one organization that no one has involved in a project yet. In my experience while most volunteering projects contain an element of fun, a project of this magnitude is one that demands the element of fun and games to suit its purpose. Simplified, you can actually get away with putting 'I have volunteered/done something for charity' in your CV by just playing games (isn't that appealing?)

Now the recruitment process at Initi8 isn't aimed specifically at you guys, it's open to the student body in general, but who wouldn't mind coming down to the Sub Bar/Pulse, playing some games with kids from Playworks and getting something valuable for their CV?

I'm hoping that the gamers society is still interested in this, I'd basically need to borrow your Xboxes and PS3s for a day, that's all.
Tentatively, the date I've set for the project is Friday the 23rd of April at 2-4pm or therabouts. I still need to call Playworks though and I'm reluctant to do so until I can get confirmed support from the gamersoc for this project and when I do, it's as easy as 1...2...3.

So yeah, basically to sum the wall o' text up in a nutshell; How many gaming consoles can you guys spare for a day?

Thanks guys
Vincent




P.S. As always, any further enquiries can be directed to me. I really have no life and I check my NOW e-mail and handphone every single day. Lol.

well I can't speak for the society but I myself am interested, I don't do much in the way of extra-curricular/charity work and pat of my conscience tells me I should, even if that is just helping with an event for kids to play some games and socialise a bit.

In response to your question, I think the society has access to about 3-4 Xboxes and 1 PS3 as you said, obviously it's the commitee's decision what they do with them

Hey guys. Sorry for the lack of a response.

Anyway, going to Amsterdam on holiday now, I'll check back in 4 days. RadicalEwok please check your NOW e-mail if you haven't done so already.

Alright boys, enjoy the rest of your Easter break!

Hi guys, I'm back!

Any news on whether I can borrow your leet itamz!?