June LAN? Agree? Disagree? Either way, air your views!

[-{TsU}-dholdi]

As some of you may recall there was a time when you could look forward to 4 i-Series a year. In 2005, i24 marked the last of these traditionally ‘smaller' i-Series and this year will be three years since our decision to drop June from the i-Series calendar.

It was a difficult decision to take. Obviously all of us here at Multiplay love LAN parties and were sad to see them go. The June events generated less interest and were smaller i-Series, typically drawing in a third to half less attendees (around the 500 mark) than its bigger brothers in March, August and November. As our ‘presence' at Newbury is quite invasive, we get charged pretty much the same rate, regardless of how much of the Grandstand we actually use (this pre-dates using both Grand and Berkshire stands). From a business perspective they became unfeasible to run.

Fast forward three years and the i-Series has grown substantially, regularly seeing 1500 BYOC attendees and many more as spectators. The exhibition side has really taken off; something which I feel really complements the events well. As a result we have been scouring the country for a new home for the i-Series. We dropped some hints about this in our post-i32 survey and the response was very good - over 90% didn't object to a move away from Newbury.

In our hunt for a new venue we have seen a number of facilities and it was on one such visit that we noticed a smaller capacity venue, one that would be ideal for a ‘smaller' June LAN of a few hundred people.

This event wouldn't have all the jazz now associated with the i-Series. There wouldn't be an exhibition or big money competitions. What there would be is more of a ‘grass roots' feel like the i-Series of yester-year; hardcore LAN action and a collection of fun tournaments (return of the wooden spoon!) centrally located within 2 hours of Bristol, London, Manchester and Southampton.

What we need from you is your opinion - would you honestly go to a LAN like this if it were run? Let us know your views on our forum and we'll continue to test the water!