What Happened to EngLAN?

A lot of people have been asking me and about what happened that meant we had to cancel/postpone EngLAN that I figured it was time to let you guys know. First of all I am going to tediously set the scene and explain what the plan was.



Shane and I decided, post IreLAN (which was at the back end of 2015 in Dublin) that we should do a similar fun LAN in England, preferably London. We started thinking about sponsors and backers and who we could invite, but it wasn't really going ahead full steam until the Frankfurt Major when I was approached by a potential sponsor at the afterparty (that's one of the reasons afterparties are so good, but as you will see, also very bad) who said, and I quote "I don't care what it costs, I want to sponsor you and Shane for engLAN, and I want it to be scrub dota. Just give me an amount you need and it's no problem".



I take that kind of shit to heart. When someone tells me to spend their money for them, I can do that. When someone says they want scrub dota - and especially when that person is paying - then that's my remit.



Luckily it was what me and Shane wanted anyway. We wanted a LAN for people who don't normally go to LAN events. In my opinion THAT is one big way you can help grow the scene. Not by having the same people playing each other over and over, but by giving new people the taste of why playing at a LAN event is SO GOOD that you should do it, and do it often. If some of those people say "that was great, we should try going to more of these and make a team" then that's fantastic. A lot of people are put off by the thought of getting utterly destroyed playing at a LAN against experienced players. We wanted to give them a chance to play at a LAN that was competitive for their skill bracket, and have fun doing it. To me that's a good thing!



Some people on the UK scene seemed to take offence at the idea that we were only going to allow "scrubs" to the LAN. That this was somehow "bad for the scene" because they want to play in - and win - more LAN events. This LAN was not for them, but they wanted in anyway and seemed salty about the fact they weren't going to be allowed. This was compounded by the fact we - ahem - sort of scheduled it the same weekend as the UK's biggest LAN, Insomnia. This was an honest accident, but it was also a big mistake. I picked that weekend and suggested it to Shane for several reasons:



1. I have kids, and I need to be able to take a weekend where someone else is around to look after them while I'm setting up and then taking down the gear at the event. I don't want to ask Mrs Flax to take days off for this, so a long weekend at Easter was going to be perfect. We have the Friday and Monday off for free. Ideal.



2. Lots of people come back from Uni for Easter, or have the time off from work etc, so it's easier for them to get to the event. They can also travel on the Friday, and travel back on the Monday, and nobody has to miss out on Uni or work or whatever. And you get a nice hangover recovery day!



3. There were no other big Dota events going on that weekend that I could see, so it meant we could invite all our Dota chums over (and it was going to be a LOT of people) and they wouldn't be missing out on work.



Note: no other BIG Dota events going on. Yes, Insomnia has iSeries, but I'm talking about Majors qualifiers, Dotapit etc. Those were the other events that we needed to schedule around so that we could get all our Dota pals on the scene to commit to a weekend dicking around at a LAN in London. And it was a HUGE list of talent. Honestly, if that had been the talent list for a Major people would have been ok with it - no lie.



iSeries is a big LAN for the UK competitive scene, but it's not really on the radar of the guys casting the bigger tournaments. That's how I saw it once I was alerted by twitter to the fact we were clashing with Insomnia.



And that's the thing - until people told us on twitter I had no idea. I knew I wasn't going to be at Insomnia so it's not exactly front and centre of my calendar. It was unfortunate, but it was too late to change the dates, and there really wasn't another one around then that would have worked. It was a totally different subset of UK players who weren't going to be at Insomnia anyway. No loss for Multiplay, as I saw it.



Anyway - that's where we were at come the start of 2016. We had a date, we had a list of people we wanted to come, and Shane and I made a list of shit we needed to get done. It was a long, long list. We got through almost all of it too - confirming talent, finding accomodation, costing that and flights, finding a venue (this was the HARDEST part by far) and then sorting everything the venue needed us to have: security, cleaners, tech support, internet costings, food and drink, staging, lighting, electricity, heating. GOOD LORD it added up.



So I went to our sponsor and said "hey is this all cool?"



No response. And not for like a day or two, I'm talking a week going past with no word. I start to worry and message Shane. We both start to worry. It's not looking good when you can't get hold of your sponsor.



Finally a message "is that the total cost?"

"Yes that's it, we'll make up anything else from our own pocket or tickets sales or other sponsors or whatever but that's the base cost, is that ok?"



Back to the silent treatment. Nothing, for like a week. No response at all. Finally we get a "fuck yeah let's do this".



OK great! I celebrate, Shane is happy, we start booking shit and I visit the site and we start working on floor plans and logistics and getting ready to book flights. Then, the great silence descends again.



At this point we're deep into January. February creeps around. The venue want a deposit, there are flights to book, shit needs to start HAPPENING. We get to the week where the venue says "we need to get this contract signed and deposit paid asap" and I can't get hold of the sponsor. Sleepless nights for me and Shane. It's really not looking good. I send our sponsor a message saying "will you PLEASE just give me a yes or no right now or we're out of time"



Still nothing. I announce the event is cancelled/postponed on twitter. Our sponsor gets in touch and says he's sorry but he's been busy and the budget is a little too high.



That conversation should have happened when I sent the initial budget. But it didn't. I was very, very angry and still am. I don't know why it took a month and a half to say yes or no, but it did. Shane and I were gutted, but we were also strangely relieved. No more stressing about engLAN and not being able to get in contact with people. I felt this huge release of tension, but also that we'd let all those people down.



Luckily we were smart enough not to book anything, and we DEFINITELY weren't going to take money from anybody for tickets etc until we had everything confirmed. If we'd had to refund people all that money it would have been a nightmare and would have let people down so much that I think it would have fucked any future plans for engLAN right up the wall. But hey, shit happens. We learnt a lot from this, and we both know what needs to happen next time and what things are likely to cost. In that way we can consider this all groundwork for a later event with a different sponsor.



So that's why engLAN fell over. Simple lack of communication and clarity. It's annoying, but now the enormous mega-LAN that is Insomnia will go ahead uncontested by our little LAN in London. I bet they're saying "phew! we were worried there lads!"



The sponsor got in touch and said he'd take me and Shane out for dinner in London to talk about future plans, just give him a flight number and he'll book it and we'll sort this ALL out over a beer. I message the flight details.



Guess what happened? Nothing. Silence. What a surprise. Me and Shane can only laugh about it, and decide we'll do a LAN somewhere cheaper and get another more reliable sponsor in. EngLAN will happen, just like IreLAN will happen, it just might not be quite as grandiose as what we had planned. It's a shame, but there's that Burns poem about the best laid plans of mice and men often going askew. it happens, we just have to learn from it, and we've done that.



See you guys at engLAN when it finally happens.



PFlax



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