DC-Con 4: College Park, Maryland, January 16 – 18, 1998

January 22, 1998: DC-Con IV – The Aftermath

Well, well, well Fraggers! Prepare for a MASSIVE update. GNW has returned safely from yet another DC Con (Well except for Maniac. Seems I pegged his back with one too many Railgun shots Saturday night, so he’s in traction for a week). Where to start? I don’t know. I guess the appropriate thing to do is to start off with some thank you’s. First off I’d like to thank all of our clan members who were able to attend for providing Yours Truly with so many easy frags. If it weren’t for you guys, I’d have scored nary a kill all weekend. But I suppose I should extend my gratitude for some less important amenities. Here goes:

Siren-for organizing and overseeing the whole DC Con4. Putting together a show that includes 500 frag-crazed computer gamers and a network to support all these people can’t possibly go off without a hitch. But Amy did an outstanding job putting together DC Con4 and then ensuring that when someone did encounter a problem that it got resolved. She and Lunchin helped get the Bay Networks guys in to help GNW with a network problem Friday night. I’m sure she had a million more such crises before the weekend was over. I really don’t know how she coped with all the stress of the weekend. Thank you Siren!

Bay Networks guys-I didn’t meet you folks personally, but you helped resolve the conflict with Lucidity’s hub and the main hub Friday night so that we could get onto the main network. This frag’s for you.

Lunchin-for helping us with networking problems and power problems. GNW did its best to repay him by camping all the weapons on Big Gun when Lunch joined in for a little fragging.

Xaroc and Maniac-for the aforementioned easy kills and for bringing the digital cameras that have produced all those nifty DC Con4 pictures on our page. Also for helping with numerous technical glitches that this reporter was too inept to fix.

Lucidity-for bringing the dedicated Quake 1 and Quake 2 server. And for being my bitch in Total Annhilation, heh heh.

Vexus-for securing the seating arrangements prior to the Con and for handling the room arrangements at the last minute. Also for making sure we got into the 4 on 4 DM tourney. And for always letting me know how much he was sucking in his current game :).

Bersicker and Lag ‘O Leer-for making the long trek down from New Jersey to finally meet the rest of the clan. For compensating for my slacking Quake 1 skills in our 4 on 4 tourney match with Clan FLAG. Lag-for buying dinner for us Saturday night, we owe you one. Both Bell brothers-for teaching us the meaning of brotherly love.

Link-for keeping the Bell brothers (Lag and Bersi) in line during the Con. For inspiring me to run my own ISP business so that I can have a T1 to my house. For giving us the latest, greatest info on the gaming world outside of Quake. For sawing so much wood in the hotel room that I had no chance of oversleeping on Sunday.

EvIl Homer-for your distinctive Travln machine (get your door handle fixed!) For supplying us with the 18’ cables that almost, but not quite, reached the main hub. For helping me pack up on Sunday. For showing us how to play City1 in Quake 2.

Ruck, Spinn, and Strider-for stopping by just to say hi and check out the Con even though you couldn’t attend. Particularly Strider, because he was the first GNW to register for DC Con4 and then had to work the whole weekend. We all know how much that sucked Strider, and look forward to fraggin with you at DC Con5.

I’m sure there lots of others who deserve thanks and I apologize if I’ve overlooked you.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so go check out our Pics that Xaroc and Maniac took at the Con if you get tired of all my blather.

Check the DC Con4 website here for a bunch more wrap-up information.

DC Con4 was the biggest, baddest DC Con to date. I thought I’d been to some big netfests at the previous DC Cons, but this one blew them all away. Some 500 people signed up for the affair and when I got there Friday night the amount of computers I saw made me believe. The Con was held in a ballroom of the Inn and Conference Center at the University of Maryland. We needed every inch of the room.

The clan arrived in force Friday night and quickly set up in row D at the back of the room. We were just about ready to join in the gaming when we discovered that there was only one hub for our whole row. 25’ RJ 45 cables were needed to reach this hub, which most of us did not have. Fragging got put on hold indefinitely. Fortunately we flagged down Lunchin and Siren and they got the Bay Networks guys to come help us out. Bay Networks crimped us a pass-through cable so we could get Lucidity’s hub to communicate with the main hub and we were on our way.

Vexus, Lucidity, EvIl Homer and myself fragged our way through some Quake 2 most of Friday evening. All of us split various levels, with me winning the majority (would you expect any less?). Ok, ok, maybe we split it all pretty evenly, I can’t recall. Xaroc also showed up with his son, Robert and took some of the pictures that are on the Pics page. He also made arrangements to come to the Big Show for Saturday and Sunday. Woohoo!

During the course of our Quake 2 fragging we ran into TimeToDie and Atieus, two fine Quake 2 players who happened to be sitting behind us. Keep an eye on these rat bastards. They’ll ripe your fraggin head off!

We later took a break and went to go meet our former members Demerol and Turmoil. Dem and Turm now play for Clan Unknown and made the trip all the way down from Rochester, NY to join in the mayhem. At the time we stopped by, both were participating in Friday’s FFA tournament so we just said hi and then went to grab a bite to eat.

The eat break was uneventful, except I discovered that EvIl Homer, our chauffeur, has no working door handle on the inside of his car. Fix that handle EH!

When we returned our brotherly clan mates Lag ‘O Leer and Bersicker had finally arrived, a 30 mile detour notwithstanding. I gotta say that both Lag and Bers are just as big in reality as they are on the ‘net. Messing with the Bell brothers is not a good idea.

Lag and Bersi had never been to a computer gaming convention of this size before, so they were raring to go. Lag broke the Vexus rule and immediately started looking to play some Quake 1 head to head matches sans warm-up. He got his wish and played Hicks h2h on DM6. Before he had the chance to pick up a box of NIN nails he was down 10-0. Lag got it going though, after realizing that there is no lag on a LAN and made the score a respectable 10-6 by match end.

Lag and Bersi then started hammering away at each other h2h. Bersi was schooling Lag in a DM6 match and much cursing and whining was emanating from Lag’s mouth. Finally, Bersi owned up that he may have been “taking a peek” at Lag’s big-ass 21’ monitor a few times. Brothers will be brothers.

The rest of us were into our own things at this point. I was teaching some random listen server dude the meaning of DM4 (you all know how much I love that level) while Vex, EH, and Lucid did some more Quake 2 fragging. Turmoil and Molotov of Clan Unknown also came over for a while to look at Lucidity’s awe-inspiring computer and to chat with us. We discussed computers, babes and Quake 1 vs. Quake 2. Both Turm and Molotov are real nice folks and I enjoyed chatting with them. Hopefully we can meet up with these guys at DC Con5.

Things began winding down at this point so we pretty much turned in for the night somewhere between 4 and 5 AM.

EvIl Homer told us at bedtime that his body clock would get him up at 7:30 AM. He was right. He was outta the hotel room by 8 at the latest. EH, I don’t know how you do that, man. The rest of us snoozed in til 11 AM.

I started Saturday by playing a little Quake 2 for a while and then hopped on a Quake 1 FFA server. I played E1M3, one of my favorite maps. The server was set so that weapons stayed, which rocked! I made a beeline for the RL every time and then went on a killing spree. The guy who was running the server had the lead over me, though, and I never could catch him. CWO Guts and Glory and CWO Citizen stopped by then, so I took time out to chat with them. They were also a nice bunch of fellows and I enjoyed chatting with them.

Maniac and Xaroc had arrived by now and were joining in the frenzy. Maniac zipped up his double-back skin so that he could whine about how I was always shooting him in the back no matter what. I concluded that my best recourse was to design a double front skin to tack on him for future games. Xaroc was loving life because he could finally join in some serious FFA Quake 2 games on a LAN.

Lag and Bersi hooked up with some CGIBs and played a 4 on 4 on DM3 vs. Clan FUN. I don’t recall the exact score, but they won by something like 200 frags in a 20 minute game. FUN obviously wasn’t having any that game.

Late Saturday afternoon Vexus and I teamed up against TGR-Fain and TGR-Kenny in some Quake 1. We played DM3 first. Vex played the punching bag so that I could sneak around and load up on the RL, armor and finally the Quad. Fain and Kenny were beating us pretty good for a while, but once Vex and I finally got some power stuff we made a comeback. Fain came out on top, but Vexus and I put together a solid combined score and managed to win the match. We then played DM2. Kenny dropped out, but another guy-Machine S/P joined up with him. The result was not pretty. Vex and I cleaned house. When the final gibs were tallied I had around 27, Vex had something like 23, while Fain and Machine S/P had around 20 combined. I think Vexus and I should play all our future Quake 1 team games on DM2. Fain’s headphones were screwed up though, so he did have a bit of a handicap.

Saturday night we got into the tournament 4 on 4 games. Our Red team was comprised of Bersicker, Lag ‘O Leer, Lucidity and myself. Our Blue team was Vexus, EvIl Homer, Xaroc and Maniac. The Red team played Clan FLAG while the Blue team played Havoc #2. The Red team got off to a rough start. 30 seconds into the match I saw “I am at Red Armor” flash across my screen from all three of my teammates. I knew that wasn’t a good sign. FLAG had about a 10-15 frag lead and looked to be on the way to victory when the normally dreaded network icon appeared. The network had locked so we had to start over. This proved providential. In our rematch FLAG again jumped to an early lead, but the GNW Red team was not to be denied. We rallied, took control of the level and then began the domination. Another network icon appeared briefly, but this time it went away. I took this screenshot at that point, just before the game resumed. We cruised to victory, winning the match by about 30 frags. FLAG was stunned and upset, grumbling something about “we don’t know what happened at the end there,” when Lucidity went over to tell them good game. Round two did not go as well for the GNW Red team. We played our friends Clan Uknown #2. Their team was Molotov, Rykov, Wombat and some other player I don’t recall. They taught us the meaning of DM3, beating us by about 65 frags. Despite losingl, we thought we accounted well of ourselves, considering we hadn’t played as a unit in a month.

GNW Blue fared less well. Havoc #2 beat them into a bloody pulp, so I hear. Still, I know Maniac was entertained by the game as I heard him doing his Hudson (Aliens) imitation at one point. He was yelling “you want some too! Get over here!” or some such as he fragged helpless Havoc players with his Thunderbolt.

We had signed up to play in the CTF tournament too, but most of us didn’t feel too enthused about that after the DM matches so we tanked CTF. Maniac, Xaroc, Lucidity, Link and I then played a marathon game of Total Annihilation. I’ll spare you the details, except to say that Yours Truly (RedCmdr in TA) came out on top. Bow down before the power of RedCmdr!

During the TA game Lag and Bersi were beginning to exert their authority on the LAN. They got into a two on two match with CGIB DiscoStu and CGIB Diablos. The first match ended in disaster when Bersi motorcycled a Quad rocket up Lag’s Ho Chi Minh trail. This lost the Bell brothers control of DM3 and the match. The rematch went the way it was supposed to. I haven’t heard the details, but you can see the results on the Pics page. Lag and Bersi put forth the GNW power and beat the mighty CGIBers. If any CGIB is reading this GNW beat yo ass and you know you liked it!! Ok, ok, just playing. CGIB would beat our butts 9 times out of 10, but hey, we won a match fair and square, so there.

Besides which, CGIB was sitting right behind us and proved enormously entertaining. Both their DM team and their CTF team went quite far into the tourney. You knew when they were playing a match because you could hear Ronbob screaming expletitives at his fellow teammates.

Ruck, Spinn and Strider also stopped by for a while Saturday evening. Ruck is a friend of Strider [gnw], while Spinn is one of the 666EVAC organizers. I chatted with Ruck and Spinn for while in between Quake games. I was in one of our DM tourney games when Strider was visiting, so I didn’t get to say much, so “Hi Strider!” It was disappointing that these folks couldn’t join us, but maybe next time.

After the tourney and the TA game Lucidity, Xaroc, Vexus and myself played some Quake 2 two on two matches. Team play for Q2 isn’t too perfected yet, but we had fun none-the-less. I’ll upload a demo or two of our team games sometime soon. Xaroc and I won one game, while Lucidity and Vexus won the 2nd. All in all a good time.

By this time things were beginning to wind down. I was dead tired and wanted some sleep before driving home Sunday. Lucidity and Vexus felt the same way so we packed it in after 4 AM. Hardcore players Bersi, Lag and Xaroc stayed up all night, though and continued the fragging. I don’t know how they managed, but they did. Xaroc packed up and left sometime after 6 AM, while the Bell brothers zonked out in their trusty mini-van one more time (that’s where they crashed Friday night too).

Sunday morning I awoke intending to frag just one more time. Alas, the network had already been disconnected so it was time to go. EvIL Homer and Lucidity helped me pack up (thanks guys). I said good bye to Molotov and Vexus on the way out and hit the Beltway. 30 minutes later I was home and DC Con4 was just a memory. But I know that DC Con5 is just around the corner…

January 13, 1998: EVACS done and DC-Con upcoming

The start of 1998 finds GNW in the midst of some good fraggin’ times. Last weekend several of our members attended yet another 666 EVACs netmeet, held at our good pal Surf’s house over in Olney, MD. This coming weekend GNW will send a large contingent to DC Con4 at the University of Maryland. I could get used to having a netparty every weekend!

Lucidity, Maniac, Vexus and myself attended last Saturday’s EVACs netmeet. We were joined by our good friend EvIlHomer, also known as Travln. If you want to learn more about EVACs check out their homepagehere. Although many different computer games were played by the attendees, us GNW folks tended to stick with Quake II. The early part of the day saw us engaging in a bunch of FFA activity. None of us knew all the Quake II levels so we had a different level winner almost every time ?. As the evening wore down we organized some Quake II team games with various other EVACs participants joining in the fragging. The GNWs broke down into Lucidity/Maniac vs. Vexus/Red Baron. Demonstrating my masterful Railgunning skillz, I propelled the Vex/RB team to victory several times. Vexus secured the top spot more than a few times with his dead-eye Super Shotgun ability. Maniac, through his shameless devotion to the lowest, most dishonorable methods of deathmatching pulled out a few levels for the Lucidity/Maniac side. Lucidity, P2-300 Mhz owner that he is, won his share of levels by sheer force of processor speed alone. EvIlHomer, true to his Simpson nature had succumbed to sleep and departed by the time we began the team matches. Homer assures us that with a steady diet of doughnuts, he will make it through DC Con4 this weekend. Our other fellow EVACs brothers are more devoted to Red Alert and fared poorly when they dared tread in Quake games. They staunchly deny their llamaness in Quake, however, and tersely warned that things would not go so well for us GNWers at the next EVACs netmeet. We shall see.

Pictures, screenshots, and at least one demo recorded by yours truly, Red Baron, from last Saturday’s EVACs meet can be found under Downloads section of the website.

Seriously, though, EVACs was a great success and a fun time was had by all. I highly recommend that any and all Washington D.C.-area visitors to our page drop by the EVACs page to learn more about the organization. EVACs netmeets are held at Surf’s house, as I mentioned. Surf has wired his basement specifically for network computer gaming and provides us a wonderful location and atmosphere in which to play.

This Friday through Sunday GNW picks up the fragging again when it travels to DC Con4 on the campus of the University of Maryland at College Park. We are particularly excited about this coming DC Con as it will mark the first meeting between our DC area players and our two New Jersey clanmates, Lag ‘O Leer and Bersicker. Lag and Bersicker are making the trek down from Jersey and will be seated with Strider, Vexus, Lucidity, Maniac, Xaroc and myself. We are all eager to make acquaintance and frag the hell out of each other on the network. We should also have the opportunity to meet our former clanmates Demerol and Turmoil, now of Clan Uknown. The gibs will fly when GNW starts fragging together in Quake and Quake II at DC Con4. Stay tuned for a post-Con report, pictures, demos, screenshots and who knows what else sometime next week.

The way it used to be …

-page by Xaroc, news by Red Baron, photos by Maniac

http://gnw.tripod.com/

DC-Con4 Pictures by Wendigo

1998 Brian Hess, All Rights Reserved.

Check out Wendigo’s amazing Quake history photo archive, more than 1100 photos!

https://www.quakewiki.net/archives/photos/index.html

FAQ by Dc-Con 4 Organizers

These questions are compiled from questions received in our efnet IRC channel, #dc-con4.

How many places are there for people? – There are 500 spots, 450 for people bringing computers and 50 for people without computers.

– There are 500 spots, 450 for people bringing computers and 50 for people without computers. What’s the age requirement? – There is no age requirements for participants at DC-Con 4, but participants under the age of 18 should see the stipulations listed for them on the Registration Page.

– There is no age requirements for participants at DC-Con 4, but participants under the age of 18 should see the stipulations listed for them on the Registration Page. Should I make reservations at a hotel or can I sleep at DC-Con 4? – We recommend that, due to the large number of people attending, you make arrangements at a hotel. A list of local hotels can be found on the Accommodations Page.

– We recommend that, due to the large number of people attending, you make arrangements at a hotel. A list of local hotels can be found on the Accommodations Page. Will I be able to sit with my friends? – We will be seating people by clans and then grouping non-clan registrants together. If you are not in a clan, or wish to sit with another clan or person, e-mail us AFTER the registration period ends as to with whom you would like to sit.

– We will be seating people by clans and then grouping non-clan registrants together. If you are not in a clan, or wish to sit with another clan or person, e-mail us AFTER the registration period ends as to with whom you would like to sit. Are there places to eat close by? – Yes, there are many places to eat. We will have directions to eateries available at the registration desk.

– Yes, there are many places to eat. We will have directions to eateries available at the registration desk. Can we drink or smoke at DC-Con 4? – People will be unable to smoke in The Inn and Conference Center where DC-Con 4 will be located. In addition, all alcoholic beverages are prohibited. You are welcome to bring food and eat at any time while you attend.

– People will be unable to smoke in The Inn and Conference Center where DC-Con 4 will be located. In addition, all alcoholic beverages are prohibited. You are welcome to bring food and eat at any time while you attend. How long will DC-Con 4 last? – DC-Con 4 will run from 12:00 noon on Friday, January 16th to 12:00 noon on Sunday, January 18th.

– DC-Con 4 will run from 12:00 noon on Friday, January 16th to 12:00 noon on Sunday, January 18th. Why does it cost $30? – Because of the sheer number of people coming, we needed to locate a place that would comfortable hold 500 spaces. The Inn and Conference Center does this quite well, but such a location does not come cheaply. In addition, any LAN party accrues the cost of hubs and prizes.

– Because of the sheer number of people coming, we needed to locate a place that would comfortable hold 500 spaces. The Inn and Conference Center does this quite well, but such a location does not come cheaply. In addition, any LAN party accrues the cost of hubs and prizes. Who should interested sponsors contact? – Sponsors should contact Siren via the DC-Con Organizing Committee at dccon@hotmail.com.

– Sponsors should contact Siren via the DC-Con Organizing Committee at dccon@hotmail.com. Will there be computers available for people coming without computers? – As of now we cannot guarantee computers for those who are coming without. All present computers are being allocated for servers at this time.

– As of now we cannot guarantee computers for those who are coming without. All present computers are being allocated for servers at this time. What is the network set-up for DC-Con 4? – We are planning to run the network as TCP/IP, with as many servers as we can. This set-up should be the optimum set-up for the almost 500 computers we will have at DC-Con 4.

– We are planning to run the network as TCP/IP, with as many servers as we can. This set-up should be the optimum set-up for the almost 500 computers we will have at DC-Con 4. Will there be any security? – The entrances to DC-Con will be monitored at all times by our staff. Additionally, we shall be logging all computers with their owners as they come in and and checking the computers as they leave to ensure that computers leave with the appropriate person. Participants will be required to wear the badges they receive at registration at DC-Con 4 at all times so that we can be aware of unauthorized people at the convention. In addition, DC-Con Staff will be available to assist participants. We have suggested to those registrants who continued to express concern about our security that they take their computers with them when they leave DC-Con 4.

– The entrances to DC-Con will be monitored at all times by our staff. Additionally, we shall be logging all computers with their owners as they come in and and checking the computers as they leave to ensure that computers leave with the appropriate person. Participants will be required to wear the badges they receive at registration at DC-Con 4 at all times so that we can be aware of unauthorized people at the convention. In addition, DC-Con Staff will be available to assist participants. We have suggested to those registrants who continued to express concern about our security that they take their computers with them when they leave DC-Con 4. What kind of space will DC-Con 4 be held in? – Dc-Con is being held in the Grand Ballroom of The Inn and Conference Center at The University of Maryland University College. Plenty of space will be available.

– Dc-Con is being held in the Grand Ballroom of The Inn and Conference Center at The University of Maryland University College. Plenty of space will be available. Is there a Denny’s close by? – Yes, there is a Denny’s located at 7405 Greenbelt Rd, Greenbelt, MD 20770-3402.

https://web.archive.org/web/19980112185801/http://clankapitol.com:80/DC4/faq.html