The End of an Era... of sorts

2005-04-05T11:04:12Z

In late 2001, a tradition was started - I held my first Halo LANfest in my house. It was a pretty small affair - 10 or 12 people, 3 TVs, it lasted from about lunchtime to early evening. It was a blast. Every few months, I held another one (pretty much as often as my wife was willing to put up with)... and the tradition grew. It grew in numbers of attendees, it grew in numbers of rooms of my house it took over, it grew in numbers of hours per fest, it grew in quantity and quality of video gear. It grew in status, even. (That part blows my mind.) It became some sort of mark of prestige to get invited to one of these things. It seemed to peak last January, at a fest that was filmed by FilmOasis for eventual inclusion on the Halo 2 Limited Edition documentary - there were over 40 people, including one Bungie employee (and one future Bungie employee) and many big names from the Halo fan community. Interest snowballed after that - the next fest had over 100 people wanting to come, when my house can comfortably fit fewer than 35.

This past weekend, I hosted Resurrection, the latest (and probably last) in the 3-year-old series of HBO HQ Halo LANfests. There were definitely high points. I got to put faces to several names that I'd previously only known online (though this has been true at almost every one of the last half-dozen fests). I was honored to have people travel from thousands of miles away to attend. I was given an astoundlingly cool Craig Mullins print - a one-off, an image he created for the purpose (and one that the community - or a part of it - kicked in to have printed on canvas and framed). A large donation was made in my name to the Brian Morden Foundation - Brian has always been a shining example for me of how we can rise above adversity and glow, no matter WHAT life throws at us.

But some bad stuff happened, too. When dinner rolled around, we told people, toss in whatever money you have and we'll buy as many pizzas as the pot pays for. After people were done contributing, we had $164. 20 minutes later, Tirion and I left to pick up the pizza... and when I counted out the cash at the restaurant, $40 was missing. This was rather surprising... but I let it go; I figured that someone had taken it to pay for food they'd brought earlier. (This turned out to be incorrect, unfortunately.)

A couple of hours later, a few of us were discussing some Bungie history, and I reached for a copy of the Halo PC Strategy Guide to check a name... and noticed that my collection of Halo 2 LE DVDs (bought as future Bungie.org contest prizes) was 2 copies light. Someone had stolen a couple of copies. Right under those was a shelf with 3 boxed Xbox duke controllers - one fewer than had been there that morning.

It's not about the money. The missing gear comes to less than $200 - I spent almost twice that on supplies for this gathering. It's the trust issue. In over a dozen lanfests held here, there hasn't been a single theft, that I know of. (There was a fest where a number of controllers disappeared - but it was just folks mis-packing their bags, and all was cleared up in the end.) I open my house, the house of my family, to people who express gratitude for an invitation... but one (or more) of them steals off my shelves when I'm not looking.

As Sunday wore on, I became more and more disturbed. I started to wonder if my CD collection was smaller than it had been before the weekend started. Would I have trouble finding a specific DVD the next time I wanted to watch it - and if I did, would it have disappered during this LANfest, or would it just be misplaced somewhere in the house? When my son tells me that he can't find his money, will it be because he's lost it somewhere in his room... or because someone pocketed it last weekend?

I HATE this. I hate wondering stuff like this. I hate mistrusting the people who came here - I thought these people were my friends. I hate that my wife now worries about who was invited. I hate that someone (or several someones) who came here to play Halo thought it was okay to steal from me. But most of all... I hate that the tradition of Halo-centric get-togethers has been tainted by these events.

I hate it enough that I've decided to call it quits in the LAN hosting game. Resurrection is the last. I'll still go to LANs hosted elsewhere, if I'm invited... but I'm no longer willing to bring large groups of people into my house for this sort of activity.

To those who were here, but took nothing - I apologize for any negativity I've expressed. I really did enjoy myself during the weekend. (Of course, I have no idea who is involved, so suspicion of one sort or another falls on EVERYONE - there's nothing I can do about that. I have trouble believing ANY of these people would do this - but at least one person did, so my judgment is clearly suspect.) To those who were here, and left with more than you came with... enjoy the spoils. Your theft gained you not only the item(s) you took, but the end of something that has come to mean a lot to me.

This is not being hosted at HBO, because it is a personal message, with little relevance to the website or its community. I'm posting it publicly because I want to have something to point people to when they ask if they can come to the next LANfest.

lwu

The End of an Era... of sorts