Shoot Club: Philly

Being fans of Quartertothree, and, in particular, of the Shoot Club articles, we have decided to follow Tom's example and create our own chapter in the suburbs of Philly. Since these gaming events of ours are usually the highlights of our otherwise routine office lives, it�s also fun to write about them.

The phenomenon spreads. Soon, every city will have its own Shoot Club. Wives and girlfriends beware.

Most of the guys who come over for Shoot Club Philly are old friends who grew up in the area. We all sort of split up for college, and eventually gravitated back to our hometown. But then there are also the converts from work, who, like Charlie the ad executive from the original Shoot Club, got pulled into gaming by witnessing an after-hours FPS match on the company network. Most of us have wives, grilfriends, steady jobs. Some even have kids.

We're all gaming addicts, to varying degrees. A lot of us could have done better in college had it not been for all-night gaming marathons, whether it was D&D, SNES, or N64. One of our younger members almost failed to graduate because he spent his time playing Goldeneye with roomates instead of studying. So when we all get together to play games, it�s usually an all-night proposition.

The guy who hosts our gatherings is single, and his basement would make any hard-core gamer jealous. It's decked out with no less than six, yes, six, networked computers. Some are better than others, but the slowest machine runs on a P3 550 with a Voodoo 3. Not too shabby. And even though there are rarely more than ten of us at a time, he�s planning on adding two new computers by the end of the year for a total of eight. He says as long as he doesn�t have a family to support, and his job pays well, why not indulge his gaming habit? None of us disagree.

That doesn�t mean that we�re freeriders, though. We set up this collection pot to chip in with the computer upkeep: new video cards, some fancy new optical mice for the better rigs, and purchasing duplicates of favorite games that have excessive copy protection. Aside from that, there�s the obligatory food and beverage contribution, mostly consisting of salty snack foods and warm beer. We try to keep out of our host�s fridge, but when all the Baja Picante Doritos are gone it�s hard to resist. So we usually end up ordering some pizzas just to be on the safe side. Besides, him being a bachelor usually means that the fridge has little to offer.

Shoot Club: Philly has a long backlog of great gaming stories just waiting to be told. If they're welcome here, of course. The last thing we want to do is invade Quartertothree�s turf with our own gaming stories, using an idea that wasn't originally ours. But that they should bear a resemblance is no coincidence. We�re all gamers, and we all share the same passion for our favorite form of entertainment. There are Shoot Clubs all around the country, they just hadn�t been given a name until some guy named Tom Chick came up with the great idea of writing a column about his weekly LAN parties.

Anonymous,

I'm sure we'd all love to hear about how the Philly chapter is doing! Tell us more. What games do you guys like? What games don't work? Is there a console system down there for backup? Do you have to spend a lot of time fiddling with the computers? And how much is your friend making from that collection pot? Hmmm...

-Tom

The collection pot is a good idea. I metioned that to one of my buddies who frequently comes over for LAN parties...

First, I think, I'll have to try to get them to bring their own food... :-)

The Philly chapter is doing good, although we haven't met since September due to the attacks. When we do meet, we usually play anything that uses the Half-Life engine (mostly CS), some RTS games like AOE2 and Dominion (just kidding) and some Infinity Engine RPG's. When there are too many people over, we try not to get started on a roleplaying session, but we do have a good coop game of BG2 going for the more hardcore guys.
Mostly, though, any game that goes beyond the basics in terms of gameplay mechanics is avoided because the less hardcore guys don't enjoy those titles as much. Rainbow Six, for instance, didn't work out because it proved to be too complicated and "realistic" as one guy put it. CS works fine though, although the guys who play at work are usually the ones who dominate, so they're split up into seperate teams. The AWP is outlawed, and anyone who uses it is immediately banished to the consoles for the rest of the evening.
So, yes, we do have consoles as backup. N64 and Dreamcast are favorites due to their 4-player capabilities. Goldeneye is a particularly appreciated title, and many, many slow evenings have turned into 6-hour Goldeneye marathons where guys rotate in and out of games while the computers sit unused.
As for the collection pot, I'd say it brings in roughly 300-400 dollars a month. Some chip in more than others, but we all try to give him a hand. I don't know how long this will hold up, but for now the system is proving effective, and most of the rigs are above-average machines. I don't know how this idea would go over with your pals, Tom, but it's worth a try. We don't all chip in equal amounts over here because we don't all have the same incomes, but it works nonetheless.

Hey Anonymous...I'd like to hear more about Shoot Club Philly. I'm up in Reading so depending where you are, maybe I can put in an appearance sometime?

--Dave