QuakeCon is the current convention being produced by The QuakeCon Organization. First and foremost, QuakeCon is a huge LAN party dedicated to fans of id Software's games (i.e., Quake, Quake 2, and Quake III Arena, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Enemy Territory, and the DOOM series). We also hold workshops and roundtables where id Software employees discuss their games, technology, and their thoughts about the gaming industry. Other people and companies from the gaming community also participate in the workshops and roundtables while displaying their upcoming games and hardware. QuakeCon also hosts tournaments, large and small. Basically, it's an enormous LAN party with a lot of other stuff to do in-between deathmatching with people from all over the world! Read more about the purpose and history of The QuakeCon Organization in our About section.

The QuakeCon Organization consists of a core team of volunteers responsible for the annual QuakeCon conventions. id Software also provides a great deal of assistance, especially Director of Business Development, Marty Stratton. From year to year, we solicit sponsors to help produce the convention.

Quakecon is 100% free! All you have to pay for is the cost of getting there and your room and board. The event itself is totally free to anybody, all thanks to our sponsors and volunteers.

Quakecon is held from July 31 - August 3, 2008. The event starts in the morning on the 31st and continues until noon on the 3rd.

QuakeCon is held at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Traditionally Quakecon is held in the DFW area in Texas. Why? because id Software is based there and they're a large part of what makes QuakeCon possible.

To attend QuakeCon 2008, you must be registered. You can register at the event itself, but you may not get a spot in the tournaments or BYOC. The only way to guarantee a spot in either one is to pre-register at QuakeCon.org.

The date for pre-registration has not yet been announced.

Space in the BYOC and tournaments is limited, and you are strongly encouraged to register to ensure that you get a spot.

No, by that we mean you will be able to attend QuakeCon and its events, but you will not be able to bring your machine into the BYOC or play in the tournament unless space permits. The only way to bring your computer is to choose the option that you are "Bringing your PC" when registering at Quakecon.org.

Yes, anyone attending QuakeCon 2007, regardless of why, must be registered. No one will be let into the main areas without being registered.

Yes, however you will need to have a waiver signed by your parent(s) or legal guardian(s) before we will allow you into QuakeCon. ALL attendees must sign a Mandatory Waiver or they will not be admitted to the event. NO EXCEPTIONS!

The waiver you will need will be posted to this website as the event gets closer.

You do not need to be over 18 to play in the official tourneys or participate, either.

Yes, ALL attendees must sign a Mandatory Waiver or they will not be admitted to the event. NO EXCEPTIONS!

Yes, a valid state, federal, passport, or international government picture ID must be presented at check-in. School IDs that have a photo will also be accepted. NO EXCEPTIONS!

Officially, Check-In begins Thursday morning. Everybody gets there, lines up, and goes through the registration process of verifying that they have the right equipment, getting their badge, and finding out their network information.

In the past we have allowed an 'early check-in' on Wednesday night after the entire BYOC setup has been completed by the volunteers. Keep in mind, however, that this isn't set in stone for this year and never really has been in the past. Essentially we do early check-in as long as there's time Wednesday night after setup ends. Yes, you could conceivably wait in line all day Wednesday then not even get to check-in at all.

Once again, Wednesday early check-in is a HUGE maybe (this year there's going to be A LOT to setup and it could very well take longer than in years past), so officially, check-in will begin on Thursday in the A.M. Don't bug the volunteers Wednesday night to see if you're going to get in because you'll get in, like id says, "When it's done"

You should check the Ride Board in our Forums for people to carpool with.

No problem at all! Head on over to the roommate forum to find people that you'd feel comfortable sleeping in the same room with. Promise somebody a bottle of Bawls and you'll be their best friend!

No, we wish we knew. Don't bother asking if we're going to all be getting copies of Quake Wars, if any demos will released, or if we will all get to ride in John Carmack's Ferrari. And if you insist on asking anyway, we may have to lie to make you look foolish later on.

Mr. Carmack is expected to speak. The exact time and topic have yet to be announced.

No, all volunteers must find their own place to stay during QuakeCon.

Rights in the #quakecon IRC channel are assigned based upon a person's current activity level with the organization. Channel userlevels are as follows:

500 - Executive Director
400 - Director
300 - Assistant Directors
200 - Core Staff
100 - Outstanding volunteers
50 - Friends of QuakeCon

Users with a level of 50 and higher receive on-join voice. Users with a level of 300 and higher are auto-opped on joining the channel.

The Hilton is going to fill up rather quickly, but please keep in mind that rooms will still continue to open up as some people cancel their reservations at the Hilton. Be sure to mention QuakeCon when making reservations to get our special negotiated rates. Please let us know if you have problems.

More information is available on our Location page.

Check-in for your room is 3:00PM.
Check-out for your room is 11:00AM.

All hotel guests book at the 'QuakeCon' rate will be charged $5 per day for parking. All non-guests will be charged $15 per day by the hotel.

Sorry, but due to legal limitations, QuakeCon and id Software are prohibited from sending invitations to those unable to come without one.

Because the surface of the Sun was already booked.

The answers in the BYOC FAQ were current as of QuakeCon 2007. They may change before QuakeCon 2008.

BYOC stands for Bring Your Own Computer. It is a LARGE LAN of around 2700 computers and servers on our fully switched network. There will be several official and unofficial tournaments held in the BYOC, which you can participate in using your own computer. QuakeCon and its sponsors will provide many game servers for you to play on, and there will be many people running servers on their own computer as well. You may only bring one computer.

Any game you want. While we expect the most popular games will be DOOM 3, Quake 3 and 4, Enemy Territory and their various mods, many other games will also be played in the BYOC. Chances are good that if you want to play a game there is someone else who also wants to play that game. Please note that any multiplayer game you want to play must support TCP/IP. (Most do)

No, we will have servers for other games including Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Enemy Territory, Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, and many others. We will also provide servers for the most popular mods. While the name is QuakeCon, more than Quake will be played. QuakeCon is a celebration of all of id’s games and id’s game engines! If you would like to see a particular mod or game run, feel free to suggest it on our Forums.

The BYOC will be open 24 hours a day. There will be no stop to the multiplayer action throughout the event!

No, once you register for a spot, it is yours. If you will not be attending send an e-mail to info@quakecon.org and let us know. Your spot will be given to the next person on the waiting list.

BYOC seats are non-transferrable; selling or giving your BYOC spot to anotther person is strictly not allowed.

No, you will not be allowed to bring any extraneous networking equipment into the BYOC area. The only device you are allowed to bring is a Network Interface Card. Any other items MUST be left in your car, room, or at home. We will NOT allow them into the BYOC. NO EXCEPTIONS. Everything besides the NIC (including a network cable) will be provided for you.

Each BYOC attendee is allowed to bring in One (1) computer. All console systems (XBOX, PlayStation, wii, NES, etc) are considered computers under this rule. If you choose to bring in a console system then you will NOT be allowed to bring in a PC and vice versa.

One (1). You are only allowed one computer per person to be brought into the BYOC area. A laptop is considered a computer, so you are not permitted to bring a laptop and a desktop machine. You should also leave your game servers at home. We will have many servers running various games and mods for you to use.

One (1) monitor per person is allowed in the BYOC. This counts for CRT's, LCD's, and TV's.

No. Speakers will not be permitted in the BYOC. Headphones only please.

Not officially. All of the seats in the BYOC are first come-first serve and people can sit wherever they want. Whoever gets there first gets the first choice of seating, second gets what's left over, etc.

Groups or clans may ask others to leave space for their friends. Sometimes people even make signs to place on the tables. Generally, people are willing to accommodate and are friendly about it. It's rare that friends end up very far apart. But when space gets tight, you may not deny someone that needs your "reserved" space.

Yes, the BYOC is an ethernet based TCP/IP network. This means that you will need an Ethernet network card, and have it installed in your computer. You will also need to make sure that you have the TCP/IP protocol installed for that network card. And because this is a free network you should be very careful with sharing files. If you are unfamiliar with file sharing please turn it off. This is to prevent others from reading all your files (which might contain CD-keys), and maybe even deleting the contents of your harddrive.

Yes, we will have network staff available in the BYOC to give you any assistance with setting up your machine that you may need. Just bring your computer, an Ethernet network card, and any driver disks that come with it and the installation CD for your operating system. Also, you may want to ask the people that are sitting around you to give you a hand. Don't worry about looking like a newbie, we're all glad to help out.

Quakecon has a dedicated staff of network security technicians that will be monitoring the network throughout the event for worms, viruses, and other anomalies. They will identify and act upon any perceived threat to either the network security or performance.

If your computer is found to be infected with a virus, it will be unplugged from the network until you can get it un-infected. Network staff will try and assist people in getting cleaned up, to the extent of that they have time.

All attendees should have their computers patched up to date before attending, and running a virus scanner is *highly* recommended.

As for hacking, well, if you discover that somebody is doing nefarious things on the network then just talk to somebody in the NOC and the situation will be dealt with very swiftly. In the past, people doing stuff like that have been ejected from the BYOC. QuakeCon is about fun. People who harm other people's computers are not fun. The QuakeCon staff can and do prosecute those who do illegal acts.

Not directly from QuakeCon, however you are able to rent monitors from our friends at Bit-by-Bit. They will be on-site and the procedure for renting equipment is usually painless (they arrive with the equipment and bring it into the BYOC, you get it from them and use it. Then, on Sunday, just return it to them right there in the BYOC)

No, you may not. It is against the hotel's policy. We also do NOT recommend sleeping in your car. Texas temperatures can get very high, and we don’t need any of you getting heat stroke or worse.

QuakeCon will have 'round the clock security provided by the Dallas Police Department. There will be several uniformed (and armed) Police Officers on duty at all times. An inventory sheet is filled out upon arriving at QuakeCon, and what you leave the BYOC with is checked against that sheet. Some years we have not allowed late-night checkouts. If you are planning to take your computer out of the BYOC late at night, please check with a member of the registration staff first.

Laptops are treated just like any other computer that somebody might bring into the BYOC. Once the cut-off time for bringing equipment out is reached (if we have one this year) then you wouldn't be able to remove a laptop, just like somebody else couldn't bring out their Mac or PC.

Some people have expressed concerns about the security of laptops since they tend to be a great deal more mobile than towers. If you are worried about your laptop walking away, please invest in a lock that can be simply fastened down to the table when you setup in the BYOC. However we cannot be held responsible if you lose your key, forget your combination, etc!

The Hilton has a good page detailing all of the places nearby to eat right here.

No, neither alcohol nor smoking is allowed IN the BYOC, however space for smoking will be provided. And if you want to drink head on up to your room.

Yes, you will be allowed to bring any UPS rated at 500VA or less.

Yes, there will be Internet access in the BYOC. We will cap the bandwidth usage of each person in the BYOC at a reasonable limit so that you can use e-mail, chat on IM clients, IRC and, of course, browse the web. Large downloads, however, are strongly discouraged. We ask that you keep the line free for your fellow gamers. We will provide a file server which will have as many mods and patches as possible so you can download them locally. If anyone abuses the Internet access they will be blocked from further access. And if that doesn't help, we will shut of Internet access to the whole BYOC, so please do not ruin it for everyone.

The hotel provides a for-money wi-fi network, and the Event itself may (or may not) provide a free network. But bear in mind that the performance of the actual connection would degrade rapidly as more and more people used the connection. Picture hundreds if people plugged into a 10MB hub and you get some idea what its like.

Also, don't try running your own access point either. Essentially that introduces a backdoor to the BYOC that is just another security risk. The network security staff WILL be checking for this type of thing, so just don't do it.

Yes and No.

No, in that Windows SMB/CIFS file sharing will be disabled. You will not be able to browse the network via network neighborhood or connect to other computers directly by IP address. All SMB traffic will be blocked at the core router. This was a decision made in response to the incredible number of viruses on the network in 2003 that exploit specific holes in Microsoft Windows.

Yes, in that we will be operating a DirectConnect server on the network for any file sharing or patch distribution needs. You can get the client software here.

No. Because of the logistics of bringing 2700 people into a room with their computers and trying to squish everybody together for a few days, bringing your own chair would seriously complicate things. Also, since many chairs have wheels there's always the possibility that they could get snagged on a cable and disrupt the network or power for an area of the BYOC.

Things you NEED:

• Money (you will get hungry/thirsty/sleepy)
• Picture ID
• Your signed consent form
• Your computer/monitor
• Your Mice/keyboard/controller/headphones (if you use them)
• Deodorant
• A few changes of clothes (it's likely a few free t-shirts will come your way, however)

Things you dont NEED but should bring anyway:

• Your drivers for your computer along with a bootable copy of your favorite operating system. You never know when you could have a problem.
• If you are very cold natured then you might need a light jacket, some have complained that the BYOC is too cold.

BYOC tournaments really bring the Quakecon community together like few other things can. They're a great idea for you and friends, neighbors, or the whole BYOC to take part in!

However, there are a few rules to follow when starting your own tourneys in the BYOC that we ask that you please follow:

• You may not accept sponsorship from any third-party companies for your tournament or use your tournament as advertisement for any company or group.


• You may not publicize your Tournament as being officially sanctioned by QuakeCon.


• Any prizes for your tournament must be offered out of pocket or from the generosity of donors.


• You may not charge any kind of entrance fee for your tournament, even if it is to be used as prize money. That's called gambling and is illegal.


• The QuakeCon staff reserves the right to impose additional restrictions at a later date or to cancel any tournament at any time for any reason.

Once you've read the rules then head on over to the BYOC Tourneys forum to get organizing!

No. Non-official services like DC++/DHCP/etc will not be tolerated on the QuakeCon network. You are free to run game servers from your personal machines, however.

The final call on permission rests with the network staff. Violating this rule can lead to your ejection from the event or simply a stern warning.

Access to MMORPG's such as Everquest, EVE Online, DAoC, Second Life, and WoW will be restricted if not blocked completely. DO NOT EXPECT TO HAVE ACCESS TO ANY INTERNET-BASED GAME WHILE AT QUAKECON.