MPCon - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

MPCon is an organization established in south-eastern Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

which hosts LAN Parties to bring together gamers of all likes for a 3 day event, 2-3 times a year. This event is Bring Your Own PC, and is open all day and night with festivities including tournaments, free game play, and free pizza.

History

MPCon has its roots at the University of Michigan-Dearborn

University of Michigan-Dearborn

The University of Michigan–Dearborn , is a public university located in Dearborn, Michigan, USA.The University of Michigan–Dearborn is one of two regional campuses of the University of Michigan...

, ranked #9 in the nation for Gaming Colleges . The event filled the Mary and Arthur Kochoff Hall in the University Center building, and the Recreation Organization Center before that. In August 2007, they moved to Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...

where they have held their events ever since.

The LAN party

LAN party

A LAN party is a temporary, sometimes spontaneous, gathering of people with computers, between which they establish a local area network , primarily for the purpose of playing multiplayer computer games. The size of these networks may vary from the very small to very large installations...

started in 1997 as a LAN party for a QuakeWorld

QuakeWorld

QuakeWorld is an update to id Software's seminal multiplayer deathmatch game, Quake, that enhances the game's multiplayer features to allow people with dial-up modems to achieve greatly improved responsiveness when playing on Internet game servers...

Team Fortress

Team Fortress is a team- and class-based online multiplayer video game mod based on id Software's Quake. Team Fortress was designed and written by Robin Walker, John Cook and Ian Caughley in 1996. The mod's gameplay has caught on with a large following of fans, which has spurred many developers to...

clan called Ministry of Pain. ]MP[ was a well known clan throughout the Team Fortress

Team Fortress

community. The ]MP[ banner lives on in Blizzard's World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...

, and more recently in Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2 is a free-to-play team-based first-person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation. A sequel to the original mod Team Fortress based on the Quake engine, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for Windows...

. MPCon stands for ]MP[ Conference, or Ministry of Pain Conference. Today, however, we encourage everyone to attend.

MPCon had teamed up with Gamers Outreach Foundation (GOF) to host a charity event called Gamers for Giving, a combined event featuring the MPCon LAN Party

LAN party

and an Xbox 360

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

Halo 3

Halo 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. The third installment in the Halo franchise, the game concludes the story arc begun in Halo: Combat Evolved and continued in Halo 2...

Tournament. All proceeds were dealt with by the Gamers Outreach Foundation.

They have also teamed up with Penguicon

Penguicon

Penguicon is a convention in the United States that deliberately brings together the often-overlapping communities of science fiction fandom and Linux User Groups...

. MPCon hosted a Gaming Room & LAN party

LAN party

at Penguicon

Penguicon

Penguicon is a convention in the United States that deliberately brings together the often-overlapping communities of science fiction fandom and Linux User Groups...

6.0 and 7.0, and the internet and PC room at Penguicon

Penguicon

Penguicon is a convention in the United States that deliberately brings together the often-overlapping communities of science fiction fandom and Linux User Groups...

8.0

Since 1997, they have hosted over 25 major events.

MPCon In The News

MPCon has been featured on the UPN 10 o'clock news and the Detroit Free Press. The University of Michigan - Dearborn was ranked #9 in the nation for Gaming Colleges because of MPCon
MPCon is also featured in the Sepbember 2006 issue of Reporter , a University of Michigan-Dearborn faculty/staff newsletter, as well as the University of Michigan - Dearborn News. It also appeared on the University of Michigan - Dearborn Homepage .
MPCon was featured in the University of Michigan - Dearborn Alumni Legacy Magazine Spring 2007 issue.
MPCon XVIII received some attention from the Detroit Free Press on June 10, 2007.
The Gamers for Giving event hosted by the Gamers Outreach Foundation and MPCon was featured on Fox 2 News Detroit
The Second Gamers for Giving event had a plug the Thursday before the event, where GOF founder Zach Wigal was interviewed by Fox 2 News Detroit

MPCon Event History

Event Name	Date	Location	Attendees
MPCon I	March 12–14, 1999	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	50
MPCon II	June 18–20, 1999	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	60
MPCon III	March 18–20, 2000	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	155
MPCon IV	July 14–16, 2000	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	155
MPCon 4.5	January 26–28, 2001	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	155
MPCon V	March 9–11, 2001	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	155
MPCon VI	June 31-July 2, 2001	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	155
MPCon VII	September 22–24, 2001	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	155
MPCon VIII	January 11–13, 2002	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	155
MPCon IX	March 8–10, 2002	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	155
MPCon X	June 14–16, 2002	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	155
MPCon XI	November 1–3, 2002	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	155
MPCon XII	February 28-March 3, 2003	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	155
MPCon XIII	June 25–27, 2003	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	160
MPCon XIV	March 5–7, 2004	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	170
MPCon XV	December 3–5, 2004	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	184
MPCon XVI	June 16–18, 2006	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	196
MPCon XVII	January 5–7, 2007	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	185
MPCon XVIII	June 15–17, 2007	The University of Michigan - Dearborn	209
MPCon XIX	August 24–26, 2007	Eastern Michigan University	61(Test LAN)
MPCon XX	February 29-March 2, 2008	Eastern Michigan University	400+ (Includes Halo Tournament)
MPCon XXI	April 18–20, 2008	Troy Hilton (Penguicon 6.0)	1000+ (Including Conventioners)
MPCon XXII	July 25–27, 2008	Eastern Michigan University	200
MPCon XXIII	February 27-March 1, 2009	Eastern Michigan University	450+ (Includes Halo Tournament)
MPCon 23.5	May 1–3, 2009	Romulus Crowne Plaza (Penguicon 7.0)	1100+ (Including Conventioners)
MPCon XXIV	July 24–26, 2009	Eastern Michigan University	344
MPCon XXV	July 9–11, 2010	Eastern Michigan University	275
MPCon 25.5	March 19-20, 2011	The University of Michigan - Ann Arbor	55 (Test LAN)
MPCon XXVI	TBD	TBD	TBD

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