As memberships expire next week, I wanted to put up some updates beforehand to cover what we have going on over Summer, and also what changes will be going on towards the start of the next academic year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One thing that we\nwant to focus on more as a Committee is building a stronger community within\nthe Society itself, and one way we want to do this is to focus the LUGES\nDiscord Server towards members only. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means that from\nthe 10th August, anyone who is not a current Society member with the \u201cMember\u201d\ntag on the Discord (Excluding Honorary Members), will lose access to the\nmajority of channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you were a member\nbut did not have the tag, follow the instructions in the #get-roles channel\nthat will show up on the day, and we will sort it out ASAP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the 1st September,\nall users with the Member rank will be given the Past Member rank, which allows\naccess to most of the Discord Server. We will then begin selling memberships\nfor the next year, so if you purchase the membership again, just let us know\nfollowing the instructions in the #get-roles channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alongside the main\nDiscord being hit with the old factory reset, your very own Esports\nCoordinators, Karen and Ryan, have been working on a new Discord server\ntailored specifically to our Esports Players. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This server is open\nfor those who play in our teams, those who are interested in getting involved\nwith the team, as well as just those who have in interest in more competitive\ngaming and want to see how our teams are doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The invite for this\nnew server is https:\/\/discord.gg\/w6Zps4U<\/a> and over the next few weeks, we hope\nto begin using it proactively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Facebook Group,\nfor those that still know it exists, will be getting archived and a new group\nmade for members only will be created to further our plans of becoming more\nmember-oriented as a Society. The page will still exist for the purpose of\npublic image and for people to get in contact with us on, however, and all important\nupdates will still make their way to the page!<\/p>\n\n\n\n With our revised\nbudget for next year, we have increased the membership fee to \u00a37.50 for next\nyear, with the added funds going towards more equipment for members to use as\nwe move towards more member focussed events and socials. It will also go\ntowards the development of the Esports Branding and Image in order to provide a\ndistinct identity for those representing the Society and University in the various\nEsports Tournaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Membership will be\navailable to purchase from the 1st September and will be paid more attention to\nat Socials to keep events based around our members rather than just anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the funds we\nhave leftover this year, after allocating funds for an Esports logo and for\nWelcome Week, we\u2019re also hoping to purchase a decent spec laptop that we can\nuse to host some new and upcoming ideas, and also for people to use at events\nand socials for either gaming or streaming!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Realistically, our\nmaximum budget for the laptop is \u00a3900, so if you have ideas or suggestions\nplease get in contact with on the Committee either by email or the Discord\nServers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m told we\u2019ll have a\npoll up soon with a shortlist, so let us know soon, and keep an eye out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n On top of just this\none laptop, we are also planning to apply for additional support directly from\nthe University to access the alumni funding pot to purchase a set of 6 laptops\nthat can be used by our Esports Teams to practice together, and for use by\nmembers at events and socials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your Community\nOfficer has been hard at work with plans to completely overhaul the Community\nSystem, having it encompass all aspects of the Society, which will allow for\nwider ways of engaging, as well as more organisation of the communities within\nLUGES, putting them in the spotlight, and making it easier than ever to find\npeople with similar interests to yours!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a little taste\nof some of the ideas Kieran presenting to us, but there\u2019s plenty more to come\nin the run-up to the start of next year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n This initiative will\nbring about the introduction of bi-weekly podcasts, hosted by a member of the\nCommittee (Usually Kieran) with a panel of some Committee Members, Reps and\nGuests, and will allow us to talk about what we have got going on in the near\nfuture, including the themed social of the next 2 weeks, any other events, and\na community spotlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The community\nhighlight and spotlight will give each community within the Society the\nopportunity to let members and others see what they have to offer, and how they\ncan get involved, whilst also helping viewers get a little bit more insight\ninto our Community Reps and the Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One thing that we\nhave always tried to touch on has been ways to try utilise the Twitch Channel\nmore, and part of the new Community system, on top of the Community Casts, will\nbe the introduction of prime opportunities for members to create their own\ncontent to stream, or get involved with Society run streams at events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re currently\nlooking into this in two ways, the first being having a dedicated streaming\nroom at LAN. With the hopeful purchase of a laptop and the equipment we already\nhave as a Society, we hope to work with Community Reps to plan content to play\nand stream on a schedule at each LAN so we always have some content up that\npeople can engage with either in person or just via Twitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second idea is to\nhost separate Community Stream events, which would tie in really well with\nthings such as game releases and updates, and also just in general if a\nCommunity wants to give running a longer stream a go. This could also be tied\ninto running more general Society events on twitch, such as running Jackbox and\nsuch for those that don\u2019t come to the weekly socials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the biggest\nquestions we\u2019ve had between ourselves, and I have had with prospective\ncommunities, is the lack of any particular benefit of being a Community Rep or\njoining a Community within LUGES. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Moving forward, we\nhope to introduce some tangible incentives that will actually benefit those who\nwish to get involved and grow a Community within the Society;<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the refreshed\nDiscord Server, we are going to provide each Community with their own section\non the server, so that they can both engage with all members, but also then\nhave private channels and voice channels for Community members only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once we find a new\nprovider, we\u2019ll also hopefully offer the opportunity for each Community to\norder custom hoodies that showcase their Community and are more relevant to\nthem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As our Community Reps\nwill be the heart of the new system, we will also provide the opportunity for\nthose who have contributed greatly to their Community to get recognised for\ntheir efforts. Stay tuned for more info on this though!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite everyone\nbeing up and yeeted out of the Discord Server, if you want to take part in the\n2 Minecraft Hunger Games events we are running, feel free to rejoin the server\nas everyone will be able to use the Community Games channel without membership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ll be running the\nHunger Games in both August and September on the following dates and times:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u25cf Saturday 17th August @ 4:30 pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u25cf Saturday 14th September @ 4:30 pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyone is free to\njoin, and hopefully (If I actually set it up properly this time), it will\ncompletely run itself from 4:30 pm onwards, and I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll probably come up\nwith a prize or something closer to the event!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve currently got 2\nevents confirmed for Welcome Week, with more in the works for those who will\nstill be with us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u25cf Furness Games Night – Furness Bar\n& Common Room on 29th September from 7 PM<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u25cf Fylde Games Night (ft. Senet) – Fylde\nCommon Room on 3rd October from 7 PM<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re also hopefully\ngoing to have an event in Pendle, with the return of Rock Band, and we\u2019re\nplanning an event with Cartmel as we speak!<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n That just about covers everything I can think of that we thought you would want to know, but as always, updates will be posted on the website (www.lancaster.ac.uk\/luges<\/a>) and the Discord Server (discord.gg\/luges) so we can keep you up to date as things develop!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We hope everyone has\nbeen enjoying their summer and\/or studies after the end of the year, and we\nlook forward to seeing those of you who will be returning to Lancaster in\nOctober!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lots of love,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brent – LUGES\nPresident<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As memberships expire next week, I wanted to put up some updates beforehand to cover what we have going on over Summer, and also what changes will be going on towards the start of the next academic year! Major Changes Community Discord Overhaul One thing that we want to focus on more as a Committee… Read More »End of Year Updates<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":70,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/luges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/luges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/luges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/luges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/luges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/luges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/luges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/luges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/luges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Facebook Group<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Membership for\n2019\/20<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Society Laptop<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Kieran\u2019s Big Community Overhaul!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Community Cast<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Streaming\nOpportunities<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Why join a Community?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Discord<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Hoodies<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Awards<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Upcoming Events<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Discord Community\nGames (MC Hunger Games)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Welcome Week Events<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n