Ok here is the way i see it.
Its all about the lan, fuck the foamy new years rave thing. Any fool can get a venue, some DJ's and pass out a ton of flyers around strip clubs, school campuses and the beach .
Its about the LAN. Now look at the last big lan in CA. TribalWars:West. That didn't sell out dude. I think there were like 50-70 people there and thats a stretch at best. Im sure bufu or moker or collosus or cheater, or WHOEVER can quote the exact numbers.
Now, this was put on in the summer, not around a holiday. Was advertised MONTHS (plural) in advance. It was put on by the UVALAN people, so you know it would be quality. And there was a playable version of T:V there.
Now you want to surpass that, by a lot it seems, but you don't have anything going for you other than big prizes that MIGHT be given out (thats really lame btw) and a big rave at the end. Its also around a holiday, so the airports gonna be FUCKED for anyone flying in. Hotels are going to be booked, traffic will be just insane, and you are advertising this lan one month ahead of the date. Even if you DID convince everyone who still plays tribes or wants to go to a tribes 1 lan, i doubt enough people would be able to change thier holiday plans, purchase a plane ticket, and find hotel accomodations.
Not to mention the prizes will only be given out if 100 people sign up for the T1 tourney. WTF, even at the really big lans, put on by veteran lan promoters, you are lucky to get 100 people in the T1 tourney. And suppose we do go, and 80 people sign up. Cool, i just spent all this money and wasted my time and effort to get a new computer, and now its going to some halo fag. Speaking of which, how many halo lans you ever seen?
The final thing is, people are not giving you shit because you are putting on a big lan. They are giving you shit because you are not inspiring confidence in your ablility to pull this off. When cheater started making UVA Lans, the community was behind him because he came off profesionally and gave everyone time to get ready, and make reservations, and inspired confidence in his ability to put on a good lan. Collosus did the same thing when he put on TribesCon.
So the community isn't giving you shit cause you are doing something new and different, we are giving you shit because you are doing something new and different poorly.
Cliffs: This lan is a gamble for the players. Will the prizes be given out?
No notice, and not inspiring confidence in the player base.