Hi,

I’m Michael « Evilmarmotte » Boom, I am a former player and started to play Counter Strike1.6. First with « Source » and later « Global Offensive » while spending on other games (as Shootmania, etc.). Since a few years, I converted in management and administration of tournaments. I was the Admin at competitions and Anti-Cheat supervisor on LeetGamerZ. I run my own gaming association (Multigaming, Pokehead) and I was the team manager of Leetgamerz (Lambert, Mistou, Geo, Wizzard, Faris). Nowadays, I’m a member of the French association LanExperience. I have several responsibilities but the major one is « Marketing Communication Project Manager ». I’m looking for partnership/sponsoring to pamper the most tour players. I also function as « staff » team manager during our events. Finally, I am the main contact for all the foreign teams coming to LanEx.

Lan Experience, what is it ?

Lan Experience is an association of the city of Assevent founded in 2003. The first project was organizing E-sport events. The organization then consisted of five people who control the events for 20 players. In 2011, Alexandre Haution became the new president and that changed Lanex into what it is today. In 2013, the fifteenth event « LanEx 15 » offered  a cash prize of 1000€ to the winners. 150 players (30 teams) from all over France participated in this Lan. In May 2014, « LanEx 18 » had that time a cash prize of 2000€. European teams, including world champions, made the trip. 

This event was the turning point for the association because it opened the doors of the MASTERS of French e-sport to us. The MJVF (read here as the MASTER of French e-sports ) is a gathering of Best Lan (E-Sporting Event brings together players in the same place in France to play). The best Lan of  France joined together for a championship which will decide in the end of the season who will be the best team in France. In October 2014, LanEx flies higher again. 4.300€ (3.000€ for the winners) was given to the teams and nearly 2.000€ of gaming peripheral (keyboards, mice). Besides this growth the most important was the coming of many « junior » recruits.

The staff is recently about 30 members. Passionate members for the computer world, by the familial atmosphere and the video games. Each member agrees to share its experience. The older ones guide the younger, new members. They teach them what the words "teamwork", "responsibility" and "proactive" mean. We talk about the one that connects student life and professional life. That is a reason why we push them to create projects, to externalize and to propose and defend their ideas.

With some multilingual members (English, French, Dutch, Russian, ...), we have, over the past 2 years, welcomed European teams. Germans, Austrians and Dutch were present at the last event (October 2014). Since this event in 2014 Assevent is able to welcome the best players in France but also from the world. Players are considering Lan Experience Association as one of the best organizations in France.

With such reputation, since 2013 we have organized several events. Smaller but we obviously hope to evolve the same way as in our main events. In 2014 and in 2015, Lanex expanded its panel to allow more events. We have, nowadays, 10 Major events per year. Digital Station (Loma), the city of Recquignies and the city of Assevent, are now part of our improvement projects and developments.

In addition we wish, by coaching youth and manage events, to show the general public that the video game is not that 'addiction' 'violence' 'confinement' they think it is. We see the world of online gaming as unlikely encounters and an outlet for our problems. Not forget to mention teamwork, strategy, seriousness, training, thinking and decision making are concepts which players are confronted at all times. But most important of all is of course fair play. It is also during these meetings that all players show that this is possible!

Obviously this requires a lot of work and we are always looking for dedicated people. It doesn’t take specific knowledge. Our members are already in place and that allows to learn and grow at your own pace and discover another world as the E-sport.

In 2015, Lanex set up a goal which is to create a new division within its Association: Lanex Formation. It will aim to train volunteers and people from outside  in the form of classes with the IT theme, networks and Gaming. These will be provided by staff members who have acquired these skills through their work. The goal is for students to be trained by field and active adults to receive the most comprehensive training possible.

Finally

We are pleased to have the opportunity to trust in so much partnerships in different European countries such as the Netherlands (Holland). We are graceful to our partner SD Gaming for their trust and support, with special thanks to Carla and Paul who are extremely wonderful people and I will be very pleased to meet.

Thank you all for reading my article, I hope you enjoyed it. More information you can read here and also at Facebook. CU all at our Lan, as Fan or as a participant 

Michael « Evilmarmotte » Boom