Games for a Middle School LAN Party

[jdwright]

Heyas all,

I'm teach a computer class at a middle school, and one of the best things I've done as a reward for the kids is host a LAN party. We bring in xbox's for halo and such, and I have a ps3 that I use for Gran Turismo with a wheel and pedals. I also have a lab of early i5 boxes that DO have a dedicated video card (Radeon HD 5250 or some such? nothing fancy, but decent). Anyway, I'm thinking it's time to bring them back for this school year!

In the past, we had multiple copies of WC3 and a couple Starcraft disks to spawn from. Well, these pc games have disappeared since we used to run the LAN parties, and to be honest, it would be nice to have something they might be more familiar with (middle school kids haven't played these much, and I can't find half of them).

Of course, we're on a shoestring budget. I've considered a lab pack of minecraft and I have a dedicated server in my room for other school software that could run a server for the parties. There are so many kids who have their own accounts, though, I wonder if it would be worth buying more.

So, I guess what I'm asking is: What games would you use (preferably free or very cheap) for such an event? I have 33 stations in my lab and would like to have 2 or 3 options for the kids.

TIA for any and all advice!

 

[Maleficus]

I sat down to write all the games that me and my friends played at lan parties when we were that age... then I realized kids probably have no interest in games like Diablo or Quake...

Very cool of you to do this though, good luck.

 

[AstroManLuca]

You could try League of Legends or DOTA 2. Both are free to play and don't have high hardware requirements, and they support up to 10 players at once.

Command and Conquer Tiberian Sun is very old, but it's officially freeware along with its expansion.

Tribes: Ascend is a free FPS. Not sure how well it'll work on some of those machines though.

I wish I knew of another cheap/free/nearly free RTS. Can't think of one though. Starcraft seems like it would be a good choice since it'll run on any computer, but it's still selling for like $10. Age of Empires II was always lots of fun and supports lots of players, but again I don't think you can get it cheap enough.

I'm wondering if it might be worth waiting for a Steam sale on an older multiplayer game. Maybe they'll have something good for really cheap. The daily deal a few days ago was Rome Total War for $1.

 

[Ayah]

Counterstrike source, 1.6 or another of the series?

 

[jdwright]

I don't think those games would necessarily be bad. If you have ideas, I'd be happy to hear them. BTW, I would like to hear steam ideas, but it might be some work to get it unblocked in the district, so I would think the best ideas would be outside steam.

Also, keep in mind that this is a middle school, so probably Teen rating would be top end of the ESRB spectrum .

Thanks a ton!

 

[jdwright]

BTW, you guys snuck those last two in while I was writing! I like the C&C idea...I'll have to look into it. The DOTA and LOL is another good idea. Is CS a Teen rating? I think I could get away with that with some creative permission slipping .

Thanks for the ideas!

 

[TidusZ]

Assuming you're in USA you need to be careful not to pick a game that will get you fired. Also need to pick a game with low learning curve. A tournament of a puzzle game would be good (something like bust a move https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSgoZPuns9Q&t=3m20s) alongside another game people can play if they aren't watching or playing in the puzzle tourny.

I think if you choose an RTS you're gonna have a handful of kids having fun and a lot of bored kids

 

[runzwithsizorz]

Torchlight/Torchlight 2?

 

[biostud]

Marvel Heroes is also F2P
TF2
Trackmania

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

I sat down to write all the games that me and my friends played at lan parties when we were that age... then I realized kids probably have no interest in games like Diablo or Quake...

Very cool of you to do this though, good luck.

I disagree. Personally, I think you could put any game that is somewhat competitive on, and if everyone is in the same room it will be pretty damn fun.

I was filling in for a graphic arts teacher a few years ago who was out sick for a few weeks. All the kids in class played video games (duh), but almost none played PC games. I told them if they did what they had to do that we could all play a game together - which i think just the fact that we would all be playing against each other was enough to get everyone excited.

Because you cant install anything on our computers, I had to pick something that would be easy enough for everyone to set up and go. I brought in nexuiz portable on a flash drive, and just had everyone copy it over to their desktop. It didnt take long at all to set the games up, and once we got it going it was freaking awesome. Seriously, anytime you get that many people in the same room playing the same game vs. each other its a great time.

I would definitely recommend nexuiz (I think xonotic is the updated and better version now) for your class. Literally everyone had fun - even the kids who werent good enjoyed it because they contributed to either winning or losing the game for their team.

And just a side note for PC gaming, and multi-player games in general: They are so much funner when playing with people you know, and people around your skill level.

I shy away from playing competitive MP games most of the time now because I just dont have the time to put in to compete with people who play for hours on end. But you give me that same game against people around my skill level and ill play all day. Make those people I know that I can trash talk to and I wouldn't rather be doing anything else. This is especially true for playing with kb+m too, since its a huge turn off to just continuously get your ass kicked when your trying to learn how to play competitively without a controller.

Sorry for the rant, but yea I would 100% recommend xonotic, or something like it. And just to clarify, this is NOT the same nexiuz that you can buy on steam/xbox.

EDIT: Also maybe some kind of racing game might be pretty cool. Supertuxkart has a portable install too - which will probably be pretty easy to set up and get everyone in - just not sure if its multiplayer?

 

[Jodell88]

Modded minecraft > *

 

[Chaotic42]

Just keep in mind that with MOBAs or any other online game, if you let them connect to the internet, you're going to get some horrible people on there saying horrible things.

 

[ksheets]

Starcraft2...just buy one copy and make everyone play Terran

 

[Glutt]

There's a surprising amount of free games available for LAN parties... Here's a list with a bunch: Free LAN Party Games

I bet kids would like Build & Shoot alot. I have fond memories of Tribes 2. Trackmania is the best free racing game. Farm Hands would be good for kids too.

 

[bonkers325]

league of legends is probably the one they're most familiar with

 

[Mogadon]

Civilization III, IV or V depending on budget. Hell, maybe you could get a company to donate a bunch of copies for education purposes.

 

[Clinkster]

TF2. Great shooter and is F2P.

LoL is also F2P and popular for all age groups.

Minecraft for obvious reasons.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Well, I'm glad Minecraft has been covered.

 

[OSULugan]

Really? My nephew (who is entering his senior year at High School) made fun of me for offering some old LANParty gear (LANBoy case w/ carrying strap for a new computer build). He mainly was poking fun at the concept of us all having to gather at one house to get decent connection speeds to play a game.

 

[Jodell88]

Really? My nephew (who is entering his senior year at High School) made fun of me for offering some old LANParty gear (LANBoy case w/ carrying strap for a new computer build). He mainly was poking fun at the concept of us all having to gather at one house to get decent connection speeds to play a game.

Kids these days.

 

[Tweak155]

I've e-mailed Epic before to request a lan party version of 2004 and they offered me CD keys that would expire on steam (I.E the day after my event).

Lots of companies see it as free advertising. If you have a game in mind, I'd just shoot them an e-mail and see what happens.

 

[jhbball]

I may or may not be hosting an adult LAN party in a couple weeks (I'm 29). PRETTY COOL GUY.

 

[dfuze]

Wish I had a class like that for me when I was that age in the early 90s. Great job giving them exposure to another type of gaming.

I've never been to a LAN party and would like to cross that off my bucket list some day, but there don't seem to be any near me

Just a heads up, I noticed someone said Torchlight earlier and SlickDeals has a front page deal for it for free from GOG.com link

 

[gorcorps]

TF2. Great shooter and is F2P.

LoL is also F2P and popular for all age groups.

Minecraft for obvious reasons.

My first thought was TF2 as well, but given that you're shooting each other it probably would be frowned upon in a school setting these days.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

starcraft 2 just brought back spawning, that could work well

LoL

minecraft

tft2 might be cartooney enough violence

some other F2Ps, planetside, hawken,super monday night combat