LAN Parties: Dead?

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KentState

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2001
8,397
393
126
Then you're missing the point. LAN parties are about getting together with friends, playing games side-by-side, staying up late, eating pizza, talking trash, and generally shooting the shit.

Unless your high-speed broadband internet connection can really accomplish all of that, LANs are here to stay. It's also a bit damning to hope for the death of a wholesome social activity which many of us still enjoy.

Yeah, but it's really awkward to fap in the middle of a LAN party.
 

Veliko

Diamond Member
Feb 16, 2011
3,597
127
106
The 'organization and planning' for my LANs involve sending a text message: "Hey guys, LAN this Friday at 6:00. See you there."

Friday rolls along, people bring their laptops over to my place, we fire up Counter-Strike and maybe grab some pizza. That's it. Honestly, the hardest part of a LAN for us is probably deciding what game to play. The rest is trivial.

Again, keep in mind this is for a small group of 8 or 10 people. For massive events that include dozens of players, I would agree with you, but for my LANs there's no effort involved that's relatively easy to do. I'm sorry if your experience is otherwise.

And you can do that every single Friday whenever you want, right?

It's super-easy as long as no-one has any kids, there is a place nearby that is large enough to host it, the equipment is already in place and every single person has a laptop.

Well that's not really what falls under the definition of super-easy.

If doing that is super easy what is playing online? Super duper mega woppsy dropsy easy...?
 

Dankk

Diamond Member
Jul 7, 2008
5,558
25
91
And you can do that every single Friday whenever you want, right?

It's super-easy as long as no-one has any kids, there is a place nearby that is large enough to host it, the equipment is already in place and every single person has a laptop.

Well that's not really what falls under the definition of super-easy.

My friends and I are all 20-22 year old single guys. We all live in the same town. We have a place that's big enough to fit us all, it's called the basement. ;)

Not everyone has laptops, people will also bring their whole towers. A bit of a hassle, but they're pretty accustomed to it. Only a couple of trips to the car are necessary to bring their stuff in. I also have a spare PC on hand for those who don't have a good gaming desktop/laptop.

I think I'm lucky to have the friends that I have.

If doing that is super easy what is playing online? Super duper mega woppsy dropsy easy...?

Well, considering that's what I spend most of my off-time doing, yeah pretty much. :D

Edit: Here's a pic. I'm the blue shirt in the back, hunched over my laptop. (It really is a basement, it's mid-afternoon and those are window wells you're looking at)

6a6Ek.jpg
 
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SolidSnake42

Senior member
Feb 9, 2010
263
0
0
Would kill to have some more LAN parties, considering they aren't really common as much any more, but I also blame a lot of games now a days (or the popular ones anyways) don't have LAN functionality.
 

Zenoth

Diamond Member
Jan 29, 2005
5,189
184
106
Indeed it seems to have decreased in popularity, I don't think it has died though. I myself never played much in LAN parties although I did have a few a couple of years ago. The last one I've had that was worthy of the term ("party") was back sometime in 2005 I believe when UT 2004 had a good modding community established with many known custom maps, I used to play that game a lot in LANs, it was fun while it lasted.
 

nsafreak

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 2001
7,093
3
81
Eh they're not as prevalent as they used to be but they're still around and they're still popular. I have a group of friends that gets together once every month to two months to play some lan games. I think the key in our case is that we have one of two locations that we go to that are close to everybody and everything's already pretty much setup. We have two guys that are really into LANs that setup their basements as LAN centers. Electrical wiring is run to multiple outlets along the wall along with multiple wallplates with ethernet connections that run to a gigabit switch in the server room. If somebody doesn't have a particular game than can *ahem* "acquire" it from the server in the server room. Since it's in the basement the effect of heat simply rising up and out is usually sufficient but if not there are backup portable AC units available. Granted we do more than just gaming we also do some BBQing, Pirates vs Zombies, etc. and all in all we typically have a blast. Usually have around 12 to 15 people or so each LAN so it's not huge but it's still fun.
 

NeoV

Diamond Member
Apr 18, 2000
9,531
2
81
I miss them, used to have some great ones out in Painesville, OH, hosted by the guy who wrote the Qtracker program, a game-spy alternative. Lot's of Quake 1,2,3 action - Thunderwalker CTF matches that were so much fun - and the Painkeep mod, such good times!
 

erikistired

Diamond Member
Sep 27, 2000
9,739
0
0
The point of LAN parties was to have low latency back in the day when most people only had dialup. It's kind of obsolete now, unless you are playing some kind of pro-gamer team competition stuff. But in that case the purpose is just to watch the players playing live as a sort of spectator sport. For typical gamers there is not much purpose for them.

wrong. the point was to hang out with people who had the same interests as you did. i was going to lan parties up to a couple years ago, and i would still go. it never had anything to do with dialup or latency, it was about enjoying gaming with friends.
 

erikistired

Diamond Member
Sep 27, 2000
9,739
0
0
And you can do that every single Friday whenever you want, right?

It's super-easy as long as no-one has any kids, there is a place nearby that is large enough to host it, the equipment is already in place and every single person has a laptop.

Well that's not really what falls under the definition of super-easy.

If doing that is super easy what is playing online? Super duper mega woppsy dropsy easy...?

the guy who hosted our lan parties has kids. i have kids. other guys who were there have kids. what the hell does kids have to do with it? you don't stop doing things when you have kids. a basement is all you need to host it, and you can bring a desktop, people do it all the time. playing online isn't nearly as fun, because your buddies can't huddle around your pc while you're hunting down your friend (foe?) across the room while you each talk smack to each other. sure, things have improved online, but it's still not the same as being among friends. heck, a couple guys will have a crowd around them while playing soccer on a big monitor. and where else are you going to show off your custom rig? i think some guys come out just to do that.
 

Piano Man

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2000
3,370
0
76
LAN parties were great. No lag was fun, but just being in the same room with other guys were great (especially pre vent days). Four Person Doom/Descent/Heretic/Hexen etc back in the 90s was awesome fun.
 

SolidSnake42

Senior member
Feb 9, 2010
263
0
0
I can say, for the upcoming Borderlands 2, I'd love to just get an all day/all nighter going with some friends via LAN party. Would be awesome. And splice in some UT2K4 as well :p.
 

Veliko

Diamond Member
Feb 16, 2011
3,597
127
106
the guy who hosted our lan parties has kids. i have kids. other guys who were there have kids. what the hell does kids have to do with it? you don't stop doing things when you have kids. a basement is all you need to host it, and you can bring a desktop, people do it all the time. playing online isn't nearly as fun, because your buddies can't huddle around your pc while you're hunting down your friend (foe?) across the room while you each talk smack to each other. sure, things have improved online, but it's still not the same as being among friends. heck, a couple guys will have a crowd around them while playing soccer on a big monitor. and where else are you going to show off your custom rig? i think some guys come out just to do that.

People do not do LAN parties 'all the time'. They might play online all the time or play a single-player game all the time, but a LAN party?

Nope.

And someone with kids has less free time than someone who doesn't have kids.
 

God Mode

Platinum Member
Jul 2, 2005
2,903
0
71
Everyone got into FPS and their playing style went into solo/one many army/rage quit mode. No point in a lan.
 

TidusZ

Golden Member
Nov 13, 2007
1,765
2
81
Totally the opposite of the truth. The point of LAN parties is the social aspect. It's not the same if you only play online.

Yeah, that's exactly true. Even back in the day I don't think latency played a role for me enjoying lans. When I think of a lan I mainly think of lanning with friends at one of our houses, not several hundred ppl I don't know (although I have been to a few of those and they were fun because my friends went too).
 

Axon

Platinum Member
Sep 25, 2003
2,541
1
76
I'll be at PAX East LAN and PAX LAN as I am every year. It's certainly kinder and gentler than an old school LAN party, but it's still damn fun.
 

PrincessFrosty

Platinum Member
Feb 13, 2008
2,301
68
91
www.frostyhacks.blogspot.com
I host about 3-4 LANs a year, usually at Xmas/new years, Easter, summer and then maybe another later in the year, we just shoot around some emails to the regular crowd, gauge interest, set a date and everyone just turns up with their kit, it takes a good few hours to get PC's settled in and everyone in their place but we usually set a target of at least 3 days for LANs, when bank holidays on a Friday or Monday extend the weekend by a day or 2 is always great.

Our LANs are more social in nature, if you've never been to a small one then you probably don't really get the atmosphere, we usually play drinking games past about 4-6pm and that always spices things up a bit, often we'll break out drinking card games later in the evening or board games, sometimes tournaments on the PS3 on the big screen. Order takeaway and generally be pretty rowdy...we ended up completely blasted out of our heads at our last LAN and watching funny youtube stuff on the projector, just talking shit, ended the night listening to old game music from stuff like streets of rage on the megadrive and I think there may have been some hip thrusting to red alerts hell march music at some point as well, it was all a blur past then...lol :D
 

Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
LAN parties were great. No lag was fun, but just being in the same room with other guys were great (especially pre vent days). Four Person Doom/Descent/Heretic/Hexen etc back in the 90s was awesome fun.

Yeah, I used to host them all the time but the numbers kept dwindling and they were hard to keep going. I finally just gave up.
 

Childs

Lifer
Jul 9, 2000
11,450
7
81
I remember going to lan party at the Santa Clara Convention Center...must have been a couple of hundred people. We were playing Quake 2 and this dude kept killing me. I kinda yelled to my friend, "who the bleep is this guy <handle>...I'm gonna get this b****!". The guy was actually sitting behind me and said "sorry man!". :biggrin: To some people I can be an imposing looking guy, especially in Silicon Valley. Anyways, we all had a laugh and he and his friends ended up being a cool guys...introduced me to Rocket Arena.

LAN parties where some of the best gaming moments I've ever had, whether its at an official event or in my apt. I used to have 4 PCs in my living room and we'd play CS. Yeah, we used to ghost. :biggrin: Even my uncles and cousins would bring their PCs over for holidays and we'd play all night.

Its just much better in person. At LAN parties you generally never had the asshole factor associated with online anonymity, even though its still anonymous. And there is something to be said for razzing a person to their face and getting it back. Lugging the PCs around was a pain in butt (CRT days), but it was worth it.
 

krnmastersgt

Platinum Member
Jan 10, 2008
2,873
0
0
I attribute their death to SolidSnake42's comment.

A lot of games disable or take out LAN functionality (from the bigger titles anyways) because it made multi-player pirating too easy.

There are still plenty of awesome titles for LAN parties I suppose, but I think they were more prevalent a while ago due to the fact that being a "gamer" was a bit off the beaten path. Now "gamers" are a dime-a-dozen, with industries popping up just for gear and clothing, pro gamers with licensing contracts, etc. I think the gaming community grew out the "playing in the basement" phase and just naturally grew out of LAN parties.

Also the widespread cheaper high speed connections helped to promote staying at home and just VOIPing with your friends.

Also people are lazy.

I mean really, really lazy.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
9,990
126
I always enjoyed the "intimate" LAN parties with friends. I have a friend that used to have a good-sized place, and a bunch of us used to get together and play UT. I was (barely) about the best in our group, although my other friend was close to neck-and-neck, as far as kills go. We had good competition between us, it was a lot of fun.

Now he has a kid. And the friend hosting the LAN parties moved.

When I moved into my own apt, I had always planned on setting up a LAN center of sorts, for my friends to come over and play. I finally got three nice desks, a year or two or three ago. I have FIOS, and plenty of outlets. I also have plenty of PCs. Sadly, though, I haven't really used it to LAN at all since I set it up, everybody never seems to have time to come over, at the same time as everyone else has time. Someday, though.

I've got a stack of UT Collection game boxes, still shrink-wrapped, waiting for the opportunity to use them.
 

silvan4now

Member
Oct 4, 2011
128
0
0
not really....
me and some friends are now like 1 week without internet and lan is the only option to have fun
 

videogames101

Diamond Member
Aug 24, 2005
6,777
19
81
I always enjoyed the "intimate" LAN parties with friends. I have a friend that used to have a good-sized place, and a bunch of us used to get together and play UT. I was (barely) about the best in our group, although my other friend was close to neck-and-neck, as far as kills go. We had good competition between us, it was a lot of fun.

Now he has a kid. And the friend hosting the LAN parties moved.

When I moved into my own apt, I had always planned on setting up a LAN center of sorts, for my friends to come over and play. I finally got three nice desks, a year or two or three ago. I have FIOS, and plenty of outlets. I also have plenty of PCs. Sadly, though, I haven't really used it to LAN at all since I set it up, everybody never seems to have time to come over, at the same time as everyone else has time. Someday, though.

I've got a stack of UT Collection game boxes, still shrink-wrapped, waiting for the opportunity to use them.

This story makes me sad!
 

GoStumpy

Golden Member
Sep 14, 2011
1,212
11
81
I have a really lame LAN party every week! Too bad it's just me and a buddy playing BF3 (or poker after we rage-quit) side-by-side on a big desk :\

Lots of beer is consumed :thumbsup:
 

Topweasel

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2000
5,436
1,654
136
About 5-6 of us as been playing every Monday since 2001. Sometimes someone drops out for a while, maybe only 1-3 of us show up on a given week to the actual house and two of them moved to another state, so only come 2-3 times a year.

It used to be 6pm Monday and everyone would have Tuesday off and wouldn't leave till 12am Wednesday.

Then a wifey wanted us out by 5pm Tuesday.

Then bit by bit everyone is now gone by 2am Monday night. Cept when the other two are back in town. Then we all make sure we have Tuesday off.

The interwebs has actually helped us out. A lot of us would have drifted away. But for the most part 11 years later at least 90% of us are still putting forth at least 6-8 hours Monday to play whatever is the hot game all of us can agree on.