The Lost Art of Lans

SiG357 said:
That's the main reasons I have them about twice a month. In fact, I have am having one today. :)
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Had one on Saturday and it was a blast... :D

GLSauron said:
yup, broadband killed the neighborhood LANs. The new gen never figured out how to do LAN parties and the old gen is busy with school and/or work these days. :(
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Elipsn said:
Agreed. When we were all on dialup, a lan was special.

Now....its only a slight step up from the average 10mb cable connection. :(
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I don't agree. Getting together and playing with fellow geeks is a lot funner then just gaming over the internet. Multi gaming over broadband is fine if that's all you can do, but LAN parties are a lot funner and well worth trying to work out scheduling conflicts to have. I work and have a family but still find time to LAN once a month or so... ;)
 
Yes I agree completely, Lan Parties are a lot more fun in person than on the interwebz.
 
Direct modem p2p on Age of Empires 2 for the lose. Parents picking up the phone and losing the game midway. Ah... high school. I haven't LAN'd since high school really. No reason to with broadband and everything. We get together sometimes but not on a very frequent basis
 
I loved having lan parties, I don't have them anymore because I have no more friends, most of them are married, and most (not all) married couples have other things on their minds (more power to them).

I loved getting prepared for the long night ahead, buying energy drinks, beer, snacks, maybe a game we could play.

one time we went the opposite direction and we took sleeping pills just to see who could last the longest, squinting while we played, slowly falling asleep at the computer tables, stupid idea, but i was younger and it was good for a laugh.
 
sirsnits said:
I loved having lan parties, I don't have them anymore because I have no more friends, most of them are married, and most (not all) married couples have other things on their minds (more power to them).

I loved getting prepared for the long night ahead, buying energy drinks, beer, snacks, maybe a game we could play.

one time we went the opposite direction and we took sleeping pills just to see who could last the longest, squinting while we played, slowly falling asleep at the computer tables, stupid idea, but i was younger and it was good for a laugh.
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hahaha, you should have had one of the guys not take one, adn take pics of you all asleep, would have been great for memories.
 
I blame this on the lack of games to lan.

Me and my friends have nothing in common to play anymore. Many have switched to consoles for multiplayer gaming in one place.

Very sad state of affairs for PC gaming.
 
yes I agree with that, but PC Gaming isn't dieing, just going thru some rough spots atm, us PC Gamers need to out shout the consolers. I admit I also play on the 360, but I prefer FPS's on the PC, due to easier control with the mouse.
 
I did it a few years ago. The few times I went it was ok. Now with real life stuff I don't have the time for it. It is much easier to logon for 30-45 mins get my kill on and then log off. I just don't have the time to play like I used to.
 
wtburnette said:
I don't agree. Getting together and playing with fellow geeks is a lot funner then just gaming over the internet. Multi gaming over broadband is fine if that's all you can do, but LAN parties are a lot funner and well worth trying to work out scheduling conflicts to have. I work and have a family but still find time to LAN once a month or so... ;)
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Oh, I agree that its a horrible thing and LANs are more fun than gaming over the net, even with headsets and VOIP.

BUT, the cause of the death of LANs is true. Broadband killed the LAN.
 
I guess it completely depends on your situation. If you like sitting and playing in your office, by yourself with friends on the internet, that's good enough I suppose. Personally, even with it being a PITA to get things organized and all, I prefer to have LAN parties. We've been having LAN parties almost every month for the last few years and they are a blast. Occasionally we end up going a couple months in between, but we always end up getting back together. Our LAN's are smaller, generally 10 - 16 players, but always a lot of fun.
 
question for those holding lan parties, what is your age group? HS, College?

We had lan parties monthly in high school but thats because there was no broadband, it was the only way to really play with a lot of people.

When I hit college, DSL was hitting my area + the lan on campus I never needed to go to another lan party because I could play lag free and use voice to communicate. you can be part of a close knit community now online and other than seeing other people's screens and talking face to face, you can have the same fun time online. Specially since there is you tube and you can record games and stuff.
 
Bigbacon said:
question for those holding lan parties, what is your age group? HS, College?

We had lan parties monthly in high school but thats because there was no broadband, it was the only way to really play with a lot of people.

When I hit college, DSL was hitting my area + the lan on campus I never needed to go to another lan party because I could play lag free and use voice to communicate. you can be part of a close knit community now online and other than seeing other people's screens and talking face to face, you can have the same fun time online. Specially since there is you tube and you can record games and stuff.
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Our group runs a gamut from late 40's or so to 11 or 12 year olds. I'd say the average age is late 20's to early 30's, but we have quite a range of gamers.
 
HS, went to 100+ person lan parties. Threw about 5 in total mini lans. But in college, if you lived in a modern dorm, you were in a constant lan party!
 
I agree that broadband connections and the availability of voice chat on-line through the likes of vent have significantly reduced LAN parties.

I remember getting off work from CompUSA (ugh!) and lugging my 15" CRT monitor and box to my buddie's house for all-night LAN parties. Then I entered college (1999) and moved into an apartment with broadband. I don't think I attended a single LAN party after that. It was soo much easier to play on-line than lug my rig to his house.
 
What a cool thread iGamer.. I really enjoyed reading all the posts. I think I'm the oldest "LAN" guy in here. Over 50 lol. Nice to see both young and old in this thread. Nobody flaming each other. Everybody sharing memories and keeping the LAN alive.

I started off gaming on a Base10 network before Windows 3.1. Wolfenstein had been released in DOS I think around '91. 19.2 speeds were the norm. Later I remember having 4 phone lines installed into our house so the kids and I could play Diablo at 56k in '96. They loved it. Meeting friends in those Diablo "chat channels" that you'd never see in person, but we knew them just as well. Better actually.

Then came the LAN parties. My son started playing CounterStrike, got a clan started, and soon we were traveling all over Texas. I was amazed at how the other players (I was usually the only parent in there; most just dropped off their kids) were so nice and respectful of each other. (Long before the likes of GotFrag) Over the years that morphed into bigger LAN parties and competitions like all the old Summer and Winter CPL's. Those were wonderful memories. Hundreds of gamers waiting outside the doors. Still have pictures of 2500+ BYOC.

But nothing compares to the local LAN. Nothing. The pictures that SpeedBump put up of his garage, with a grinder right next to the door. Gamers don't mind where they LAN; they just wanna play the game. The best LAN's I've ever attended certainly weren't in some fancy Hotel. Loved the lights on the ceiling btw SpeedBump ! That's what makes a great LAN: the Host. Somebody who loves the game so much that he's willing to open up his house to people he doesn't even know, and share whatever he has.

I liked what Sauron and Elipson said; what made LAN parties cool back then is that we had no broadband. Gaming sucked with dialup, back then "lag" was when you just froze totally for a minute or more, then all of a sudden you started moving again. Maybe you were dead.. Maybe not. But going to a LAN, where there was ZERO lag.. man, that made LAN parties special !

And myelin1.. wtburnette... Memories of carrying those 75lb CRT's lol. WHY did we not use dollies ?? I think that's why I have back problems :\ All these memories make me so grateful for gaming; the relationship that my son and I share would be nothing without all the LAN's we've attended, the memories we still share, and the bonds we formed with other gamers.

Today, we still host a yearly 3-day event for 28-30 gamers at a rental property in Austin that we completely empty out. And we still do it the "old fashioned" way. And I'll be honest with all of you by sharing that we lose probably $2k per event, even tho we own all of our equipment (including tables and chairs) and have food/beverage sponsors. Honestly it's the best investment I've ever made in my life, and I'd be doing it even if I lost twice that much. Just givin' back to gaming what's been given to me.

BYOC shot of the '04 CPL (check out those CRT's lol)
04CPL.jpg



My son cooking for the gang at our '06 LAN:
JordoBBQ.jpg



"Beer Fridge" in garage for '04 LAN
PGLAN04beer.jpg


BAWLS for the LAN we had in '03 (when they were in those colorful boxes)
WallOBawls06.jpg
 
Nothing like a good LAN party, period. I am hoping to revive it among my friends as soon as I can throw together a couple more boxes on the cheap.
 
That's awesome PowersGaming! I totally agree, once you get someone willing to open up their place (or find a place), the gamers will come...lol! Our parties never get to 30 or 40 players, but I'm happy to get the 10 - 20 friends I can get together gaming every month or so. I wouldn't trade those events for anything. The fun we have and the memories that are made are well worth the hassle of getting a date picked out, the place setup, the cost of food and supplies and the cleanup afterwards... ;)
 
LAN Parties are geekdom's greatest achievement. They effectively got the geeks out of the basement and into real life situations with real people. I met some of my best friends at LAN's. But like most of us time, money & age have sent our group onto other endeavors. We do still get together for one big LAN a year, The GXL in south Jersey. It's unfortunate that I moved to Atlanta 2 years ago. Up till then we still had a once a month LAN at my house. Good times.

I've looked for LAN's in the ATL and have yet to find any, so effectively my LANing days are over.
 
A buddy and mine alternate running one every 2 weeks, (once a month at each of our places.) I try never to miss it, for the most part it’s just fun getting together with everyone and of course the smack talk face to face can’t be beat. Age ranges to mid 20’s to 40’s give or take.

My place holds about 17, which I built in the basement from the ground up so I can keep things relatively fluid as far as layout. I charge everyone $5 at the door which covers food and drink, (some from the keg I built into my secondary fridge) others just from the stocked soda/water/beer fridge. Games range because you can never keep people happy with everything though most are having a great time with Borderlands right now, though it would be nice to have more than 4 player co-op. We usually run for about 5 maybe 6 hours and it’s a great unwind time.

My Wife and I have the agreement that this is my ‘down time’ and she watches our daughter, and when she needs some girl time the squirt and I hang out for the day.
 
If anyone lives in West or Middle Tennessee, me and a group of friends have lans about once ever 2 months or so in Jackson TN. I would also like to have one around the Nashville\Murfreesboro area if anyone is interested
 
When I was a teenager, early twenties, we would get together practically every weekend at someone's house for 4-5 years. Started out like 3 computers, and eventually grew to about 10-15 when a few friends rented a place. Had the cops come out a few times and when they asked to search the place they were unsure what to make of it with all these tables and monitors on all over the place. Back then "gaming on your computer" was still new. Fast food at 2AM, Ihop in the morning were good times. Nothing like going to jack in the box drive thru and asking for 12+ spicy chickens, 8+ jumbo jacks, and etc.

It slowly started tapering off in my early/mid twenties when responsibilities grew and people started getting married and etc. I still remember some of later big get togethers as we always had a wife show up late that night, from a guy that was recently married that we haven't seen in a while, as they couldn't believe we would just hang out and play the computer games all night. They were sure we were sneaking out, getting hookers, or something;) I'm unsure if they were happy that we weren't cheating, or dissapointed that we were enjoying "geeking" it up.

What used to be every weekend for roughly 4-5 years maybe happens once every few years where we play in person, and it's dwindled down to 3-4. Just a little more difficult with work/family/kids to get away, but when we do it's always worth it.

Most of us migrated to consoles and still play through live on occasion. Even then, I maybe play games once or twice a month when I feel up to it. A far cray from 15 years ago.
 
A lot of folks are saying that broadband killed the LAN party, but I think that's only partially true.

If you think about it, 10 years ago was a real PC gaming renaissance. Half life was a couple years old, diablo 2 was still very relevant and it was a launch year for many iconic games like AoE2, Homeworld, Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear, UT and Quake 3. Granted, MW2 is fun, but it's clear that PC gaming is becoming more console-like, whereas it was the other way around a few years ago. MMOs have their part in isolating PC gamers, but really, I think the lack of quality LAN worthy games is what's the cause for the dry spell.

Like everything in life, LAN gaming is evolving. The new PC gamers coming up don't really see the need to get together, but I'm sure something will come out and get people together again.
 
So he went from typical douchbag (though I applaud the ears) to typical gamer?
 
Python14 said:
So he went from typical douchbag (though I applaud the ears) to typical gamer?
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I think it's the opposite. He went from a typical gamer (most gamers are normal people) to the typical douchebag (doesn't care about his own health, appearance, girlfriend, family, friends, etc. to lose himself in a game)
 
Spare-Flair said:
I think it's the opposite. He went from a typical gamer (most gamers are normal people) to the typical douchebag (doesn't care about his own health, appearance, girlfriend, family, friends, etc. to lose himself in a game)
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your definition of douchebag is clearly very different from my definition. you just described "loser" in my book, not douchebag.
 
TheCowOfNow said:
But in college, if you lived in a modern dorm, you were in a constant lan party!
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very true.. I do remember us yelling throughout the floor at one another. My senior year I lived in a suite style dorm with 4 other people, all who played games. Nothing beat 5 on one side working together in some 1942.
 
boss99 said:
A lot of folks are saying that broadband killed the LAN party, but I think that's only partially true.

If you think about it, 10 years ago was a real PC gaming renaissance. Half life was a couple years old, diablo 2 was still very relevant and it was a launch year for many iconic games like AoE2, Homeworld, Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear, UT and Quake 3. Granted, MW2 is fun, but it's clear that PC gaming is becoming more console-like, whereas it was the other way around a few years ago. MMOs have their part in isolating PC gamers, but really, I think the lack of quality LAN worthy games is what's the cause for the dry spell.

Like everything in life, LAN gaming is evolving. The new PC gamers coming up don't really see the need to get together, but I'm sure something will come out and get people together again.
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Well, we've been playing UT2004, FEAR Combat and COD4 for a while now and they're really fun LAN party games that are very nice PC games that don't feel like they were made first for the console. We've been looking for something new lately and everything feels like it was made for the console, probably because it was... :(
 
me and some friends had a LAN a few months ago and had tons of fun. We're doing a second one in a couple weeks. I can't stand large LANs - at a certain point (maybe somewhere near 20 people?) it becomes just like playing online multiplayer.
 
It's a sad time for LAN parties.

I used to have LAN's at my house that started with 6 people then grew to at its highest 27. Some of us then started a professional LAN company where we would setup LAN's in major halls and conference centers and advertise tournaments bringing in a lot of great gamers from the local and surrounding areas of St. Louis. We always had at least 2 other LAN groups competing with us to the point there was a bitter rivalry at times. Now? It's a dried up wasteland. All LAN groups are now dead and the mini-lans followed suit. Age, broadband, marriage, kids, economy, bills, and friends moving away for work all took it's toll.

I was at my first LAN in years last night with some old friends and it brought back a lot of memories. Memories for when games needed 3 binded key commands unlike todays where you need half the keyboard. Yes a keyboard, not a damn controller. :p
 
I've never had a PC lan party...We all played Halo (back before Gaylo 2 on LIVE) Playing Halo 1 2v2, 4v4 and 8 man FFA's were some of the best times of my life. From 2002 - 2008ish everyday after school, every weekend. Cramming 10 people in my mom's mini-van and driving for hours to tournaments and other lans.... ahh the good old days :(
 
Ya I don't get it, I used to host LANs a lot, my house few times a month (small few friends), big ones about once a month (25+ people) rent a place for a night...

But I guess no one followed my steps and kept them going.

There are always big HUGE ones going like PDXLAN but I really enjoyed the weekend night LANs when I was in highschool (only 23 now but still LAN it when there is one)

I used to hear about LAN all the time too, don't know when that died off... mostly my fault I am sure
 
PowersGaming said:
What a cool thread iGamer.. I really enjoyed reading all the posts. I think I'm the oldest "LAN" guy in here. Over 50 lol. Nice to see both young and old in this thread. Nobody flaming each other. Everybody sharing memories and keeping the LAN alive.

I started off gaming on a Base10 network before Windows 3.1. Wolfenstein had been released in DOS I think around '91. 19.2 speeds were the norm. Later I remember having 4 phone lines installed into our house so the kids and I could play Diablo at 56k in '96. They loved it. Meeting friends in those Diablo "chat channels" that you'd never see in person, but we knew them just as well. Better actually.

Then came the LAN parties. My son started playing CounterStrike, got a clan started, and soon we were traveling all over Texas. I was amazed at how the other players (I was usually the only parent in there; most just dropped off their kids) were so nice and respectful of each other. (Long before the likes of GotFrag) Over the years that morphed into bigger LAN parties and competitions like all the old Summer and Winter CPL's. Those were wonderful memories. Hundreds of gamers waiting outside the doors. Still have pictures of 2500+ BYOC.

But nothing compares to the local LAN. Nothing. The pictures that SpeedBump put up of his garage, with a grinder right next to the door. Gamers don't mind where they LAN; they just wanna play the game. The best LAN's I've ever attended certainly weren't in some fancy Hotel. Loved the lights on the ceiling btw SpeedBump ! That's what makes a great LAN: the Host. Somebody who loves the game so much that he's willing to open up his house to people he doesn't even know, and share whatever he has.

I liked what Sauron and Elipson said; what made LAN parties cool back then is that we had no broadband. Gaming sucked with dialup, back then "lag" was when you just froze totally for a minute or more, then all of a sudden you started moving again. Maybe you were dead.. Maybe not. But going to a LAN, where there was ZERO lag.. man, that made LAN parties special !

And myelin1.. wtburnette... Memories of carrying those 75lb CRT's lol. WHY did we not use dollies ?? I think that's why I have back problems :\ All these memories make me so grateful for gaming; the relationship that my son and I share would be nothing without all the LAN's we've attended, the memories we still share, and the bonds we formed with other gamers.

Today, we still host a yearly 3-day event for 28-30 gamers at a rental property in Austin that we completely empty out. And we still do it the "old fashioned" way. And I'll be honest with all of you by sharing that we lose probably $2k per event, even tho we own all of our equipment (including tables and chairs) and have food/beverage sponsors. Honestly it's the best investment I've ever made in my life, and I'd be doing it even if I lost twice that much. Just givin' back to gaming what's been given to me.
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Good post Jason. You forgot the mention the world class source team you had under the name for a while. ;D
 
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