LAN parties are definitely not dead lol. They're not "LAN" parties anymore though, but there's definitely groups of guys (sometimes girls) coming together bringing their computers into one room gaming together all over the place still to this day.
Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party
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Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party
#62Gaming companies contributed to the death of LAN parties too. They killed the "split-screen" gameplay that would support 2-4 players on the same machine. They wanted each player to require their own copy of the game. They killed LAN support, forcing you to play on their servers. Culturally we saw a shift towards social isolation. People are more comfortable talking over a mic.
The fact that fucking AGE OF EMPIRES II/III DE doesn't have LAN is ridiculous.
Atleast for AoE III DE there is a server emulator because MS servers only do matchmaking.
Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party
#63I think the comment that it was harder to be an asshole because someone would just ask you to leave (physically! With your equipment!) is quite relevant. It’s way too easy to be a jerk online now. There was a real magic to LANs at one time, and these photos certainly bring back memories. University and college dorms were pretty fun too, I imagine their LANs are quite locked down now and only serve as an isp to the in…
I literally drilled a hole in the wall underneath the kitchen sink to pass a wire to 2 friends living in the opposite appartement. On campus, you could see wires hanging from window to window outside dorm buildings. Nice times
Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party
#64Gaming companies contributed to the death of LAN parties too. They killed the "split-screen" gameplay that would support 2-4 players on the same machine. They wanted each player to require their own copy of the game. They killed LAN support, forcing you to play on their servers. Culturally we saw a shift towards social isolation. People are more comfortable talking over a mic.
"Gaming companies contributed to the death of LAN parties too. They killed the "split-screen" gameplay that would support 2-4 players on the same machine."
Even consoles suck with this now. It seems like none of the big games support more than 2 players.
Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party
#65Earlier quoted context omitted.
Split screen was never a part of lan parties. The reason why lan parties stopped was because it was hard to move a tower around. Even during that period it was much easier to go to a lanshop and play there either as in lan or on the proto cloud servers they had. Many fond memories of early battle.net and much fewer of steam.
That's just not true. All but a handful of the smallest LAN parties I attended I the 90's and early 00's included console gaming. It was pretty much assumed there would be consoles at a LAN. Halo, which was arguably the first professionally competitive game, had it's entire birth at LAN parties as it did not support online play at all and had to be done with a LAN. Smash brothers had a similar Genesis story at LAN pa…
I also played a lot if Halo LAN parties on consoles. I don't think I ever had a PC LAN party (probably too young).
Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The reason why lan parties stopped was because it was hard to move a tower around. No, no. The effort played itself. As OP said, it was a cultural change with companies piggy-backing on it. Split screen is not a major reason, no, I don't think so. But luggaging towers? That's not the reason.
Until you dropped your screen on the drive way into your friends house and heard the magic sound a CRT makes when it implodes.
And now you have a story/memory that the new generation doesn't. Working for something arguably makes the experience more rewarding too.
Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party
#67What killed the LAN party? In short, Halo 2 and Bungie. Before Halo 2, even games on XBox Live followed the same foundations as PC games - a bunch of servers listed in a browser that you had to pick from to join, then instantly relay the details to your friends so they could also join. Bungie developed a matchmaking system that made it effortless to play with friends, and it was soon used as a bedrock for XBox Live a…
"What killed the LAN party? In short, Halo 2 and Bungie."
I still played halo 2 and 3 at Xbox LAN parties. So existing groups didn't really go away, but I could see there being less of a draw to new groups forming.
Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party
#68Gaming companies contributed to the death of LAN parties too. They killed the "split-screen" gameplay that would support 2-4 players on the same machine. They wanted each player to require their own copy of the game. They killed LAN support, forcing you to play on their servers. Culturally we saw a shift towards social isolation. People are more comfortable talking over a mic.
I'm happy about the death of split screen gaming. It was just an awful experience. Especially when your friends were screenlookers
Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party
#69What killed the LAN party? In short, Halo 2 and Bungie. Before Halo 2, even games on XBox Live followed the same foundations as PC games - a bunch of servers listed in a browser that you had to pick from to join, then instantly relay the details to your friends so they could also join. Bungie developed a matchmaking system that made it effortless to play with friends, and it was soon used as a bedrock for XBox Live a…
Multiplayer games with dedicated, community servers were very special. If you frequented a server, it wouldnt be long before you made friends with the people on the server. I made many good friends in the battlefield 2 and team fortress 2 days through a couple dedicated servers. People to this day are SHOCKED at how many friends I have on steam. It's because we all showed up at the same time to play games together, i…
These days, most people don't even use a mic/chat let alone friend someone.
Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party
#70https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Gigap... - On screen, the WON version of Team Fortress. That brings memories :)
Minor nitpick: that's Team Fortress Classic (Half-Life mod), not the original Team Fortress.