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Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party

arstechnica.com

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Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party

#71

Post by giantg2 »

oblak wrote: post #55

I kind of miss LAN parties because our version wasn't just about gaming. It was about drinking, smoking good shit, having loud electronic music and lots of people coming and going all the time. I prefer dealing with alpha nerds. Quake 1/2/3, StarCraft, NFS, Carmageddon, Star Wars Racer and lots, and I mean, LOTS of Mortal Kombat 3 (DOS version). We sure had some fun Frankly, I don't have the energy to do any of this…

Our LAN parties typically started with paintball or quads, then switched to games after dark.

Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party

#72

Post by krolden »

thrown_22 wrote: post #56
pedrogpimenta wrote: post #40

Earlier 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.

This a good sound

Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party

#73

Post by Pyrodogg »

sylens wrote: post #34

What 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…

I'm legit skittish about having to reinstall or update windows on my PC because I don't have convenient access to my Battlefield 2 discs and there's a good chance an old friend of mine will be trying to get me on an AIX match any random weekend. I made it to Windows 10 and this machine cannot go to 11 anyway so I'm fairly safe for now.

An update to Battlefield 2 with fairly open servers (and an ability to mod) would be an amazing game and platform. But yea it would have to be coming from somewhere else I have no hopes on EA.

Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party

#75

Post by Waterluvian »

I… HATED… all the things that made LAN parties chaotic and dirty. I don’t have fond memories of piles of garbage or spending half our time getting everyone on the same version of a game or whatnot.

Eventually we matured and realized that keeping the place clean was a good idea. Pre-planning the game list, pre-testing them online, etc. and having an actual bedtime (3am) all helped.

Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party

#76

Post by giantg2 »

Gunax wrote: post #37

I think they missed a main factor: lag compensation inproved greatly. The old Quake style games often had very naive networking. Whereas now, I seldom notice the network even exists. It's not that lag has changed much--contrary to the article, broadband is less important in games. It's latency that matters, not bandwidth. Team fortress 1 can run on 16kbps. And latency is still the same as I had 20 uears ago, 50-150ms…

Most of the online games today seem even worse for connection than before. I hear that only Fortnight, CSGO, and Valorant are using good servers.

Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party

#77

Post by racktash »

Ah, simpler times.

The photos really took me back to the early 90's and 00's, when I was a kid/teenager, happy to spend hours playing the same first-person shooters for hours, on the same maps, over and over again, with my nerdy friends from school. I'd love to go back for a day and relive those times.

Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party

#79

Post by mmcgaha »

My 18-year-old son still packs up his big ass computer and monitor and spends the weekend gaming at his friends house. They don't call it a LAN party but at the end of the day they are still having a lot of fun and socializing with people in real life.

Re: Just a bunch of idiots having fun: a photo history of the LAN party

#80

Post by jimmydean12 »

codaphiliac wrote: post #63
jimmydean12 wrote: post #19

I 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

My cousin had a friend next door and ran Ethernet out his basement window and over to the neighbours basement window. They shared a cable internet connection eventually and made their parents pretty happy about the savings $
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