Lunchtime Discussion: Parties

When I was in college any time someone’s parents went away it was an excuse for a party. Normally these would be alcohol fuelled insanity that stretched long into the night. However every now and then, normally in the summer, we’d all gather up our PCs, take them to a free house and have a 24-hour LAN party. These normally stretched even further into the early morning and frequently involved ignoring sleep all together.

Sadly these parties have mostly died out since we all went to University; even if we’re back in the summer we’ve never quite managed to recapture the fun of our slightly younger years. I think a big part of this is that LAN parties in general have died out. The big question is why?

Well for a start the Internet is a lot better than it was back when LAN parties were big. They took off when dial-up internet was the norm; playing a game over dial-up just isn’t all that fun or practical. When I was taking my PC to LAN parties it was pretty much the cross over point between dial-up and broadband. Broadband speeds were still in the 512k region for the majority of users, so taking your machines to a party and hooking up over a LAN connection was still slightly better than playing at home. Obviously this just isn’t the case any more, if you live in a reasonable sized town you’re likely to have a fairly stable connection that’s just fine for gaming. It’s simpler just to stay at home and play now.

The other thing I think that’s contributed is the further growth of consoles. Modern consoles are more designed for multiplayer, both online and offline. Most of my friends who were prominently console gamers in college own a 360 now, and sadly these just are nowhere near as practical for a LAN party. Taking your console is fine, in fact it’s easier than taking a PC. It’s getting enough TVs together that presents the issue.

With consoles you also have more ‘social’ gaming. By that I mean games like Rock Band or Buzz! where you can easily play with quite a few people and switch in and out if you don’t have enough spaces. Having a big group of people round for a Rock Band session is far more fun than a LAN party, and far easier to organise. No need to find enough power outlets or get hold of enough switches and network cables to support everyone. Just connect some guitars, a microphone and a drumkit and you’re ready to go.

I want to say I don’t think PC gaming is dead, it’s very much alive and kicking; the release of Starcraft II shows just how vibrant it still is. I just think the days of the LAN party are now gone. I’m a bit sad about that, it was always a good time even if it was a pain to get everyone up and running. Did you ever have a big LAN party experience? Am I just a huge geek missing something that wasn’t all that good? Is playing over the internet actually better?