The Forgotten Joy of LAN Parties

Source: TeamTidal

You there! Do you play video games with your friends? If you do, you know it's pretty fun, right? Or at least most of the time, when you aren't getting your collective butts kicked or your friends aren't dragging the team down or just plainly being assholes.

I'd wager most people around my age and younger in the Western world have at least played a few video games online, even if it is just Fortnite or Among Us and not much else. With the easy access and the speed of internet we have available to us these days and the large selection of free games that have almost no barrier of entry, it's almost unbelievably easy to boot up a game on your PC, console or even a phone to play together with people from anywhere in the world. It is truly quite amazing, and I feel like especially during the early months of the pandemic, multiplayer games brought a lot of people together when they couldn't hang out in person. 

Things were very different even just a bit over 20 years ago, when online gaming wasn't nearly as big of a thing, with internet speeds being mere fractions of what they are today. As a kid back in 2005, I remember being in awe of games like World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike. Before that my only real experience with multiplayer was playing console games locally on the same couch with my friends. 

Before I was old enough to have my own computer or even born, if friends wanted to play PC games together, they used to organize these odd little gatherings called... LAN parties? "What the fuck are those?" you might ask, if you're born after the year 2000. Well, my young friend, I've been told that these parties were things where a bunch of nerds brought their computers and blocky monitors to someone's house, set them up usually around the same table or at least in the same room, and then just played games for hours. The "LAN" comes from them using a LAN connection (Local Area Network) by hooking up all the computers with cables into the same network, so they could play together without actually needing the internet. 

Sounds kind of weird and lame, doesn't it? A group of sweaty nerds all just sitting around on their computers, not even looking at each other when they're talking. And a whole bunch of effort too, just to play games together! You must be happy that we have the internet, so you can just play a couple of rounds of Apex Legends or FIFA with your friend from a different city or even country at any hour of the day. 

Well, what if I told you that even in today's age of constant connections online, LAN parties don't have to just be a relic of the past? Maybe you could try one too, if you like what you read in the next part.

How We Brought The LAN Party Back in 2022

What our setup has looked like each time. My rig is in the middle.

According to my phone's gallery and message history, it seems our first LAN party together was back in January of this year. 

Prior to that, I've known my two friends (who I'll just call Al and Bob for privacy's sake) all the way back from elementary school, and we've played a lot of video games together even when we were just kids. In our late teens we and some others formed a slightly bigger friend group of crazy guys and our romantic partners. During the late 2010s, our group hung out a lot and even today many of us still meet up and party together whenever we get the chance. We occasionally even organize bigger trips to someone's summer cottage or go hiking together.

However, the Covid-19 pandemic obviously had a negative impact on our ability and eagerness to gather together, especially in the first year. Some of us also at times have drifted apart for other personal reasons, as often happens with people. 

Playing video games online gave a few of us a way to still do something together once again, after a few years of playing together less often. Once the third year of the pandemic rolled around at the beginning of 2022, the vaccines had thankfully made meeting people our age less risky, but we still held way fewer house parties with bigger groups than we used to. The risk of getting Covid was still far from gone, even if the symptoms would most likely be a lot milder. 

That's most likely what gave Al, Bob and I the spark to have our own first little LAN party together. We wanted to do something fun over the weekend, but doing anything with a bigger group was still not risk free and it was more difficult to organize something spontaneously. Just trying to have a regular party with only the three of us did not terribly appealing either, and while movie nights have been nice, they can be quite passive, whereas we wanted to anything more active.

And bam, the idea was born. Al and I could spend the night over at Bob's place while we all play games together and have a few (or more) beers. Could we all just have stayed home and played online? Sure, but that's not really a party, now is it? Of course, especially the first time we took Covid-tests to make sure that we were safe, but as restrictions loosened and we all got our third doses of the vaccine, we could relax a bit more. 

All of this doesn't come without its own difficulties besides the health risks. Obviously these parties aren't something we could do every weekend, whereas playing an hour or two of some game online is usually doable multiple days in an average week. Ignoring the basics of syncing up our schedules so that everyone has one whole evening and the next morning free, there are also the logistical issues. While both Al and Bob have gaming laptops which are easy to bring anywhere and they also live essentially a block away from each other, I on the other hand have a bigger desktop rig and I live further away. This means that I can't just pick up my PC and carry it over to Bob's place, which is currently the only sensible location for us as it's both big enough to host us all and doesn't come with any partners, parents or roommates that could object to us being there. I also don't own a car and hauling all of my stuff on the bus isn't really a real option for me either. So either I have to pay for a cab or one of my friends needs to drive over to my place and help me bring my setup over. Luckily I've been able to borrow Bob's spare monitor, so I at least don't have to also carry my own along with the computer, mouse, keyboard and headset.  

Despite all of the hassle we have to go through just to have these parties, it's always been great fun and definitely worth it. Surprisingly none of us has even really had terrible hangovers after any session either, as we always make sure to also eat a lot and try to remember to drink some water. (Good things to keep in mind for any of you younger readers.) Note that alcohol is a completely optional part of LAN parties, and of course anyone under the legal drinking age should keep to drinking soda, energy drinks or any other non-alcoholic beverage of choice. Remember to have some snacks on the side as well, preferably ones that don't leave crumbs, grease or anything else on your fingers after eating them, so you can keep your gaming gear clean. Also make sure that you don't plug all of your electric devices into the same power strip, as you could fry a fuse or even start a fire if any cord or device is faulty. With all those devices also comes a whole bunch of cables and cords going everywhere, so try to limit the chance of anyone tripping over them when walking, especially if any alcohol is involved. Your friends might not appreciate you accidentally tripping over their power cord and dropping their computer or monitor on the floor. If any cord has to pass through a path with lots of traffic, it can be helpful to use tape and pin it to as tightly to the floor as you can. 

Now you are probably ready to host your own LAN party if you feel like it. I would honestly recommend it to anyone who likes multiplayer gaming, even if staying online is a lot more convenient. It's a very different experience to actually be around people when playing with them instead of only hearing their voice through Discord. So got get a few of your friends together and try a LAN party once in a while!