Introduction

I remember going to my first big LAN party, and asking some of the older gamers about when they first got involved in the LAN party scene. Nearly everyone I asked replied with something similar to playing the original Warcraft over a 10 Mbps Ethernet Network with 1 buddy for hours on end. Since then, LAN parties have evolved into massive events, often drawing hundreds of frag-hungry gamers often of days on end. While this article isn’t necessarily aimed towards LAN Parties of that size and magnitude, it will provide the fundamentals giving you an opportunity to give your LAN party an opportunity to develop a character and personality of its own.

Pre Mortem (Preparations)

This is the moment that often decides the outcome of your party. Often overlooked and neglected, this is what makes or breaks your LAN Party. There are many considerations you must take into account before even deciding whether to host one or not. Such as:

• Space: This is pretty obvious, as a cramped room with a group of your friends and all their gear is a bad idea.


• Cooling: This is an essential for happy gamers and their computers. Failure to provide it yields a very hot room, a number of very aggravated gamers and computers that are decreasing their lifespan. If there is a lack of air conditioning in the room of your choosing, I have found that a portable air conditioner remedies this and actually makes it a bit chilly. If it is cold outside, just open a window. 


• Tables & Chairs: Let’s face it spending hours in front of a computer is already bad enough; sitting on the floor with your gear on a bed is even worse.


• Electricity: Don’t underestimate the strain a group of computers and a microwave or portable air conditioner can put on the power in the place you are having your party. If the power does go out because of strain on the power, simply just go to the switch breaker and put the switch that is off, on and move some of the other computers on to another circuit, via extension cable. To avoid this, just divide the computers into segments going to different circuits.


• Network*: Make sure you have adequate hubs or switches based on the number of people coming. Also, if you plan on having the party in two sections of the house, make sure you have a cable that has the length to link the two. Internet, while not essential is definitely a good idea. Most home networks have some sort of router and that is a good thing, saving you the aggravation of having to set IP addresses and Subnets manually.


• Food & Drinks This usually consists as follows:
  
• Lunch and/or Dinner: Pizza. Make sure you can come to a consensus of what everyone wants.


• Snacks: I have found passing big bags of chips work fine between close friends. For larger parties, have those bags of chips in one central location along with the leftover pizza and drinks. Microwaveable popcorn is also a good idea.


• Drinks: You can never go wrong with assorted sodas. If your group is really hardcore, BAWLS is essential. After daylight appears, we tend to shift to coffee mode.


• Breakfast: Assorted doughnuts. Can’t go wrong with that.


• Addressing the issue of reimbursement. My crew and I have an understanding that when I host a party, they will host a party and we will be even for those who are not going to host a party anytime soon, I politely request that I get some sort of compensation after the party. For me, it’s not really that big of a deal, but you need to develop some sort of mutual monetary relationship with all of your attendees.

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