Why would one make a LAN party?

[927]

Hi!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a LAN party is when players meet at a location and connect their machines to a local area network to play an online game.

Why would one make a LAN party? Is it for friends who have a slow internet connection? Or is it simply to play games side by side?

Thanks in advance!
Thank you Rob and lanfan! I think I got the gist of what they make LAN parties for. Good day to you guys!
Thank you Who'S Awesome? You'Re Awesome, and Sam! So it's mostly created for social reasons, is what I got. Good day to you guys too!

[Rob]

I would think that it would be a bit too much work to meet up with your buddies and make a LAN party. Most games simply allow you to invite your friends to the online game that you are playing. Now, say that nobody had a mic to talk to each other, this might be a case where you start a LAN party. I think that LAN parties would be helpful if you wanted to play with a sibling or something, play through a game together and help each other out.

Hope I helped!

[lanfan]

Usually, smaller LAN parties consist of people bringing their computers over to each other's houses to host and play multiplayer games.

These are sometimes established between small groups of friends, and hosted at a central location or one that is known to all participants. Such events are often organized quickly with little planning, and some overnight events, with some stretching into days (or even weeks). Because of the small number of players, games are usually played on small levels and/or against bots.

A small LAN party requires either a hub/switch, with enough ports to accommodate all the players or if all the computers have Wi-Fi capability, an ad hoc network may be set up. This allows two or more computers to connect over a wireless connection, thereby eliminating the need for a wired network, a fair amount of power, and suitable surfaces for all the computers. Providing refreshments is often also a duty of the host, though guests are usually asked to contribute. In larger parties where participants may not all know each other personally, an entry fee may even be charged. Another tradition of some small groups is to purchase large amounts of fast food for consumption over many days. Many LAN participants will also bring food or drink to consume over the course of the party—though they can be held at any hour, many LAN parties begin late in the evening and run through the next morning, making energy drinks a popular choice.

When some of the participants cannot be present or when merging a few LAN parties together, VPN software such as Hamachi can be used to arrange computers over the Internet so they appear to be on the same LAN.

Normally, the host will host the games but sometimes at very small LAN parties (e.g. 2 or 3 people) all participants will connect to an online internet server and add a word in front of their name to tell everyone else that they are a clan or group. At bigger LANs (e.g. 5 or more people) the host or a friend of the host will use a spare PC as a game server to serve all the participants. Usually the host and/or the owner are administrators.

The group can play together in another server as well if they wish as long as they are in the same LAN.

[918]

It's been sometime since college but I believe LAN works really well in college dorms. Everyone's on the same network so you could have Halo and COD parties with different people. I remember playing with my friends in our own dorm rooms just to have random people join it in other parts of the campus.

[484]

LAN parties are so much fun. Playing online with buddies is always nice, but everyone getting together and chilling, talking shit, hanging out, just makes it that much better.