Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
LAN party
A LAN party is a temporary, sometimes spontaneous gathering of people together with their computers, which they connect together in a local area network (LAN) primarily for the purpose of playing multiplayer computer games.
These LANs come in various sizes, from the very small (2 people) to the very large (4000+ people). Small parties can form spontaneously, but large ones usually require a fair amount of planning and preparation on the part of the organizing team.
Many parties offer various tournaments, competing in such games as Quake III, Warcraft III, Counter-Strike, Unreal Tournament, and the Doom series, sometimes awarding prizes to the winners, as well as counting for standings in national and international gaming leagues, such as the WWCL . There are regular events, such as Quakecon, in which the very best players from around the world compete against one another, much like in popular sports.
The duration of the event is not standardized; many organized parties last for a weekend, while there have also been longer and shorter parties. In particular, small spontaneous parties often last for only minutes to hours.
Big LAN parties often offer a quiet place to sleep, showers, catering, alternative entertainment (such as music) and a dedicated support crew, as well as a professionally managed network including a connection to the Internet.
Gaming clans, groups of gamers that often play in team games such as Counter-Strike, often use these gatherings to meet one another, since they typically play together over the Internet between parties with little real-world contact. Their goal is often to win tournaments.
While being in the minority, and usually discouraged or forbidden by the party organization, some attendees also use these parties for the purpose of copyright infringement (often trading copies of software, music, and movies). It also provides a forum to show off case mods, and other technical wizardry.
There are also other kinds of parties where temporary LANs are built, but which are not commonly referred to as a "LAN party" alone; amongst these are demo parties such as Assembly, hacker conventions such as DEF CON, and freestyle events such as the Burning Man.
See also
- Block party
- DreamHack, LAN party held twice annually in Jönköping, Sweden
- Minho Campus Party, LAN party held annually in the Minho region, Portugal
External links
- Lanparty.com, Calendar of events and how-to information
- European Lan parties (in English/German)
- World Wide Championship of LAN-Gaming (WWCL)
- Multiplay UK, Large UK LAN gaming community
- Party Spain, spanish parties database.
- Lan Party Coalition, Coalition of LAN parties primarily based in North America
- LPANE, the LAN Party Association of New England, a coalition of LAN parties based in New England
- QuakeCon, largest North American LAN party
- Fragapalooza, large Canadian LAN party
- LANWAR/Million Man LAN, large LAN party in Kentucky, United States
- The Gathering, demo party
- Cyberathlete Professional League, annual LAN party held in Dallas, Texas
- LanScene.nl, Benelux LAN scene coverage site (Dutch)
- NetworkingDay, LAN parties in and near Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Gameparty.net, Benelux LAN party coverage site (Dutch)
- Drome, large LAN party in Hengelo, The Netherlands
- Lan Addict, LAN resources, forums
- Campzone, large outdoor LAN in The Netherlands (English information available)
- LanCamp, large outdoor LAN in Belgium
- Room101, Irish Lan Party resource
- Darkside LAN
- GameCon, Ireland's largest LAN party
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