Holy cow this was my dream growing up. I had designs and everything. My last LAN party was in 2005, and I never got around to it as an adult as we all kind of went our separate ways. But I've still had the dream!
Now, there are some things I would do differently here. To be a true LAN party, people need to bring their own rigs. That's half the fun. Providing the computers really defeats the purpose and makes it feel more like an internet cafe.
The question I have is, are they all in one room? Seems like there might be two, so that's good. Because one of the things I really wanted to do was have two rooms, one for each team so there was no screen cheating. Because that kinda thing happened!
The other plan I had was to have Bawls on tap. I don't know how that would have been possible, but that was baked into the design along with a soda fountain. We didn't do alcohol.
But you know what, as I thought about it more, I realized that the ad hoc nature of the LAN party was the best part. Scrounging up a 16 port switch and putting it in the middle of the floor, duct taping down the cords. Balancing the loads between walls and the inevitable tripping of breakers when some extra guests show up. Accidentally unplugging a daisy chained surge protector and turning off someone's rig, prematurely ending a 12 hour session of Age of Empires. We still talk about that to this day.
I miss LAN parties.
Now, there are some things I would do differently here. To be a true LAN party, people need to bring their own rigs. That's half the fun. Providing the computers really defeats the purpose and makes it feel more like an internet cafe.
The question I have is, are they all in one room? Seems like there might be two, so that's good. Because one of the things I really wanted to do was have two rooms, one for each team so there was no screen cheating. Because that kinda thing happened!
The other plan I had was to have Bawls on tap. I don't know how that would have been possible, but that was baked into the design along with a soda fountain. We didn't do alcohol.
But you know what, as I thought about it more, I realized that the ad hoc nature of the LAN party was the best part. Scrounging up a 16 port switch and putting it in the middle of the floor, duct taping down the cords. Balancing the loads between walls and the inevitable tripping of breakers when some extra guests show up. Accidentally unplugging a daisy chained surge protector and turning off someone's rig, prematurely ending a 12 hour session of Age of Empires. We still talk about that to this day.
I miss LAN parties.