Did WoW kill LAN parties?
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 26th 2007 at 9:14AM
WorldofWar.net points to an article over at Boot Daily which proclaims the death of LAN parties. I don't know if you've been lucky (or nerdy, I guess) enough to be party to this phenomenon, but a LAN (Local Area Network) party is where a bunch of nerds bring their computers over to someone's house or a hotel, hook them all up, and play Counterstrike, Warcraft III, or whatever the latest game is (I have fond memories of huge Rise of Nations and Soldier of Fortune matches at a friend's house) until the sun comes up.This article, however, says that LAN parties are dead, and World of Warcraft is holding the smoking gun. Not only are the nerds staying home to raid in Outland, but even when they show up to the parties, according to the article, some are playing WoW instead of participating the game of choice. The real fun of LAN parties isn't just playing-- anyone can do that now, from Xbox Live to the many, many online PC games-- but it's playing with people right next to you, and all the camaraderie and trash talking that comes from that.
It's true that I haven't been back to a LAN party in a long while (though part of that might have been a move away from the city where I used to do it), but I don't see that they're dead-- just last year I was at PAX, where the culture of the LAN party was alive and well. And claiming WoW killed them is a stretch at least-- if anything it's the spread of broadband (which makes the hassle of a LAN party just not worth it to many casual players), and a general lack of really classic multiplayer games lately. Really, what's the last multiplayer experience that was strong enough to build a whole culture around? Battlefield 1942 and the sequels maybe, and then... ? Gears of War? If LAN parties are dead, it's because players are still stuck playing games that are years old-- even Dreamhack, the biggest LAN party in the world, is still playing CS 1.6 and Quake III Arena. Heck, they're playing Starcraft, which was released almost ten years ago! If LAN parties are an "endangered species," it's because the games that supported them are dying off as well.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Twinny Mar 26th 2007 9:32AM
the author is ranting, not actually making a valid point. WoW isnt really suited to lan parties.... and thats the truth. Show me statistics that LAN's are becoming less popular... because they arent!
I've been to tons of lans (prior to discovering the joy of wow) and never spotted anyone playing it. the internet connection was normally too bad to open an Instant Messenger never mind an online game.
the tones of sarcasm about H4rdC0r4 G4m3rz is just silly.
Lans attract a certain type of people. the lack of interest shown by others is mainly because of:
availability of broadband and teamspeak/vent
damage to gear while lugging it around.
gear theft.
transport to and from.
smelly, unwashed nerds for 36+ hours.
elitism.
theres not much else to it, why the hell would i pay €50 or more to cart my rig, 2+ hours away, to sleep on a flour be surrounded by some of the worst affected sociaphobes i have ever seen only to pack my stuff up and head home again to play in comfort?
Lans attract numbers mainly for big prizes, and WoW isnt affecting that in any way.
Bradley Nash Mar 26th 2007 9:37AM
While I've never been to a LAN party with prizes (like #1) I've been to several small-scale ones and had a ton of fun. When I was in college I would grab my box and head over to a small church with a huge conference type room and a bunch of buddies. We played Call of Duty, Battlefield Vietnam, and Starcraft. It was a blast. I'd go to them now, but I've moved from where I went to college and my friends now aren't that in to video games.... /cry
HiWay Mar 26th 2007 9:54AM
It's really quite true and quite sad; the referral to the old games that is. There are no new games that help the "underground" LAN party culture. CS 1.6, far and away the most popular, I will shy away from saying best, FPS ever made. The game is, from beta 1 working on it's 8 year. Quake 3 Arena came out roughly at the same time. These games both followed the previous big Lan games, Quake and Quake II. Aside from the FPS side of the metaphorical LAN pond, you have Command & Conquer Red Alert, which was followed in some circles with Total Annihilation while others prefered the Age of Empires suite of games to satisfy the RTS group before Starcraft and Warcraft 3; dated games themselves. These are really the only two prevalent genres at LAN's. You'll find small groups of players paying homage to Worms or some "Scorched Earth" look alike for some good laughs. None of the newer games in these two main genre's have had a definitive game in a substiantial amount of time. Battlefield 1942/Half-Life 2(CS:Source)/Painkiller/Quake 4/Unreal Tourny/etc. are all good games but did not define a genre and garner such a huge following that would make them popular LAN games. With the current state of the gaming industy where the designers have lost track of the truely important aspects, FUN and competitive, in lieu of good graphics (which are rather un-important) I do not believe this will change any time soon. The death of LAN parties is not due to WoW, it is due to the gaming industry and the current generation of gamers being disconnected from the massive communities once created by the staple LAN games. The age of the gamers that grew on these games is roughly in the 20-28 age bracket now. Most are starting families, deeply involved with work or both where, sadly, there is just not enough time anymore. I'm not saying that any of this is a bad thing; for instance these new generations of gamers have much more effective forms of communication to create a community without LAN parties IE: Ventrillo. Gaming in general has basically just evolved away from the LAN party concept.
jorelius Mar 26th 2007 4:33PM
I still lan party with WOW, I've had great fun just on a smaller scale, a 5man lan party ripping up DM or scholo is just good fun.
Mir Mar 26th 2007 9:55AM
I wouldn't go so far as to say LAN parties are dead, but if they are, it's not because of any specific game, but because we, the partygoers, outgrew them.
fatforprom Mar 26th 2007 10:06AM
Well said, #1. It's been nearly a year since I went to a LAN and it's not something I find my self missing all that much. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, with Ventrilo and a decent connection every night is a LAN. Except that the party is now much larger with people across the continent in addition my old friends across town.
Brahmana Mar 26th 2007 10:06AM
Lanwar/WSVG is coming up again this summer here in Louisville, KY and my guild is very excited. We all went and played WoW for 3 full days last year, saw the sights, laughed at the nerds and got on Blizz's site with our chair decorations (thereby making us laughable nerds). We even recruited some great new guild members from the guys around us. Blizz ran quite a few tournaments there, including a lvl 20 WSG tournament, fastest strat runs, and a couple of others. This is by no means a small thing. Check out the Lanwar site for a sense of just how huge the area is.
We're sorta unique since of our 70 5-man, 4 of them play on mac's, meaning they don't do a lot of other PC gaming. I, however, still play my fair share of FPSes. I agree that broadband has led to a decrease in the smaller, basement parties, but our little guild still drags our systems over to someone's house every month or so to raid and such face-to-face.
RaydenUni Mar 26th 2007 10:33AM
My group plays Q3, Enemy Territory, Warcraft III. When it's a small LAN we used to play some Guild Wars. We recently found UT2004 for cheap and all bought copies. Great LAN game.
There aren't many new games. One problem is finding a game everyone has a copy of. This makes free games like ET more attractive (I just like ET because it is awesome).
It is EXTREMELY annoying when you are trying to get your group together to play something and that one guy is playing WoW... GRR.
Sylythn Mar 26th 2007 10:22AM
Agree w/ 5 - Vent/TS is the one thing that keeps me from bothering with LAN parties anymore. I'm online with my friends every night (or almost) - the only thing I'm missing is the physical proximity...and I'll save that for my gf. :)
PM Mar 26th 2007 11:30AM
My friends and I still meet up and play WoW over LAN. It's been more fun than sitting along at home and playing with them-- being in the same room while running a couple instances makes for a better mood I think.
Not to mention everyone usually gets drunk and we end up steamrolling through Westfall and having what seems like the entire Alliance faction come to stop us. For the Horde!
Burning Adrenaline Mar 26th 2007 10:33AM
I was at a LAN party earlier this month. Nobody there played WoW, let alone another MMO. Hasn't been a bit of decrease so far as we're concerned.
Playing games on-line is great fun, but quickly becomes matter-of-fact norm. For many, gaming in person at a LAN party is far more enjoyable, as it's a special event of a sort, complete with munchies, laughter, and a nice change of scenery. Playing on-line will give you a fraction of these things, and is great fun, but it's not quite the same.
BoBoTheChimp Mar 26th 2007 10:39AM
Ahh...the memories of having all my old high school buddies over and playing Halo:CE on two Xboxs. Split screen is a bitch though. Halo 2 has always (and still is) played on Xbox live for me. However, there is something to be said about letting someone eat it in the next room, something a voice on a headset just can't compare to. That still doesn't make up for the ease of just turning on your 360 (or computer, PS3, whatever) and having access to thousands of other players without the fuss and muss of organizing a LAN party. WoW hasn't really killed off my desire for a LAN party, the internet did...
chaz Mar 26th 2007 10:40AM
Well, its not a LAN party, per se, but I do play WoW with others at my house.
One or two Saturdays a month people come over and we play around my dining room table. We order pizza and everyone brings beer. We play for 6 or 8 hours, and it's a total blast. We only play the "group" toon, when we're together - so far we're up to level 20s. When we did Guns of Northwatch a while back it was fan-frikkin-tastic to have everyone in the same room yelling at each other.
Thijz Mar 26th 2007 10:42AM
I've only been to one LAN, as an introduction to my friend's CoD clan. There were about 20 people and it didn't even last 24 hours, but I loved it.
GamerJunkie Mar 26th 2007 11:09AM
Interestingly MMORG in Asia is not killing Internet Cafe and arcades there.. Just shows how diverse the game industry is there.. while in the US people seem to "flock" to what everyone else is playing..
rgoff31 Mar 26th 2007 11:47AM
Yes it killed off lan parties in my group of friends.
WoW has even killed off playing other games with alot of us.
MindTrigger Mar 26th 2007 12:37PM
I think there are multiple reasons for this, and WoW is one of them. How many of you decided not to buy a bunch of games in the last year because you are playing WoW? I probably saved $400 in PC game purchases in the past year, although there aren't really any decent new FPS's to care about. Crappy new releases and WoW have caused me to take a long break from the FPS scene.
I've been in the FPS scene for a loooong time. I was playing Quake 1 CTF on my 33.6 modem back in the day. There are no good FPS out right now, IMO. The stuff that is out is old and boring. Quake 4 was DOA. We haven't seen a good Unreal Tournament in a while. They ripped the heart and soul out of Tribes with the "Vengeance" version. Also, take into account that there are TONS of crappy FPS games out there, and so the players are spread out more.
Finally, I think increasing internet speeds at home have been a huge contributer to the death of LAN parties. One of the big reasons people did this was to get off their dialup modem, and go game with other Low Ping Bastards on a Lan. Sure, the social part of them are fun, but without the initial motivation of wanting to game on a nice low latency connection, many people will just stay at home.
There are some hopeful FPS games coming out this year. I'm personally hoping Quake Wars kicks arse, but I'm keeping an eye on a couple others as well. WoW came at a great time, which has contributed to it's success. Can anyone think of another notable title that has launched in the past 2-3 years?
Kevin Mar 26th 2007 12:04PM
Starcraft FTW! WOOT!
Leda Mar 26th 2007 12:11PM
My Girlfriend (yes a wow player with a girlfriend) and I get together at her place with a 6/12 of Guinness, a pizza, and wow just bout every weekend now that she's playing... We just wish we could get more of our friends to join in. The lan party isn't dead because of wow, just smaller and req more pipe. Or you could just use my GF's new Lan Party definition: Lesbian All Night Party, then everyone would come.
idburns Mar 26th 2007 12:22PM
I was at a WoW LAN this past weekend as a matter of fact.