Lan Parties - What's your preference?

My brother-in-law and I were talking last night about Lan Parties. He has a son who likes to go to them, but the son has a beef. He has a good computer (a late model Pentium 4 Dell) but he hates having to lug it around, even though he's bought a special harness that makes the whole thing into a neat package.

He's afraid it's going to get hurt - the case already has a few scrapes, apparently - and he's afraid that guys with newer or custom-built computers will have an advantage over anyone not having the latest and greatest equipment.

Although some lan locations do have permanent setups, there are none near where he lives, so he has to take his own computer everywhere.

It appears to me that taking one's own equipment has only one advantage, and that is familiarity. Otherwise, it seems to be just a PITA.

On the other hand, places that have computers already set up - where one can go for an hour or so to play at a fixed rate per minute - have these advantages: No possible damage to one's own equipment; A level playing field on which to compete where all that counts is personal skill; and, No setup/breakdown time, so a player can walk in, sit down, and start gaming, knowing that everything will work.

So here's the poll: Who prefers lan parties where you have to take your own eqipment, vs. who prefers having a place already set up with cutting-edge equipment that can be used at a fixed rate?

I'd also like you to tell me, given that you find yourself at a place with in-place equipment, whether or not you'd prefer to play using a 19" or 21" CRT display vs. a 42" plasma display.

Thanks!

ob3kenob said:
No possible damage to one's own equipment; A level playing field on which to compete where all that counts is personal skill; and, No setup/breakdown time, so a player can walk in, sit down, and start gaming, knowing that everything will work.

There's an additional advantage: A convenient scapegoat on which to blame your lousy playing when you get beaten severly by better platers. Who has never blamed "faulty" or "unaccustomed" equipment?

Our local gaming center hosts LAN parties every once and awhile, $20 for 10 hours, starting at midnight. It includes free pizza, and as much pop as you can have (or until he runs out of corn syrup). He supplies AMD 1600+ with GeForce4 cards, all with 512 megs of ram, and 19 inch monitors all around. Battlefield is popular at these parties.

SlowMotionHobo said:

Our local gaming center hosts LAN parties every once and awhile, $20 for 10 hours, starting at midnight. It includes free pizza, and as much pop as you can have (or until he runs out of corn syrup). He supplies AMD 1600+ with GeForce4 cards, all with 512 megs of ram, and 19 inch monitors all around. Battlefield is popular at these parties.

Wow, that sounds pretty cool. Wish there was a place like that near here.

Can't, there ain't no god damn LAN parties within 20 miles of my house...

I'd kill for regular LAN parties.

I can't really stand playing multiplayer games for more than an hour at a time. Just gets too tiring. Especially games that force you to think about a thousand things at once, such as Warcraft II. It's more panic and franticness than actual fun.

I've setup a few 8+player lan games locally.. I'm the networking dork so I get to play grease monkey with the router while everyone else setups..

ob3kenob said:

He's afraid it's going to get hurt - the case already has a few scrapes, apparently

Pfft, battle scars show you have experience!

My usual lan equipment :

computer, power cables, crt monitor, etc
sleeping bag
slippers
about 10 grams of green
pr0n

Hmmmm. Lan parties are teh fun, especially when they're small ones - spending three days in a room with a dozen friends smoking weed and playing game is very relaxing.

SlowMotionHobo said:

$20 for 10 hours

heh...I was gonna say, what a ripoff...but I guess if he supplies everything, plus free food...well.

I attend LANs hosted by these guys. You need to bring your own machine...but..whatever. I'd rather use my own anyway.

I use my own stuff, even if my computer is 4 years old and monitor even older than that.

S'all good....