Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Being A Host In A LAN Party

By Ronald Lozinskerr


Its every gamer's dream to host every once in a while and it's one of the most awesome events in the world - LAN party. It's like playing poker or going to the bar with your buddies, it's just that instead of playing cards and chips or booze and billiards, you have your own PCs gathered in one place, connected via LAN, on a night of hardcore gaming whether classical titles or the newer MMORPGs or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games.

LAN parties can be as simple as an exclusive gaming night among friends or a massive gathering of acquaintances in the online community playing the same sets of games or titles. Its easier to organize though a simple LAN party with known friends. Your dual car garage can house around 10 PCs and hardcore gaming addicts. Around 3 or 4 dining tables can fit all the computers, with around 12 Ethernet cables, a router, a switch, lots of heavy duty extension cords to distribute power in the different circuits in the house, game installers and fuses that can replace those that may get shorted out in the breaker.

It's almost the same as organizing a small night out with the buddies. There can be some lunch or dinner depending on the time slot, with a lot of dry snacks and spill proof containers for drinks. Always take note that food should be dry while drinks should be in spill proof or bottled containers. Your party is dealing with sophisticated voltage eating equipment. Any game is not complete with sounds so better prepare a centralized one. This means a lot of noise both from the players and the sound system. So it would be better to forewarn your neighbors.

Most of the games played on a LAN party are the latest online games. It depends on the group sometimes because there are those who prefer to go back and reminisce like playing StarCraft and Warcraft. There are the more popular shooter games, car games and racing games. But truck games and parking games are also picks sometimes and the game choice will really depend on the player.

There are professionally prepared LAN parties for the big online company. LAN party organizers know what they are doing and usually, the event is prepared by a whole team. These LAN parties are usually held on huge function rooms like in halls or hotels to hold all of the prescribed time. The number of players can reach up to a hundred or even more that is why a seating plan is all too important. Dedicated game servers are setup, multiple 10/100 switches are prepared, hundreds of Ethernet cables meant for backup, generators for power and distribution boxes for circuits.

You may need to prepare for the preregistration as well. Its better to bring your own PC aside for everyday and Padi's as well. These massive events can easily grab a sponsor and can be really loud




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