LAN, Party of Three, Your Table is Ready

If you have never attended a LAN party, you are definitely missing out. For those who don't know, a LAN (Local Area Network) party is where a group of people get together with their computers or other video game systems and network them together all in the same room. Then a night of the most fun gaming of your life takes place.

Current technology allows gamers to play with each other from all over the world. This is all well and good but nothing can beat the fun of being at the same physical location as those you are playing with/against. Being able to turn around and taunt your opponent is worlds more fulfilling than doing it over some sort of voice chat. Sharing a resounding cheer with a room full of friends after completing a difficult objective is so much more rewarding than typing out congratulations on a screen.

I have had the pleasure of experiencing all sorts of LAN parties. I have been to huge LAN parties hosted at a college, smaller ones at a friend's house, and have even hosted countless events of my own.

Many of my happiest memories include the chant of "just one more game" as my friends and I look out the window to see the sun emerging after an all night gaming session. While I certainly have my favorite LAN party games, it doesn't really matter what we play. From epic strategy games, to first person shooters, or even a simple Internet flash game, if you are with your friends they can all be a blast.

I don't live as close to my best gaming pals anymore so LAN parties are not as common an occurrence as they once were. We still get together on occasion for a game or two, but I definitely miss those all night marathons. There's nothing quite like falling asleep as the sun comes up and laughing with wonderful friends about the highlights of the past game-filled evening.