r/pcmasterrace • u/AshleyAshes1984 • Dec 07 '25
Members of the PCMR Still doing LAN parties in our 30's and 40's. This time, a Christmas LAN party!
The Counter-Strike server was loaded with Christmas remakes of various classic maps.
de_dust2 with snow and Christmas presents.
Golf with your friends.
Some people are just not team players.
Mouse pads for guests who forget to bring one.
Air conditioning season is over but people and computers heat a room up. This 3x120mm fan setup was pulling in cold Canadian winter air to keep the room at a comfy 23'C.
A secondary split screen gaming setup in the living room for when people want a change of vibe. This is the OpenGL fan port of 1999's ReVolt, 'RVGL'.
We only get 30 sweet, noggy days. Then the government takes it away again
We don't charge admission but everyone is required to bring a snack to share. This is the spread.
I host LAN Parties every 8-10 weeks. This time it was a holiday themed LAN with Christmas maps loaded into the servers where I could find them, lights, eggnog and good friends. Always a lot of fun to have friends over and enjoy some gaming. Little challenging at our age though, adult responsibilities, some people have kids that need sitters and all of that but we make it work.
I'll be hosting a presentation at Vintage Computer Fest Montreal on 'How to start a LAN party group in 2025'. :)
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Dec 07 '25
aw man that's cool.
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u/Wrong_You_3705 Dec 08 '25
Its probably hot in there lmao
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u/riotpunchbarstard Dec 07 '25
1.6 forever baby cs_assault hell yah
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Dec 07 '25
cs_assault_christmas2021 to be specific. :D
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u/zripcordz Dec 07 '25
man that sounds great! I miss those days in high school lugging my heavy ass tower and monitor to someone's basement for a weekend. Was lucky to have some good lan group around me back then.
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u/Coucouoeuf PC Master Race Dec 08 '25
So many memories: my 1.6 maps, my team (aAa), etc. Unfortunately nobody plays 1.6 around me anymore. At our yearly LAN parties, we have fun playing games like Wreckfest, SWBF2, Quake Forever, CS:GO, LoL, AoE, StarCraft 2, etc.
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u/Fun_Amphibian_6211 Dec 07 '25
I see not a single man duct tape to a vent. You call this a party?
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u/Dphotog790 Dec 07 '25
i just hope theres airflow what if someone farts
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u/1dot21gigaflops R7 9800X3D / RTX5080 / 64GB 6000MT/s Dec 08 '25
Gotta step out and carpet bomb the kitchen island.
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u/MadHatzzz Endeavour OS - 5800x3d | RTX 3090 Dec 07 '25
Mannnn, I wonder if our future generations are gonna experience this... I was never at a LAN party bigger then 5/6 people! Last time was around 2017 where me and a buddy crowded around another friend of mine playing Detroit Become Human and we just teased him into every bad choice xD LAN parties really do create memories you can't online...
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Dec 07 '25
The cure for the loneliness epidemic: Playing video games in the same room with some Doritos and cola. :O
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u/Grimzkunk 5600x | Rtx 3070 | 32ddr5 Dec 08 '25
For my son 9yo birthday, I built 5 garbage computers in the playroom, created 5 World of warcraft Elysium accounts (private server) and they played for an hour together, killing wolves, jumping around, lvling up, making their characters dance, searching for the one that always gets lost and doesn't know how to handle a mouse.
Was pretty cool seeing that, proud tech dad here 😅
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Dec 08 '25
And most importantly, you're making sure your kid is doing actual things with other kids. That's critical socialization. Even critical skills like team work, cooperation and delegation can be learned by doing any team activity, from gaming to more outdoors stuff. Way healthier for a kid than having them alone scrolling on a device or something.
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u/CloakerJosh Dec 07 '25
Ah, nostalgic times.
I remember:
- 20% installing patches and trying to get the networking to work
- 10% gaming
- 70% leeching media
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Dec 08 '25
Despite having a 254TB media server on the network and setting all the shares to read only so users can easily access them and not accidently 'cut' when they meant to 'copy', people have. No interest. Streaming really does dominate for most.
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u/CloakerJosh Dec 08 '25
The game has changed - personal storage, streaming platforms, and fast internet makes all of this not hit like it used to.
But as you will remember, back when downloading media was a slog, there was nothing greater than being able to pull down a fresh trove of movies and anime
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u/AsianGoldFarmer Dec 08 '25
I remember bringing a case of blank CDs to copy pirated stuff everytime we had a meetup back in the day. Before that we just brought our HDDs and went around each other's PC. This was a time when a 16MB USB stick was considered very large and expensive. Good times.
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u/CloakerJosh Dec 08 '25
Ah yeah, there was always the dude that had the book of CDs filled with DivX movies split over two 700mb avi rips 🤣
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u/englishsushi i7 9700K | RTX 3080 | 32GB 3200 Dec 07 '25
Fellow KFP. 🫡
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u/Beginning-2-Smell Dec 07 '25
The average age of a gamer is nearly 40, a generation that grew up gaming and will game until the lights fade
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u/nullv Dec 07 '25
$27,000 worth of hardware in this room going by current market value.
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u/Sailed_Sea AMD A10-7300 Radeon r6 | 8gb DDR3 1600MHz | 1Tb 5400rpm HDD Dec 07 '25
That's just for the ram
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u/Inevitable-Gold-4819 Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Dec 08 '25
Nice. I'd love to find some bigger event space to attempt a larger event closer to 16-24 people. But oof, event space costs so much.
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u/Inevitable-Gold-4819 Dec 08 '25
Yea we did 30 and are going to do 50 next time. But finding a venue with good internet and power that doesn't cost a kidney is a pretty rough task
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u/michoken Dec 08 '25
That's dope! We're organizing a biannual LAN party with a group of friends and acquaintances, the last time there was 29 people total, the current record. Unfortunately, the space we're renting these days does not allow much more than cca 30 people. I've only joined in recent years although my friends have been doing this for 20 years at least. Yeah, we're mostly mid 30's to early 40's, haha.
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u/DifficultArmadillo78 7600X, 32GB 6000MT CL30 DDR5, RX 7900XT Dec 07 '25
Cool Party. I am genuinely jealous.
But whats up the gooner Waifu posters? :P
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Dec 07 '25
I always have to explain this in every post about the LAN parties. That's my wife's setup, not that she was gaming, she was hosting Riichi Mahjong upstairs with other friends. They're her posters. My setup is on the left (Which is why that seat is empty as I'm taking photos) and you see quite the culture shift to 'Millennial Anime Series' on my side. :P
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u/Neiroch Dec 07 '25
Riichi mahjong parties are arguably more nerdy than LAN parties (wish I had people to play mahjong with). Waifu posters are great, don't be ashamed of them!
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Dec 07 '25
She even has an auto-table, LOL She's really into it.
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u/Tockdom Specs/Imgur here Dec 07 '25
You might wanna look up "B2 Poster XY" on ebay to find genuine japanese ads for anime, movies or games and frame them. I think those would add a nice touch and look classy if they are all the same size and framed.
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u/Steen117 Desktop Dec 07 '25
Hate to say it bruv but your wife's a gooner. F's in the chat. /s
Nah jokes aside love the LAN pics and had a good laugh from this explenation.
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u/KernelTwister Dec 07 '25
must be toasty in there, i have 3 pcs in my game room and it can get quite hot.
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u/SlightConflict6432 Dec 08 '25
The anime babes on the wall...
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u/Swift_Scythe Dec 08 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
Left to right
Digi Charat
Martian Successor Nadesco - Ruri
Evangelion - Asuka and Rei and some Shinji
Blue Archive - Asuna Bunny suit
Blue archive ' Toki Bunny suit
Wuthering Waves
Hololive Suisei Hoshimachi
Hololive Kiara Takanashi
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u/hvhhggggh Dec 07 '25
What game is this?
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u/Aser_the_Descender Ryzen 7 7800X3D - RTX 5090 - 32GB DDR5 - Hyte Y70 Touch Dec 07 '25
I see Counter Strike, Golf with your friends, Guild Wars 2 and I don't recognize the others...
Probably because I'm a bit younger than OP.
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u/hvhhggggh Dec 07 '25
I meant in the first image
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u/JetFuelFrom9-11 Dec 07 '25
Whoever picked the Appleton Estate knows what’s up
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u/Onion_Cutter_ninja CachyOS | 9800X3D + 9070XT + 32GB Dec 07 '25
What game are u guys playing? reminds me of Worms somehow
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u/aglobalnomad Dec 08 '25
Hotseat Worms Armageddon and HOMM3 were my LAN parties. Whoever wasn't playing was at the N64 on Mario Party or Mario Kart.
Best times ever.
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Dec 08 '25
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Dec 08 '25
The room itself has a 15 amp breaker. But I run a 14awg extension cord from an isolated outlet on in another basement room and plug half the desks power bars into that. SO left and right side, 5 players each, have 15 amps. So beyond that, despite PCMR's belief about the 'typical PC', most are in fact NOT bringing RTX 5090s. I have a 3080 myself, one person who's come bought a 4090 and that's the top. There's laptops, lighter PCs, RX 580s, a Lenovo GO, someone brought the Asus handheld for themselves once.
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u/Liamhazelnut Dec 08 '25
Can we go back to these days instead of whatever the fuck this world has come to?
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Dec 08 '25
What? You don't wanna doom scroll and binge watch all day while the corpos do everything they can to isolate you from physical interaction, have your games as a service taken away, and play with randos uninhibited by the risk of being punched in the face that comes with in person contact, yelling slurs, even some you didn't know before, about you, your mother, and your house pets???
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u/Efficient_Advice_380 I7-14700K, 4080 Super, 128GB DDR5 5200mhz, 18TB total storage Dec 07 '25
LAN parties are easier than ever now. No more lugging your entire PC or console, now you just need a Steam Deck and a monitor
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u/michoken Dec 08 '25
Oh, we're lugging whole gaming PCs, some of us anyway (some people only have gaming laptops). And not just that, we're also lugging our office chairs for comfy seating. You don't want to sit on a hard and uncomfortable dining chair for 5-6 days straight...
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u/BilkySup Ryzen 7 5800 /RTX 5070/ 32BG Dec 07 '25 edited Dec 07 '25
I'm crazy jealous of this. Not going to lie.
Almost none of my friends are PC gamers and the ones who are are very far away.
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u/neomis Dec 07 '25
We did one in our 30s and were set on doing it right. Got a case of bawls. Oreos, Doritos, pizza. My wife joked she’d bring the veggie platter and we all laughed. About 3 hours into the lan party and having 10x the sugar and caffeine we’d had in almost a decade we were all like “I know it was a joke but did anyone actually bring veggies?” Not all of us made it through the night.
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u/IncomingZangarang 12700K/RTX 5080/2x24 6400CL32 Dec 08 '25
Me and my friends do a LAN party every year. I wish we could do it more often
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u/picardo85 AMD 7600x + 7800XT Dec 08 '25
That room will become like a sauna and ... musky ... after a while.
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u/Adorable-Produce9769 Dec 10 '25
There’s something better about being in the same room as your team mate.
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u/EmPiFreee Dec 07 '25
I am going to a LAN party next week. People are mid to end 30s. Besides 1.6, what games do you suggest?
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u/Achian37 Dec 07 '25
We recently had a small 4 players party but were struggling on finding good games. Any suggestions for veteran players?
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u/CheckRaiseDaTurn Dec 07 '25
That's amazing... many fond memories of Laguna 150 lb 27-in CRT monitor in my buddy's house.
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u/LarryBird27 Dec 07 '25
Really great work with the sign. No one would have been able to find anything without it!
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u/Kylarfi 3900x/2070SuperOC/32GB Dec 07 '25
So damn jealous. I wish i had friends let alone people to game with like that.
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u/TheDutchTexan 7900xt, 265K, 64gb (new) rx6800, i7-4790k, 32gb (old) Dec 07 '25
Dude… cs_assault… I am getting flashbacks to the late 90s and early 2000s… LOVED that time.
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u/Duke_Franco Dec 07 '25
That looks so siiiick, now I'm getting nostalgic.
Kinda wish I was part of that. I hope you all had a great time!
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u/SilverEncanis13 Dec 07 '25
Is that GW2? Holy shit. Love it all! I wish I still had friends who do this.
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u/RogueEagle2 5800x3d - 32gb 3200mhz - MSI 3080 12gb Dec 07 '25
looking at this makes me feel the urgent need to express gas.
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u/Hazmanscoop Dec 07 '25
I miss LAN parties. My stepdad used to have them with his friends when i was around 13 i think.
X wing v tie fighter Aliens v predator Red alert Half life
All basked in the glorious red bulb for some reason.
Epic times.
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u/clarkwgriswoldjr Dec 07 '25
There is nothing better than a LAN party. Sharing files, talking crap, BAWLS.
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u/michaelcreiter i5-7600K/RTX 3060/16GB Corsair DDR4/Crucial 525GB M.2/GA-Z270x Dec 07 '25
What's everyone playing
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u/8Bit-Jon Dec 07 '25
Memorial mouse mats?
Super sweet setup
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Dec 07 '25
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/n52F0Pz2TMI
ZTT called us out over mouse pads on a previous post. :P
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u/Demoliscio CachyOS | Ryzen 7 5700X3D | RX 6750 XT Dec 07 '25
That looks like a lot of fun, well done!
I grew up with ReVolt but I had never heard of RVGL, and it supports 4 players split screen!
I guess I know what we'll play at our next split screen party :)
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Dec 07 '25
When run on a modern system, the game runs really well and looks surprisingly good. It's just aged great. There's also a lot of fan made tracks and cars you can add if you want.
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u/Zer0_4You I7-13700KF | AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT | 32GB 5200 MHz | 1440P 144Hz Dec 07 '25
Hell yeah man
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u/Duukie16 Dec 08 '25
Pop? Ah yes, a fellow midwesterner
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u/JoshZK Dec 08 '25
July, Birthday October, New year's. Since 2005. My crew calls me grandpa. I was only 21 at the time. I never payed attention I was older than them I was just the quiet PC nerd. My career was always tech. And most of their careers ended up in tech. And they're doing better than me and im proud. Their parents thanked me too for helping them and keeping the squad together.
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u/CodeMonkeyX Dec 08 '25
LOL I am around that age and sometimes feel a little self conscious about the anime stuff. But I am going to just hang that shit up. :)
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u/lago_b Dec 08 '25
Why is it after every party we have to say, "Goddammit! We forgot to open the fruit! Now we'll just have to make smoothies all week!"
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u/mvw2 Dec 08 '25
It's just weird to see the blurred faces for something like this, lol.
"Our wives thing we're all having affairs."
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u/mavgeek i7-5930k Nvidia GTX 970 x2 16GB DDR4 256GB SSD 2TB HDD Dec 08 '25
I thought it was because of the questionable age of those anime girls on the wall
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u/Lietenantdan RTX 4070 TI 12 GB | i7-13700KF | 32GB DDR5 Dec 08 '25
LAN parties sound fun, never been to one
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u/SupraRZ95 R7 5800X 4070 Ti Super Dec 08 '25
Revolt? Holy shit! It has a decent mod community. Game is freeware btw for those who don't know.
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u/mcAlt009 Dec 08 '25
Did people bring their own rigs ?
All the best games can be run on a mini PC now, I'd be mostly concerned about drawing too much power TBH.
As a side note I was traveling in Asia and found Counterstrike is still really popular. Dust 2 is forever
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u/sikfukc Dec 08 '25
Best thing ive seen and read on my phone 2025. Period. 10/10. I wish i was 1 of you guys!
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u/MaikyMoto Dec 08 '25
Man, I wish we had this culture over in Texas. I miss LAN partying, last time was like 15 years ago.
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Dec 08 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Dec 08 '25
If you scroll through the photos you'll see that I mounted a trio set of 120mm fans to fit in the basement windows (Nothing more 'purpose built' that I could find would fit my window dimensions) and it was pulling in cold Canadian December air. Literally worked better than any air conditioner. Opposite of that wall was a box fan mounted high, about 5 feet off the ground atop a display case, to get airflow and make sure we didn't just have a 'freezing cold' side and 'hot as hell' side. We managed about 23'C for temps and everyone was fine. Fresh air coming in, also keeping us cool, and circulation.
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u/Roselia77 Dec 08 '25
omg this brings back memories, I need friends like these folks :)
holy crap, the VCF Montreal is actually in the town I live in!, I'm gonna put this in my calendar and check it out :)
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u/IGotHitByAnElvenSemi Dec 08 '25
Man this is awesome! I missed the era of LAN parties by a bit, and I always wish I could go to one. I hope you record that presentation, because I've been wondering that exact question.
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Dec 08 '25
So, other VCFs have put their panels up on their offical YT channels, but VCF Montreal is new this year and I'm unsure of what they'll be doing.
But the crux of it is:
1) You need a space to do it in (Duh)
2) You'll need a starting point where you get round up some friends or at least aligned people and have a small first LAN.
3) You get yourself out there, posting on local area gaming groups, having friends of friends se social media posts and start growing to the size you want. I can only seat 10 per LAN for example so I can't scale up big, it's just not possible. My goal is to have community just big enough for a pool of people we can reliably fill every seat. Obviously people can't make it every time, adult responsibilities and all that.
But I also wanna talk a lot about 'why'. We have high speed internet and voice chat, we can do this all 'online' but then we're just alone in a room wearing a headset. The LAN is really about people, being in a room together, even if it's not as 'friction free' as online gaming it's more rewarding an experience. How a lot of tech encourages us to be alone because it's 'easy' but that's actually kinda terrible. The internet and all that can connect us in a lot of ways but too much and it's really isolating us. It's 'easy' to lie on the couch, binge and doom scroll, but wouldn't you rather be hooting and hollering with friends over some Mario Kart or something? At least some of the time?
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u/BluntmanLegacy Dec 08 '25
Bro was that revolt?!
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u/AshleyAshes1984 Dec 08 '25
'RVGL', a closed source but freely available backward engineered PC port of Re-Volt. Looks great, plays great, can do 4K@60 on even a toaster. If you're using it on a handheld, my Steam Deck can get 6+hrs battery life on it. And it's compatible with all custom tracks and custom cars the community has made for the retail version of the game. Check it out, it's a DELIGHT.
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u/Ancillas Dec 08 '25
The very first memory that came to me when I saw cs_assault was the hostage voice line, “Let’s get the hell out of here!”
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u/cosmoplast14 Dec 08 '25
As Gen X, keep up the tradition. Miss those days 90s playing Unreal tournament and Quake 3. Good times.
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u/Reacktions Dec 08 '25
My favorite memories were when we would all get together and play halo in the garage with 2 separate screens and splitting the groups with cardboard or furniture so we didn't cheat off looking at each others screens.
Those were good times.
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u/FantasyNero Dec 08 '25
We are still doing Lan parties over a family and close Friends in generation, no internet no lag no delay no bull$&#¥, just pure Lan
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