Gamer Loneliness

[Wedgeh]

Avid reader of penny-arcade as I am, I can't help but crave my own Gabe. Here at Uni it would seem gamers are few and far between, at this nice, but rather posh halls that I inhabit rugby and such tend to dominate and any consoles that might be around are only loaded with sports sims.

And even at home most of the people who used to be guarenteed to be up for a weekend LAN pretty much the whole summer now have jobs/girlfriends/etc. Have the birth of the internet and death of co-op games really killed the casual social aspects of gaming outside large LAN parties. Or do I just need a new set of friends? Or perhaps I'm too 'old' for gaming now. Speaking of which did you hear about that guy from team3D who retired from pro-gaming on his 24th birthday because he decided (I assume) it was time to get a serious life... I thought gaming was well on the way to being accepted as 'mainstream', perhaps I was wrong on this as well.

Discuss my sad life at your leisure :P

}\\Close Rant

[welshbloke]

That will be the circle of friends because my experience is that most LAN's are supported by a core of UNI boys.

They are probably the same people who ask politely because they have no idea of what LANing is about if you won when you get back.

I would not worry, just take pleasure in your diversion and bore the pants of anybody who will listen until you get a new set or hardcore. :P

[putty_thing]

Avid reader of penny-arcade as I am, I can't help but crave my own Gabe.

so you've gone gay?

[Wedgeh]

...
I mean someone to share my gaming experiences with, not bodily fluids :P

[BirdofPrey]

lol

Baah we have a small group of console freaks, and a few of use who do mini lans

[RiPPeR]

Amongst all of wedges article one thing that really sticks out is the mention of high internet killing lans. I myself think is is true, as back in the day one of the big selling points was a nice low ping which sounds heavenly when your on a modem. But now pretty much everyone has 512 (or better) broadband which gets your ping so low you dont really notice any "lag" as such. Which means for the casual gamer he can have a nice multiplayer experiance when he so wishes and thus doesnt ned to attend the lans.

thoughts ?
Chris.

[welshbloke]

That of course was a factor for LAN games but the reason why we still have LAN's and in fact the reason they are growing is due to the social scene.

The I series continue to grow year on year the tBG has also continued to grow with the crew now needing a larger venue again.

What you cannot achieve with Broadband is the bugger being a few desks away whooping it up after fragging your arse... The gaming is still a large factor but most events will now concentrate on offering other elements to encourage the social side...

Well my opinion anyway.

[BlackDemon]

I agree with you on this one bud. The 'net is killing off co-op games left right and centre. Pretty much EVERY multiplayer game these days is being released as "online only" or subscription crap. Very few still hold dear to the good old 'buy the game once and then play as much as you like online and off for free'. I can't think of any co-op games released recently that would be suitable for play at a small home LAN apart from a few RPGs and maybe Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow. Bring back the days of AvP, HL classic, TA and the like over LANs I say. But sadly I feel this may not happen.

Anyway, i'm up for a small LAN over summer even if anyone else isn't so give me a shout and we can get something sorted! I would try to arrange one in my house but my little brother and sister normally go doo-lally and complain about it all the time. My parents too for that matter. :?(

[Wedgeh]

Jimbo, you know my house is available for LANnage all summer :) My parents have become long used to hordes invading and devouring all our electricity and food so that's no problem at all. I'm definitly up for going back to the old skool this summer and getting in plenty of LANnage like it used to be. We might have to go back to some old skool games, but that's not necessarily such a bad thing. Co-op SP might be pretty much dead, but there's often fun to be had in teaming up against the AI in particularly RTSs. I've also aquired a 4 port 100baseT hub/switch (can't remember which, but not that important for 4 of you) which could be very useful in this regard.

[BlackDemon]

sweet dude! well gimme a shout anytime you fancy it as i'm home from uni now and also well up for old scholl lannage. Thinking of only getting work with an agency too so I won't be obligated to work any specific times :?D

[Wedgeh]

Well I'm still up at uni for a little while longer, exams et al ;/ , but I should be home ~ 31st and then I'll be completely free until 21st June when I start work, but even then I'll have most weekends free :)

[eaterofpies]

another thing about new games is they only come with 1 disc when theyre blatently sposed to be multiplayer games. You always used to get 2 disks so you could play a mate with just the one copy games like TA, X-wing Vs Tie Fighter c&c (real c&c games not the rubbish new one) or they didnt have cd protection so you could do a full install and play over lans.

I bought loads of games cos i played them at a lan 1st and decided hmmm this games cool and i play it enough to buy it. Theres really no reason not to have a multiplayer spawn install (like diablo and ta) because its getting damn difficult to copy some games now so i think it would encourage people to go and buy a game if they could play it multiplayer and think "yeah i like this" without having to shell out 1st.

broadband is killing mini-lans as back several years (q2 wasnt out) i used to play every weekend round a mates house but now its just too much effort and we cant be bothered cos you can play online and we end up not playing at all. :(

still small lans (not mini mini just 8-12 players) are still going to happen when i get home for hte summer ive had people hassleing me about running one since christmas damn it!

[Wedgeh]

broadband is killing mini-lans as back several years (q2 wasnt out) i used to play every weekend round a mates house but now its just too much effort and we cant be bothered cos you can play online and we end up not playing at all. :(


Amen to that!! That's exactly what I'm talking about, it needs a revival!!

[eaterofpies]

Amen to that!! That's exactly what I'm talking about, it needs a revival!!

are we talking co op glQ1 , Doom2, Descent, kicking pc for 4 hrs trying to get dos ipx/spx working, bnc cable that may or may not work?
if so im game :D tho finding a small enough hdd for dos to recognise and finding a network card with bnc might be hard

[Wedgeh]

I've got plenty of shit old hardware at home :D

[SlyDave]

You can use blackD's machine too, thats pretty crappy. thought I'm not sure if it'll run DOS any higher than version 4 :\

[BlackDemon]

No it won't, all I can run is command line.

[Drazhar]

I think you need to get a new hobby, find out what your mates like doing and try it out, you could learn to like it.

For example, before going to uni i couldn't stand RnB music. I regarded as noise pollution at its worst...however after forcing myself to listen to hours and hours of the stuff it has grown on me, kind of like a piece of cheese left out in the sun.

Still, if that doesn't work you can always check out the union societies...there's a club for just about everything. HEck after not touching the things for six years i'm now workin at the Gamesworkshop paintin all them little models thanks to meetin someone from the society. Effectivly i get to play with toys all day, Sweet!

[Wedgeh]

Ah I see, give up gaming and play Warhammer instead, clearly I will be more fulfilled :D

[putty_thing]

i wanted a job in GW :(

[SlyDave]

Sorry but "putty_thing the destroyer of karn" is most obviouly a cheat peice, and should cost 1000 points :\

Besides if you sit on the table your'll break it :mad: Oh and you'd look funny painted Gun Metal Grey.

[BirdofPrey]

I had a job in GW, may have another one soon