Are companies fracturing the LAN community?

Okay, "plunder" may be a strong term when used in conjunction with LAN parties, but when you see a non-commercial gaming pastime becoming something corporate, someone needs to speak up.

I love LAN parties. They are the one type of event that can draw men and women who love gaming out from behind their monitors to meet the people they frag. The whole idea behind LAN parties was camaraderie, but companies have become fully entrenched into the LAN party scene to the point where the get-togethers have become something different. While at the World Series of Video Games in Louisville, Kentucky, one old-time gamer described it as "A corporate trade show with a LAN and no party." When I hear severe comments from someone I have seen at these events over the past 3 years, I take notice.

I have been involved in the LAN gaming culture ever since I was able to network two computers together to play games. It was Quake II and Half-Life that drove me to LAN gaming. Someone who will drill a hole through his ceiling to his neighbour's apartment above, has to be passionate about LAN gaming. We needed a place for the Ethernet cable to run through and our closets were the perfect place to conceal our cables.

The first major LAN party I went to was around Halloween with a local LAN group. The event was entitled Jack'o'LAN. There were about 85 people there and I had a blast! I even won third place in the StarCraft tournament, which was ironic as I am much more of a first person shooter type of person.

LAN ETS in Montreal... this was run by the club in the school.

From those early LANs to the smaller events I attended, the sole reason for getting together was to play games with friends. Gamers meet people the same way my wife meets other volleyball players: competition. There is a certain game you like to play, and eventually if you are on the same server long enough, the virtual walls between you and the other person come down to the point where you talk to each other. It then migrates to instant messaging, forums, and then to voice over IP clients like Ventrilo and Team Speak.

If this keeps progressing, you might actually like to get together in person. This is a modern version of how some gamers meet, but in 1996 there were likeminded gamers who set out to:

"Meet online friends in real life;"

"Speak with the people who make their favourite games;"

"Talk shop with aspiring and veteran developers;"

"Play the world's best multiplayer games over the best LAN possible with people from all over the gaming community."

With this in mind and a lot of chat time over IRC, QuakeCon was born. At that time it was an event for gamers by gamers. From its small beginnings, LAN gaming has grown to almost every continent. (I am not sure if the scientists in Antarctica have had a LAN Party). Today we have computer festivals like Dreamhack in Jönköping, Sweden, where 5,000 bring their computers to do all the things that the original QuakeCon founders were after... the social mobilization of those who love gaming.

The Gathering in Hamar, Norway is one of the world's largest events.