LAN Parties Common Do's and Don't

If like me, you don’t have many friends who are into gaming, or are in a situation where your gamer friends live a significant distance away, then the mere mention of LAN parties gives you nerdgasms. You prepare for weeks, sharpening your skills, going over your silly comebacks and upgrading your PC (upgrades before every LAN party. Man, if wishes were horses…). Unfortunately, for gamers like me, (Kenyans and people in most developing countries) LAN events are few and far in between- some bad, some great.

For the entirety of this post, I'll be using two terms: LAN event & LAN party. The former refers to a larger one that is for complete strangers and normally arranged by a group or company, while the former refers to one that is arranged by an individual for a small group of friends. Edit: I’m halfway through writing this and specifying each is turning into a chore. I’ll use them interchangeably and you smarty-pantses can just infer.

Below are a few key issues I feel should be paid attention to if an organizer wishes to host an enjoyable LAN party/ event. If the post is comprehensive enough, we could promote it to ‘Guidebook status’… Yes? Yeeeeeees? 

1. Games

This is something that most people think is just an automatic given and that at a LAN event the game lineup will "work itself out". However, people should really know that if you don’t get this part right your event is a failure even if you get the next points right. Remember: six hours of installations does not make a LAN party .

• Always announce the games for the event early on. This gives people a chance to familiarize themselves with them, see if their PCs can handle them and if necessary seek help from fellow gamers. Also, if there happen to be too many people that can’t run a certain game, the organizers can scrap it and find a suitable replacement.
• Unless it is an event set up for a specific game or a competitive event, it is advisable to have a variety of games spanning across multiple genres. Different people have different tastes, and you need to accommodate ALL your guests. C’mon Mr. Host, let everyone have a chance to pwn shine.
• Not everyone has the best rig in the world so try to have some low-spec games, which may not be very fancy graphic-wise, but are still fun to play. If you aren’t sure what to pick, seek guidance from your guests. Bonus points for getting them involved.

2. Venue 

Contrary to popular belief, a good venue is more than lots of square-footage. For the parties, the organizer may not have many available choices, but they should always try to host it somewhere centralized and easily accessible so that everyone has an easy time getting there. The organizer should take into account the people that have huge rigs.

Gaming involves a lot of sitting (My brain to me: “No shit Sherlock!”). Always make sure that everyone has a place where they can sit for close to 6 hours without having aches and pains because if you aren’t comfortable you won’t have fun. You don’t have to have high-end seats or anything, just get something people won’t break their backs on.

I'm not sure about you guys; maybe it’s because I’m an unfit, lazy, bum, but gaming to me is basically like physical sports and the more intense it gets, I tend to sweat a bit. If this is the case with most of us, combine that with the fact that computers emit a considerable amount of heat, and you have a recipe for a stuffy room. Stuffy rooms = sleepy, uncomfy guests. Never compromise on ventilation.

3. Proper security

Thankfully, in my opinion, this one has never really been an issue. The people that attend LAN parties are 99% good folk that wouldn’t try to steal your shit. That’s something I’m really really proud of. Don’t get me wrong though, there’s always one or two douchebags people at these parties that have a bone to pick with everyone IN GAME, but that’s where their vindictiveness ends. That’s more than acceptable. So yeah. Security… not such a big deal. Just one of those things I strongly felt needed mentioning. There’s still the obvious, though: Don’t host in a risky area. Maybe (I hope not) as the number of events increases in number, more malicious people will start to take note, but we gamers are a preeeeetty tough crowd (Hahaha!). I think we’ll be just fine.

4. Feed the monster

 First, let’s talk to the party hosts. If you are having people over, get them food. If that turns into a logistical nightmare, I’m sure your friends would not mind chipping in for a good meal seeing as it is absolutely in their best interest! So talk about this in advance with them if you can. And you, guest; you’re going to a LAN party, not a g-d food fest! Be considerate of everyone else, and if you reeeeally need that much food, carry your own. Nobody’s stopping you.

For events however, it’s a bit tricky I think. Most events here are usually hosted for free. Maybe catering to all attendees is costly. We already appreciate the effort and can’t demand anything from you except an early warning. The gamers will appreciate a venue with a restaurant/ fast food joint nearby. If there aren’t any food joints nearby you could always arrange for sandwich bars or something. Gamers cannot live on games alone. They also need Mountain Dew. And sandwiches. And crisps.

5. Always go the extra mile 

Be it an event or party, you should always try to have something extra that makes yours stand out. Have activities other than gaming that provide a good distraction. For parties this may be a little tricky. Maybe have a Wii Station. OK, technically use of the Wii constitutes gaming, but the physical aspect of it provides a completely different angle. Best. Distraction. Ever. So, anything along that line, including PS Move and Kinect will provide tons of fun.

Gaming events provide a great platform for promotion. Try to get people/companies that are looking to market themselves to come and showcase their products. Usually they want to attract attention at the event so they’ll have some way (freebies, activities) to do that. Overall, the gamers are happy. A good example of this is the company that had the archery booth at Naiccon.

6. Force interaction

Yes. Force. I’m not asking; this is a command and the most important part. Be it for gaming or not, parties and events are about having fun and meeting new people. Always try to make people interact with everyone else. If it’s a party try to invite a new person every time. You’d be surprised how monotonous gaming with the same people over and over can get. If it’s an event, try to have group activities that foster cooperation.

7. Proper advertising/notification

This partly builds on the previous point. The reason I’m saying we need a proper community is because my personal experience with events, conventions and such is that people don’t know they’re happening. For me, not long ago, if I didn’t get the low down from my brother, I’d never find out about an event. There are great communities like Gaming for Kenya that try to support other gamers. Therefore, if you want to host, you should look for such gaming communities and forums to help you get the word out to as many people as possible.

In that same spirit, I’ve started a new section on this page. To your right you’ll notice an ‘Upcoming Geek Events’ panel. Unfortunately, from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t show on mobile(for now). If you would like to plug your gaming related event, website or page, send me an email at 

Blaqnificent121@gmail.com.

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