What ever happened to LAN gaming?

Ollie83 · 4 Oct 2011 at 09:51

Is it just me or are there less and less games which support LAN these days? Back when I started gaming the only way to play against my mates was to have a LAN event at a rented hall or at a mates house. This was great fun and really emphasised the social aspect of gaming.

Unfortunately the games that we used to play, like Starcraft and battlefield, their newer versions have dropped the LAN option which makes these style events a thing of the past due to bandwidth issues.

Don't get me wrong, the advent of good systems such as steam and battlenet are great for playing against/with mates but you can't beat getting together in one room and have a good LAN session either. Does anyone know why this option is being left out or any opinions on the matter?

JayyCee · 4 Oct 2011 at 09:56

I guess its just the fact that online gaming is more common place than LAN's these days making LAN functions a tad redundant

Ollie83 · 4 Oct 2011 at 10:03

Its great having the option to get together though if you can. I suppose what am saying is just because you can drink in the house does not mean you don't go to the pub once in a while? I think game developers should keep the option unless there is a reason I can't see that they don't?

tidusjar · 4 Oct 2011 at 10:15

My friend is hosting a LAN on 14th. A few friends and their PC's (and ofcourse some beers). Going to be fun.

LeJosh · 4 Oct 2011 at 10:18

Internet Services became affordable.

Ollie83 · 4 Oct 2011 at 10:19

Exactly what I'm on about! I go to a club once a week where we LAN but there is becoming less and less choice of newer games. Does not stop us enjoying the older ones such as BF2 and css but would be great if SC2 and BF3 supported it. I did hear a rumour that Cod MW3 will support LAN though

jakspyder · 4 Oct 2011 at 10:21

Me and my 2 flatmates are all gamers, Too few LAN games are out though we do mostly play MMOs and shout really loudly to eachother or sometimes we use teamspeak to talk to eachother in the next room haha.

Engy Benjie · 4 Oct 2011 at 12:39

Yeah its funny, when we have LAN parties we usually end up Networking through the internet, from the same room.

Ollie83 · 4 Oct 2011 at 17:37

Yeh but we regularly have 12 plus people at our LANs so that's not option or it's a total lag fest. Maybe my title was unclear a bit, it's not why do people not have LAN parties any more but why do game developers such as Blizzard leave it out as an option all together? Surely it's better to have the option!?

DJammyRasta · 4 Oct 2011 at 17:47

Lans were killed off by broadband internet connections.... now its used so little im guessing developers cant be asked to program it in... also as Ollie said with games running through online clients these days you have to be online to play.. and if ur online u dont need lan!

kedge · 4 Oct 2011 at 17:55

Ollie83 said:
Is it just me or are there less and less games which support LAN these days?.

Modern Warfare 3 features LAN support

ChrisJSY · 4 Oct 2011 at 18:07

Yeah, it's the most annoying loss of options games have trended towards, I just want to play with some of my friends, or even host locally rather than some 3rd party dedicated server. Fffuuuu.
BF3 is the next one, we can't support enough people on the connection we have for the amount of players we have at jersey lans.

Gerard · 4 Oct 2011 at 18:15

kedge said:
Modern Warfare 3 features LAN support

Proably that and dedicated servers being the only 2 good things about it. :eek:

Ollie83 · 4 Oct 2011 at 19:09

Gerard said:
Proably that and dedicated servers being the only 2 good things about it.

Yeh I had heard this too and this is good news for us LAN gamers out there but it's a shame it is not BF3 supporting it as we would rather play it

Those of you how think that the advent of broadband speeds and steam etc. are telling me they would rather exclusively play with their friends online rather than have the option to also get a few people round and have some beers/craic together? Maybe i'm just getting old lol!

gothic_hobbit · 4 Oct 2011 at 19:14

Piracy is another reason why LAN doesn't get a look in these days.

Ollie83 · 4 Oct 2011 at 19:23

Ah ok, how does that effect LAN though? Sorry maybe i'm simples lol!

gothic_hobbit · 4 Oct 2011 at 19:51

Ollie83 said:
Ah ok, how does that effect LAN though? Sorry maybe i'm simples lol!

If a game has LAN play, it could be torrented illegally and played online via Hamachi or Tunngle.

Fr0dders · 4 Oct 2011 at 19:53

LeJosh said:
Internet Services became affordable.

THis

everybody has broadband these days with a ping of < 50ms

You don't need to attend lan parties just to play multiplayer gamers. Its now strictly a tournament / social thing.

Ollie83 · 4 Oct 2011 at 20:22

MrLOL said:
THis

everybody has broadband these days with a ping of < 50ms

You don't need to attend lan parties just to play multiplayer gamers. Its now strictly a tournament / social thing.

Really?! I don't lol! I'm around 100ms at best and that's still missing my point I think. When I started playing pc games it was all about choice and to not have what was a fundamental part of multiplayer! I love being able to play online with my friends without needing to take my pc to theirs but once in a while it is grand to have a real sociable event!

Just having a moan I suppose lol, does look like it's not the done thing now

Fr0dders · 4 Oct 2011 at 20:22

you need to change broadband providers if the best you can get is 100ms ping to a UK based server.

Thats IDSN speeds.