A lan party in an event where people who come bring their computer. They plug them all up together and play games. The question most people ask is, "why?". "Why would I want to go though all that trouble?" "Why this" and "why that". The short, straight answer is: It's Fun! Really! Here are some of the pluses of going to a lan party:



Let's assume that you're a computer gamer and you're playing against somebody in a vicious game of deathmatch. You just lept out of a shadow, jumped down behind him, ducked an incoming rocket, and removed his head with a double-barreled shotgun.

To celebrate your victory at a LAN party, you'd:

savor the expression of anguish on his face

leap up and scream, "Suck it down, monkeyboy!"

high-five your teammates

sing a rousing chorus of, "Who's yo daddy?"

announce that he couldn't kill you if you were on life support

Turn up the stereo really loud

begin the smack talk for the inevitable rematch



Now let's assume you were at home alone playing on the Internet. You'd celebrate your amazing victory in the following ways: Checking your email



It's like the difference between going to a hockey game or watching one on TV. Sure, you can see it all happen on the screen -- but there's nothing like being there in person and hoping to catch a tooth.



LAN: The Ultimate Defense Against LAG



Another advantage of playing games at a LAN party is the LAN itself, which stands for "Local Area Network." As opposed to the Internet, which stands for "Really really big area network slowed down by people actually trying to do productive things like research."

When you play games on a LAN, you're usually only a few feet from the server. When you and your friends shoot a really big gun, it fires instantly, preferably while it's still pointed at the stunned face of someone who deserves it. It's intense! Whereas when you play games over the Internet using a modem, you will often have time to catch a rerun of Seinfeld between the time when you fire your weapon and the time it eventually makes its way to the intended target, who by this time has had kids and moved to Jersey.

Anyone who can compare the two will agree that playing over the net can never compete with the adrenaline of playing on a local network.