4 ms·

God, imagine having a big enough friend group as an adult to justify an 18-gaming-PC LAN. These folks are doing something right

deleted 25d ago
[deleted]
senectus1 25d ago
I... jeepers. I dont think i have enough friends for a 4 person LAN party in my adult life. nerd life seems to get lonelier the older you get.
- swiftcoder 25d ago
  I'm more or less in your boat, but I also know several folks who play D&D or warhammer every weekend in big groups. It's kind of a choices-one-makes and where-one-lives deal, I think
  - voidUpdate 25d ago
    I shudder to think of an 18 person DND group... 5 is enough for me
- MrDresden 25d ago
  I can't speak to your situation, but I know that in mine the main blocker for a LAN party with adult friends wouldn't be a lack of interest nor lack of friends (though I don't have a giant pool, and can't even count 18 people I'd be able to even suggest such a thing to) it would be lack of time due to other life responsibilities, that tend to increase as we get older. My solution has been to play boardgames remote using BoardgameArena[0]. I usually have 2x turn based games going with two separate groups along with a dedicated chat channel, and then do 1-2 live evening sessions over video call with other groups. But all setup to be flexible and made to fit with the constraints of adult life, so sometimes we play and sometimes we reschedule. [0]: https://boardgamearena.com https://boardgamearena.com
- embedding-shape 25d ago
  > nerd life seems to get lonelier the older you get. Nerds always thinks they're special :) This is the same for most people in the world.
- deleted 25d ago
  [deleted]
- Aeolun 25d ago
  This is why it is perfect to have two brothers and a brother-in-law. We can at least get the four of us together to do something. Pretty sure we could manage 8-12 with friends, but none of our houses would be big enough.
  - dcminter 25d ago
    > it is perfect to have two brothers and a brother-in-law This is difficult to arrange at short notice :)
ssl-3 25d ago
We had LAN parties like that once upon a time when we had a space that supported it. Friends of friends would show up. Not everyone knew everyone else and this was fine. Cold drinks of every sort were available at the carry-out next door, and some would bring things to share. Donations were had for pizza or burgers (sometimes nowhere near enough donations, and sometimes more than plenty; it averaged OK). The social aspects of it really worked OK. Cleanup wasn't bad. The biggest problem was that the first ~couple of hours were spent getting all of the PCs connected, updated, and working properly-enough. By providing gaming stations, this dude has the big problem completely solved: All of these machines can be known to be on the same page when things start. (The second-largest problem -- the smell -- is a different issue entirely. It usually ramped up pretty well by the time the first problem was approaching being solved.)
- swiftcoder 25d ago
  > (The second-largest problem -- the smell -- is a different issue entirely. It usually ramped up pretty well by the time the first problem was approaching being solved.) I'm guessing that's where his spending a shit ton on HVAC comes in...
  - xattt 25d ago
    From my humble experience that does not scratch the surface of this build, a heat-recovery ventilation unit does wonders.
- quickthrowman 25d ago
  > (The second-largest problem -- the smell -- is a different issue entirely. It usually ramped up pretty well by the time the first problem was approaching being solved.) Makeup air unit and exhaust fan, just like a commercial kitchen, sans the hood and fire surpression. The exhaust fan should have a slightly higher cfm that the makeup air unit to maintain negative pressure so the body odor does not escape the gaming cave :)
  - ssl-3 24d ago
cammikebrown 25d ago
As a bartender, I have a bunch of friends, but none of them have the same night off!
vachina 25d ago
When you’re well to do everyone wants to be your friend
eddieroger 25d ago
That's how you meet people? You invite your friends, maybe one or two of them know someone who'd be interested, they join a few times, and now they're your friends, too. There was the one picture of his three middle school friends building the computers - I imagine four people can become 18 over 20 years pretty easily.
- jamiek88 24d ago
  It’s how our fantasy football league became a spin off bowling leader and some fellas started playing smash bros all anchored by one friendly dispensary owner in town. I’m lucky I got in with them but when I moved to this small coastal town from a huge city (Houston) i promised myself I’d say ‘yes’ to almost any social occasion and it has been life changing. I went from many friends to no friends when I immigrated to USA then back to many friends (although heavily work linked) in Houston over 20 years to zero friends here again. I guess you get better at it like anything else or you give up and atrophy socially totally.
deleted 24d ago
[deleted]
ycombinete 24d ago
I think the first step is to be wealthy and have no kids. That way you have tons of free resources, and tons of free time, and enough free space. I know plenty of people with enough friends to fill a little LAN like this. And setting one up is fairly cheap, if you don't want to build a house just for it, (a few switches and some cables); but not many adults I know have enough time or free enough calendars to get together for such an event more than once a year.
- lnsru 24d ago
  The kids will reach one day the age to be legit participants in LAN party. Just saying…
eMpHaSe 23d ago
Absolutely... And they all have time at the same day!

deleted 25d ago

[deleted]

senectus1 25d ago

I... jeepers. I dont think i have enough friends for a 4 person LAN party in my adult life. nerd life seems to get lonelier the older you get.

swiftcoder 25d ago
I'm more or less in your boat, but I also know several folks who play D&D or warhammer every weekend in big groups. It's kind of a choices-one-makes and where-one-lives deal, I think
- voidUpdate 25d ago
  I shudder to think of an 18 person DND group... 5 is enough for me
MrDresden 25d ago
I can't speak to your situation, but I know that in mine the main blocker for a LAN party with adult friends wouldn't be a lack of interest nor lack of friends (though I don't have a giant pool, and can't even count 18 people I'd be able to even suggest such a thing to) it would be lack of time due to other life responsibilities, that tend to increase as we get older. My solution has been to play boardgames remote using BoardgameArena[0]. I usually have 2x turn based games going with two separate groups along with a dedicated chat channel, and then do 1-2 live evening sessions over video call with other groups. But all setup to be flexible and made to fit with the constraints of adult life, so sometimes we play and sometimes we reschedule. [0]: https://boardgamearena.com https://boardgamearena.com
embedding-shape 25d ago
> nerd life seems to get lonelier the older you get. Nerds always thinks they're special :) This is the same for most people in the world.
deleted 25d ago
[deleted]
Aeolun 25d ago
This is why it is perfect to have two brothers and a brother-in-law. We can at least get the four of us together to do something. Pretty sure we could manage 8-12 with friends, but none of our houses would be big enough.
- dcminter 25d ago
  > it is perfect to have two brothers and a brother-in-law This is difficult to arrange at short notice :)

ssl-3 25d ago

We had LAN parties like that once upon a time when we had a space that supported it. Friends of friends would show up. Not everyone knew everyone else and this was fine. Cold drinks of every sort were available at the carry-out next door, and some would bring things to share. Donations were had for pizza or burgers (sometimes nowhere near enough donations, and sometimes more than plenty; it averaged OK). The social aspects of it really worked OK. Cleanup wasn't bad. The biggest problem was that the first ~couple of hours were spent getting all of the PCs connected, updated, and working properly-enough. By providing gaming stations, this dude has the big problem completely solved: All of these machines can be known to be on the same page when things start. (The second-largest problem -- the smell -- is a different issue entirely. It usually ramped up pretty well by the time the first problem was approaching being solved.)

swiftcoder 25d ago
> (The second-largest problem -- the smell -- is a different issue entirely. It usually ramped up pretty well by the time the first problem was approaching being solved.) I'm guessing that's where his spending a shit ton on HVAC comes in...
- xattt 25d ago
  From my humble experience that does not scratch the surface of this build, a heat-recovery ventilation unit does wonders.
quickthrowman 25d ago
> (The second-largest problem -- the smell -- is a different issue entirely. It usually ramped up pretty well by the time the first problem was approaching being solved.) Makeup air unit and exhaust fan, just like a commercial kitchen, sans the hood and fire surpression. The exhaust fan should have a slightly higher cfm that the makeup air unit to maintain negative pressure so the body odor does not escape the gaming cave :)
- ssl-3 24d ago

cammikebrown 25d ago

As a bartender, I have a bunch of friends, but none of them have the same night off!

vachina 25d ago

When you’re well to do everyone wants to be your friend

eddieroger 25d ago

That's how you meet people? You invite your friends, maybe one or two of them know someone who'd be interested, they join a few times, and now they're your friends, too. There was the one picture of his three middle school friends building the computers - I imagine four people can become 18 over 20 years pretty easily.

jamiek88 24d ago
It’s how our fantasy football league became a spin off bowling leader and some fellas started playing smash bros all anchored by one friendly dispensary owner in town. I’m lucky I got in with them but when I moved to this small coastal town from a huge city (Houston) i promised myself I’d say ‘yes’ to almost any social occasion and it has been life changing. I went from many friends to no friends when I immigrated to USA then back to many friends (although heavily work linked) in Houston over 20 years to zero friends here again. I guess you get better at it like anything else or you give up and atrophy socially totally.

deleted 24d ago

[deleted]

ycombinete 24d ago

I think the first step is to be wealthy and have no kids. That way you have tons of free resources, and tons of free time, and enough free space. I know plenty of people with enough friends to fill a little LAN like this. And setting one up is fairly cheap, if you don't want to build a house just for it, (a few switches and some cables); but not many adults I know have enough time or free enough calendars to get together for such an event more than once a year.

lnsru 24d ago
The kids will reach one day the age to be legit participants in LAN party. Just saying…

eMpHaSe 23d ago

Absolutely... And they all have time at the same day!