Thoughts on LANs


Posters Name: Krogue
Posters Email: krogue@mwgl.org
Subject: Thoughts on LANs

News:
I had an extraordinary experience this weekend. I participated at a LAN with 59 other individuals for 17 hours and NOT ONE GAME OF COUNTERSTRIKE WAS PLAYED. BF 1942 was played, Desert Combat was played, BF 1982 was played, Savage was played (a game to which I was introduced this weekend, and man is it awesome), HALO was played, Red Faction was played, Urban Terror was played, Warcraft 3 was played, .... you get the idea. A lot of other games were played, and still no Counter-Strike.

So, how is it that this was possible in an area of the world that has a total population (Iowa City/Cedar Rapids) that is less than half the size of Kansas City proper (not including the Metro area), but when a LAN is hosted in KC, it is said it can't be successful without playing Counter-Strike. Is it because the average age at the LAN I went to was probably in the early to mid 20's and not in the teens? Is it because the people up here in Iowa appreciate all types of games and play them for fun, and not always for the smack-talk, uber-pwnage aspect of competition?

Some facts ... Counter-Strike was released in its first public beta in early 1999. That was 4+ years ago. Since that time over 480 major PC game release titles have come out, and probably 10 times that number in small developer titles. So, somewhere out there is probably around 5,000 other titles, many of them with better graphics, better multiplayer action, and better gameplay. Just in the past couple of years we have seen Return to Castle Wolfenstein (and Enemy Territory), Medal of Honor, Unreal Tournament 2003, Rainbow Six: Raven Shield, Battlefield 1942 (and all of its Mods), and tons of others. But obviously, these releases were completely missed by the Counter-Strike community.

Well, I have ranted long enough, so I will move on for now. However, if any of you want to come up to Iowa City sometime for a LAN let me know. We will play anything you want as long as it was made in this decade.


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