How
to setup up your own LAN party.
 Saturday, May 20, 2000 -
Kyle
Morrison
The Intro - My friends and I are computer game fanatics. We play all we can whenever we can. Every so often the call is made for a LAN (local area network) party of epic proportions. When I say epic I mean only as epic as one of out basements can provide, but it's better than nothing. To get more bang for our buck we have found it necessary to keep the party going for a few nights at least. Having that many people in your house and all running their computers requires a good deal of effort and planning, but the rewards are well worth the hassle.
The Why - You like computers and gaming, you have friends (I hope), and you all like parties. There is one natural outcome that can come from these conditions: a LAN party. I am not talking about renting a hall or anything that big (but if you have the planning skills and that many friends then by all means do). I mean 4 to 10 friends who all share a passion for computer games and want to take over a basement for a day or two for some lag-less gaming. Aside from the obvious net speed gains that having all your computers on a LAN provides, the best benefit is having all your friends in close physical proximity. Being close means that you can actually yell at the guy who just nuked your mass of hydralisks or scored that awe inspiring mid-air rail shot.
The How - If most for your friends are using some sort of broadband internet then chances are that they all have
Ethernet adapters and some knowledge of networking. If not the task of setting up all those computers to talk to each other can seem daunting, but it is completely do-able with a bit of help (this article!) and little effort. Assuming that you all need network cards that will be our first thing to discus. All computer stores should carry a selection of NIC's for you to buy ranging from about $25 to $75 depending on features and quality. Companies like Linksys make pre-made LAN kits for about $69 that include 2 NIC's a hub and cables, extra NIC's can be had for about $25 or so. For my friends and I it was easy because most of us either had broadband or already had a NIC installed. Choosing a hub is next. For the most part an 8 port 10baseT hub will be more than adequate; going 100baseT increases the price considerably and is not all that noticeable when playing the games.
Coming up: the
installation of protocols
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