The Torch

Issue date: 2/21/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Isaac Viel Kristofor Miller plays first-person shooter, role-playing and real-time strategy games. The first video game he ever played was the Atari 2600 when he was three and then went on to play first-person shooter games when he was five. He's playing Dawn of War, an RTS game.

Media Credit: Isaac Viel Leonard Madarang on vocals, Nathan Montgomery on guitar, David Bell on bass guitar and Charles LaMothe on the drums are rocking out with Rock Band on the Xbox 360 in one of the four console game rooms.

The EMU ballroom, on the University of Oregon campus, was filled with rows of tables upon which laptops and desktops were set with screens aglow, illuminating the faces of the many people who gathered at the third annual local area network party, emuLAN 3.0. For 24 hours from Friday, Feb. 15 at 4 p.m. until Saturday at 4 p.m., emuLAN 3.0 provided approximately 180 gamers with a venue for playing video games.
"Usually LANs consist of a bunch of people getting their computers together and then playing four or five different games," Kristofor Miller, gamer and LCC student, said.
For the third year in a row, emuLAN has provided an environment where gamers ranging in ages and interests converge for 24-hours of eye-straining, mouse-finger sore making, back-slouching fun.
With 38 volunteers, approximately $250,000 worth of equipment and countless cups of coffee, energy drinks and prepackaged pastries, emuLAN 3.0 pulled off the most attended emuLAN thus far.
On Friday evening the heat of electricity filled the large EMU ballroom. A big screen on the stage showed scenes of battle and at the opposite end of the room couches faced another big screen where four guys played Mario Kart on Nintendo 64.
Although most of the eyes in the room were fixated on monitors, some people were interacting with others, walking around, socializing. Most of the gamers were college-age males, although there were a few teenagers, younger kids and a handful of women.
Many people remarked that they play video games everyday, some several hours a day. The annual LAN parties give them a chance to interact with like-minded gamers.
Some people were playing massively multiplayer online role-playing games like World of Warcraft, while some others chose real-time strategy games such as Dawn of War. A few people were gathered in four other small rooms where game consoles were set up for games such as Halo 3, Rock Band and Guitar Hero.
Of the approximately 180 people in attendance, about 25 were console-only players. They didn't pay for table space for a computer, they stuck to the consoles - Wii, Nintendo 64, PlayStation3 and Xbox 360 - which were also available to everyone. "Console gaming is more casual," Miller said. You can pick up a controller and play for a few minutes and walk away, whereas PC gaming is "for hardcore gamers."
Having the consoles at emuLAN 3.0 makes for more of a community environment, where people are interacting with each other, Bonnie Rose, emuLAN marketing assistant said.
Miguel Chavez, UO student, said he comes to the LAN parties to play the games he enjoys in the company of other gamers. He prefers RTS first-person shooter games like Starcraft and Unreal Tournament 3.
By 5 a.m. on Saturday, some gamers were losing steam. A couple people were resting, cheek-to-keys with their keyboards. One guy was stretched out on a couch in the room where Mario Kart was still being played. Some people had left, leaving empty spaces where gamers were at one time playing nearly shoulder-to-shoulder.
By the end of the party three LAN tournaments - Team Fortress 2, Call of Duty 4 and Counter Strike: Source - had concluded and so had five console tournaments - Super Smash Bros. Melee, Mario Kart: Double Dash!, Halo 3 and Guitar Hero III. There was even a Rock Band competition where people formed bands whose style and abilities were judged by experienced Rock Band gamers. The top four bands performed on the main stage in the ballroom.
The next emuLAN will not happen for another year but in Portland, the PDXLAN brings hundreds of gamers together several times a year.

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