A Gamer's Fall Break

This weekend, a brave assembly of computer gamers set aside homework.

They threw up their hands, accidentally knocked over their energy drinks and cried out with one voice, “We are sure as hell not getting anything done this weekend! And can someone please bring us some paper towels?”

The occasion, not that they really needed one, was Gaming@IU’s 23rd semesterly LAN War. More than 300 people, including myself, attended this semester’s 24-hour gaming extravaganza, drawn by the irresistible energy drinks, pizza, prizes and camaraderie, worth the $20 registration fee at the very least.

The LAN War is the nerd equivalent of a car show, with gamers competing both with how their case looks and how they perform on it. Rows of carefully dusted computer cases lined the tables, with clear side panels showing off their brightly illuminated, color-coordinated innards.

One impressive competitor had lights built into his rig’s memory sticks. By comparison, my case began to seem rather plain, but I tried to remember that I had chosen it for that very reason. Bright cases are great for events such as this but not
quite as great for sleeping.

Fueled by a bottomless supply of NOS energy drinks, we clicked and tapped late into the night, and then early into the morning, until finally we reached the crack of noon Sunday.

The LAN War was punctuated by the cheers of raffle winners and tournament victors, screaming their thanks to the gaming gods and the competition’s organizers and sponsors, for the bounty of mechanical keyboards, graphics cards, memory sticks, surround-sound headsets, laser mice, solid state drives and last — and very much least — hats, water bottles and T-shirts.

The food supply was not nearly as bottomless as the energy drinks. In the blink of an eye, 77 extra-large pizzas from Pizza X disappeared, a necessary sacrifice to maintain the peace.

Hungry gamers make for sore losers.

In spite of the quick pizza consumption, nobody went hungry. The organizers called for people to get third helpings before the supply was finally exhausted.

For some, the event was not as social as anticipated. Some gamers passed the majority of the night with their headphones tightly sealed around their ears, removing them only to relieve themselves or find out whether they had won a prize. For most,
the LAN War was a time for nerdy solidarity. It was a time to loudly curse a buggy
game or your own bad luck while surrounded by sympathetic commiserators and a
place where one could spend 24 consecutive hours playing video games without getting disapproving looks from significant others, non-gamer roommates or
judgmental pets.

If this sounds like your kind of part, fear not. The next LAN War is tentatively scheduled for April 13, 2013.

I’ll see you there next semester, assuming I can pry my eyes off my monitor.

By Corin Chellberg