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Last weekend I got my game on (in the geek sense, not the playa sense) by attending and admining a Battlefield 2 LAN party. It was a small affair, about ten friends and acquaintances, but we ran a server locally that was open to the Internet so that people from the outside could join us (and, perhaps, be 0wned by us zero-pingers). This was the third or fourth time we have held one (about one per month) and a good time was had by all.

I have included this post within geekery blocks in order to warn those readers of mine that are not well-acquainted with such things that they might find most of what I say here to be beyond their realm of experience. If you aren't a "gamer" (a term I put in quotes because it, admittedly, is vague and lacking a general consensus toward its meaning) then you probably have never heard of a LAN party nor would I expect you to understand one. The WikiPedia link above goes into some details about them but basically it's a group of people (5, 10, 100, 10,000) bringing their PC's to some central location, hooking them into a shared network, and playing videogames with each other (usually one specific game that everyone is playing at the same time cooperatively/competitively). They can last a couple of hours or an entire weekend and its basically a chance for us to hang out and enjoy our hobby with other enthusiasts. This was particularly desirable in the days before general availability of broadband because it meant everyone was on a local highspeed network and thus could expect smooth ("Lag-free") gameplay. Nowadays, we all could sit at home and just play with each other on the Internet (which we do), but then we'd miss out on the social aspect of the LAN. Plus it's more fun to taunt a guy that is in the same room with you than one who is miles away at the other end of a voice or text connection. Also, there were donuts, bagels, pop, and pizza, none of which I was willing to turn down.

The setup a few nights earlier was also a good chance to geek-out. We had to make sure our server machine was going to work on the network after our usual admin (I was subbing in) had gone through his latest rounds of locking down the security on the box (it had been hacked by some script kiddie the prior week). We were also trying out a new piece of game administration software (BF2CC, I recommend it for Battlefield 2) and needed to assure it was going to work smoothly. Needless to say we spent long hours preparing, but there was some fun to be had in the task of getting everything talking to each other and set up the way we wanted it. Computer guys like that kind of thing--we appreciate the challenge (so long as the reward it tangible, in this case a smooth-running LAN).

It should be noted, however, that 10 plus hours of gaming does take its toll. In addition to dry eyes and the onset of Carpel Tunnel, your brain kinda stays in that gaming mindset for awhile after you've stopped playing. On my way home I passed the airport and a plane flew overhead. I thought to myself, "I wonder if I should switch over to the .50 Cal turret and take that jet out before he bombs us to Hell?" Later I drove past a business that was displaying an American flag on a pole in front of the building. As I passed, I watched the flag very carefully to see if it was lowering--a sure indication that Chinese or MEC troops were trying to capture our control point. Fortunately, I made it home without acting on any of my impulses. It was hard, though, not to get out of my car and start tossing my bags of computer parts to strangers yelling, "Get ammo here!"

I may be delusional, but at least my delusions are fun.
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