LAN party

(LAN par.tee)

n.

A gathering where people bring their own computers, connect them together into a local area network (LAN), and then play computer games (particularly first-person shooter games) against each other.

— LAN partyer n.

Example Citations:

Forget about BYOB. This soiree is BYOPC — bring your own personal computer. The gathering is what's known as a LAN party, a celebration that centers around slaughtering one another's on-screen foes in the company of close friends.

— Jenifer Hanrahan, "Web Warriors; Conflict and camaraderie make a party out of computer war," The San Diego Union-Tribune, October 5, 1999

Players frequently get together at what are called LAN parties — short for Local Area Network — where scores of gamers link their computers together at one central location for a weekend of competition, Marler said.

Gamers find each other through Internet links such as http://www.lanparty.com: http://www.lanparty.com/.

— Chase Squires, "Internet warriors training locally," St. Petersburg Times, January 30, 2000

Earliest Citation:

A full-scale battle is being fought with fierce intensity in Richmond this weekend — on computers.

It is a LAN party, otherwise known as a local area network. And in the midst of a selection of computers and confusion of wires are about 15 young computer buffs engrossed in games linked up to the same network.

— "Battling with the network," The Nelson Mail (New Zealand), October 4, 1997

Notes:

Wired's Jargon Watcher Gareth Branwyn suggested today's word.

Related Words:

exergaming

first-person shooter

frag

gamer shame

killboard

killographic

killology

Matzoh Ball

Nintendo epilepsy

Nintendo thumb

pink-slip party

pumping party

quiet party

thumb candy

Categories:

Games

Networking