Spam Spam Spam Humbug: Episode 46 – Who Mourns for LAN Parties?

by WtF Dragon · Published July 13, 2016 · Updated July 20, 2016

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A Lament For The LAN Party: Rock, Paper, Shotgun! published a paean to that time-honored gaming tradition of one to two decades ago: the LAN party.

There’s a curated list of games suitable for LAN play on Steam, and I found a similar list on GOG as well. It’s notable that both lists don’t feature a large number of current-gen games, although the Steam list includes Homeworld: Remastered Edition…and, curiously,Dungeon Siege 3 (which is a fun game, to be sure, albeit it’s limited to two-player co-op).

But I have to wonder: did services like Steam actually contribute, in some way, to LAN parties going away? RPS did touch on the one…problematic issue that tended to characterize LAN parties.