Ok, I admit it. I am a gamer. In fact, I am a techno-geek gamer*. The techno-geek gamer likes to host computer game parties, especially multiplayer games. The parties are often called “LAN Parties”. Typically, people bring their computers to someone’s house or central location to play games. They connect the computers together in a Local Area Network (LAN) so the players can play against each other or play in teams.

Many games support these gaming sessions either on a LAN or over the Internet. The best part of a LAN party is gloating to the other players when you beat them. Before computers, people gathered to play “Bridge”, “42”, “Hearts” and other games while socializing. Today many people gather to play computer games and socialize.

Does this sound like fun to you? Want to hold your own LAN Party? If you are interested in multiplayer computer games but are tired of the cold impersonal world of Internet gaming, this book is for you. As it happened, I read this book for review while I was in the midst of planning a LAN party. In the past, I hosted several LAN parties and provided setup and administrations for parties with friends so I found it interesting to read another person’s ideas on the subject.

William “The Ferrett” writes this book to address just about any target audience. The author identifies three primary target audiences and organizes the chapters well so that the reader can easily identify pertinent information and skip over sections that may not apply to them. The target audiences consist of people who want to hold a small “friends” LAN party (4-10 players), the neighborhood party (up to 30 people) or a major event (over 60 people).

The book is easy and enjoyable to read and uses basic terms that eliminate or explain most of the technical language. This is the “How To” book for LAN Parties. While I was already familiar with most of the information, it gave me insights to improve the small gatherings I currently host. It also planted ideas that I might consider for expanding to the neighborhood size LAN party.

Certain chapters address the technical issues and break the information up into the essentials for the novice and the optional advanced material for the technical person. Just as being able to decorate and buy or make the food does not guarantee you will have a successful party, hooking up a network does not guarantee a successful LAN Party. While the party is not much fun if the technical stuff does not work correctly, it does not guarantee success. William addresses the issues of making the party a success from the technical aspects to the social aspects. He also provides advice on growing LAN parties from small events to large professional events.

The book contains good technical advice that systematically aids in setting up the computers and the network equipment. The instructions are good for Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP and Mac OS and Linux. He gives information on the logistics of space requirements per player, food, drinks, etc. He also discusses power requirements. A dozen computers and monitors use a lot of electricity, which is as important as the amount of soda the players drink.

How did my LAN party go? It was a huge success and was even enhanced by tips I picked reading this book. As for it being an easy read, I managed to read all 341 pages as I flew from San Antonio to San Francisco. Published by John Wiley & Sons, the book is available from Amazon.Com for $16.99. You can find a link to the book on the Alamo PC website and by using the link on our website to purchase the book Alamo PC receives a commission.

* A techno-geek gamer (at least by my definitions) is a person who loves to play and try out different games to see what they are like but not necessarily become an expert on the game. Sometimes we do become experts on a few of the games.