I found a photo of my old PCs while scrolling through my phone. Started looking for more. Suddenly I was deep in old LAN party photos, wondering how the hell we stopped doing this.

My first game on my own PC was Lode Runner. Building levels and playing with a friend on the same computer felt like the coolest thing ever. Then Battle for Middle-earth 1 & 2 happened, and suddenly there were clan wars and an entirely unreasonable number of hours involved.

And Warcraft III custom maps and tower defense. So. Much. Tower defense.

S.W.I.N.E. and Battle Realms deserve a shoutout too. We got them through Computer Bild Spiele, a German gaming magazine, back then and sank dozens of hours into them. Getting your next gaming obsession bundled with a magazine was something special, even in the Tante Emma Laden in our village!

Our LAN lineup was all over the place: Blur, Blobby Volley, CS 1.6, GTA 2, some gladiator arena PvP game whose name I’ve completely forgotten… and apparently FIFA Manager, judging by the photos.…