Google Engineer Builds Ultimate LAN Party House 175
Zothecula writes "Anyone who has a attended a LAN party — where people connect their computers on one network in one location to play multiplayer games together — can tell you that they can be both very fun but also kind of a hassle. Playing games with your friends all in the same room: fun. Having to organize all your friends to each haul their usually-oversized gaming rigs to one person's house, ensuring they all have the same software, and inevitably dealing with one or more people having trouble connecting: not fun. With that in mind, it makes sense that one Google employee decided to bypass all that inconvenience and just build a house specifically for LAN parties, complete with multiple networked computers and TVs connected to game consoles."
Re:As someone that spends a lot of time in a cabin (Score:2, Interesting)
Your stove alone could use close to 6000 W when you've got it all running. It's not that huge a consumption. A dollar an hour.
No, not mine. Not anywhere near 6000W.
But I've taken measure to reduce electricity consumption in the cabin, partly by buying lower wattage appliances. Solar panels are going into the mix next year.
Re:Bad layout. (Score:5, Interesting)
Hi. This is my house.
> 1) People are facing a wall, not each other.
People are facing their computers when playing, and then they can turn around to chat when done. Having everyone at a table would actually make them more separated. And anyway, the whole point is that having fold-out stations in the wall means they don't take space when not in use.
> 2) There's no table central to all players, where pizza resides.
Didn't you just say that the computer table should be central? :P There's actually space right behind that line of chairs for a table if that's what we wanted, and in the other room you could put a table in the middle of the room. In practice we just put the pizza on the dining table (in the background there) and that works fine.
> 3) A single-line of players means players on the ends have trouble communicating verbally.
In practice everyone's voice carries fine across the room.
> 4) There's uneven lighting across the gaming spots, and it looks like more lighting behind the players than in front of them
I think the lighting in the house is fantastic. There is never a need to turn on artificial lights during the day.
True, bright lights are not ideal for LAN parties, and at just the right time of day there may be some glare on one or two monitors, but it's brief, and once the sun goes down it's a non-issue.
Remember that I live in this house even when there aren't LAN parties. :)
> 5) Those chairs are not comfortable enough.
Actually, I'm very happy with the chairs. They are padded and quite comfortable. And, most importantly, they stack, so I can store them out-of-the way between parties.