Have you ever sat there in your computer science or multimedia class and wanted to fire up a multi-player game but school rules forbid you to play them? I’m going to show you how I did, and you could convince your teachers to let you play games on the network.

Step 1: Find a charity!

No network administrator is going to allow you to play games on the network, you need a reason behind it. My school was fund raising for Adopt-a-Family where we raise money and buy presents for families that are not as fortunate as our own. We put a small entry fee on the LAN, in our case it was $4 for the whole lunch hour and we filled up 30 machines.
Step 2: Pick a game!

The game is what the entire LAN is going to be based around. You’re going to want something that will be compatible with the computers you are using and it should run smoothly and legal. For my schools LAN party, we picked Starcraft. Starcraft works on older machines, its fun, and seriously who hasn’t had fun playing Starcraft! With Starcraft you can ‘spawn’ copies of the game that can play with original copies. You get 7 spawns per CD and our class was able to get several original CD’s. Also Starcraft’s space in total is under 150 megabytes (80 without the expansion) so its a quick easy install or if your network doesn’t allow installs? Install it on a home machine and burn the C:Program FilesStarcraft folder to a disk and click and drag it over.

Step 3: Advertise!

You need people to come because what fun is a LAN party without people to kill?! Get some posters up, read an announcement over the intercom. Stereotype Warning: You and I both know theres the group of kids who kind of look like they are computer geeks (if not your probably in the group) walk up and talk to them about it!

Step 4: Get it ready!

Before the actual event you need to make sure you have everything ready and tested. Are all the games installed? Can everyone play with everyone? Get a cash float to prepare for some large bills (depending on how much the entrance fee is). Make sure you state the rules if any apply; No Food in the lab, no running around like an idiot etc.

Step 5: Let the games begin!

This is kind of self explanatory

Conclusion:

Your now finished and your LAN party has been a success (hopefully)! You finally got to play games on the schools network legitimately and your feeling good about yourself because you have raised $60-$100 (depending on your entry and people attending) to a less fortunate family (in my case) or a charity. Depending on your success you might be able to convince your teacher to do it next week!