LAN parties over the world

The big one in Norway is The Gathering, held at easter time in "The viking ship" at Hamar, the elegant, huge speed skating arena built for the olympics at Lillehammer in 1994.

Melanie Swalwell is writing about LAN parties, a nice report of her experiences. There has been work like this done on The Gathering, but it's in Norwegian, so for her to know about it is pretty unlikely. I am happy to see the physical, off-line aspect of computer culture explored and inquired into in a serious manner, not just a sensasationalist way (look at all those crazy nerds all gathering in one place sleeping on the floor and eating junk food for a week!). I am particularly happy to see that these reports make their way into the game studies and are publishes internationally.