Partying Like It's 1999

I attended my first-ever LAN Party on Saturday. This was a grown-up version of what I suspect the real thing would be like: the guys were downstairs with the computers while the girls were upstairs scrapbooking and the babies were constantly shifted between the two groups. Our gracious hosts kept us well fed and we had a great time.

Our game of choice was StarCraft. Originally released in 1998, it was partly chosen because it was pretty much guaranteed to run on everyone's machine. Having not played StarCraft in the 21st Century, it was nice to return to the familiarity of a well-designed game that I spent countless hours playing in grad school. I was surprised considering its age that StarCraft doesn't feel the least bit outdated; it's still as much fun to play now as it ever was. Plus, there's something to be said for the simplicity of older games compared to those of today. I, for one, especially with a baby at home, don't have a lot of time to devote to computer games anymore, so it's refreshing to play a game that you don't have to devote hours upon hours to in order to master it. I certainly hope that if and when StarCraft II is released, they don't overly complicate things, or I'll gladly stick with the original, thank you very much.