{"product_id":"lan-party-inside-the-multiplayer-revolution","title":"LAN Party Inside the Multiplayer Revolution","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBefore high-speed internet connections and online servers, playing a multiplayer PC game meant hauling your bulky monitors and towers to a friend’s place, convention centre or church basement for a LAN (local area network) party. These sweaty, junk-food-enriched glory days represented the origins of real community spirit in computer gaming’s early days.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMany LAN party attendees were early adopters of new tech, so digital cameras abounded at these events. The photos produced by these devices were often low-resolution, blurry and badly lit. In their imperfections and limitations, they represent the messy, ad-hoc approach to computing typical of the LAN party – network cables snaking across recreation centre floors, a monitor perched on a kitchen counter, burned CD copies of games labelled in marker pen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition to documenting the nostalgic era of LAN parties, the photographs in this book are unique artefacts of a peculiar cultural and technological moment, when gaming was tipping over from niche hobby to mainstream obsession. The images have been improved by the use of AI-enhancement software – an emerging technology that allows the upscaling of low-resolution images with spectacular results – to make the first full-size photobook on this beloved subculture, one that existed before the internet took shape and we started carrying it around with us in our pockets. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eExtent: 176 pp\u003cbr\u003eFormat: hardback\u003cbr\u003eIllustrations: 221\u003cbr\u003ePublication date: 2024-01-25\u003cbr\u003eSize: 28.0 x 21.5 cm \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Park Life Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41512438661178,"sku":null,"price":45.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0741\/7069\/files\/LANParty.jpg?v=1783531132","url":"https:\/\/www.parklifestore.com\/products\/lan-party-inside-the-multiplayer-revolution","provider":"Park Life Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}