I had a buddy get into a wreck with a 32" sanyo in his backseat on his way to a halo party.

had he not buckled it in with the seat belt he'd be dead today.

More people need to just embrace whimsy.

I was all about GoldenEye back in the day for me.

Afterwards, CounterStrike and StarCraft:BW was the cause of many nights lack of sleep.

I see this image all the time and understand the intent behind it, but I'm curious to watch the clip in context to understand the nuance of the delivery. Source?

For me it's taking turns playing Morrowind with the general idea to kill everybody in the world while rotating who was playing and who was blowing the other one.

Ah yes, let me just embrace whimsy with all these... friends... that I totally have!

Why didn't you just put it in your ass and carry it the intelligent way, the way our ancestors carried water in jugs for thousands of years? You think your rectum can stretch that much via random chance? No, yo ass has evolved to carry the burden of our collective survival, so get boofing with them electronics, boy, cuz Princess Diana is currently living in Canada just down the street from a couple other family members, which I just put here, randomly, for counterintelligence purposes.

that sounds insanely fun <3

I started the smash bros nights specifically to make friends post college as most of my college friends moved away. One of the guys I met online only once through a TTRPG discord and now he brings the good beer.

Also, whimsy can be everywhere. Step outside and watch a flower dance in the wind. Bam, whimsy. Go visit a cemetery and make up funny stories about what led to inscriptions on the tombstones as you map it for findagrave.com , bam, whimsy. You need zero friends for whimsy, but whimsy has led to many friends in my experience.

@sicarius I'll have to check that out! Been using my steam link a lot lately when people come over to get back to gaming with friends in person

@WhyIHateTheInternet Forgot about Quake, though we played a lot of Unreal Tournament at Lan parties

We played 16 player Halo a bunch in college. 4 TVs, 4 XBoxs, 4 players each, such a blast.

Playing counterstrike and broodwar on the labs at the highschool <3

My English teacher used to come play StarCraft with us after school. Formative memories for sure

Bullshit. It was Day of Defeat.

Otherwise, yeah, that about sums it all up.

Duuude. 1.7.10 FTB Infinity Evolved was THE SHIT. I sunk so many hours into that pack on a similarly sized server I stumbled into.

This happens to a lot of people in one way or another. Family traditions, vacations to the same place or event, favorite restaurants, and on and on. Once you recognize the pattern it is freeing to be able to say goodbye to the things that can't be recaptured, remember them lightning in a bottle they were, and move on.

Wouldn't turn down a halo lan party though.

I embrace whimsy all the time, but a lot of people I know, don't.

Exactly!

And I can’t replicate it! It’s like servers of that “character” don’t exist anymore, even though modpacks are still kicking on modern MC.

Better pre purchase the deluxe mega edition to be sure

Missing the point and moving the goalposts all in one comment! Good job, here's an award 🥉

You're so right. Can't take any chances.

Melee was the reason I had friends in college. It's also a big part of the reason I never graduated college.

no game is going to bring back the era of being with your friends in a same physical space to spend hours gaming without a care in the world. the young don’t even have that now.

I think we've found the real reason you're talking about few friends on a thread about whimsy and fun...

Oh counter strike

It's so sad, it was so magical. I want that for my kids.

Yes! Go look at sea glass and scream "pank!" If you want to. Life is more fun with whimsy.

Have you tried eating Oreos in a beanbag chair while playing Halo with your kids?

It's pretty much the LAN party experience, but you will probably win more games 😜

Haters gonna hate. Sadly too many people let the haters bring them down.

Now if you'll excuse me. I'm gonna up the whimsy and go frolic in a field before scheduling our next LAN night.

Millennial parents could buy some $30 8bitdo controllers (they're very good dual stick controllers for the price), and then download and set up a series of games that have four player split screen...

...tell their kidso they're doing a games night and should invite their buddies. Then see what happens.

If you can still hear them at 1 am, it worked. Make sure to provide snacks and cola.

Awesome...wait, what.

Men need to embrace their sassy side.

z snaps and sips my mimosa

Edit to add: love a good racing horse name

Don't buy them a tablet or smartphone then until they're almost adults, and limit computer time. I didn't get my first cell phone until I was 16, didn't get my first smartphone until 24. They will be okay.

Definitely need to have steady VR legs. I'm lucky I'm not prone to motion sickness at all.

Don't worry, it's not psychopathic behavior if they're digital.

They still won't get that experience. All their friends will be in their homes playing Fortnite.

"Toy Story 5" had it right.

they’re doing a games night and should invite their buddies

As in table top? Pssh, that's so lame. I kid, I kid.

But I do think it'd be "exclusive" to setup your own kids with a split screen experience, with platforms that seem new and exciting. Just peddle it as "exclusive," and it'll sell hotter than hotcakes.

Well if that's the case then it's on you. You're the parent, you decide whether or not the kid stays home all day. Like the other person said, arrange play dates. Also, take them places. Play at the park, go jet/water skiing on the lake, go to amusement parks, go camping, hiking, etc. There are endless activities you can do with your kids, many of them only costing you the price of gas or a train/bus ticket.

Thankfully, I invested selfishly so I get to enjoy my investment, not forlorn for a game/movie day with the buddies.

I want to believe... No but for real though, I feel like WoWF might actually work for because of the horizontal progression style. Every time I tried to play again I just didn't want to be on threadmill but it was mandatory. IF they can actually manage horizontal-ish progression then I can approach the game differently and get a new, different experience which won't be the flaming hot passion it was in my youth but also might not be all that bad, and more importantly compatible with my current lifestyle.

Or I'll just fall off (on?) the wagon again and cancel the sub, no Biggie.

My group didn't get into unreal as much as quake but that was also a good one.

Damn lol.

I tried years ago to get back into it and I went to a local tourney. Played with a guy that didn't wear deodorant and won...but it just wasn't all that fun with randos. I like smack talking and having people do random matches.

Yeah for sure! I just meant, merely not buying them phones and tablets isn't enough. I rather like the idea of getting an old console with a bunch of split screen games and inviting their friends over like the other user suggested.

Nope, I swear that pre COVID/during COVID feeling of gaming community is ruined. Internet platforms are too commercialized, everyone too broke and stressed.

Perfect Dark, laptop guns and proxy mines only. Makes for an extremely chaotic sort of survival mode as everyone finds increasingly harder to spot or avoid places to hide explosives/turrets.

I made my media collection portable so I can do movie nights at my friends' houses.

Yeah, I think as long as they don't fall into the retail trap of making it incrementally easier and simpler until the challenge is gone, it'll be in good shape.

People enjoy the comaraderie of going through a difficult thing together, and gradually removing that also removes that opportunity.

Mid 2000s was peak LAN era. Halo, CS, Starcraft, some guys playing Magic in the corner.