Another LANWAR is officially in the books, and I’ve just completed my trek back home. Despite the frigid cold (-8°C) and active winter storm warnings, over 300 gamers showed up for a long weekend of gaming, camaraderie, and community.

This wasn’t just a local LAN event. Attendees traveled from Seattle, Boston, and many other locations across the country. The diversity at LANWAR is always impressive—both in background and experience. There was a solid mix of female and male gamers, and an incredible range of education levels, from high school freshmen to a man sitting next to my wife and me who holds two doctorates. Gamers of every skill level were represented, along with computer enthusiasts of all kinds.

LANWAR has built a genuine sense of community. Some people even attended without any real interest in gaming, they came simply to spend the weekend with great people. That says a lot about the atmosphere of this event.

Personally, I talked with more people than I can count. Some stopped by just to say hello, while others wanted to chat about the latest in PC hardware, gaming news, and tech trends. I even had a few people come over looking for tech help 😊.

As for gaming, I spent a large portion of the weekend playing No Man’s Sky, along with some Star Rupture and Helldivers 2. There was a mix of solo play and gaming with friends, but it felt like I was always talking with someone—either at my table or over Discord.

The final day was fairly quiet. We woke up early and packed up as soon as we arrived at the venue. Many attendees had already left, leaving mostly staff and volunteers to handle the teardown around noon.

I didn’t take many photos on the last day, as we were focused on teardown and getting back on the road. However, I’ll leave you with two great glamour shots taken by Tommy, LANWAR’s staff photographer, showcasing our two PC setups.

If you’ve never attended a LAN gaming event, I can’t recommend it enough. Find a local LAN, even if it’s a small one. Online gaming with friends is fun, but being in the same room takes the camaraderie to a whole different level.

If you’re in the Louisville, KY area or willing to travel, I highly recommend checking out LANWAR. There’s another event coming this summer, and it’s absolutely worth attending.

The articles content, opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in SAPPHIRE NATION are the authors’ own and do not necessarily represent official policy or position of SAPPHIRE Technology.

Edward Crisler
Edward is the definition of an “old school” gamer, playing computer games as far back at 1977. He hosted a tech talk show for 20 years and is now the North America PR Representative for SAPPHIRE as well as SAPPHIRE’s unofficial gaming evangelist. You can follow him on Twitter @EdCrisler.