'I dreamed of blocky pixels': the strange, sweaty, sociable early days of gaming – in pictures

Today it is trivially easy to play games on a computer, games console or phone with your friends over the internet. But before the wide availability of high-speed internet, things were more complicated. In the 1990s and early 2000s, 3D graphics in video games were becoming more and more complex, but the low network speeds of the period meant that these games, unlike slower-paced and less graphically intensive strategy games, were nearly unplayable over an internet connection. In this moment, in which communications technology was being outpaced by graphical power, the Lan (local area network) party was born. The term itself conjures up strong sensory memories for those who were there – sweaty bodies packed into a basement or convention hall, a dozen hefty computer monitors being manoeuvred into position. For those on the outside, these were scenes of incomprehension or ridicule.