Worlds Largest Computer Party, In Progress

cyb97 writes "As I write this the worlds largest computerparty is going on in Hamar, Norway. The Gathering 2003 is in action with over 5.000 participants! Webcams and participants are live on the internet through a 1 gigabit line, so you better lock down your servers tonight!" Some of the webcam images are just surreal. Update: 04/17 01:00 GMT by T : Speaking of images, reader vvizard (currently Gathered) directs you to this directory of high-resolution images.

Comments

Geek Mecca

[dtolton]

This looks a lot like Woodstock for computer geeks.

The Tech Group (TG) has a page explaining the differences
between a "LAN Party" and a "Computer Party", here is an
excerpt:

"But LAN party and computer party is the same thing!"
No. LAN party and computer party is NOT the same thing. At a
LAN party everything is centered around the network. Everybody
just sits there, staring at their screens whilst copying porn,
warez and playing games. A computer party is much more. There
are competitions, both in computer games and computer
art. People meet, people talk, and there is plenty to see and
experience even when away from you computer. (I didn't even
bring my computer to TG01, and I had a great time!). Sometimes
there are shows on the stage (LAN parties don't even have a
stage), and even speeches you can go to to learn more computer
stuff. How about learning something new and fun to impress your
friends when you get back home?

If you want to read the full page go here:
http://tg.nlc.no/notalan.html

We need to get one of these going in the US. :-)

Re:Geek Mecca

[Eneff]

We had one.

It was called NAID. (Or wait... was it in Canada? I forget...)

In any event, it folded after a few years.

Re:Geek Mecca

[zsazsa]

It was in Montreal in 1995 and 1996. It's still sorta around, at naid.net though it's only really about coding now.

There have been other smaller North American parties, but nothing approaching the size of NAID.

In most of Europe

[Razor Blades are Not]

they use a "." instead of a "," to delimit their thousands. It's not a mistake. It's a communication deficit. Get over it.

Re:In most of Europe

[mrand]

> And it's gibibit, not gigabit (unless it's actually 1 000 000 000 bits per sec)

Considering they are likely referring to a gigabit Ethernet connection, gigabit is correct.

GbE uses a 125.00 MHz (or divided version of that) reference clock, multiplied by ten, to transmit data with. When you remove the 25% 8B/10B overhead (how efficient is Ethernet again?), it effectively transmits a bit on every clock cycle of the 1000 MHz clock.

gibi (and kibi) are typically used with regard to things that have address lines (memory).

Pr0n & warez? Not!

[IAmRenegadeX]

A LOT of great stuff has come out of this event, if you follow the demoscene. I remember checking constantly to download the Amiga demo winners from this event. That stuff was cutting edge! I haven't looked at the last few years' winners, but I bet the competitions are still churning out some amazing code.

A few of the coding groups at these parties went on to form actual "money making" companies, like Team 17.

While I wouldn't characterize The Gathering as a Geek Think Tank, it most certainly ain't all about pr0n, warez, and fragging.

"Party report"

[termos]

I am sitting at The Gathering at the moment, and I can say that there is not only gamers here. They made one section of the area a demoscene area (with a no gamers allowed banner).
It's a step in the right direction.

Re:"Party report"

[MagPulse]

Future Crew was ahead of computer game companies, so they get credit for "making machines do ridiculous things". Today game companies have budgets rivaling movie studios, so they get all the attention. But small teams and even individuals can still make great demos. Here are the three big demo parties and some recent results (may not be the latest):

• The Gathering - 2002 winners
• The Party - 2001 winners
• Assembly - 2002 winners

Here are some other sites with demos:

• Pouet - Has a big list of demos, intros, and lots of comments.
• 256b.com - If the 2-10 meg demos on pouet are too bloated for you, check these out.
• CFXweb - A community web site with forums and a magazine.

My favorite demo of the moment is IV-Racer by The Lost Souls, though it uses mostly pre-made 3D models instead of calculated effects. For a good tiny one, try this one by Haujobb. They both have incredible atmosphere that I'd love to have in a game.

What is happening?

[termos]

If you are interested in what will happen here in the next few days, take a look here: Schedule.

Re:No Alcohol

[gl4ss]

well, nobody else made a proper comment to this.. so here goes:

that means that if you want to drink inside, you have to smugle the beverages, which means that when you want to drink you wander outside(besides, it's norway, drinking is f**** expensive). also it would be hell for the organizers to get permits for an event where drinking would be allowed and minors would be present, also, this way, they can deny access by all the guys that are _TOO_ drunk for their own good(happens at most parties, that are 'alcohol free').

the 'no booze' is just a remark that the organizers try to keep the boozing to minimum and not scare away any parents too(would you let your kid into an event that said 'drinking is ok, bring your own booze'). however drinking has been, is , and will be a very common in demoparties.

Re:No Alcohol

[matvei]

If you had ever participated in a demo party (or "computer party" as TG organizers have called it for the past few years) you'd know that the "no alcohol" policy doesn't mean that people don't drink alcohol ;-)

Usually the majority of demo sceners (the people who come there to participate in the art competitions) spend most of their time outside the party hall, boozing around open fire with other likeminded folks that they can only meet at parties.

When the Finnish equivalent party, Assembly (it is also one of the oldest demoparties along with The Gathering) is held, there is a shadow party called Boozembly going on in the nearby woods and you can find all the demo scene legends out there when there are no competitions running.

I hope that the quality of releases at TG will be OK, but I'm afraid that the majority of people will go to Breakpoint instead which is a strictly demo scene oriented party.

1500 drunk guys all trying to impress each other with real-time computer generated art. It might not be heaven but it's far from Hell.

Oh well, back to coding my demo for BP..

Re:If you want...

[Beek]

Congratulations! You got the joke!