{"product_id":"lan-party-k-merritt-hardback","title":"LAN Party - K, Merritt - Hardback","description":"\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","brand":"Thames \u0026 Hudson","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56032075940218,"sku":"THAMES-9780500026953","price":23.4,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0916\/9970\/8282\/files\/LAN-Party-K-Merritt-Hardback.jpg?v=1760626387","url":"https:\/\/zatu.com\/products\/lan-party-k-merritt-hardback","provider":"Zatu Games","version":"1.0","type":"link"}