For the past 16 years, we’ve been organizing at least one LAN party every year with a group of friends. These parties typically last 4-5 days, with around 12 people joining at peak times. It’s not just about gaming - we also enjoy partying, intense discussions (we’re all big nerds), board games, card games like Star Realms, and Mafia. Some people arive later, some leave earlier. Some go to take care of their kids for a while. The LAN party is a place of fun and chill.
It's a LAN party so, we play computer games a lot! Dota 2 is our main game, but we also play classics like Counter-Strike, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Warcraft 3, Blooby Volley, and more.
Selecting teams - especially Dota 2 ones - was always hard for us. We decided to automate the team selection process. It led to a very interesting ideas and a neat solution. But to get there, you will need a bit of a context.
A single Dota 2 match lasts about 40 minutes and is usually played 5v5 (though 6v6 is possible). Unbalanced matches, like 4v5, tend to be one-sided. For us it's just more fun when everyone plays - so often games are unbalanced.