Hey all, I'm going to be helping out running a youth group for local High-School students and have been put in charge of the Gaming section. Since it is now required that students have a laptop (In South Australia at least) I'm thinking of doing a LAN Multi-player gaming setup. I'm looking for games that can be run on low-power hardware, multi-player and free; for example, OpenArena. Game downloads will be hosted on a local server and wireless access point to remove the need for ethernet cables.
Not sure if it's still available but there is a CS-ish game with some limited parkour elements I used to play called Urban Terror. My brother and I used to play it. Doesn't need particularly beefy hardware to run. UrbanTerror Homepage Looks like it's still around.
How about a classic? Tribes 2 is available for free at http://tribesnext.com/, runs great on Windows or Linux (in WINE - read the FAQ), supports 32-player matches, and is light enough to run on a soda cracker. It's a fast-paced, physics-based Z-axis shooter that's fun to learn but difficult to master. (FPS with jetpacks and subsonic weapons.) Get a bunch of newbies in a 16-v-16 CTF match and watch the chaos unfold... it's a hoot. ;-)
NB: You don't need to install the TribesNext patch if all you'd be doing is running LAN matches. Also, I'd recommend running in "Classic" mode for a faster game.
Diablo 2. Just be sure that you enable the hide-gore option, and you'll be all good.
Also there's this game called YARN, which I really loved growing up. The game basically starts at : "It was a dark and stormy night..." Then everyone in the chat room writes a paragraph, and the room votes on where the story goes next.
I'm not sure if anything else exists at the moment, but it's perfectly educational and fun.
Halo online. Free community game for PC. Looks like it should be able to run on low end hardware.
Another option is Renegade X. It's a fan remake of the original Command and Conquer Renegade FPS. Not sure how well it'll run on weak hardware, but the graphics can be set pretty low. https://renegade-x.com/