Free, lightweight, multiplayer games for youth group LAN 'party'

Communities Gaming
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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.

Any suggestions? (apart from OpenArena)

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Not really free but its usually not hard to find someone with a copy of Halo

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Nidhogg
http://nidhogggame.com/
its not free but it is really fun also you can get it on steam

I've also hear Fistful of Frags is pretty good

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I'm sure it's pretty good but I can't expect a bunch of high school students to install steam and spend money for a once-a-week after school activity.

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Linkage

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http://sauerbraten.org/ is a ton of fun and super light weight.

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brutal doom.

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Modded/Vanilla Minecraft? Build offs, PvP? Shrug

I forgot Minecraft wasn't free :| NO troll intended. I just bought it in Alpha for almost nothing... :|

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This, and it looks pretty damn good too.

Also, Alien Arena http://red.planetarena.org/ is pretty fun.

Team Fortress 3 if everyone uses steam.

Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. http://www.splashdamage.com/content/download-wolfenstein-enemy-territory

All of these as far as I know support running on multiple operating systems and are free.

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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.

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Fun game based on same engine as sauerbraten http://assault.cubers.net/.

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https://www.warsow.gg/

Plenty of fun.

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http://www.xonotic.org/

http://trackmaniaforever.com/

http://buildandshoot.com/

http://soldat.thd.vg/en/

Then there is TF2, LoL, Smite, Hots, etc.

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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.

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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.

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That sounds really cool.

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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/

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So many great memories of playing Halo CE after everyone finished their work in my old Engineering class back in high school. Good times in Mr. V's

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League of legends maybe? Seems like it would work since any potato can run it, plus there's a good chance some of them may already play it.

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Yeah i second Renegade X absolutely awesome game, great for lan parties.