Event: Digital Destruction II Event Date: 12/28/1999 Written By: Warhawk Date Written: 01/23/2026

Unfortunately, not much record of this event remains, and it appears no one bothered to take any pictures (or, somehow the pictures did not survive).

Miraculously, I do still have the text of an email invite that was sent out:

____Begin message_____

Digital Destruction
<Half-Life LAN Party>
Part II

You have been chosen! Yeah thats right, were havin another all nighter LAN party at my place, December 28th (I know it's a long ways off, but you gotta plan ahead for these things ya know). So come on down, it's gonna be phat! For the benifit of newbies (thats Austrialian for wussie), I'm gonna start out this letter/invitation thingy, with a plagurized and slighly modified peice of info from ww.lanparty dot com. It'll fill you in on exactly what a LAN party is.

For those of you who were at the one we had in september it'll get you psyched up for this upcomming one.

So What's a LAN Party Anyways?

In brief, a LAN Party is a gathering of people who all bring their computers, play video games together on a network, and eat tostitos and salsa. The first thing people (usually parents, girlfriends etc.) immediately ask is: Why would you want to do that? A computer is an expensive (and heavy) piece of precision electronics, one whose performance is negatively impacted by the accidental introduction of salsa in the open CDRom drawer. But the fact is, a LAN Party is the most fun you can have with your machine.

You're Joking, Right?

No, really. Let's assume that you're a computer gamer and you're playing against somebody in a vicious game of deathmatch. You just lept out of a shadow, jumped down behind him, ducked an incoming rocket, and removed his head with a double-barreled shotgun.

To celebrate your victory at a LAN party, you'd:

-savor the expression of anguish on his face
-leap up and scream, "Suck it down, monkeyboy!"
-high-five your teammates
-sing a rousing chorus of, "Who's yo daddy?"
-announce that he couldn't kill you if you were on life support
-Turn up the stereo really loud
-begin the smack talk for the inevitable rematch

Now let's assume you were at home alone playing on the Internet. You'd celebrate your amazing victory in the following ways:

-Checking your email

It's like the difference between going to a hockey game or watching one on TV. Sure, you can see it all happen on the screen -- but there's nothing like being there in person and hoping to catch a tooth.

LAN: The Ultimate Defense Against LAG

Another advantage of playing games at a LAN party is the LAN itself, which stands for "Local Area Network." As opposed to the Internet, which stands for "Really really big area network slowed down by people actually trying to do productive things like research."

When you play games on a LAN, you're usually only a few feet from the server. When you and your friends shoot a really big gun, it fires instantly, preferably while it's still pointed at the stunned face of someone who deserves it. It's intense! Whereas when you play games over the Internet using a modem, you will often have time to catch a rerun of Seinfeld between the time when you fire your weapon and the time it eventually makes its way to the intended target, who by this time has had kids and moved to Jersey.

Anyone who can compare the two will agree that playing over the net can never compete with the adrenaline of playing on a local network.

So Where do I Find these Parties?

I got yer LAN party right here baby! Yes thats right kids, theres going to be a big ol LAN party at [Warhawk's] place on December 28th. All you G funk all stars with computers are invited, bring your rig (computer) and any other neccasary equipment and plug into the network and frag your friends into tastey little gibblets. If you dont have a network card in your computer, I (the mighty Warhawk) can install one for you free of charge, as long as you buy the network card (average ones go for 12 - 15 bucks, fast ones go for 20-30 bucks), I can even take you to frys (10 mins from my place) and show you which one to buy.

Bring your own CAT 5 wires and any extra switches and hubs you may have (if you dont have any of this stuff then dont worry about it, i have some extras, the main thing is getting as many computers to the party as possible). Also make sure your version of Half-Life is the latest one, and make sure you have all the right mods, its a drag downloading patches when you could be playing.

We did this back in september and it was awesome. We had 6 computers going all night long. If we can get at least 6 again this time it will be equally awesome, and of course if we can get more than 6 it will be epic!

We will probably start around noon and play all night on the 28th (try to get a little sleep so we will still be able to play the next day) then we will play all day the next day, and possibly into the night, who knows. Bring a sleeping bag and stuff so you can crash somewhere on the floor (earplugs might be a good idea too, so you can still sleep even while people are still playing at 2 am).

Remember, if those Y2K guys are right then this will probably be your last chance to play before the world explodes! It'll be great!

Please RSVP, so I know how many people/computers we will have.

(if you guys know any cool people that have computers and might want to come, send me thier email address and I'll send them an invite.)

Call: [REDACTED]

Email: [REDACTED}

I made a little website for it while I was at work, check it out: [REDACTED]

_____END MESSAGE_____

Also, miraculously, thanks to the wayback machine, I was able to uuncover the contents of the website I made to coincide with this event.

__Start Website Content___

<Half-Life LAN Party>
Sponsored by The Mowers Clan

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Once about every 4 months, the Mighty Warhawk, High Templar of The Mowers Clan and protector of the Mowed Path, chooses to host a LAN party at his place of residence. Only a select few are chosen to attend. The mighty warriors that have proven thier skill in battle (and those that have proven to be especialy entertaining for the skilled people to hunt down and kill) are chosen to attend.

For the uninitiated that do not know what a LAN party is, its when a bunch of people get together and play network games. Everybody brings their computer and plugs into the network. We usualy play all night long, its a blast! (litteraly, in some cases).

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When and Where:

The next LAN party will be on December 28th, and held at the residence of the Mighty Warhawk (directions will be sent after you RSVP).

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What You Need:

1. A computer with network card. Minimum requirements are a Pentium 200 mhz \w 32 megs of ram. Recommended is a P II, with 64 megs of ram and a 3D accelerator.. a hefty hard drive doesnt hurt eaither. Network card must be at least 10mbps (100mbps reccomended) with a CAT 5 port.
2. Extra Hardware for the network if you have it (hubs, switches, cat 5 cable, etc.).
3. A CAT 5 cable
4. Power strip/ extension cord

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Networking your rig:

1. Purchase a Ethernet 10baseT or 100baseTx Card.
2. Follow instruction that came with card on how to install it.
(If you have no idea how to do this just bring card and computer)

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Games:

Mostly Half-Life and Team Fortress, and various other mods (Action Half-Life, Counterstrike, etc.) but we have been known to play Aliens Vs. Predator and whatever else is cool at the time. Make sure you have the most current patches installed before comming.

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RSVP:

RSVP today! Just send an email to [REDACTED], unlike most LAN parties, this one is free (although if you want to eat, you may have to pitch in a few bucks for pizza or whatever).

We have a few availabilities for non-computer bringers, I have three computers available for gaming, and some people may be willing to let a non-bringer use thier computers for a few rounds. It's always preferable to bring your own machine, people who don't have thier own usualy get the machine nobody else wants.

We have about 9 or 10 ports on the network, which means we can service up to 9 or 10 computers. We have 5 available slots on the network so lets fill em all up, we need as many computers as we can get. If somone brings an extra hub or switch we can have even more.

Here is who we have so far (numbers in parentheses indicate how many computers that person can bring):

__END website content___

Additionally the following was posted on the TMC website on November 3rd, 1999:

The days are drawing near when the second 'epic gathering' which will now be known as "The Digital Destruction Lanparty" will take place. Plans are being finalized, and the date is set for 12-28-99. Once again The Mowers and their allies are called to meet and sharpen their skills on the field of battle known as Half-life To further sharpen the skills of the combatants "Mods" have been used to alter the battlefield and provide new twists. Each combatant is guaranteed to be shocked, sickened, amazed and enthralled with these new modifications.

Followed by the recap on December 30th, 1999:

The epic LAN party has ended, the battles are over, the carnage has been cleaned up and the warriors have journeyed back to their homelands. All in all the battles were a success, although some warriors were plagued with faulty equipment, and some did not arrive at all.

As the next millennium draws near, The Mowers continue to make new allies, and the next epic battle promises to be even bigger and better.

I don't remember exactly who came to this LAN, but based on the web attendee list I have no memory of who "Capt. Cool" was, but I'm guessing he might have been one that didn't end up showing up. Also worth noting, "Snyper" would later go by "Spiderman" and his brother "Pyro" would later go by "Psychosomatic".