LAN Parties: Third Place or Third Rate???

Bryan-Mitchell YoungIndiana University

@jccalhoun

Third Places

• “Havens of sociability where conversation is the main activity and conviviality prevails”• “Care for the Neighborhood”• “Foster Political Debate”

Games like gin rummy, cribbage, or dominoes can be part of a third place when “the game and conversation move along in lively fashion, the talk enhancing the card game, the card game giving eternal stimulation to the talk”

“Not all games stimulate conversation and kibitzing; hence, not all games complement third place association. A room full of individuals intent upon video games is not a third place”(emphasis mine)

“I have objected to the common idea these days that there can be virtual third places, that you can do it electronically. There is no comparison, in my mind, between the joys of getting together, of the face-to-face enjoyment and banter. You can’t really compare that with electronic [social networking].” (brackets in original) -- http://www.jwtintelligence.com/2011/01/qa-ray-oldenburg-author-professor-emeritus/

Characteristics of a Third Place• a leveler• on neutral ground• a playful mood• accessible and accommodating• Regulars• a low profile• a home away from home• the main activity is conversation

Characteristics of a Third Place• a leveler• on neutral ground• a playful mood• accessible and accommodating• Regulars• a low profile• a home away from home• the main activity is conversation

Purposes of a Third Place• unite the neighborhood• help newcomers “assimilate” into the new

neighborhood and “often serve to bring together for the first time, people who will create other forms of association later on,” • allows people to work together and

“cooperate with one another to do things which individuals cannot do alone,” • a staging area in times “of local crisis,”

Purposes of a Third Place• provide “public characters” who “know

everybody in the neighborhood and who care about the neighborhood,”

• bringing youth and adults together in relaxed enjoyment

• entertainment• political forum• intellectual form• as “offices” where neither party is on “his or her

‘home ground’ but in some neutral corner”

Sociability…• …is both connected to "real life”

and disconnected from it• …features a certain de-

personalization of participants• …depends on cooperation and

tact• …is promoted by social equality

What’s missing?

• Conversation • Sociability is not about conversation but

interacting

Oldenburg is overlooking the other aspects of sociability

• LAN parties create the feeling of a third place without relying on conversation as the main activity

• Excluding LAN parties because of this is inconsistent with the spirit of sociability that Oldenburg asserts is the heart of third places.

Oldenburg is valorizing an ideal

• Even the very places that he cites as exemplars of third places are not as exemplary as he makes them out to be– What about the employees?– What about the people who aren’t allowed in?

• Third Places are not real– They are an idea