Multiplayer PC Games

July 14, 2004 7:32 AM

What are some good mulitplayer PC games that we can play around the office when working late?

We have a mix of older and new PCs, and alt-tab friendliness is a plus. I'd like something a little less system intensive than a full blown 3d shooter so it would be easy to get back to work.

posted by yeahyeahyeahwhoo to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (17 answers total)

Grant Theft Auto part 1. I know it doesn't fit most of your requirements, but the game is pure fun when played with 3 other friends.

Even games like MS Hearts can turn very entertaining when you have 3 others around you reacting to each play.
posted by riffola at 7:57 AM on July 14, 2004

GTA1 requires IPX/SPX running over your network - it may not be, since it's a bit outdated nowadays.

Quake 1 is always fun, there are more Windows-friendly implementations like winquake and glquake kicking around now, for alt-tab friendliness. And it is, doubtless, the most fun you'll get out of any older-specced machine.
posted by armoured-ant at 8:00 AM on July 14, 2004

I'm partial to Spaceward Ho. Classic, turn-based strategy... kinda like Risk with spaceships.
posted by ph00dz at 8:01 AM on July 14, 2004

You could use Kaillera + Jnes and play Mario Kart or other classic console games. Always a good time.
posted by Aaorn at 8:01 AM on July 14, 2004

The original Tribes was a damned good game.
posted by Danelope at 8:18 AM on July 14, 2004

GTA2 is a lot better for LAN gaming than GTA1. You could also try StarCraft, Age of Empires, or Diablo 1/2
posted by Orange Goblin at 8:20 AM on July 14, 2004

In my opinion, it still doesn't get better than Quake III Arena. It runs on nearly anything these days, and there's nothing like a good game of Capture-the-Flag among co-workers. But that's a 3D shooter, so here's some other suggestions.

With MAME32k (MAME w/Kaillera), you can play any multiplayer arcade game over your network. We enjoy Bust-A-Move/Puzzle Bobble the most, but we've played Gauntlet, Rampage, and others.

Lately, several of the guys here have been playing RBI Baseball for the NES with FCEU w/Kaillera.

For web-based games, we play Globulos and occasionally iSketch.
posted by waxpancake at 8:30 AM on July 14, 2004

I'm a big fan of the Worms games myself. Not too alt-tab-friendly, but the beta version of Worms Armageddon (available on the Team 17 site as an update for WinNT compatibility) is.
posted by neckro23 at 9:33 AM on July 14, 2004

If you play Settlers of Catan, there is an unlicensed multi-player version available here. We play this at work all the time.
posted by internal at 9:35 AM on July 14, 2004

One of the multiplayer versions of Civilization is perfect for the office environment. You can save games over time and since it's turn based you can always "pause" to do real work if necessary.
posted by grum@work at 10:09 AM on July 14, 2004

Armagetron - a Tron lightcycle clone. It's free. It's networkable. It runs fine in a window, for stealth gameplay. And it runs okay on older machines.

We've played it to stay awake during some very long, boring meetings.
posted by ecrivain at 10:27 AM on July 14, 2004

Response by poster: cool ideas folks, yeah i love armagetron, we used to play it a lot, i'll definitly check out these games out
posted by yeahyeahyeahwhoo at 10:46 AM on July 14, 2004

[derail]
I don't understand the question. By "office" do you mean "home" and by "working late" do you mean "hanging out"? If not, I know this great game called GO HOME!
posted by badstone at 1:37 PM on July 14, 2004

Round them up for some Subspace. This game can be surprisingly hilarious and it's easy to pop in and out at any point in the game itself.
posted by majick at 4:17 PM on July 14, 2004

Myth, baby. Although it's not alt-tab friendly. CDs can be purchased dirt cheap (and legally) here.
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:41 PM on July 14, 2004

badstone - might be a matter of "job entails long periods of nothing going on while we wait for X to happen so we can proceed" and "i don't have broadband at home"... first situation applies to my job, and i've found that (aside from poking around metafilter) the quake III arena demo makes life in the lab more fun when working late. gives me something to do while i wait for solutions to boil, cool, or finish reacting. otherwise it's just dead time.

often working late isn't a choice, either - some procedures really do take all damn day. but if that isn't the case in yeahyeahyeahwhoo's situation, then... um... really, why not go home?
posted by caution live frogs at 6:13 AM on July 15, 2004

Response by poster: yes when working late, sometimes we are waiting for a sloooow server to reboot, or waiting for folks to clear out, and i anticipate more working late for our guys in the coming weeks.
posted by yeahyeahyeahwhoo at 7:16 AM on July 15, 2004