UOIT students’ marathon gaming event raises money for SickKids

For 40 consecutive hours, the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) was transformed into a high-tech battleground: students vs. students in a marathon showdown of gaming skills in cyberspace.

The initiative is known as a LAN WAR – a temporary gathering of people with computers, between which they establish a local area network (LAN), primarily for the purpose of playing multi-player video games. This marked the sixth-annual LAN WAR event, led by students in UOIT’s Faculty of Business and Information Technology.

“LAN parties have been going on since multi-player computer gaming became popular,” said Ben Tran, a fourth-year student in Networking and Information Technology Security at UOIT, and 2013-2014 President of LAN WAR at UOIT. “LAN parties are great venues for fellow-minded gamers and enthusiasts to gather and socialize while enjoying their favourite pastimes in a safe, community atmosphere. LAN WAR events are held around the globe – and one event in Sweden called DreamHack draws more than 20,000 people.”

This year’s LAN WAR inside the university’s Business and Information Technology Building attracted participants from across the UOIT and Durham College community, including graduate students, undergraduate students and faculty and anyone generally interested in gaming. Local and international sponsors supported this year’s event. And once again organizers will proudly be donating all proceeds to charity.

“I’m pleased to announce all of our efforts have generated more than $1,000, which we’ll be sending to SickKids (The Hospital for Sick Children) in Toronto, one of the world’s leading centres of paediatric medical care,” said Tran. “Going forward, we wish to solidify LAN WAR as a school tradition that the community looks forward to each year. Our committee also looks forward to creating an even stronger relationship with the university and the community that will help expand our LAN WAR’s borders to the public while showcasing UOIT.”

The LAN WAR committee is a sub-society of UOIT Business and IT Society (BIT SOC).