I recently opened a ticket with Blizzard to see what they can do in regard to planning for LAN parties where their games will be played, as many users connecting from a single public IP is all it takes sometimes to get logins throttled where folks can't sign into Battle.net or Overwatch. Following is the text from the ticket that I opened in the last 3 weeks. I've come to the conclusion that if users want to play their games at a LAN party where login throttling has taken effect, it's just too bad too sad. Rent a public IP block with one per attendee is seriously their answer? Sounds like we'll be playing other games.

Me:

When we host LAN parties as a part of our organization, we consistently encounter login issues once a significant number of players begin connecting from the same public IP address. Players are often left at the login screen repeatedly attempting to authenticate without success.

For our larger events, which can include 100 or more participants, this effectively means we may have to avoid games such as Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and other Blizzard titles unless we lease and configure a block of public IP addresses specifically for the event.

Is Blizzard’s official recommended solution for schools, esports organizations, and large LAN events simply to use multiple public IP addresses?

We generally know the public IP addresses for our events well in advance, so historically an IP allowlisting or whitelisting process would seem like the more practical solution. However, based on recent discussions, it appears Blizzard is no longer offering that option.

Could someone from Blizzard clarify the current official guidance for organizations hosting large events where dozens or hundreds of legitimate players are connecting from a single location?

For reference, this appears to describe the same issue:
https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/overwatch/t/overwatch-esports-team-connection-issues/1000226

Blizzard:
We have received your request that you have a question about your LAN parties and the login to our services with the same IP address.
 
Unfortunately, we Game Masters cannot help you with this, as we do not support LAN-party setups and cannot whitelist IP addresses in any way. You can check our EULA for more information; unfortunately, there is no workaround or alternative contact we can provide. You can check the EULA here:
https://www.blizzard.com/en-us/legal/fba4d00f-c7e4-4883-b8b9-1b4500a402ea/blizzard-end-user-license-agreement

Please let us know if there is anything else we can help you with in the future. Just open a new ticket, and we will be there for you at any time!  
Game Master Hairithsurap ∠(・'‿ ́・ )  

Me:
Thank you for the response.

I understand that Game Masters may not have the ability to whitelist an IP address. However, I do not believe the response fully addresses the issue I raised.

We are not asking Blizzard to troubleshoot a home LAN or provide support for custom networking equipment. We organize legitimate, organized gaming events where a large number of individual Blizzard customers may be attempting to authenticate to Battle.net from the same venue.

The practical result of Blizzard’s current protections is that legitimate customers can be prevented from logging into Battle.net simply because they are attending the same event and sharing an Internet connection. This makes Blizzard titles extremely difficult, and potentially impossible, for us to include in a 100-person LAN event.

You referenced the EULA, but I have reviewed it and have not found a provision stating that LAN parties are prohibited, that a specific number of customers may not connect from the same public Internet connection, or that organized community events are unsupported. Blizzard separately publishes a Community Competition License specifically addressing organized community gaming events.

Because of that, I would appreciate clarification on several points:

1. Which specific provision of the EULA applies to this situation?
   
2. Is Blizzard’s position that organized LAN events involving a significant number of Battle.net users are simply not supported?
   
3. Is there an official technical or event-organizer channel to which this issue can be escalated?
   
4. Does Blizzard have any supported mechanism for an organizer to identify a legitimate event and prevent normal attendees from being caught by anti-abuse protections intended for malicious activity?

I am not expecting a Game Master to personally change Battle.net’s security systems. I am asking that this be escalated to someone who can provide an authoritative answer regarding how legitimate organized events are expected to operate.

We would very much like to include games such as Overwatch and other Blizzard titles in our events. Telling organizers only that Blizzard cannot whitelist the venue, without providing an event-supported alternative or escalation path, effectively leaves us with no reliable way to offer those games to our attendees.

If the official Blizzard position is that there is no supported way to accommodate a 100-person community LAN event using a normal shared Internet connection, I would appreciate having that stated explicitly so that we can plan our events accordingly.

Thank you for taking the time to review this and, if possible, escalating it beyond the Game Master support level.

Blizzard:
Thank you for reaching out, and I apologise for the delay. We are currently handling a high volume of contacts, which has increased response times across the board.

I understand you want your attendees to have a smooth experience, and it is frustrating when things do not go to plan. 

The issue you describe falls outside what Customer Support can assist with. We help with account, billing and installation issues, but Game Masters are not able to assist with setting up events or with the technical challenges that come with them. You can find the full list of topics we support here: 

https://support.blizzard.com/en/help/games/services

To address your points directly:

1. We previously referred you to the End User License Agreement because it sets the terms under which you and your attendees access Battle.net and our games. No single provision addresses LAN events specifically; we cited the EULA as the agreement governing access to our services as a whole. 
   

You can read the current version here: 

https://www.blizzard.com/legal/fba4d00f-c7e4-4883-b8b9-1b4500a402ea/blizzard-end-user-license-agreement

1. Players are welcome to take part in community events, provided they follow the EULA and local law. However, we do not offer dedicated support for event setups, including network configuration, specific IP ranges or event hardware.

2. Customer Support does not have an escalation channel for event organisers either. That said, our Forums are a good place to ask for advice, as many players there have organised or attended similar events.

The specific Forum thread you referenced in your original ticket answers your next question and suggests a workaround. I understand this may not be ideal, but the information shared by our Tech MVP is correct and may suggest an avenue for your specific network issue. 

1. There is currently no way for organisers to register or identify an event with us, and we are not aware of plans to introduce one.
   

If you have suggestions on how we could better support community events, you can share them here: 

https://support.blizzard.com/help/article/000007093 
https://support.blizzard.com/help/article/000021518

Thank you for contacting Blizzard Customer Support, and have a great day!

EPIC49 is a LAN based gaming event in the UK. It features a mixture of casual gaming, stage content and esports tournaments so whether you enjoy playing games for fun or want to be the next esports professional, there will be something for you.

-Counter-Strike 2 Esports sponsored by ROG (up to £6500 prize pool)
-Rainbow Six Siege Esports (up to £2750 prize pool)
-VALORANT Esports (up to £5000 prize pool)
-StarCraft II Esports (up to £1500 prize pool)
-osu! Esports (up to £1500 prize pool)

-Casual Gaming Areas
-Comedy Show
-Pub Quiz
-Partners & Game Demo Areas
-Halloween Community Party Night
-On Site Affordable Catering & Late Bar
-24h On Site Shop
-On Site Camping (0min Walk)
-On Site Indoor Sleeping

I have been hosting game parties with friends since the nineties (remember IPX/SPX, coax and rotten terminators?). As a warmup for our larger annual Christmas LAN we had a group of 12 regulars today. (Age range from 10 to 61 years!)

Hey folks ! Here is our annual LAN party over 3 days, multi games tournament, fun before all.
Everything you need to know is on the website :

Lanoween 2026

And here is the game list.

If somehow a non french speaker is interested, feel free to ask here :)

Hello! Playing games with friends (mostly duo) from time to time, any games recommendations that are good for 2 to 4 people? Games that have story campaigns/progression please.

Games we've finished:

Left 4 dead (1&2)

Terraria

Dead Island (and riptide)

Dying Light (and the following)

Any genres are fine! Thank you!

I’ve been trying to play Gears 4/5 but no matter how I set up the connection it won’t go into the game. It will recognize the other console but not join the lobby same with Halo MCC. I played on LAN a lot with PS3/4 and the setup is easy but for some reason using the same setup for Xbox it doesn’t work. Here’s how I have it setup. Doesn’t matter if IP adresses per console are the same or automatic same goes with DNS. Which I find weird because the PS4 is setup on automatic settings and I can join LAN lobbies easily.

:)

Hello,

I’ve started hosting home LAN parties again with four friends and my partner. I wanted to try out Hypersomnia and 0 A.D.

Hypersomnia’s "Gun Game" mode is really fun! Since there were a few beginners in the group, we didn't play the bomb defusal mode.

As for 0 A.D., we tested the random maps (specifically the "continent" type optimized for multiplayer); having everyone on a large island surrounded by a stretch of water opens up a lot of possibilities!

In short: sleep was in short supply, but the fun was intense !

Dawn of the Realm is a medieval RTS combining grand strategy, classic RTS micro control, and city building — real-time and fully multiplayer, up to 10 players. Zoom out to a world strategy map or down to the battlefield with no loading in between.

I've built it solo on nights and weekends alongside my computer science studies, learning as I went. Graphics are made in photoshop and the game is made using Gamemaker. Still early, lots left to add, but I'd like to hear what you think so far :-)

Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/.../501.../Dawn_Of_The_Realm/

Full trailer:
https://youtu.be/jDflGTjjFR8?si=JWNwYXgRjg4lEiV3

Discord (dev updates / feedback):
https://discord.gg/7VXeWG8Pu

Working toward the first demo now :-)

MassiveLAN is Western New York's Largest BYOC (Bring your own Computer/Console) LAN Party Event, and invites you to help build a healthy community with us! MassiveLAN is a chapter of LANFest, a 501.c3 LAN party organization and our chapter focuses on donating event proceeds to charities located around the Western New York area. [What is MassiveLAN?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw3jO2AmhmE)

Hamburg Fairgrounds Event Center - 5820 South Park Ave, Hamburg NY 14075

January 15th 12:00PM - January 17th 03:00PM

Attendees and streamers come from far and wide to hang out and enjoy video games, board games, classic arcade games, and other fun mini-game activities, through a weekend long event filled with tournaments, casual play, and more! Players of all ages are welcome to attend, and MassiveLAN provides both a competitive, and casual atmosphere for all. MassiveLAN is an excellent place to explore something new, and to meet new game and technology enthusiasts!

Tickets are on sale now, and are available at [https://www.massivelan.com/\](https://www.massivelan.com/) along with additional event information. Tickets provide weekend-long access to the event, and for the BYOC ticket, will give you access to an end-of-event raffle!

We are currently working on who our 2027 beneficiary will be. Keep an eye on our website and social media for details on how to support our fundraising efforts.

Hey everyone!

We’re looking to connect with LAN party, esports and gaming event organizers across Europe.

We provide gaming chairs for events and can help with anything from a few chairs for a main stage or VIP area to larger quantities for participants.

One thing we’re particularly interested in is working with organizers who would like to offer gaming chair rental to their attendees, without having to deal with the whole logistics side themselves.

Basically: you organize the event, and we can take care of the chair rental, delivery, collection and communication with the people renting the chairs.

We’re already working with events in Europe and would like to connect with more organizers for upcoming LANs and gaming events.

If you’re organizing a LAN or esports event and this could be useful, feel free to drop me a DM or leave a comment. Always happy to have a chat and see if we can make something work.

www.gamingchairs.eu

Cheers!

Would anyone in Toronto be interested in an old-school LAN party?

I'm thinking about putting together a small community LAN here in Toronto, and before I start booking a venue or building out the whole thing, I wanted to see if there's actually any interest.

The idea is pretty simple:

Bring your own laptop. Plug into the LAN. Play games with other people in the room.

I'm specifically thinking of keeping it low-power and accessible — your laptop's power adapter would need to be 65W or less. No giant gaming desktops required.

For the first event, I'm thinking of picking a small lineup of games rather than trying to support everything:

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007)

Halo: Reach

Warzone 2100

The event would be completely LAN-based, with the games/servers running locally rather than relying on an internet connection.

I'm thinking roughly 5~6hours, probably at a Toronto community centre, with something like $40 pre-registration and a higher day-of price if there are still spots available.

I'm calling the idea LAN Pickup League.

This isn't a business or established event yet — I'm literally trying to figure out whether enough people would be interested to make the first one worthwhile.

If this sounds like something you'd actually attend, let me know. I'm especially interested in hearing from people who miss the old LAN-party experience or have never actually been to one.

Hi,

I was thinking of hosting a LAN party with around 10-14 people and because of the size, I don't think it can fit in a house.

I was wondering if anyone in the Manchester area know of places that would be happy to host a LAN party (I just need them to supply tables, chairs, power, a room, it will be BYOC).