Demoparty

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Demoscene
Concepts
Demo - Demoparty - Demogroup - Compo
Parties
Current: Assembly - Breakpoint - Evoke - Scene Event - The Gathering
Past: Mekka & Symposium - The Party
Websites
Hornet Archive - Nectarine - Orange Juice - Pouët - Scene.org - demoscene.tv
Magazines
Hugi
v • d • e

A demoparty is an event that gathers demosceners and other computer enthusiasts to compete in competitions. A typical demoparty is a non-stop event lasting over a weekend, providing the visitors a lot of time to socialize. The competing works, at least those in the most important competitions, are usually shown at night, using a video projector and big loudspeakers. The most important competition is usually the demo compo.

Contents 1 Concept 2 History 3 Common properties 4 Notable parties 4.1 Other parties 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] Concept

The visitors of a demoparty often bring their own computers to complete and show off their works. To this end, most parties provide a large hall with tables, electricity and usually a local area network connected to the Internet. In this respect, many demo parties resemble LAN parties and many of the largest events also gather gamers and other computer enthusiasts in addition to demosceners. A major difference between a real demoparty and a LAN party is that demosceners typically spend more time socializing (often outside the actual party hall) than in front of their computers.

Large parties have often tried to come up with alternative terms to describe the concept to the general public. While the events have always been known as "demoparties", "copyparties" or just "parties" by the subculture itself, they are often referred to as "computer conferences", "computer fairs", "computer festivals", "computer art festivals", "youngsters' computer events" or even "geek gatherings" or "nerd festivals" by the mass media and the general public.

Demoscene events are most frequent in continental Europe, with around fifty parties every year. In comparison, there has only been a dozen or so demoparties in the United States in total. Most events are local, gathering demomakers mostly from a single country, while the largest international parties (such as Breakpoint and Assembly) attract visitors from all over the globe.

Most demoparties are relatively small in size, with the number of visitors varying from dozens to a few hundred. The largest events typically gather thousands of visitors however, most of which have little or no connection to the demoscene.

[edit] History

Demoparties started to appear in the 1980s in the form of copyparties where software pirates and demomakers gathered to meet each other and share their software. Competitions did not become a major aspect of the events until the early 1990s.

Copyparties mainly pertained to the Amiga and C64 scene. As the PC compatibles started to take over the market, the difficulties in easily making nice demos and intros increased. Along with increased police crackdowns on copying of pirated software, the "underground" copyparties were gradually replaced by slightly higher-profile events which came to be known as demoparties. However, some of the "old school" demosceners still prefer to use the word "copyparty" even for today's demoparties.

During the 1990s, the focus of the events shifted away from illegal activities into demomaking and competitions. The copying of copyrighted material was often explicitly prohibited by the organizers, and many events also forbade the consumption of alcohol. However, illegal copying and "boozing" still continued to take place, although in a less public form.

Three well-known and appreciated large-scale demoparties were established in the early 1990s: The Party in Denmark, Assembly in Finland and The Gathering in Norway. Taking place every year and gathering thousands of visitors, these parties used to be the leading demoscene events in this period. Assembly still retains this status today. The Gathering continues to be organized yearly as a generic "computer party", but most of the demosceners now prefer Breakpoint in Germany which takes place at the same time.

The emergence of high-profile demoparties gave rise to phenomena which were not always well welcomed by the scene. The events started to attract unaffiliated computer enthusiasts who were often generally referred to as "lamers" by the original attendants. A particularly visible group in the large gatherings since the mid-1990's have been the LAN gamers, who often have very little interest in the demoscene and mainly use the party facilities for playing multi-player computer games. However, many of today's demosceners received their first interest for demos and demomaking from a visit to a large demoparty.

[edit] Common properties

Parties usually last from 2 to 4 days in length, most often Friday to Sunday to ensure that sceners who work or study are also able to attend. Small parties usually take place in cultural centres or schools, whereas larger parties typically take place in sports halls.

Entrance fees are usually between €10 and €40 given the size and location of the party. It is still a common practice in many countries to allow females to enter the party for free (mostly due to the low concentration of female attendees), albeit most parties enforce an "only vote with ticket" rule, which means that an attendee who got in free can only vote with a paid ticket.

Attendees are allowed to bring their computer along, but this is by no means a necessity, and is usually omitted by most sceners. Those who have computer-related jobs may even regard a demoparty as a well-deserved break from sitting in front of a computer. For those who do bring a computer, it is becoming increasingly common to bring a laptop or some sort of handheld device rather than a complete desktop PC.

Partygoers often bring various senseless gadgets to parties to make their deskspace look unique; this can be anything from a disco ball or a plasma lamp to a large LED display panel complete with a scrolling message about how "elite" its owner is. Many visitors also bring large loudspeakers for playing music. This kind of activity is particularly common among new partygoers, while the more experienced attendees tend to prefer a more quiet and relaxed atmosphere.

Those who need housing during the party are often offered a separate "sleeping room", usually an isolated empty room with some sort of carpet or mats, where the attendees are able to sleep, separated from the noise. Most sceners prefer bringing sleeping bags for this, as well as inflatable matresses or polyfoam rolls.

Partyplaces often become decorated by visitors with flyers and banners. These all serve promotional reasons, in most cases to advertise a certain group, but sometimes to create promotion for a given product, such as a demo or a diskmag, possibly to be released later at the party.

A major portion of the events at a demoparty often take place outdoors. Demosceners usually spend considerable time outside to have a beer and talk, or engage into some sort of open-air activity such as barbecueing or sport, such as hardware throwing or soccer. It is also a common tradition to gather around a bonfire during the night, usually after the compos.

In recent years, many parties were visited by the live team of demoscene.tv, who either broadcasted from the event live or created footage for a postmortem video-report.

[edit] Notable parties

Party name	Location	Years	Description
7DX Party	Istanbul, Turkey	2002 -
Abstract Party	Gliwice, Poland	2001 -	Between Party and Festival
Alternative Party	Helsinki, Finland	1998 -	An alternative party visited mostly by demoscene veterans.
Assembly	Helsinki, Finland	1992 -	One of the longest running demoparties in the world. See also: Boozembly
BCN Party	Barcelona, Spain	2000 -
Blockparty	Cleveland, Ohio, USA	2007-	North America's newest demoparty.
Breakpoint	Bingen, Germany	2003 -	The world's largest "scene-only" demoparty, successor of the Mekka & Symposium party series.
Buenzli	Winterthur, Switzerland	1999 -	"The Swiss Scene Event"
Chaos Constructions	Saint Petersburg, Russia	1999 - 2001, 2004 -	The largest demoparty in ex-Soviet countries, successor of the Enlight parties.
Codex Alpe Adria	Udine, Italy	2003 -	Alternative computing and demoscene event with a focus on C64 and Amiga.
Euskal Encounter	Bilbao, Spain	1995 -	Demo- and LAN-party.
Evoke	Köln, Germany	1997 -	Demoparty organized by Digitale Kultur e. V..
Function	Budapest, Hungary	2003 -
FOReVER	Trencin, Slovakia	2000 -	Pure 8-bit (Atari, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum) party.
The Gathering	Lillehammer, Norway	1992 -	Norway's largest demoparty, which recently has become more of a LAN/game-party.
if	Valencia, Spain	2003 -
Inércia	Porto, Portugal	2001 -
Mekka & Symposium	Fallingbostel, Germany	1996 - 2002	One of the most respected demoparties. Part of the organizing staff went on to create Breakpoint.
Nullarbor	Perth, Australia	2005 -	Australia's only (current) demoparty.
Pilgrimage	Salt Lake City, Utah, USA	2003 - 2005	North American demoparty.
React	Patras, Greece	2002 - 2004	The successor of Gardening
PixelShow	Patras, Greece	2005 -	The successor of React.
Sundown	Exeter, UK	2005 -	The first UK based party since 1999.
Solskogen	Ås, Norway	2002 -
Scene Event	Harridslev, Denmark	2000 -	Previously known as Summer Encounter
Takeover	Eindhoven, Netherlands	1997 - 2001
The Party	Aars, Denmark	1992 - 2002	One of the oldest and largest parties - abandoned by the demoscene in its final years due to lack of support.
The Ultimate Meeting	Durlach, Germany	1999, 2002 -	Traditionally held between Christmas and New Year's Eve
VIP	Lyon, France	1999 - 2002	Held in july and organized by PoPsY TeAm.
X	Ruurlo, Netherlands	1995 -	Commodore 64 party

(Note: Year ranges might include years when the party wasn't organized, but was organized both before and after.)

[edit] Other parties

• DreamHack
• NAID
• Krangparty
• Movement
• Norvegia Dataparty

[edit] See also

• Category:Demo parties
• Compo
• Demoscene

[edit] External links

• Demoparty.net - collective demoscene party database
• Slengpung - Demoscene party pictures, videos and party reports.