Network clogged by LAN parties

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William J. Gibson
Reporter

February 24, 2006

Jacob Ramsey plays Halo on the LAN.

Photo by Ryan C. Harris

A game of Halo with friends may sound great to some students, but having local area network, LAN, parties over the campus network could become illegal. The network sources in the dorms and academic buildings were designated for a specific use.

“Academics take priority,” said Information Technology Department Manager Mark Nester.

No policy in The Milligan College Student Handbook addresses the connecting of gaming devices, such as Microsoft’s Xbox, to the Milligan network. The handbook does, however, list forbidden equipment such as “hubs or switches.”

The computer usage guidelines in the handbook ask users of the network to “refrain from monopolizing systems, overloading networks with excessive data, degrading services or wasting computer time.”

While there currently is nothing to discourage the use of the Xbox or having parties on the LAN, students who wish to play on the network should be careful.

“Our campus network is maxed out as it is already,” Nester said, noting that spyware is on the computers of most students, and that is the main reason for slowing speeds.

“Hijacker programs like Weather Bug or the Yahoo toolbar are full of spyware and are constantly connecting to the Internet to send and receive information about students’ computers,” Nester said. “We block a lot of it, but sometimes the demand exceeds the available Internet bandwidth.”

Although the Xbox system does not have built-in spyware, it does have the capability of online game play with anyone throughout the wired world using Microsoft’s Internet playground, Xbox LIVE. Milligan’s firewall currently blocks all availability for connecting to Internet gaming sites like Xbox LIVE. Students may still play each other within the LAN.

While the network has never gone down as a result of networked gaming, the gaming systems still require a network to communicate over, just as personal computers do. Added to the current load of PCs, gaming can cause localized congestion and even slower speeds. It is like adding traffic to a crowded interstate during rush hour.

No changes are currently planned for the network usage policy because of the use of student-owned gaming systems.

“We will start making changes to the campus policies only if plugged-in gaming systems start to jeopardize the network stability,” Nester said.