Games - The Gathering demo party

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	Games - The Gathering demo party

The Gathering (abbreviated as "TG" for short) is the 2. largest computer party in the world (after swedish Dreamhack). It is held annually in Vikingskipet Olympic Arena in Hamar, Norway, and lasts for five consecutive days (starting on the Wednesday in Easter each year). Every year, TG attracts more than 5000 (mostly young) people, and the demand seems to be several times higher (see the ticket sale controversy below).

History

The first The Gathering (not taking into account a non-related Finnish party with the same name) was arranged in 1992, as the demogroup Crusaders was told to "do it better yourselves" after complaining about an existing party. 1100 people gathered in Skedsmohallen at Lillestrøm, way more than the expected count of about 500. The following years, TG continued to grow (1993 and 1994 had about 1400 and 1800 visitors, respectively), and although TG95 saw a small decline in the number of visitors (1500; Crusaders was not responsible for TG that year, and it was simply called "Gathering 95"), it was clear that one would soon need a bigger place to be.

The venue decided upon was Vikingskipet Olympic Arena, built earlier for the Lillehammer 1994 Winter Olympics. Providing lots of space and good infrastructure (abundant power, good parking opportunities, etc.) it was the ultimate party location, and in 1996, the first TG in Vikingskipet attracted 2500 visitors. However, TG has continued growing, and has been sold out every year since 1997 (see The ticket sales controversy below); TG05 attracted about 5200 visitors.

Daily life at TG

TG lasts for a full week (from Wednesday to Sunday every Easter), and thus is both longer and of course bigger than most other computer parties. Most people tend to let their daily rhythm go and instead sleep as they see fit (many simply in front of their computer, but most people on the tribunes); most of the time is usually spent before a computer, but many like to use the opportunity to meet new or old friends in real life. People have wildly different opinions about what constitutes a proper computer party; the common trend at TG these years seem to be warez, games (the most popular being Counter-Strike) and IRC (powered by the large and fast network -- when it is up at all, of course). However, many people find this too boring in the long run (and after a few days, most visitors inevitably get bored of just playing games), and there are many unofficial mini-events happening all the time. Informal competitions to build the highest tower of Coke cans are not uncommon, and people have been spotted having their own private mini-rave-parties put together by a few people and a PC with loudspeakers. In short, everything is possible with a bit of creativity; some people (most of them slightly older than the average TG visitor) tend to view the gamers/warezers as un-creative, mostly dull people.

Happenings and the demoscene

TG has always been a hub for young creative people to battle it out in many types of competitions; demo coding, music, graphics, animation, games, hardware-modification and Dance Dance Revolution to name a few; in addition, there are usually concerts and other things happening live on stage once or twice a day, as well as seminars etc.

In the first years, the focus on TG was pretty much on demos, but as TG is held at the same time as Breakpoint, a German scene-only party (and the earlier Mekka & Symposium), many European demosceners have left TG in favour of BP, and TG, like most other computer parties, has become more of a gamer event. The scene at TG still lives on, though, as TG has introduced features such as a demoscene-only area, "creative cashback" (those handing in entries to the creative competitions get a discount) and other demo-oriented events. In fact, you have to go back as far as 1996 to match the amount of entries handed in to the creative competitions at TG04.

The following competitions were held at TG04.

Demoscene

Combined demo (Amiga, PC, Mac)
Combined 64k intro (Amiga, PC, Mac)
Wild/animation
Tracked music
HiQuality music
Pixeled graphics
Rendered graphics
Fast intro
Fast music
Webdesign
Useless utility

Game

Warcraft 3 (1 on 1)
Unreal Tournament 2003 (1 on 1)
Counter-Strike
(5 on 5)
StarCraft: Brood War (1 on 1)
Battlefield 1942 (8 on 8)

Crew

The organization Kreativ Aktiv Norsk Dataungdom (KANDU) is formally responsible for hosting TG. In addition, there are about 200 volunteers participating to make TG become reality every year; these are collectively called the crew.

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