So admittedly, when I was younger and heard people talk about LAN parties, I thought, "what a bunch of nerds."  I didn't realize that when my husband and I (and occasionally friends) played Diablo over TCP/IP, that was basically the same thing.  Or played other games over our local network rather than playing online.  I guess because we didn't fit the impression I always got of what a LAN party was.  Even when we had about half a dozen of us all set up on our rigs in the basement...  
(Before there are any basement jokes, this is OUR basement as in, my husband and I, as in we own the house.  The computer room had gotten too small for myself, him, our kid, and the occasional guest.  That and the basement doesn't get anywhere near as warm as the old computer room.) 
So anyway yeah, like half a dozen of us, maybe more, all playing our rigs, WAAAGHing in Warhammer Online when it first came out.  Tons of fun. 
Borderlands, playing that on local network on the PCs, or playing split screen with the hubby.  
Split screening CoD, Halo, GR with some friends. 
Is all this dead?
 
When I see people talk about playing with others, it's always online.  People don't talk often about playing split-screen with their buddy.  Even less often do we hear people talking about playing over local networks.  It just seems to be a shame.  This was brought to mind by the Borderlands on PC thread, because people were complaining about playing online through Gamespy.  I wouldn't know.  If I played, it was with the hubby over local network.