If the obligations of school and work are making life unbearable, it might be time to LAN up.

Having been recognized by the Student Association Sunday, LAN@NIU is an organization that centers itself on hosting and playing computer game tournaments that can last up to 48 hours.

Matt Reiner, senior computer science major, said the group started out a couple of years ago with himself and a few of his friends playing Unreal Tournament 2004.

“We’ve been growing ever since,” Reiner said.

Since then, the group has expanded. They have their own Web site with 128 registered users, allowing students to post their own ideas for the group.

“We have a forum community for suggestions, help with computer projects, games to play,” said Glenn Reschke, junior applied computer sciences major and vice president of LAN@NIU. “Really anything like that.”

Reiner described the organization’s membership as being loose. There is a core group of students who play in every function the organization hosts, while the rest gravitate toward games they like.

“We’re not really a very strict organization. We founded it as a way to relieve stress, not cause it,” Reiner said.

The games they play have also expanded. While any computer game could be played, tournaments and prizes are restricted to Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004, Team Fortress 2, and the WarCraft III mod “Defense of the Ancients.”

“Support for the tournaments is limited to the games that have the highest participation,” Reschke said. Such “support” comes from the club’s sponsors. The next tournament LAN@NIU is hosting

is being sponsored by Alienware, Subway, TCF Bank, and ThermalTake.

While LAN@NIU will provide the equipment to make gaming possible, students have to provide their own computers, ethernet cables and games. Or, as Jason Kettner, junior applied computer sciences major, put it: “B.Y.O.C.”

The next tournament is scheduled to begin on Friday, Feb. 27 at 5:30 p.m. in the Regency Room of the Holmes Student Center. It is scheduled to last until sometime Sunday, Feb. 29. Reiner said they have made arrangements with the center and the University Police that will restrict their presence to that part of the building.