What makes a fun multplayer (split/lan) game

Sijmen · 2005-02-16T19:34:41

Hi, Lately I've been getting into non-hobby programming. I have to create a web application to finish school, some small things for my portfolio (well, I want to have a solid base to say: I /know/ SQL. I /know/ how to use .NET feature XYZ). When programming, Every now and then I take a break, and play a game, mostly Warcraft 3, or a short run of World of Warcraft (open European beta). That's nice, but it often simply takes to long. That made me wondering, what makes a fun game that can be played with a few people (online, lan, or splitscreen/shared screen), for anywhere from 2 to 20 minutes? I'm thinking mostly about windowed 2D games here. Do you know such games? If so, what makes them so simple and fun to play? For myself, I don't really know. I like Castle Attack though (an old Stronghold minigame), which is very simple and short, but not multiplayer.