As someone who hosted lan parties in the 100-200 people range, I would say that I miss them terribly. Maverick is on the money with his assessment that broadband kind of killed them. Nothing can compare to the atmosphere they offered. I truly miss them, and even more, the people.
I normally wouldn't post something so off topic but I feel like Diablo Immoral led me to this. This weekend after hearing so much BS about DI I decided to try Path of Exile since I hadn't played it since launch years and years ago. Man, it's so good. F2P done right IMO.
Oh boy do I remember..I remember saying on these very forums, "This is the start of something bad.." and was told I was over reacting, etc. I'll see if I can find the post. It was from 2006-07.