Are those still a thing? thought that faded into time.

https://smg.net.nz/lan/index.php

They are very much so just less common today.  Online gaming and Fibre did a pretty good job of killing them but it will never replace the social aspect of a Lan.

Mates and I still get together at least once a year for some good old LAN gaming, otherwise its all Steam based.

I think there are still some large LAN parties that pop up but theyre usually a hardcore group of regulars.

Ahh yes, LAN parties. I remember them well. Spend the first hour just chatting, the second hour arguing about what game to play, the third hour trying to get everyone on the same version (often a challenge when some people have a pirated copy that can't be updated and others have a legit one), the fourth hour drinking an entire 1.5 litre Mountain Dew, the fifth hour actually playing something, and the sixth hour trying to sleep and wondering why you pumped yourself with a week's worth of caffeine all at once.

We skipped this phase because we couldn't find any WLAN cables anywhere. So we had hour 1 and hour 4 only, nothing else. And we could sleep quite well. Efficient. 😉

Most recent one I went to was 2017, before that 2011, before that 2003. 

Regrettably family, work, house maintenance, all comes before gaming for everyone my age! 

Not everyone got married had kids and has a regular job after 40.

SMG as previously mentioned and TCOSY are the only ones I know are still active.

Are you on the TCOSY discord by any chance?  Im that guy that's been posting regularly lol.

I believe in the future LAN's will make a come back because alot of youngsters today are taking an interest in things of the past for example records.  There is already a growing but niche area in retro LAN's.