SPENDING time with your eyes glued to the laptop could be seen as antisocial, but for the kids of Whittlesea it is becoming one of the greatest new social tools in town.

The Kaleidescope Neighbourhood House’s LANGames (Local Area Network Games) program held its first LANParty last week, with 12 teens turning out to pit their wits against their friends.

The networked games program was developed by a steering committee of young people and enables those who have their own computer to go along to the house and plug in and those who do not have a computer to access the house’s resources.

Kaleidescope’s Annette Sims said the program was great low-budget entertainment for local youth.

“Several of the kids are from families that were burnt out by the bushfires, and having low-cost activities where they can meet with friends and do things they enjoy in a supervised but informal environment is a vital part of their recovery that we want to support,” she said.

And while the basis of the program is computer games, parents can rest assured that there’s no “blow ’em up, shoot ’em up” focus in the sessions.

Through a grant received from Whittlesea City Council, the house had been able to purchase several games for the sessions that were completely age-appropriate Ms Sims said.

“They are mostly strategy games, which work really well with the networking, and the kids get to mentally challenge each other. There are some first-person target and shooting games but they are not graphically violent in their content,” she said.

Ms Sims said the LANGames program would continue to run every Tuesday night from 6pm until 8pm, ending with an overnight party during the term 3 school break.

“We are hoping to attract more funding, or even just some volunteer adult supervisors, so we can keep it going past this term,” she said.

Local youth aged 10 to 18 years are invited to participate in the program but, with places limited to 20, bookings are essential.

For more information phone 9716 3361.