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Growing up, my way to make money for the summer was playing RTS games competitively at LAN parties and regional/national tournaments - way before e-sports were a thing outside of South Korea.

I met people from the internet at big LAN parties, I got introduced to the demoscene, wargames / CTFs and a whole lot of other things that shaped my career; I even ended up dating girls from that world.

Is there anything equivalent to the old internet cafe for kids these days? Or (active) IRC channels, for the matter.

[seanp2k2]

Yes. Come to Defcon and/or QuakeCon in the US. There are others around the world, but I'm assuming you're in the US. It all still exists and young people are still into it. The tech scene is just huge now so this stuff is kinda considered niche / underground, but it's still definitely a thing.