Even within the U.S., LAN parties were never that common. The images have become romanticized in recent years, but back then for every LAN party there were dozens, if not hundreds, of “hey such and such got that new game, let’s go over other house and play it on their [insert 90’s console].” The rose-tinted glasses have caused people to see them as more prevalent and important than they actually were.

Throughout the 80s and 90s, people just went to the arcades, and you didn't necessarily had to play the arcades to actually hang out with people or watch other people play. There's a bit of rewriting of history where gaming is viewed through a console/PC lens when arcades were the dominant form of gaming until the late 90s/early 00s.