Cuba's Underground Gaming Network

[@Qrofol]

Citywide LAN party? Sounds cool as hell.

[@MadJackChurchill1312]

Citizens making an open source intranet solution for everyone. THAT is innovation.

[@sethmweber]

This is what true gaming journalism looks like, not sitting in an office 95 percent of the time typing press releases and talking to PR people. Journalism is going out into the world and connecting with people and telling everyone about those connections, and you have done that splendidly.

[@Ram-lr6ud]

I'm Cuban (from a different city) and this is all true. I used to play WoW with homemade antenas and usb-wifi. It was really a great thing, because since the community on the servers is so small, you can actually get to meet them in person and have a lot of fun. So it had the benefits of gaming without all the social struggles it can bring. We also had a social-network called "the social" with no more than 100 active users, where, once again, you felt more safe and warm than when you use facebook.

[@indigo5577]

That sounds really cool, I wish it was like that in my community

[@gahjaggshia1944]

I use the social too r u from Holguín ???

[@prestigedoggy7624]

Imagine getting in a argument with someone in Cuba online and saying “I know where u live” and then walking a few blocks to their house

[@rokedurisimo4794]

I am proud to be one of the creators of snet

[@bucharestbiketraffic]

Jesus - Connecting People...

[@StrifePulse]

I was looking for this comment

[@GermanAnimeStriker]

The only Private Server Blizzard wouldnt be able to take offline xD

[@alamosh]

"Downloading one game here, 1 GB..." *Dramatic hand gesture* "... Long time." As someone who grew up with shitty dial up from the mid '90s, I completely felt his pain.

[@Mass40KGaming]

Somebody ship these guys a HDD full of games!

[@Franzsyztem]

I was born in Cuba and I've been going pretty regularly. Last time I went was 3 months ago after a 5 year hiatus. I was so impressed by the networks my cousins and their friends had setup in our small town , Just so they could play Call of Duty and DOTA. Thanks for making this.

[@brunovaz]

Next: North Korea Underground gaming community Hardcore independent journalism

[@sluggdiddyyddidgguls]

(drew has already been to north korea in case you weren't aware)

[@PEST__]

As a Cuban that came to America years ago I am happy to see how Cuban s are very smart and work around real word issues thank you for spotlighting my Beautiful country And the amazing people that live there

[@MeAuntieNora]

"The alcohol in a paper bag of connectivity." Brilliant as always, guys.

[@dev.matiGOD]

17:00 -Translator: "Somebody travels to anoter country, they buy games.." - Cuban: "a lot of them (games) are pirated" a good translation there

[@mbe102]

Damn, is there any way to help or donate to SNET? I've got a Diploma in Network Admin, and 14 years in IT, I'd love to help these guys. Thats a beautiful thing they're doing.

[@ajballa555]

id be down to buy a 2tb hdd and jus send them a shit ton of lan games as well

[@Maldito011316]

It is really freaking awesome

[@iNerdier]

Likewise, I would love to help.

[@Naher1mne1utub]

in russian in late 90-early 2000 almost every little town had some sort of local nets like this

[@GTK_Aztech]

This is truly incredible. It really shows how us in the US so easily take our access to something as ubiquitous as the internet for granted. Power to our Cuban gaming brethren!

[@zahariaconstantin8690]

The BorgChat is a chat made in Romania. Nice to see a Romanian software running in Cuba. Last update for the software is from 2013 :)

[@napalmman8292]

Foreigner: I can't access to internet Cuban: Call Jesus for help Foreigner: Wait...What?!

[@arrilocknewmoon9620]

16:36 He says "Remember when they got caught selling a gun?" Kinda glad they didnt translate that lol

[@TheFlatronify]

This video really shows the importance of LAN capable games and being able to host your own servers. Not everyone in this world is privileged to be connected 24/7 to someones 'cloud'. I hope game developers will someday come back to the good old times of LAN games!

[@dreammfyre]

This reminds me of the late 90s/very early 00s, when having access to something like cable or ADSL(with a flat rate!) was almost magical.

[@JamesSmith-ui1iu]

It reminds me so much on the days in East Germany before the wall fell. I remember the village priest traveling to West Germany buying two satellite receiver and antennas with the money collected from a small neighborhood. The electricians in the neighborhood built the main station and the signal distributors, the welders built the tower and the rest helped digging trenches for the cables. We connected about 150 houses with West German TV. For those who don't know, yes that was perfectly legal in East Germany after around 1988. Great collective work, people helped each other because they had to. The wall fell, capitalism arrived and by about 1992 many of the neighbors got into fights and arguments. Some neighbors did well after the wall fell, some did ok, some had a hard time. Jealousy took over and the spirit of helping each other died quickly. If you needed something you could just go and buy it, rather than asking a friend or neighbor.

[@kiaayo]

"It's not really a felony. Per se."

[@stoutlager6325]

Yeah, you know, there's always differences between what the letter of the law says and what local law enforcement have the will or motivation to enforce. Sometimes, and this appears to be the case in Cuba, law as written is not quite compatible with the local infrastructure and economy, so blind spots form to accommodate. Growing pains of new tech entering an old system.

[@ClothMap]

Legendas em português! Subtítulos en español!

[@luccaskammer]

Cloth Map os fãs do Brasil agradecem! 🇺🇸 Brazilian fans say thank you!

[@geoandre3082]

Thanks for that!

[@slavickvega8461]

Gracias por los subtitulos! Tienen muy buen contenido.

[@MrEladren]

That is awesome Drew!, now i can share clothmap with way more people!

[@juliusalimari]

Melhor canal do youtube! Best KZbin Channel!

[@texanplayer7651]

Jesus in 30 AC : "Drink this wine, for this is my blood, and eat this bread, for this is my body" Jesus in the 21st century : "Come to my place, for this is my WiFi tower, and join this game, for this is my LAN party"

[@crckdns]

only 27ms from node to client? wow ok, I thought it would be slower.. that is faster than our connections 20 years ago..and this is everything "self-made" ! I'm impressed :)

[@seemaverma4616]

Man, playing with your neighborhood friends on a local network where new games are shared by one device to many devices in copies is just a beautiful nostalgia. There is no better gaming experience than playing with your homies.

[@pepegalvan_]

This history almost made me cry... is amazing seeing how people help each other even for a “simple thing” as gaming, I’m stunned!

[@metalsnakezero]

No matter what, people will find a way. I'm happy, as a part Cuban, that my people are this resourceful.

[@MadJackChurchill1312]

metalsnakezero You absolutely should be. Incredible people power.

[@latinsizer]

I really like when you cover the gaming cultures of different countries. It is a really unique and refreshing content from the usual 'let's play' and 'review videos' that inundates KZbin. I can tell the hard work you put into your videos, as they are really high quality and looked like they could easily be part of a televised show.

[@DouglasButner]

This is pretty incredible. As a non-gamer web developer, I can see these networks being used for things closer to the "craigslist" clone, for markets, community decisions, meetings, etc.

[@zackhype]

This is amazing. I'd really love to learn more about the technical side of this. These Cubans are building stuff I always dreamed about. Decentralised mesh networks over metropolitan areas. In theory, impossible to control or shutdown so long as you can keep physically building more nodes.

[@MrAuggiemetalo]

We have it good in the US ... I don't want to hear shit the next time you cant get a signal in some space or your own house. These guys are innovative, and could have been making money but they are working together to grow. Cheers guys this made my day.

[@theson.6952]

Honestly, this is without a doubt one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

[@fatjesus1584]

I LOVE homegrown stuff like this. Just community cooperating and putting the work in so they can hang out and so stuff together.

[@lolstrup]

This was awesome. Before they had widespread local networks like this, there used to be "publishers" of a weekly or monthly USB HDD that would be passed around the town (duplicated along the way), loaded with all sorts of good stuff from the outside world. Movies, TV shows, games, news, books - all kinds of media! The principle behind the internet can truly find its way into any society.

[@marcelof3530]

16:30 "te acuerdas cuando estaban vendiendo una pistola?" xD

[@100db_Audio]

Man, this actually made my eyes water up. People could do really beautiful things when we come together. We seriously need to know who the admins are cause I'm down to send them some networking stuff.

[@kvk1]

This is the best Cloth Map video yet. Genuinely fascinating stuff, and beautiful country.

[@rcurielh]

Jesus is a genius. MIT should give him a free scholarship!

[@RazielCuts]

I'd say this is your most interesting video yet, Drew. So fascinating to see what the internet is in other countries, and what we take for granted. I look the resourcefulness of starting your own internet, and being a non profit, for games service with the local community around you.

[@RollingExistence]

Great content. Hopefully these guys don't get in any trouble. I bicycle toured for a couple weeks in Cuba back in January and it was a wonderful country, the people were fantastic.

[@geoandre3082]

I loved this one, i want to go to Cuba, their sense of community is incredible.

[@codeshard]

We (I'm Cuban, I live in the east of the country) also have a lot of communitu based services: such and RSS Feeds, Indexers, microblogging, social networks, FTPS, collaborative apps stores, and we had our own, let's say, Netflix, mostly for free or for about 2 USD a month.

[@eannatone]

This is amazing on so many levels as an I.T. person.

[@rahulraj39]

As an IT guy my self I am really impress my heart felt numb

[@Atarix777]

Awesome Video, awesome project. This remainds me of the late 90's... We had very often a 150 person LAN running, and it was fun as hell. These guys are living my past, and somehow i really felt like beeing again a teenager while watching this :D

[@michaelinglis8516]

It's a shame they are in a position to have to do that but it should be a huge source of Cuban pride that they have become so self sufficient. Whether connecting to each other on computers or building a vehicle out of an old run down washing machine they'll find a way. Imagine what they could accomplish without all the restrictions. But then again limitations breed creativity.

[@amyperez5527]

I was born in Cuba and I'm so so happy to see what you guys have created! I'd love to play dota 2 over there

[@jonathanhestroffer4469]

Probably still faster than Comcast + AT&T

[@juliusalimari]

That´s an incredible Journalistic work. Amazing how they created their own network.

[@cubanbloodYT]

this video bring me back to when i was on that network, thank so much bro for this video...

[@romagnolo]

Man, I love your work! I only wish you the best! Hugs from Brazil.

[@ToyRifle]

I fondly remember the good old times with LAN and Warez, in Scandinavia. This is amazing!

[@Skyrilla]

Well that was interesting. Almost looks cyberpunky, buncha internet cables and radio towers poking out amidst palm trees and old Havana cars and streetlights, DIY weird hub/DSL/cable hybrid internet and networking

[@RobinOttens]

This was fascinating. Also, the irony of calling this an 'underground' network made me chuckle

[@Cptn-Coconut]

This is really impressive, the lengths to which these people go, just to be able to connect with each other and enjoy their passion for gaming is really something else. Shows just how resourceful and united gamers can be, even in the most restrictive environments.

[@alongjunor7729]

they gain the knowledge of computer networking because of computer games. that's how i thought myself about computer..because of games.. thanks dad for our first windows95 pc that you bought for us..it is the greatest gift that i have in my life. :)

[@ricudosama674]

This guy was going to cry because of this: 12:55 This situation really makes me want to cry too!

[@LukeExists]

Incredible! These videos just keep getting better and better.

[@redromina]

I am Cuban, born in the US. Finally went to Cuba for the first time and documented the whole thing. It was SURREAL. Glad you liked the country of my people. If anyone wants to know more about visiting Cuba, feel free to ask me questions! (:

[@metalsnakezero]

This may be a bit much to ask but is it possible to trace family lines back to Cuba or is it not possible? I only know my Grandma was from Cuba and my DNA test showed my family line came from Spain but that much I know.

[@justinw1384]

How was it to travel there? Anything to be aware of as far as travel to and from the US?

[@mrmook3001]

How would one import one of those old cars back to the US?

[@leonar2xd121]

Buen video,uno de los mejores q eh visto sobre nuestra red ,saludos de parte de un integrante de Snet !

[@surrealengineering7884]

These guys really deserve a lot of respect, making the best of a bad situation. Doing what they can for a better tomorow. This makes you really appreciate freedom of speech!

[@Wladislav]

Awesome work, Drew and Joey!

[@teekomeeko]

It's a beautiful thing they are putting together for gamers. Cuban peoples' technical mastery over what limited resources they can scrounge together is always amazing.

[@cybrpypr]

This was a great documentary. Thanks for showing how people's enginuity and necessity for communication and technology has made it possible for the people of Havana to have access.

[@Perjoss]

If the network isn't connected to the internet I guess that would mean they are running some kind of World of Warcraft private server?

[@MadJackChurchill1312]

Sergio Xisto *Blizzard helicopters fly overhead*

[@Barkend3]

It is a private server running the Mists of Pandaria expansion (was live between 2012 and 2014). At 6:26 you can see them doing a battleground, an end-game PvP content, with level 90 characters. This was the level cap during the MoP expansion.

[@ThiagoQuintoMartins]

Yes. The same for other games.

[@codeshard]

We (I'm Cuban, connected to one SNET on the east of the country) use to build our own private servers, if we can't download a decent private server from the Internet. We use TrinityCore Open Source MMO Framework, from GitHub. It's free and open source.

[@neilb3553]

Ozkar Garcell u guys got any vanilla servers?

[@fakuu122]

16:30 "you can buy anything in this page, a car... te das cuenta de que estan vendiendo una pistola?" traduction: "u know theyre selling a gun?"

[@tookarrowknee]

At 16:37, Roberto says "Te acuerdas cuando estaban vendiendo una pistola (...)" this translates to "do you remember when they were sealing a pistol? What a fucking nice video man, kinda wish i could go to Cuba and leave a pen drive with 500 gbs worth of games. like baldurs gate, mass effect 1 and such.

[@leonblittle226]

Would be nice to know how they run the DHCP/DNS for 20,000 connections off what looks like some really old kit. You feel the sudden need to ship them a ton of ex-corporate networking gear which might be getting long in the tooth here but would be a 10fold upgrade on what they have going.

[@tetragrammaton3]

10:10 The legend of zelda breath of the wild on the PC. Is he running dolphin? edit: Zelda at 14:24 Nice to see our cuban brothers getting their game on. :)

[@vincentwarte4435]

Funny thing is, the 4G Etecsa network in Havana has a higher average bandwidth than the 4G network in Germany. Unfortunately, it's expensive as hell.

[@beattheovenludwigvan]

the saying "life finds a way" really is true

[@Mementomori7920]

I love my country Cuba thanks for this documentary asere i really like it

[@Dave_Nosdivad]

OK! I'll stop to complain about internet in Brazil and Australia. GREAT WORK DREW!!!

[@TurtleSauceGaming]

Hope to see Cuba one day. Be cool to see this for myself.

[@pepeborrego8006]

This gaming network isnt just in Havana. Here in Holguín, we have one, smaller yes, but equally effective: easily 12-13 users maybe less maybe more. You're welcome to check it out. The only-and main difference- is that here some admin does charges to up to 5 CUC($5) to connect you to the HLG (our city network)

[@burritobowl0190]

like first 5 seconds immediately got a good designed vibe

[@tatwo_]

Ah... Reminds me of early 2000's when me and my friends were having LAN parties. It was always pain in the ass to get things working for everyone.

[@Silenthe]

I love how they say "cheating"

[@chdreturns]

Cubans are resourceful people... Honestly I have them pegged as a hotspot of invention.

[@arrilocknewmoon9620]

Honestly I wld love to create a Snet here in the US, just locally or citywide. It seems like it would be really fun to use and maintain!

[@6shnuggle6]

This is community spirit. All those issue you see around the world can be solved a lot if a community get together and help each other achieve a goal (grow food, farms, security, buildings, sports, just about anything). Unfortunately we live in world where social media keeps us close digitally as long as we stay away from each other physically.

[@williamliu9133]

Thats insane... Citizen powered mesh network

[@geogmz8277]

I cannot even imagine what a Broadcast storm on that Network will be lol

[@wesleylima8901]

this is f@$#% amazing, those are true gamers, fight the power!!!!!

[@TheSonicWafflez]

Fantastic Documentary Drew, the homemade internet section was fascinating.

[@VerlixStone]

This is really outstanding stuff. To have such love for your community is something really special is rare. Making me even more proud to be half Cuban.

[@juliomaldonadomourelle6245]

Any foreigner can purchase a card, a national is NOT needed. You should ask for a temporary card, instead of a permanent one. Temporary cards (the one that you purchased in the video) are one-use cards, and are not restricted to Cuban nationals, indeed ETECSA recommends those for tourists. The permanent ones are the Nauta cards, which are tied to a common id i.e: [e-mail] and are rechargeable, so you can use it for life. The ID thing was imposed by ETECSA to prevent people from purchasing cards for resale and depleting the cards available in the booth. What was happening before the ID-request is that guys like the one with the LA cap get there early, purchase ALL the cards available for sale, and then resale them twice its price right there in the front of the ETECSA booth.

[@TwodeeTwodimensional]

Their whole internet situation is fascinating. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

[@BigDelta5403]

Can confirm, this kind of things happened in Holguín too.

[@fp2231]

Dude has a rig that can run ARMA 3? I am hella impressed.

[@pedroviskinho]

This is so underrated, really great quality content!

[@elha7982]

Cool. We have that in Austria too, it's called "Funkfeuer". Though it's mainly wireless

[@fragonard]

Drew, this was fascinating, keep up the great work!

[@TweakedTay]

Cuba is a fantastic country. If anyone here ever gets the chance to visit, don't hesitate!

[@thelazylionsden8539]

so basically they started with LAN parties , OG's :)

[@justsomeone382]

Roberto deserve the respect for his honesty and loyalty.. gaming cant be as bad as doing drugs, alcohol, and all other wrong things.. just Fun going on. .. really awesome..

[@jennifermackinnon6982]

Fantastic. The Cuban people are so ingenuitive, so amazing in so many ways..I see people on here asking how they can donate to this group. Can you please give them an answer?