For me, I find parties at the niche conventions I go to the most fun. At these conventions are tons of like minded people who are into the same weird stuff and it's easy to do get togethers after days at speakers and exhibits and have great conversations. The problem with the modern world is people who live next to each other aren't really forced to be in the same culture. Especially in big cities, everyone plugs in and lives in their strange niche no one else cares about or worse polarized echo chambers.
I think that's a pretty good observation. The real trouble is finding a common interest when cultural boundaries are incredibly fluid. And there's plenty of competition for your attention span (including the attention span required for the prep/commitment involved with parties).
I've considered going to DEFCON or that one quirky convention at CMU to network in my niche.
