I recently attended a NightOwls meetup in Tel Aviv and had the same reaction. I still plan on attending events like this, because:
1. I can program at home any night.
2. Hackathons allow collaborating in person with other hackers. This is much more valuable to me than pure programming.
3. Hackathons are perfect places to find co-founders and developers, because they mix of programming and networking. I can demo apps and informally meet the people behind them all at once.
Edit: In all fairness, NightOwls isn't meant to be a hackathon. I used it as an example because it emphasizes working and getting things done.
The night owls concept is generally a fairly short event to, so most people don't come expecting to get to much done rather to work in a bit more relaxed environment and interact with other like minded people. (In the Melbourne version anyway).
1. I can program at home any night.
2. Hackathons allow collaborating in person with other hackers. This is much more valuable to me than pure programming.
3. Hackathons are perfect places to find co-founders and developers, because they mix of programming and networking. I can demo apps and informally meet the people behind them all at once.
Edit: In all fairness, NightOwls isn't meant to be a hackathon. I used it as an example because it emphasizes working and getting things done.
http://www.meetup.com/Tel-Aviv-Nightowls/