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Building The Ideal Geek Gaming Center?
MongooseCN writes "After seeing the popularity of multiplayer gaming and the desire for fellow geeks to find better means of socializing, I've decided to open up a geek gaming center. It would allow people to play games together in the same building, and to talk and hang out too. I know there are a few of these places already, but few of them have taken into consideration what people want to see in these centers. Most of them open with only the owner's opinion of what would make the place fun. Some don't even allow people to hang out, since they charge by the hour. So what I want to know is what the /. community would like to see in a place like this. I want to start a gathering place for other like minded, techno-savvy geeks. What games, gaming systems/hardware, etc should it have? What would make it a fun place to hang out and meet other people?"
Lots of Soda machines
This Space for Rent.
As a younger geek businessman I ran the numbers on such a place and tried to operate one back in the days of 386/486s. It may seem easy on the surface to run such a center, but make sure you factor in administration (some automated method to reload the machines from images in particular), hardware replacement costs (these centers are *hard* on equipment, due to the "it isn't mine attitude") and general manpower requirement to supervise sales and usage.
If you have already considered these things, there are some things you can do that increase your revenue and customer retention:
#1 - Snack bar/coffee shop (depending on your demographic). This should be a separate space adjacent to the computers (allowing drinks and electronics to coexist is not for the weak). You will need a different license to serve food.
#2 - Adequate space for people to chill out. Atmosphere is key here to retain people and bring them back. Consider TVs like you see in sports bars, except maybe some can be showing the action in the game area. Remember the restrooms: don't make them some pit of dispair... people will avoid coming back.
#3 - Special events. People will filter in and out, but on those slow days (Monday through Thursday, normally) having special events like tournaments is key to keeping an adequate number of paying customers.
As far as hardware, you need to run games well, but not to bleeding edge. Since you will replace hardware every year (although the old hardware can then be tasked with server duty or older games), buy something in the mid range. Don't skimp on monitors though: large displays are a good investment, as they will last 3-5 years. Optical mice (no cleaning required, more precision) and throwaway keyboards (they take tons of abuse). Forget about joysticks, they are mostly obsolete, and were a huge expense back in the day.
You can also consider consoles to augment the PCs: many have great multiplayer support, and on a LAN they rock. Just remember that console or PC, it has to be in a locked cabnets and thus is a pain to change out games), or you can kiss your investment goodbye. (Even with locked cabnets we lost games all the time, usually to brute force attacks, but sometimes to "could you switch this game/distraction created" events).
As far as layout of the game area, I personally prefer semi private quarter cubicles (obscures line of site to the monitor, but not the people) arranged in circles. Remember good office chairs if you want people to remain for long periods of time.
Sig under construction since 1998.
If you want to run a business, you need turnover. Let people hang out, and they will take advantage by bringing in starbucks and filling your ashtrays. There is a reason that the only places that you know about charge by the hour.
duh.
I'm sure if a geek ever manages to to bring a girl home, an ultimate geek gaming center, would probably fail to impress
A cafeteria/coffee shop. Something that sells snacks and coffee.
Also, the ability for groups to book the place way into the wee hours of the morning. There's a place here where you can book the place for an entire weekend, and I don't just mean 9 to 5. I mean Friday evening starting at 7 until sunday evening at 10.
You're going to want some sort of pricing range that keeps things profitable for you, but doesn't keep gamers away that might not be able to afford games at home. You will probably want to go for more customers at a lower price, because the social "LAN-party" atmosphere is what makes such places fun. You probably won't want to do it on a hourly basis (who wants a time limit playing games?), and maybe have a monthly or yearly pass option available to those that want it. Really, your main profit should come from extras like snacks, just like movie theaters do.
Also, if you aren't setting this up in a town big enough, you can pretty much bet that it's going to fail relatively quickly.
Good luck,
--Stephen
Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
You know, I had been thinking about this for a very long time. I think that it would have to have a small cafe area where people can socialize freely and watch current games on monitors (almost like a sports bar). Maybe having it multileveled, gamers downstairs and public viewing/cafe upstairs (almost like an ice skating rink near where I live). Then have several different areas for gaming. A general area with individual gaming units. Some small 4-6 player rooms where teams can play in private. Perhaps another quiet room catering to business travelers and/or students doing research and in need of printers/scanners/fax etc. Have another area set aside to sell software(games, productivity, etc.) and older used computer systems. You may be able to use usb flash drives to store user information (profiles, scores, configuration files) which they can just plug into a computer if they are a frequent user. All nice and dandy but it's quite a bit for just a gaming center. In any case, I wish you the best of luck and perhaps one day, I'll show up ready to frag.
Geeks need a place that embraces all the major echelons of geekery.
Do not go all PC or all Mac or all Unix or all Linux.
Have a variety of games availiable on the computers, from FPS to MMORPGs.
Have consoles!
Charge when they leave, have memberships, give the first hour free.
Allow them to have bottled drinks. (have cupholders, away from the keyboard).
You may gain extra income by selling video games too, and if you name it right, merchandise will sell.
Good luck!
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
A favorite place for me and my fellow IT'ers to hang out at after work is a place called GameTime Nation. What they offer are lots of comfy couches and flat screen (not panel) displays to play the games on. The hardware is a choice of X-Box and PS2 on each machine. With soda/candy for sale and booming hip hop music plus eps of Red Vs Blue projected on the wall the place is a great geek hangout. It has apparently developed a large-ish social network of young hip-hopsters who play (what seems to be) mostly Halo and cheer and jeer each other on voiciferously. It'd be nice to find a correlate that had networked PC hardware, but thus far this place is the best I've found of this type. The one I go to (I think it's a chain) is on 13th (12th? don't go there that often) street between 3rd and 4th Aves in the best city in the world. Close to the Astor Place subway, walkable from Union Square.
Quod scripsi, scripsi.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.
Don't forget console games! A great idea for a place like you describe would be to have an area for console gaming, with some couches, big TVs and several game systems and games to choose from. This would also be good for tournaments and the like.
I know I would like to go to a place where I could place Super Smash Bros or Soul Caliber with a bunch of people. Consider a liquor liscence as well. It would be great to go to a place where you could have a few beers and play some games (a la Dave & Busters).
Be wary that the licenses for most games don't allow you to just install them on the computers and char people to play. You will need to make special deals with the software publishers, or else just keep quiet and hope they don't sue you. =)
Also remember that many geeks genuinely prefer the oz curtain of sitting behind a terminal with nobody else around.
To atract all the true gameing geeks you would have to have two thinks, a real old Super street firghter arcade machine(which many geeks would pay good money just to come and see, none the less play) And an arcade machine with nethack;) Not sure hoe common those are, but:P there's got to be one somewhere!
Their benefits? They're cheap and still loads of fun. And you could make the older consoles cheaper to play, if you so desired. In any case, it wouldn't take too long to get a return on your investment.
At the very least, I'd suggest getting an N64 and a Dreamcast, each with some of the best multiplayer games available. The N64 has a ton of awesome games, but the four required titles are Super Smash Brothers, Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64, and Perfect Dark. Those four alone have given millions of hours of entertainment to gamers worldwide.
I don't have very much Dreamcast experience, but having a console running the old Capcom fighters (I particularly like the Marvel Vs. Capcom and Street Fighter Alpha series for the DC) would be a great thing.
Heck, if you really wanted to, get a Genesis with all of the old sports games. Get an NES with all of the classic games - Mario, Ice Climbers, Excitebike, Tetris...Go wild! No matter what, older consoles will STILL be cheaper for you than the newer ones, even if the supply of new games is nonexistent.
Go retro...it's cheap, and there are still plenty of gamers who love older consoles. Besides...a game never loses its fun as it ages. :)
Goo goo g'joob.
Does anyone play board and card games socially anymore?
You should run Counterstrike, etc tournaments every once in a while. Helps bring in the people. And people are going to be hard on equipment, so standardize. Select a good gaming system, and buy a lot of them. When you do this, call around. If Dell, Gateway, HP know that you're standardizing on their equipment, they might give you a discount, because their name is going to be all over the place. Take one computer, install what you want on the hard drive, then Ghost the installation to all the other computers. If a computer happens to get a virus or something, just reGhost it.
/. article a while back about a failed tourny, learn from it's failures. Numero uno, cache server. If you're running Steam or something and it needs updates, download the update to a local cache server, then have the client machines "pull" it from the cache server. Two, huge pipeline to the Net. Games like CS can take up a LOT of bandwidth.
There was a
You probably won't make too much money off the computer and game usage; make the most money off refreshments, etc. In the hours that gamers are gone (school) perhaps turn it into a Net Cafe. And atmosphere is key. A little on the dark side, toned down colors, flashy lights, etc. And remember, sell Bawls. This stuff is so full of caffeine I know gamers who live off it, and think nothing of drinking 6-7 of them in one sitting.
A pretty good resource for how to and lots of helpful stff available (at a price) from igames.org
A ten meter air weapons range, four or five point. Quite fun, though it probably wouldn't attract geeks only. Not necessarily a bad thing for a business.
Make sure there is adequate ventilation and a bunch of automatic air fresheners. Seriously. While it might be a broad generalization, anyone who spent time down in the WotC center on the Ave in Seattle will know what I'm talking about.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
As much as many geeks like to claim form follows function, a lot of us are closet artists. Sure, that extra fan keeps your machine cooler, but admit it, the window was just for show!
The first gaming center I ever visited was Dig' Ops in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They're located downstairs in one of those little hole-in-the-wall spaces you find in an old city. It was less than brightly lit inside, which seems camp now, but it honestly added to the atmosphere then. You see, the dim lighting made it just a bit hard to discern the strange shapes of the black metal cube that dominated the center of the room.
The cube had people sitting in it. Four on the bottom, and four mostly on top. The design supported stairs, monitors, keyboards, mouse shelves, and the most interesting seats I've ever experienced. Down the central column were the computers and all the wiring for the audio comm system. The whole thing was made of black iron pipe, and it just exuded an intense feel of industrial tech.
I've never been much of a gamer, but I'd go there just because it had such an amazingly cool atmosphere. I ended up playing more than my share of Action Quake because of it. The midnight-to-whenever time block, which had to be specially reserved, was my usual excuse to indulge in way too much caffeine.
At some point, D. Ops decided to dismantle the cube and replace it with much more mundane seating arrangements based on aluminum channel frames. The games were still fun but I couldn't find an excuse just to show up and play. I haven't been back in a year or two so I don't know what they've been up to lately.
Lately, I've been visiting LanLords in Howell, Michigan. They've also got an odd sort of interior design, with the seating "cubicles" made of ribbed steel sheet material. The machines are well equipped, and Sennheiser headsets make for an immensely comfortable gaming experience. I'm mostly there for the people rather than the games, though. The geek running the show picks the muzak, which is quiet enough that it's not distracting once you have the headphones on, but it keeps things interesting if you're just hanging out.
Digital Ops started out with an isolated network, but they added an internet connection before too long. Lanlords has had a fast pipe from day one, but some games still run locally to keep the pings absurdly low. Once in a while, the two centers will hold us-vs-them games across the internet, and the sense of local comradery is intense. If you're in the area, I highly encourage you to stop in.
Both places do a number of things right: Keep a fridge well stocked with various caffeinated and unleaded beverages. Let newcomers wander around for a while and watch before trying to turn them into customers. Wait for a break in the action before trying to organize a collective pizza order. Strictly enforce the no nose-picking rule.
The biggest factor that will keep people coming back to your center is the hardest one to control: If the "regular" gang is friendly, or if it's hostile to newbies, how do you encourage or change that behavior?
Good luck!
We had one place near us that was run by some college students. They rented a two-story auto center that had empty for about two years. The owner was willing to get anybody in there at that point.
They put folding tables in rows in what was the showroom area. Half of these tables were filled with gaming PCs. The other half of the tables had networking run to them and were left empty for BYOC gaming.
They turned the counter into a snack/coffee bar and sold geeks drinks like Jolt Cola. They put a couple racks in to sell gamer crack, oops, I mean Magic cards, and gaming books (D&D, Vampire, etc.). They also put more folding tables downstairs in the autobays and put used partitions up between the bays.
They charged three different hourly rates:
1) you could rent a place for your PC at one of the open tables.
2) You could rent one of their PCs.
3) You could rent one of the gaming rooms downstairs for role-playing or collectible card games. You got a discount if you paid a month at a time.
They also had monthly membership where you got unlimited play on one of their PCs for one monthly price.
They did very well for a year and the owner seriously jacked up the rent. About six months later, they graduated and closed shop.
I can't remember their pricing for the gaming (I went for RPG downstairs, not computer gaming), but I seem to remember $6 an hour? The gaming tables downstairs were $15-25 for a four hour block depending on the size of the area. The $25 area was usually used by the Warhammer guys.
Hope that gives you some ideas.
There are also 2 projectors which can either have PCs connected to them for movies or one on one comps, or for the inhouse PS2's.
People do hang out there occassionally who aren't playing, but there's no lounging space set aside.
Cameras are operated in all corners of the room for security and the images are available on the website so people who aren't there can see what's going on.
I won't give the URL in case it gets slashdotted. But if you're in wellington, you already know about it.
The reason girls and Windows users don't understand UNIX is because all the documentation is in Man files.
You'll want to make sure that you can find a way to keep lots of people interested, not just the FPS/RTS crowd.
Social games such as Dance Dance Revolution are good to increase clients of both genders, and across many ages. This also works well with some kind of snack bar since it will work up a good appitite.
You will never be a replacement for people who do their own home gaming. Be free with advice and information regading system upgrades and maintenance.
~D
This sig has been enciphered with a one-time pad. It could say almost anything.
You can tailor your place to attract a certain group, but that does not guarantee that you will get that clientele, since gaming has become so popular (10 years ago, if you said gaming in a public forum, people would have thought you were talking about gambling, now people ask which kind). For example, you are targetting true geeks, but instead, get blockhead gamer/jocks and dopeheads. So you have a less friendly, less geek-chic place. You still may make money, but the place does not have the dynamics you were looking for.
The questions are: are you willing to accept that to turn a profit, and is there anything you can do to prevent that if that is not what you want?
Dogma - "let's just say we'd like to avoid any empirical entanglements."
Since this is the most correct post so far, I'd just like to add some stuff to this post.
First, off, have adequate lighting in the computer room. The only places I'd seen that run LAN gaming always turn the damn lights off. Remember that you're not only trying to get geeks in the building, you're trying to get the common man in there too (operating a business trying to specficially target a niche is like trying to run a marathon after shooting yourself in the foot. You can do it, it's just gotten a lot less likely now.) as well as help change the overall perception of geekiness.
While I'll game with the lights low at home, that's not generally what we'd consider a "friendly" environment for younger gamers, or non-gamers. Plus, even gamers don't really want to be in dimly lit surroundings that aren't their own. You can save on the electric bills by getting some of the low-energy, longer lasting bulbs, while keeping the place nicely lit.
I'd combine your snack area and the break area. In Japan the internet/gaming cafes I went to brought food to you, but considering they, as a society tend to keep businesses and such fetishistically clean, I'd concur with the above post and keep food and CPUs in seperate areas.
Stock all the consoles. Offer buybacks for games for store credit. Sell the buyback games you don't need on Ebay for a profit.
You probably want to staff a short-order cook. (Not a fancy-shmancy guy...someone who can be trusted to make smoothies, burgers, breakfast burritos, and nachos.) TV screens with a tethered remote (VERY important. If I'm the guy with the screen showing the CS action, and I'm the Average Joe trying to watch the Lakers game, I'm going to be less-than-thrilled...the tether keeps the remote from accidentally wandering off.) make the place friendly. Stock some magazines.
Also, hire janitors. Janitors do a much better job of cleaning stuff than the standard apathetic high-school student forced to wear the cashier hat and the janitor hat. Cleanliness makes your place much more conducive to return visits.
While we're on the topic of hiring, hire some women. Don't go all out trying to hire really good looking ones, just some decent looking women who have a knowledge of things geek. If they main adequate decorum, they can be a boost to return rates, without you having to be exploitative..just get a good mix of people in there. People who like your business idea, but aren't misanthropes. Simpsons Comic Book Guy is just going to get jumped in under a week.
On the other side of the coin, the people who don't know anything about games and don't care to learn are going to get chided out of the building. Have the right people on board is going to be key. You don't want EB syndrome, either.
Have people smoke outside, and make sure there's adequate ventilation. Computers + tons of bodies in seats = lots of hot air.
Most importantly...calculate out the numbers beforehand. Figure out what you're going to need to break even after determining exact operational costs and make sure you're charging enough. Have a promotional thing with a nearby school, or community college that has a draconian computer lab, and get people in to "beta" the store for you. That'll spread word of mouth, and you're set after that.
Good luck. Fight the good fight.
Netjak.com independent reviews of domestic & import video ga
Having worked at a few arcades, and played in quite a few tournaments, I would recommend the following....
tournament stuff
1. Run tournaments bi-weekly, either charge a fee to join, or charge per hour. Use this money to hand out prize money every week. It doesn't have to be a lot, $50-$100 will do. Break up the prize between 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Keep detail stats of all the tournaments, overall leaders per game, and overall leaders in all games. Break the year up into seasons, and offer a prize for points leader per season. Put all the results on your website, including pictures.
2. Have a "wow" factor thing in the place, a big screen TV hooked up to a computer will do it. Make it a prize to be able to use it, or rotate people getting to use it during tournaments that way everyone else can watch them. Arcade tournaments used to do this with big-screen arcade machines, they would put the higher seeded players on the big screen machines so everyone could see them.
3. Hire security when you know the place will be crowded. I'm serious, even if it's only 1 guy (an off duty cop will run you about $100 a night). You may think geeks are cool people and all, but I've seen fights break out a tournaments, players intimidated, etc. I recall a recent slashdot article about someone pulling a gun at a counter strike tournament. No one wants to go to a place like that.
4. If you are playing FPS games, See if you can arrange matches between a team made up of the best players from your place with another cyber cafe
5. Setting up consoles and such would be nice, but I'm not sure what fees are involved. You will need a licence in most states if you want to put in arcade games. Personally, as an old Mortal Kombat/Street Fighter player, a place where I could go play Fighting games and FPS games would rock. It might not be practical though.
6. Never let a player leave feeling ripped off by a tournament for any reason, they wont come back.
atmosphere
1. Keep the bathrooms, and the place in general clean. Someone else mentioned this, but it is very important.
2. Music is good, as long as it doesn't interfere with the games. Techno type music goes well with games but anything will do.
3. Have a snack bar with the standard junk food (burgers, cheesesteaks, pizza, etc) try to stock some exotic stuff too, (deep fried oreos, strange sodas, etc)
4. Cool lighting effects (dim, blacklight, etc) can be fun.
5. A lounge where people can just hang out, maybe with a small bookshelf and some board games (chess, checkers, etc).
6. Strange Animals can be cool also, one place I went to used to keep pirahana's in a pool up front. I have no idea why, but it was fun to throw popcorn to/at them.
don't think of it as a 'gaming center' think of it more as a racquetball-club type space.
have a coffee shop/snack bar in addition to vending machines (fountain drinks are cheaper for everyone)
have lots of 'chill' space that isn't necessarily in front of a screen. your most lucrative market will be people who are looking for somewhere to go spontaneously to find fun - not just dedicated gamers who want to walk in, plug in, and play. they might come to read a book, or study.
and don't lock down your layout. don't be anal about people pulling chairs over, moving couches, that sort of thing. you'll never know where the action will be, and you're always certain to have inadequate seating wherever it winds up.
don't be afraid of conventional bar-room games either, like a classic coinup cabinet (if you can get one) or a foosball table, pool table, or dart board.
include a library of movies to watch, and space for table-top games from pen-and-paper rpgs, to CCGs to risk, monopoly, or chess.
imo: run consoles for gaming (sorry, PCs are just too much administrative overhead). be platform agnostic as much as you can, but your big draws will not be single-player games. so concentrate on titles that are meant to be played with other people (double-dash >> sunshine or wind waker, cstrike >> kotor).
also, games that aren't your cup of tea or aren't flying off the shelves might well be other people's favorites, and your biggest draws. I've seen a pc gaming joint without any racing titles, and a console gaming house without any sports titles. Don't just grab something like nightfire cuz it moves more copies than counterstrike. Do the research.
have a suitable internet connection for online gaming, and encourage people to bring in their own memory cards or even entire controllers.
hold tournaments, even if they're only in-house. grant free time as prizes if you don't have cash.
have 'bring a friend for $5' day or something similar if you go for a membership option (and you probably should) - word of mouth is the greatest marketing tool and you want to make it cheap and easy to bring friends.
basically, the major failing i've seen all similar shops go through in my area, is that they stick to one type of gaming. they try PC multiplayer gaming, or pen-and-paper gaming, or console gaming. no-one brings it all together.
but put it in a tasteful location away from the main gaming action.
and pricing by the hour is rough, as the revenue stream is wholly unpredictable.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
I pay a monthly membership to my gym and get to work out as much as I want (which, as it turns out, isn't that much).
Give me a LAN center like that. My local one is $3/hr, which I guess is okay pricing for entertainment (say vs going to a movie or going bowling), but not if you do it ALL THE TIME like a lot of gamers do
/bin/fortune | slashdotsig.sh
As people are saying above, the concession stand's where you're going to make your money. If you want people to hang out, and you want to turn a profit, you have to sqeeze money out of the customers. Look at it this way. To survive, you need to make an average of X dollars per hour. Say you have N customers. That means you need to get an average of X/N dollars an hour. Most places do this by charging at actual fee per hour. You want to do it largely through other means. This will mainly consist of selling extra services to the customers. Like food. Make it a bit expensive; people will get it anyway, because it's convenient. Or, do what bars do. Have expensive beverages, and cheap salty foods to encourage drink sales. Also, see if you can do advertising or marketing angles. For example, see if a local computer game store might be interested in selling games to your customers to take home in exchange for a commision.
There's a local arcade around here, that does most of the things right...
I suppose, first of all, it provides a very comfortable atmosphere. Couches, lounge chairs, and carpeting are pretty much necessary. Also, it is very well lit.
I don't quite understand what the hell people are thinking when they say, "Give it atmosphere, make it a little on the dark side." Or whatever. That's crap. It's horrible when you're trying to play a PC game for the first time and you can't see shit because the place has "atmosphere." You want to be able to see if people are jacking your stuff and whatever else is going on in the place anyway.
The kind of atmosphere that a hang out really needs is one of like a room at home. Living room, your room, whatever. Give it lots of comfortable sofas and lounge chairs, ones that can be moved around at will. Keep the lights ON and up high so that you can see everything in the place. The music should stay down low enough so that you can hear other people, and what is going on in game.
Games that would be necessary... I'd say... go with DDR first of all. Give DDR an area and a couches for sweaty people to hang out on after doing all that work on the machine, or for people who just like to watch the asians go crazy on it. It's a fun social game, so give it what it needs.
As for the PC side, I suppose there's really no wrong way to set it up, as long as the games are easily accessible, and it's clear what you can do and what you can't do just by looking at the desktop on screen. Headphones would be good.
Consoles are also great fun, chain a few xboxes or ps2s together.. a lot of this stuff is probably easy for you to come up with. Pay by the hour, whatever.
Hey, it's my OPINION that dogs have eight legs and make a sound like a car horn every time they take a piss.
I'm not 100% sure this is feasable, but i just thought of it when reading a comment about stolen games... rather than giving out CDs and hoping to get them back, i would just keep all the images of the games on the HDDs of the computers (or a server) and use daemon tools or something to allow access. yeah it's a HDD hog, but it would mean less lost/scratches cds. alternately, burn copies to give to customers rather than giving out the originals. ;)
obviously you need to have the proper licenses to use the games, but that should be obvious
Right now, Foo is in trouble. The only people comfortable hanging out there are teenaged males tired of thrashing in the parking lot. As a result, the place is packed Friday and Saturday nights, and virtually abandoned the rest of the week. This despite Foo being two doors down from a fairly major movie theatre. The straw that's breaking Foo's back is that these mall-rats really don't have a lot of money to spend, so they buy an hour of game time, then sit around and talk and scare off potential customers.
In contrast, there's another place a few dozen miles away that has taken many of Slashdot's suggestions to heart. Blah (again, names changed), is a fairly large place with cream colored walls, potted plants, windows at the front of the store, a variety of seating arrangements, and the owners have even gone as far as to reward students with good report cards with free time on the computers. Right now, it's maybe 70% occupied every day with a nice mix of kids, adults and seniors, male and female. The only reason Blah isn't doing better is because Blah is tucked away in a strip mall in the midst of surbania.
I'm sure if you reversed Foo's and Blah's locales, both places would be doing a hell of a lot better than they are now.
Make sure to have some tables that have ethernet jacks and nothing more. Many gamers are a lot more comfortable using their home rigs (esp those who specifically design LAN ones) than locked down store-owned ones. Wireless can also come in handy. Keep plenty of network cable (little 6 foot ones) in stock. Get some of those USB network adapters (both wired and wireless) and rent them out for $5 or so for the duration of your stay.
Some sort of electronic membership card (w/ a mag stripe) could make time allotment easier.
If you go hourly, let people put as much money as they want on a card and use a punch in/punch out system to deduct. have the puncher at the door to help stop people from defrauding you and not punching in. you could also just lock out the PCs (or network ports) unless you swipe your card.
cards could also be used as gift cards, either to be sold (the perfect gift for the geek in your life) or as prizes from tournaments.
...and that's all there is to it.
I'm in the process of setting up some gaming machines for my workplace's lounge area, and have been considering trying to do an "Ask Slashdot" as to what software can be used to get around the need-the-cd problem.
I see Alchohol mentioned here, and I have a CD with versions of "Cybercafe Pro" and "Cafe Manila" on them, but I haven't checked them out. Can anyone suggest good software towards this end?
How many hours a day of computer time do you have to sell to cover your overhead - Space lease, employees, wear and tear on equipment. Now go down to one of those other places and ask them how many hours a day of computer time they're managing to sell. Whoops! Looks like none of them are making any money! You wanna do this as a hobby, fine. But don't expect to make any money (or even break even) while doing it.
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
An area with a couple computers dedicated to internet access would probably be appreciated by most gamers (check their email, etc). Perhaps a couple phones thrown in there as well.
I'd suggest using a membership model, like a YMCA, for several reasons.
1) People hate paying money. If you only ask them to do it once a month, they'll be happier.
2) If people make an investment for one month, they will keep coming back, making friends and getting attached to the place. Suddenly you have a returning customer base.
3) This gives you membership promotion models, like bring in a friend and get a month free.
4) You have a much better grasp of your financial status because you can say pretty much what your income is for each month.
5) You know who's coming in and out of the building - theft becomes harder.
6) If you want, you can let people charge drinks and snacks against their accounts, bring guests for $5 bucks a visit, and all of this convenience makes your customers happy.
Remember, most geeks have to have plenty of money to support their geekery, so they'll be happy to pay you reasonable fees for services and convenience. I believe there was another thread recently where someone cast the slashdot community as valuing their time much more than their money - I would posit that this is true of your target audience in general.
Yvan Eht Nioj!
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16 Xbox hooked up in System Link (Halo, Rainbow Six 3, Ghost Recon
...)
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Bawls
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PCs (this has already been covered in other posts)
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Lot's of tables and chairs for board game, collectable card games, role playing games,
... Maybe even for chess, who knows!
Also consider making your Gaming Center a store for theses geeks. Why not sell video games, collectable card games, figurines, comic books,Be sure to check well in advance with the city where you build this. The few acts of violence related to these places have caused a lot of cities to adopt regulations that apply to them. You might need additional parking (for example, city planners assume parking spaces turn over every 40 minutes in a retail center, and you want people there for hours, so you might need three times as many spaces available compared to a retail store in that space), additional security requirements, certain electrical and fire code requirements due to heavy electric demand and assembly of people, and so on. Other cities don't care so much, but you won't know until you go down to City Hall and ask. If you need a discretionary permit, that process usually takes at least a few months.
There's nothing worse than sticky keys when you try to play.
And use an antibacterial cleaner - if you have one geek with the flu, you could lose your whole base crowd for weeks at a time.
You might invest in a UV antibacterial light to store game controllers. Don't leave them plugged into the games - pass them out when someone wants to play.
And keep the place CLEAN. It'll smell better, look better, and be more comfortable to come back to.
Okay, a lot of the suggestions so far are completely worthless. First and foremost, you'll need to create an environment that people will not be embarassed to admit that they go to or to be seen going to. Like they say, sell the sizzle up front and the steak in the back. Your target audience is people with money, not gamers. Gamers most likely already have their own setup that they have spent hundreds of hours customizing and tweaking to their liking, and the mere thought of using an imaged machine makes their skin crawl. Second, take a look at the successful models that are out there. Arcades are okay, but they don't really generate much revenue. Dave & Busters, on the other hand, is a money making machine that is, at it's heart, an arcade. Why is this? D&B is adults only. You're not even allowed in the door if you're not 18, and then you have to be 21 to be allowed in without an adult supervisor. This may seem harsh and it may seem like you're abandoning your target demographic, but remember that your target demographic is people with money. Besides, D&B was successfull precisely because it didn't cater to kids. Honestly, how many adult 'closet gamers' are out there simply because they do not want to be associated with a 'childish' hobby? The age limit solves two problems: it weeds out the people without any money, and it automatically legitimizes the customer. They are no longer embarrassed to be seen there or to recommend the place to a friend. As a side note, it also reduces the amount of vandalism and theft that goes on with a younger crowd. That said, lets think about the actual setup of the place. Remember, sizzle up front, steak in the back. You want to show something that's easily accessible and universally appealing. PC's are generally not that. The average joe still doesn't know how to do much more than check e-mail and surf the internet, so don't worry about impressing people with advertisments of Gigahertz and frame rates. What you want to do is make it appealing to the average joe. Put some consoles up there where people can see them. Sell liquor. Have a projector or big screen showing the action that's going on right now, that the person walking by can come in, sit down, and join right away (of course, 'tis not always possible but make them think it is). Have comfortable, clean seating. Don't do dark. But not bright flourescent lighting, either. Starbucks is a good example. Soft light provides atmosphere without the dungeon-esque feel (which, really, everyone but a few people hate). Have some nice techinical areas in the back. Loaded PC's that are intuitively obvious. No one wants to spend 45 minutes just trying to figure out how to make the game run. Leave space for people to hook up their own PC and make sure to have a wireless network. DO NOT CHARGE BY THE HOUR. That is the simplest way to make people not come back, ever. I know it worked on me at a few places. Decide on either a credit/card system like Dave & Busters or an entrance fee. The entrance fee works well because you can then sell monthly or yearly passes as while not discriminating against the average 2 or 3 times per month customer. That's my advice. Skip the 'gamer' demographic becasue they're just too picky anyways. Stick to making gaming a cultural institution.
Do the monthy pass bit that others have suggested, but don't give people a mag stripe card. Give em an RFID card that they keep in their wallet, or wear on a lanyard around their neck. Lock all the machines, consoles, whatever, until the user scans their pass into the reader next to it.
Program the security admin box to detect for abnormal pass use. If you tie a credit card to the RFID code when the person sets up their account, people could even buy merch and consumables with it, and cashless transactions are best for avoiding buyer's remorse.
check the link
I'd sell alcohol too, but that's just me.
A mixed-gender crowd will be more social, and groups tend to gravitate towards the same hangouts to socialize (the "Third Place" idea). The longer people stay, the more you can charge them for time, and the more food and merch they buy.
Having women around brings in more guys. Too many women may scare off some of the more, um, reclusive gamers, but that market is so small that depending on them is suicide.
Having women around brings in more women, especially with this type of business. Most women will try to avoid places where there's no-one to talk to, and for most women this means other women.
-- Hamster
Dance Dance Revolution machines. Great fun, and some actual excerise for geeks. You should keep it in another room though, so it dos'nt annoy non-fans.
This means you have to appeal to more people than just the slashdot crowd. Have a bar/lounge area with unobtrusively placed consoles. GET A LIQUOR LICENSE. Sure, keep it accessible to the kiddies as much as possible. But don't be afraid to go 21+ at 10 or 11 on a friday night. I don't think it's likely that you will make your money on the games -- try to cover costs with them, but make your profit on drinks, food and coffee.
Get a few TVs to show sports on. Run a madden tournament on monday nights during the football season (and other appropriate games during other sports seasons, although the MNF tie-in is probably more likely to be lucrative). Anything to get non- or casual gamers in the door.
Cause sure, I'd go there. But could I convince my girlfriend and friends to come along? Friends who don't even know what an LPB is? If it's a big room filled with beige boxes playing counterstrike and a Jolt machine in the corner, the answer is going to be no, and you're going to be stuck with a much smaller clientele.
Go oldschool(ish): there are a lot of people who played goldeneye but have no idea what WASD means. Get them in the door. Then sell them on a Halo tournament. Then provide a free hour one weeknight where people can try games they haven't played before (with handicapping on for the pros).
Basically, aim low -- there are a lot of people who've played games before, enjoyed it, but didn't make it a hobby. You can convert them. You just need to ease them into it.
"...desire for fellow geeks to find better means of socializing, I've decided to open up a geek gaming center."
Would it no be easier to just go to a bar or place a personals ad in the newspaper?
Seems these places are most busy after work (perhaps all night on weekends), and maybe lunch hour. Since you rent space for 24 hours a day (less if in a mall that closes) can you keep busy?
I think you can. Put some good printers behind the counter (you need them anyway for your own use, get a nice color one too), and programs like MsWord on the comptuers, let people print on a quality printer. Kinkos and the like make money renting comptuers. (but not a lot)
Others have suggested that big gaming screen. Great idea put one in a seperate room that can be converted form a theator for watching a really good guy play, to a meeting room for someone who needs that screen. Best part is buisness people have money to spend, so you can charge a lot for this use. Make sure they get service though, you best cook will be doing their meals, and you will be there as soon as each break starts (and not a moment before) with fresh coffee.
Just remember your target market. Gamers want different soroundings from buisness people. As I write this idea I'm well aware that you might be better off without buisness people just because of this. You don't have to open until 5 if that is when the people really come in.
I still recomend the printers though. They allow kids to make good on their promise to the parents they will do their homework not game. (If you can come up with a fair way of enforcing homework gets done first do it, but I can't think of anything) They allow you to get a different class of people in.
Make sure to get a copy of Steel Battalion or four, so you can hook 'em up on LAN when Steel Battalion: Line of Contact comes out.
You will need the tech support types. Get computer savvy guys, who are not ubergeeks to walk around and help people. I hat to say this, as I am one, but avoid getting pizza faced nerds to be omnipresent, as a lot of gamers don't want to be associated with nerds, and will help the cred. However, you should have a couple of people who are ubernerds to try and fix something when it goes real bad. The non ubernerds should also be told tell everyone about the place. Make it in a conveneint location, preferably in a mall.
Janitors. I can't say this enough even though other people already have. If the place reeks, has food on the floor, people will NOT go. Keep those bathrooms nice!
Another thing is to land sponserships as it would add to the financial feasability (sp?). Ati or Nvidia would be willing to litter the place graphics cards, for some free targeted advertising. Computer makers would also offer some hefty discounts, for the free advertising. Every single periferal (sp?) should be emblazoned with a logo. If you like what you are playing on, you will buy it. Note of caution: don't over do it. No one likes being bombarded with ads.
Atmosphere
This is very important. You will need girls. Discounts, anything to get them there. Keep a couple of normal looking girls employed to help. It should be dark, but not impossible to see. You will want a couple of arcade games, like DDR to let people play. DDR may atract women and that alone is worth it. You should also try to keep some high profile games going on a big screen, and also give room for people to see what someone is doing. You should also make everything look cool. Play some sort of techno quietly and have a kind of urban look. If it is dark, shortcuts may not be noticed.
All in all, just try to think cool, keep it affordable. ($20 for 5 hours, or $5 an hour to play) If you don't want to use the hourly scheme, $20 a day is probably ideal. People won't think it is expensive, but hey, I'm thirsty. Do not make food a ripoff. No more than $1.25 for a 20 oz soda or else people will feel ripped off. You also may want to make a deal with EB or a video game store to get people to "demo the game" and then head back over (think next door) and buy it.
I sincerely hope this works, and if it does, put one in Baltimore. Good luck man.
Mod Wisely.
along with PCs and consols, there should be some classic arcades like your street fighter, galaga, etc... also.. pinball, it kicks ass and is addicting and at least with me, when i find a good one such as star wars, indiana jones or south park, i spend all the money in 1 dollar bills i have. a plus for sure
Although changed I rise again the same.
I've noticed a few people mention putting MMORPGs (along with FPSs, RTSs etc) on the computers for people to play.
I was wondering - due to the sheer size some of these MMORPGs take up on the hard disk, you'd probably have to limit how many MMORPGs you could offer. Would try and only offer the larger MMORPGs such as Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies, Dark Age of Camelot etc? Or would you put on some other MMORPGs for variety - such as Lineage (not big in NA, but big in Asia), Anarchy Online (does well in Europe), or Shadowbane (bugs galore, but PvP is the aim). Or would you go all out and try and have as many MMORPGs as you could?
It's pretty easy to pick the FPSs and RTSs to put in a LAN Cafe, but what MMORPG would you load up?
Being a geek still in High School Ive met Jock/Gamer (AKA ASS HOLE!) crowd, and I hate them. My local LAN party place was full of clients who were jerks, are you looking for the crowd who goes nuts at the mention of Miyamato-Sama or the one who thinks, and this a real experience 'Im too 1337 for Lan partys fool of stinky nerds', while not only showing his ignorance, he does not embrace the full on geekyness of gaming. You attract them by not going all out with the classic gaming (WHICH IS A GREAT IDEA) and doing modern games only. I never went back after a first visit, and that place "Netropolis" had no decor. A Statue of Mario or other classic gaming icons would be GREAT and the more obscure the better. Maybe Guest Speakers, people from the industry talking about design experiences or how they got their start would bring me in. I would defidently not let the channels be changed from the gaming action in the lounge, a lot of the crowds you WOULDNT want to let in would want a sports-game on instead. Partner with ThinkGeek to have a brick-and-morter shop to buy their items, thatll bring the truley faithful in. No Sports games as well, many of the people that I wouldnt want invading a hang out spot for me keep their consoles ONLY for the latest Madden game or what not. Two Games, Three Words, Axis and Allies, Magic The Gathering, hold tourneys of these, board gaming is rarely ever done in shops anymore. Ok, asside from saying "Make them take a Geek test before you let them in and kick the jack-asses out" which isnt an option for you, make the environment less friendly for those who are not truly Geeks.
I know this may just be filler, but the little game center in town just opened three or four months ago, and it seems pretty good. I haven't gone in, but that is simply because I can't spend $5 an hour playing Battlefield 1942.
First off, the name of the place is F.R.A.G (obvious reference to LAn parties, but they also turned it into an acronym, but i don't remember what it stands for). They have about 10 PCs in very stylish cases with large monitors. Walking through the place, you can tell they loaded every machine to really perform. They have them all lined up on one wall, along the other wall are three consoles (one PS2 and 2 Xboxes which are linked).
On top of all that they also sell some hardware as well as offering PC repairs. There are two or three Imacs just for people who want to surf the web (which makes sense in this town, since we have no internet cafes). Of course they also sell snacks (mostly chips and that sort, obviously nothing too sticky). They also stock some high quality drinks (no alcohol, but Bawls and other "boutique" drinks like that).
Overall the place is clean and well-lit. I've never seen the place packed, but I think this may be because most kids in a college town like this are either already playing these games in the dorms or they are just on their way to shop at Urban Outfitters or go drink. The one thing they need to do is have some sort of event to really get people's attention. It might also help if they lowered their prices or had a "first hit's free kind of deal (first hour or hour and a half is free, maybe coupons or something). Anyway, just giving you an idea of whats out there and how successful it is.
I would suggest that if you could coordinate some game tournaments, with a major online gaming league, you could easily get some notice for your business right away. Coordinating with TeamWarfare (http://www.teamwarfare.com) or Clan Ladder (htt[://www.clanladder.com) to host tournaments in your area for some of their major games could instantly give your business credit among alot of the online gaming clans... If your place is big enough, you could offer to host huge tournaments where people bring their own PC's...
The ultimate gaming machine: Yoshi's Boxx - which includes, all in one box:
# Atari 2600
# Nintendo Entertainment System (8-bit)
# Microsoft Xbox
# Nintendo GameCube
# Sony PlayStation 2
# A custom PC
Serve cheap beer, hire college students (no fucking introvert type geeks) who will spread the word to others. All waitresses must be hot. Serve junk food like burgers, pizza and candy etc. Be lenient about pot use as long as it's outside in the back alley. Don't be a prick have lot's of events and be open late.
One of my favorite hole-in-the-wall arcades/pool rooms(The Rack 'n Cue in San Francisco State Uni's student union) has an NES set up at the counter. Anyone can play, though they have to request their game to the person staffing it(not exactly an outsider-friendly system, which is useful in some ways). If anything, it probably helps business, because it gives the place an additional attraction as a "hang-out spot" for the young after-school crowd, one of the place's two sets of core customers. (The other is university students of course) And if you go at all, you're more likely to spend money there obviously.
If you want some ambient light while keeping it dark at the same time (so there isn't glare on the screens), try using blacklights. You can actually buy them in standard 48" fluorescent sizes (so you can use regular lighting fixtures). These provide quite a bit of light, though it may cause eye strain after a couple hours. Might want to have normal light on other half (where the snacks are), which will only encourage food consumption (ching ching).
Allow people to run custom games. Hold workshops. Have fun.
I would like to see some type of a restaurant computer dealy. Because it is easy to get really hungry really fast when you are gaming.
~Rob
We've quiet some Internet Cafe's playing MegaMekNET (Turn bases conversion of the Battletech Tabletop together with a campaign with lots of teamwork and stuff)...
Checkout: http://www.megamek.com
Open Source (GPL), low hardware requirements, free.
Sorry for the advertisment, but it seems to addict cafe players despite the long time it needs to game.. (about 2-4h each game)
I agree that you should have some older consoles, most definitely Dreamcast and NES. I sold my Dreamcast a few years ago, so being able to go in and find someone to play DoA2 or MvC2 with would be a huge draw. But what I really wnated to post about is that you should have some game specific controllers that have an arcade-like appeal. I would love to be able to go into a place that had Steel Battallion available to play since I don't want to put down a full $200+ on it. Some dance pads might not be a bad idea either.
Definitely do not scorn the consoles though. There is a lot of mainstream draw power there. Non-geek customers will be coming in to pay you to play a game they own simply so they have someone to play with.
Good luck!
I'm not going to repeat a lot of hardware, structure, food ideas, but here's some ideas if you want to get women to come by. For me, one of the main reasons I don't frequent these kinds of places is because they generally don't accomodate females. Being a female gamer myself, and a shy one at that, if I feel uncomfortable upon entering I will turn right around and leave without seeing any of what you have to offer.
What's important to make me comfortable? Number one is light. Don't make it glaring, but don't make it dark. It's inevitable that a girl walking into gamer central will turn a few heads, but scrutiny seems less if lighting is softer. Number two: require employees to look presentable. Put the friendliest looking guy near the door! And also, hire women. A place with female employees will not only be pleasing to male customers, but the female clientele will be more at ease with other girls around. The last thing should go without saying: clean bathrooms.
Gameworks arcades also have a pretty neat thing - Ladies' Night. Girl gamers will come out of the woodwork for a deal like that. You can simultaneously attract female and male customers if you invite the ladies for a cheaper fee some night during the week.
Heavily caffinated beverages
Free Wi-Fi network (maybe a discount for those that bring their own boxen?)
Have the gaming area and a separate lounge-y area (kind of like bowling alleys)
Keep the Yakuza at bay... Im afraid to go to the gaming centers in my area because they're all asian gang run and folks keep getting shot...
Be careful! Bears shouldn't consume large furry dogs.
Good research!
Reading this reminded me of passing a local internet cafe in a village near me. It was the middle of the day and it way *heaving* with grannies drinking cups of tea and surfing the web. Loads of retired people would love to learn computer skills but don't want a formal IT course. Offer them discounts that only apply during office hours and run a series of hour-long basic IT lessons. You could run OpenOffice lessons and avoid the cost of a MS Office license.
This suggestion highlights that the most important single choice is location, location, location. If you're in a suburban setting then the above may work.
If you're in a city centre an alternative would be to offer free web or gaming time when people buy food. Put up BIG signs to let people know this. Many people hate their workplace but have little choice of where to spend their breaks. Fast food 'restaurants' are designed for quick turnaround and other places have stools or no seating at all. Once you've got them in the door then make sure they know its fine to hang around and relax.
Also, think about music/TV choices, adjustable lighting and having as much movable furniture as possible. Your place doesn't have to have one 'mood' all day. It can be bright, inviting and relaxing in the daytime with a focus on revenue from food and places to sit and eat. Use the TV projector for IT lessons and then put on free-to-air music TV like The Box or skate/snowboard/music DVDs when teenagers get out of school.
Good luck.
After our favorite hangout (which was a lot like you described) closed a few years ago, I thought over a lot of things that I would do if I ever got to open a Internet Cafe.
Lighting:
In the gaming area keep it fairly dark, at least right over the machines. Equip each cube with it's own adjustable swing arm lap. That way people can use it if they want, and put it where they want. I hate glare on my screen.
Staff:
Hire a mix of male and females. Make sure none of them talk down to the customers. If you have a cute chick at the counter who makes fun of the geeks they do no good. On the flip site, let them know if a geek hits on them too much they are welcome to politely shoot them down. Keep an eye on your people. We had a guy who...got orally pleasured in the bathroom while on the clock. Kinda gives the place a bad reputation.
Parking lot:
Make sure you don't have a lot of people hanging out in the parking lot. Here is CA you can't smoke inside, so set aside a specific smoking area, hopefully in back. If there are a bunchg of people jus thanging out in the parking it'll scare away some new customers. Some skinheads ended up causing trouble with a bunch of goths that like to hang out outside, and the owners brother ended up getting stabbed.
If you can justify it, stay open 24 hours on weekends. There are plenty of people who want a place to hang out in the middle of the night, especially after bars, dance clubs, etc, have closed. Doing all day tournaments, or over night games should help.
Food:
Do a combination of made to order stuff (though having a store,e tc, can be a pain) and microwavable stuff from Costco or whatever. Have a crockpot with some soup in it. Munchies, too. You might even think of getting a cooler or fridge for sandwich makings.
Oh, make sur eyou have some sort of software on the machines that lets you monitor what people are doing, so hopefully you can catch any of your little hackers that will try to prove they are smarter that you and mess with your machines. Ghost images are also a very good thing.
I am looking to open a gaming center, but am taking my time trying to see what all there is to it first. But a strategy I developed right off the bat is I think of interest to any of you wanting to draw people in. 1. Does your area have a police dept, a sherrif's dept, an army natl guard, a marine barracks? Go to them, tell them what you have, let them know that they can come and maybe the city police can take on the county police in hostage rescue situations... tournaments and all. 2. Got a college? Get with them and see if you can get with some of the students and possible for extra credit, work on game mods, 3d modeling, maps of the campuses or the town. I have bookmarked this, as I have the financial backing I need, but will not go out on a limb needlessly. I crunched the numbers, and gaming alone will not support the center, so yes, snacks, drinks, upgrades and repairs as well as custom built machines seem to be a must. And of course hosting servers for clans comes to mind... Great ideas floating around in here. {BL}Ticklemonster
Karma: Bad is the liberal way of saying this guy won't drink the kool aid here on slash dot. I wear my Karma with pride
GameBar.
The bar extraordinaire
Full high end bar and full coffee lounge.
Gaming room with approx 20 tv's equipped with networked xbox's and PS2's with a gamecube or two thrown in. All internet ready. 40 titles to choose from for each system (a few fun multiplayer games for GC), custom cabinets with access by key. New games added weekly.
Billiards room (nice new pool tables) with shuffleboard and airhockey. Room for approx 5 arcades representing each genre (DDR, Time Crisis, Marvel vs Street fighter, and hopefully a couple of Virtual Reality arcades.)
Big screen TV for movie and sport viewing. Movie nights for anime showings, karaoke night for the ladies. Intense sound system for those 16 person halo death matches, lol.
Kick back relaxing atmosphere, get drunk and play games. HOOYAH! Monthly game tournaments rock.
4$ an hour to do pretty much whatever you want, pool, games, etc.
15$ pass for a 6 hour block
20$ day pass
No charge for those that only drink
18 and up (because we serve alch.)
Awesome location, new developed open strip mall. 3500 sq ft, new 18 cinema malco theatre confirmed that will be going up across the street. Next to mall and new developing business's. 3 retail game stores nearby including bestbuy.
The city is a college town, and there is NOTHING like this in the area. Closest is little rock, AR.
So by throwing in the bar, pool tables, coffee lounge and club scene we hope to draw alot of people and sustain other ways to profit, and the gaming will rock.
You may also email me for suggestions or comments at azriel@cox-internet.com