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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?"
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.
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