POLL: Would you go to a gaming internet cafe?

[zCypher]

I'm not sure if such places exist around your areas, but try to vote accordingly. Where I live, there are no such places. The idea would be to have a hangout/lounge type place that has computers, pool tables, regular tables for people to play cards/whatever, etc. There will be rooms for people to rent out for D&D or whatever. People could have UT, CS, HL, etc tournaments, play any games. Video games would also be available for rent.

IT's not quite an arcade or video store, not a bar, not a slummy joint - but a place where you can just kick back and enjoy yourself. you don't have to spend money, but you can play at a low cost.

would you go to such a place - whether to hang out with video game enthusiasts/geeks/whoever, or to participate in some activities (pool or games or whatever) yourself?

just want to get an idea of whether or not people generally would look positively to such a thing. computers would be available just for internet use as well. everything would be high speed, and the internal network would be set up wireless... also there would be wired ports available for people to plug in directly if they have laptops and such.

Vote!

 

[Electric Amish]

Why?

I can go to my friend's house and LAN game with the rest of my friends.

amish

 

[RossMAN]

From the customer stand point - yes that would be nice

From the business owner stand point - do not do it, it will fail, you will be out of business

 

[HiTek21]

No. Too many asian wanna be gangsters around where I live.

 

[Jeff7181]

I prefer to use my own computer. If I didn't have one... or couldn't afford one, then possibly. But it's the same reason I don't own a PS2 or xBox.

 

[zCypher]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Why?

I can go to my friend's house and LAN game with the rest of my friends.

amish

Because that's still at home. It's a place to go out to, to get away a bit and let yourself go a bit. It'd be more for a younger audience I'd imagine. For those who live with their parents, it's not always convenient to have friends over, to have a big LAN party, etc. If you have an internet/gaming cafe to go to, you just go and chill out there with some friends - and you don't need to worry about being nagged by parents, etc - you play to your own liking.

 

[BatmanNate]

No, it would attract all of the slack-jawed yokels out of their parents' basements which would nix any prospect of girls, making one big sausage fest.

 

[MattCo]

I think it would be cool, I only upgrade my PC these days when games require it. It would be nice to get out of that for a while and this would allow it.

-MC

 

[zCypher]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
From the customer stand point - yes that would be nice

From the business owner stand point - do not do it, it will fail, you will be out of business

Hi RossMAN. How's it going? Thanks for your input. What makes you say this? I can see how it would be nice on both points. Why do you say it would fail? Personally I think it depends on the location and setup quite heavily. In some places it'd be a horrible failure, in others it'd be successful.

BTW, this isn't my business idea, nor am I going to be trying this. But I still like to inquire for the person.

 

[zCypher]

Originally posted by: MattCo
I think it would be cool, I only upgrade my PC these days when games require it. It would be nice to get out of that for a while and this would allow it.

-MC

Exactly. The PCs at the internet gaming cafe would be kept reasonably high end, so you could play whatever games you wanted. There would also be console systems available.

 

[Syringer]

I go to one when I'm bored. Fun stuff.

 

[RossMAN]

Statisictally the odds are against you. Unless you get a PRIMO location, cheap rent/lease, cheap but fast computers, good games, decent coffee/food, rich yuppie customers, it costs a lot to run a place like that and it will fail.

 

[HiTek21]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
From the customer stand point - yes that would be nice

From the business owner stand point - do not do it, it will fail, you will be out of business

I always wondered how some of these internet cafe's make any money. I went to one a long time ago when my friends wanted to go. It was a very nice place with a lot of top notch PC's but there was 2 or 3 people there actually playing and it was around 8PM usually when people go to those places. They don't charge membership and their rates are 2 bucks an hour.

 

[zCypher]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Statisictally the odds are against you. Unless you get a PRIMO location, cheap rent/lease, cheap but fast computers, good games, decent coffee/food, rich yuppie customers, it costs a lot to run a place like that and it will fail.

That avatar is scaring me.

Well, it seems he has quite a good location selected. As for the rent, it's to be determined - he's trying to find that out / get a hold of the landlord. Cheap but fast computers will be no problem at all since we both currently work for a computer store, which already has the lowest prices to begin with. Good games shouldn't be a problem. As for coffee/food, there is a joint next door for donuts and drinks and such but this place will most likely also have refreshments for more convenience. AS for rich yuppie customers - there are LOTS of those types in this area.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: zCypher

Originally posted by: RossMAN
From the customer stand point - yes that would be nice

From the business owner stand point - do not do it, it will fail, you will be out of business

Hi RossMAN. How's it going? Thanks for your input. What makes you say this? I can see how it would be nice on both points. Why do you say it would fail? Personally I think it depends on the location and setup quite heavily. In some places it'd be a horrible failure, in others it'd be successful.

BTW, this isn't my business idea, nor am I going to be trying this. But I still like to inquire for the person.

I know you didn't ask me, but I'll reply anyway...

I don't think a business venture like this is easy to do sucessfully. For one thing, you're guaranteed to get some malicious people in there who try to fork up the computers. Another thing, you'd need some serious A/C in that room to balance the temperature between the heat of all the computers AND the body heat from all the people.
I know for a fact that there are some internet cafe type places who host servers... there's many CS servers hosted at these places, that are also publicly available to play on from your home... which makes for some fun, beating up on the people who've never played before, lol.
You'd also need some serious insurance for all that stuff... assuming they go cheap and get $750 computers... if they just had 10 computers that's $7500 of electronics in one room... and 10 people in a game isn't any fun... I would assume they'd need about 30... which would be $22,500. That's quite an investment risk by letting 12 year old boys loose with it.

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: zCypher

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Why?

I can go to my friend's house and LAN game with the rest of my friends.

amish

Because that's still at home. It's a place to go out to, to get away a bit and let yourself go a bit. It'd be more for a younger audience I'd imagine. For those who live with their parents, it's not always convenient to have friends over, to have a big LAN party, etc. If you have an internet/gaming cafe to go to, you just go and chill out there with some friends - and you don't need to worry about being nagged by parents, etc - you play to your own liking.

I've been doing this with my friends since DoomII. We've always enjoyed it and it's not a hassle.

With the proliferation of home computers I don't see the reasoning for going to one.

amish

 

[zCypher]

Does the fact that there are none of these places (no competition) in the area help? There are some places downtown but the target audience would much more easily come to a place here than downtown, since it usually takes 1 to 2 hours just to get downtown unless you have your own car. In which case you're still driving a fair bit and spending money on gas, etc.

There are many middle and upper class homes around this area. Everyone has 150-400k houses, you see plenty of BMWs around, if that means anything. It definitely is not a slummy area.. people here have money.

For a comparison.. at the downtown comp store, people always buy lowend systems. $300, $400. At our store, people buy high end systems. $800, $1200, $2000..

i think most things are in his favor for starting this businses.. but its surprising the reaction I got from you guys! many of you think its not a good idea. depends where you live? or could it really be a terrible idea?

 

[thirtythree]

I wouldn't go. I'm not much of a gamer recently. maybe that's what's been missing in my life...

 

[hdeck]

there are so many LAN centers in texas it's hard to avoid them

 

[richardycc]

who is gonna pay for the rent? you will no doubt have a lot of people hang out there, but you wont make any money, just goto any D&D shop and take a look.

 

[hopeless879]

Personally I would not go to one. I like to use my own computer, I have it configured exactly how I want it for every game I play. I have my desk and my speakers setup just to my liking. That is the main reason I would not go there to play comp games. Every person would have to reconfigure the game settings everytime they got on a different comp. Also you are going to have to worry about 1337 teen haxors trying to do stuff to your machines. Another thing is people using your connection to download warez/mp3/movies. I'm not sure of the legalities of this though. You will also need to be constantly upgrading, which I would say will happen at least once a year if you want to run new games well. This is going to cost way too much in the long run.

Most, if not all of my friends already own XBOX/PS2/GC, therefore there is no reason for me to go out to and pay to play them. If these systems weren't so widely availible it would be a good idea.

 

[blackdogdeek]

i voted yes. there's a gaming kiosk in the palisades center mall and every time i pass by it i feel very compelled to go in there and pay the $6/hr to game.

that being said, if there were card tables and pool tables i might not head in there only because that might attract a different, less desirable element. the pool halls i've been to always have some gambling going on(not entirely by people other than myself ) and i don't know if you'd want that going on around the younger audience you might draw for gaming.

i know if i had a kid and some of his/her friends wanted to do a couple of hours of gaming while i did the rest of the mall shopping i might drop them off there but if there were pool tables and card tables i probably would not.

 

[HappyFace]

Don't do it! You could make more flipping burgers at BK, without the risk or headache. Too much expense, and I just dont see how a real profit is possible. If you live in a nice area, most gamers have a phat rig and connect at home.

 

[CrazyDe1]

Personally I think it'd work better in a low income area where people could have internet access too. In a high income area people have their own computers and connections. Would I go to one? As a kid probably....but I also went to the store to play games like sonic the hedgehog as a kid too. That place went out of business in a very high income area. If I had a sega then I probably wouldn't have gone. They rented games out too and still didn't make enough money to stay in business. Like people have said, security is a concern, you're going to have to constantly upgrade your equipment...rent is going to run you at least 1500 a month and if you have 10 people a day there at 5 bucks an hour for an average of 2 hours that's half your income right htere. 1500 isn't a lot to make in profit, let alone you're going to have to buy systems, cover expenses. Now, if you could somehow serve liquor...like get a liquor licsense too...or setup tournaments...that'd be a winner...

 

[CrazyDe1]

Actually make normal operating hours like 9-10 and then after that have afterhours gaming where you serve booze...that way you could take advantage of both markets and that'd be gauranteed to draw people in...I know we're always boozin while playin war3