Want to setup Lan gaming center...

[slicksilver]

My engg. degree is not helping my situation at all and I've been jobless from the last 6 months..........I was just thinking abt how my city is missing out on lan gaming( I stay in Hyderabad, India) and I thought why not setup a Lan gaming center.........My dad said that he would finance me if I wrote a project report abt this lan gaming center which I want to setup. I have a some questions / doubts about his before I begin writing a report. Let me tell you that I'm pretty familiar with computers. I'd say that I'm a power user and all my friends turn to me when it comes to technical support. But I'm pretty bad when it comes to networking. All I can do is do simple file sharing and setting up of ip addressing and nothing else. Firstly I want to know if I HAVE to be a networking guru to start this project? My second question is how much will the project cost if I have say 10 computers? I'm thinking of the wireless networking option as well coz I believe it will make things easier(administration). And is there any lan gaming admin software or game launcher? Last year when I went to the gulf I went to this center which has everything in their laucher......Like user registrations, games list, timers and all..........finally, how easy is it to manage such businesses?....

Looking forward to your replies

Thanks in advance

Raj

 

[Synoptic]

As far a wireless goes, I would stay away from it for a gaming center. Cat 5 still has more bandwidth. Secondly, you have to decide if you are going to build or buy your computers. How are you going to do the games? I assume you want to have them there so people can just walk in. That means 10 copies of each game. Will you let others bring their own computers in? If so you need room for their machines as well as network connections for them. What do you plan on using to power your network? I recommend Cisco for a business. You can probably get by for a little while with Linksys switches and it would be a lot easier to configure, but don't rely on them forever. I'm not really sure about a game launcher or anything like that, haven't really messed with it. Oh, and you will want to be sure you have a server to serve your games, so that makes it 11 computers. As far as networking experience is concerned, you should definitely read up on the subject. If you go with something easy like Linksys to begin with it will all be pretty straigt forward. If you decide to use a Cisco switch, you may grab a book on the CCNA and read through the part on configuring the switch. It sounds like a really good project, it is something my friends and I have been talking about doing for a while and have put a lot of thought into, but I am too tired to get to deep into it right now.

 

[Daxxax]

Yes, go with cat5, but your network issues will probably be the least of your worries. Starting a new business is no joke, you need to do your homework. If you really are going to do it be prepared to work your tail off 24/7. I too have thought about creating a Lan gaming/cyber cafe but so far I've been to chicken to go for it. From what I have learned I would need at least $15,000 bucks to start that includes 12 home built PC's, A server, networking equipment, some furniture, stuff to decorate the place, 13 copies of some of the more popular games, not to mention the hookup for phone, elec., water, internet access and advertising. then on top of that you have to lease a place that is in a good location I figure near a mall would be best. I'm sure there is a whole host of other things that I'm forgetting. I guess I'm saying be prepared because it will not be easy. but good luck

 

[Synoptic]

Don't forget about replacement parts and software to lock down the machine to some degree. So when you get those little punks in there that like to break things for the hell of it you can quickly repair the damage. Maybe instead of software to lock down the machine you could get adaptec's "go back" software, or Norton Network Ghost, to quickly just reinstall the machine.

 

[Saltin]

Get your thing together security wise too. Lan centers/cafes are easy marks.
You can do anything in decent obscurity at one of those, and they never seem to be locked down.

 

[YaKuZa]

I know building your own PC's is fun, but I would suggest ordering them bulk from somewhere. I'm sure you can get a discounted price if you declare yourself a business and buy a lot of PC's at once. Each computer will also come with it's own license. This way if someone breaks a computer, you don't have to worry about it and can just send it back to the manufacturer. Also, if your place stays open for awhile, some places have a trade in program that allows you to trade in your old computer and then order a new one at a discounted price. I know thats what most schools do. And don't go wireless. Look into getting a dedicated connection like a T1 because what if someone goes there and the place is empty? Are you going to start playing with him? Or what if it's not a busy day and there's only 4 people there, 2v2 CS isn't very fun. So they'll probably all leave. Also, make sure you get 19-21" monitors, and COMFORTABLE chairs.

 

[Smilin]

I know a few guys over at netheads ( http://www.netheads.com ) here in Indianapolis. It's a pretty successful gaming center. Since your location doesn't really put you in any direct competition give them a call and get some advice.

Things that come to mind.
1. Invest heavily in monitors and sound - they won't go obsolete and it's your #1 appeal to customers.
2. Don't go with cutting edge to start with but plan on upgrading often to stay *close* to cutting edge. People won't show if your computers aren't as good as their home ones.
3. Have a WIDE variety of game selection - what you and I think is cool won't be to someone else. Don't forget games for little kids too.
4. Have alternate uses - allow people to do business, resumes, email and whatnot. No variety and you will go out of business fast.
5. Charge an affordable hourly rate for PC use to break even.
6. Your real money will come from food and beverage sales - have GOOD food and bevarages and charge a premium for em. Here in the U.S. the difference between a $0.75 bag of potato chips and $6.00 "ultimate nachos" is what I'm talking about...your culture will be different I'm sure. Selling alcohol in addition to soft drinks in the U.S. is what brings the paying crowd.
7. Your PC setup should allow you to reimage each PC every night if you have to. People WILL fool with them and you should be able to reload one from scratch in 45min automatically.
8. You will need: A cook, A PC/network guru (do setup very locked-down images especially) and to setup your network, a very pretty girl to work the front desk (yep, sounds sexist but its good business so deal with it)


Hope this helps. Again, get ahold of the guys at netheads and checkout the pictures of their indoor decoration - they have put together a great atmosphere.

 

[Utterman]

Originally posted by: Smilin
I know a few guys over at netheads ( http://www.netheads.com ) here in Indianapolis. It's a pretty successful gaming center. Since your location doesn't really put you in any direct competition give them a call and get some advice.

Things that come to mind.
1. Invest heavily in monitors and sound - they won't go obsolete and it's your #1 appeal to customers.
2. Don't go with cutting edge to start with but plan on upgrading often to stay *close* to cutting edge. People won't show if your computers aren't as good as their home ones.
3. Have a WIDE variety of game selection - what you and I think is cool won't be to someone else. Don't forget games for little kids too.
4. Have alternate uses - allow people to do business, resumes, email and whatnot. No variety and you will go out of business fast.
5. Charge an affordable hourly rate for PC use to break even.
6. Your real money will come from food and beverage sales - have GOOD food and bevarages and charge a premium for em. Here in the U.S. the difference between a $0.75 bag of potato chips and $6.00 "ultimate nachos" is what I'm talking about...your culture will be different I'm sure. Selling alcohol in addition to soft drinks in the U.S. is what brings the paying crowd.
7. Your PC setup should allow you to reimage each PC every night if you have to. People WILL fool with them and you should be able to reload one from scratch in 45min automatically.
8. You will need: A cook, A PC/network guru (do setup very locked-down images especially) and to setup your network, a very pretty girl to work the front desk (yep, sounds sexist but its good business so deal with it)


Hope this helps. Again, get ahold of the guys at netheads and checkout the pictures of their indoor decoration - they have put together a great atmosphere.

Great suggestions Smilin!

I agree with all of those. Netheads is a great place and I'm sure they will be more than happy to help ya out.

 

[owensdj]

rajkanneganti, you should definately stay away from using wireless networking for LAN gaming. A big part of the appeal of LAN gaming is the high performance of the network. Wireless networking is no where near the performance of 100Mbs wired Ethernet. The wireless network cards are also more expensive, plus you have to buy a wireless access point. You'll want to get a wireless access point and plug it into your switch if you decide to let people bring in their own notebook computers to connect into your LAN. That would be a good feature to have.

I don't think you'll need to be a networking guru to setup this business. The networking part of it won't be that complicated. If you have any questions as you go along, just come back to this forum and ask.

You'll probably want to pay a company to run your CAT5 cabling for you. You'll need to buy a top-quality hub, or a switch for better performance. I'd probably just get a 24-port Netgear switch. That will give let you have up to 23 gaming machines plus your game server. You'll need a fast server for your gaming server.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned much in this thread is Internet access. Seems like you'd want your LAN to have high-speed Internet access. That would let your gamers play with people over the Internet in addition to playing with people right there on the LAN. That would also give them the ability to do web browsing and e-mail.

I agree with much of what Smilin said. You'll definately want to setup your service so that people could use the computers for more than games. Put Microsoft Office XP plus any other applications you think people might want to use on all of the computers so people could come in and do homework or business tasks there. Have a laser printer and an ink jet on the network so people could print things. Have a good quality scanner there so they can do that too.

I disagree with what Smilin said about alcohol. Since there will be many kids coming in there, I would definately stay away from selling alcohol. Their parents might not like that.

I think the hardest part about this business will be preventing people from messing up the computers, as others have pointed out. You might want to go to the Operating Systems forum and ask for suggestion and documents on how to lock down Windows XP Pro(I assume you'll be using XP).

 

[Synoptic]

I disagree with you about not selling alcohol, maybe you shouldn't have a full bar, but some alcohol is ok. It also depends on the drinking age, I don't know what it is for india, but we have to remember that some cultures allow drinking at an earlier age, so it may not be an issue at all.

 

[doug]

There are some good guides for setting up lan parties that might be useful for you since you are essentially trying to set up a permanent one.

Try these links:
http://www.lanparty.com/theguide/
http://www.onepc.net/index.php?view=docs&doc_id=75

You might consider having both your own machines and spots people can bring their own. You can probably charge the people bringing their own less but be sure to have lots of ways to make money off them such as the food, maybe rent headsets/headphones, have a few extra copies of games to sell or maybe some upscale optical mice, precision mousepads, case modding supplies, that lan party computer carrier thing etc etc.
But I would make your business plan depend mostly on computer rental (game, internet cafe maybe VIoice over IP long distance or just regular long distance) and food. The extra sales should be gravy.

One place near here got some good turnout by doing tournament nights, they had some small prizes for winners plus a certificate or something. I would do it on a night you are not usually expecting to be busy, I think theirs was counter-strike tuesdays.

 

[slicksilver]

First of all thank you very very much for the quick replies

Guys, I want to make some things clear.

• There is absolutely no way in hell I can serve alcohol. It's just not possible because computer games in India are mostly played by kids or teens. Moreover culture, tradition and religion wil not permit me IMO. In India maybe 10 in 100. But the most important thing is that booze is not common among teens here so I will not work out financially for me. And on top of that I will have to pay Rs. 100,000 per month(i.e 2100 usd) to the state government for an alcohol license which is again out of reach for me financially

• Internet is not an option to me as the maximum bandwidth I can get here is around 128kbps. and for that I need to pay around 50 usd per month.

• Cant have Office on all systems because it will be just too expensive licensing them.

• I dont want people to get their systems coz. it will be too much trouble for me and them. I instead prefer them using the systems I provide

I plan to have 10 computers + 1 server on the network. 8 computer for hardcore gamers and 2 computers for the kids. I'll have office installed on those 2 computers as well so that people can use them for word processing. I think I'll have a cd writing service as well. Food will be an integral part of my business for sure. I'll have a small section of office space dedicated to selling games and small peripherals.

Now the most important decision for me to make is how much space would I need for all this and what kind of computers equipment I need. Will 700 sq.ft be enough? I plan to hire an Interior Designer for the interiors. Now to the configuration, what config should I go for? I'm pretty sure that I will not need a CDROM drive and a Floppy drive. The most important parts will be the monitor, sound and the video I guess. The games I'm planning to have are the usual stuff you see at most lan gaming cafes...........UT, Q3, CS, AOE and C&C( On weekends), NFS and some sports games. How much RAM would I require and what graphic card should I go for? I want to make sure that these systems will surely run UT 2003 when it is released. As for the processor, I guess I will go for the AMD AthlonXP coz. it is much cheaper than the P4. Mice will be normal roller ball type coz. the kids will screw optical mice for sure. OS will be WINXP pro for sure. And for the networking part I've decided that I will get a Linksys 12 port switch, Linksys network cards and the usual cat5 cable. For some reason I feel that something is missing from this list

Again thank you all for your replies. I just hope that everything works out well.

Raj

 

[slicksilver]

Does anyone know how LAN game launchers are designed? I went to this cafe which had a menu with all the games listed, user name registrations etc........the best part is that whatever you do you can not go into windows........I mean it is locked........no ctrl-alt-del, no alt-tab and no windows key......

Raj

 

[networkman]

Fortres Grand Corp makes a relatively decent desktop security product for locking down Windows - we use it for about a hundred Win9x boxes at the public library where I work.

 

[TonyB]

another overlooked thing is security.

I dont know about INdia, but here in the west coast you gotta have TONS of security cuz all the asian crews hang out at the internet cafes. Im not talking about wanna-be computer nerd gangsters either, im talking about hardcore yakuza and folks like that. Theres already been some stories about it on the news, like gang fights in the parking lot and stabbings.

 

[TonyB]

forgot to add another thing, also invest in good janitors and clean toilets.

if you ever been to the internet shops in the west coast or in the east coast in New york, manhattan. EasyEverywhere internet cafe near 42nd street, times square. the bathrooms are freaking DIRTY. im talking about bloody rags in the womens restroom and dookie stained paper all on the ground. the whole floor there has a thick layer of dried piss thats been accumulating for hella long. the janitors there dont do their jobs right and the place stinks like hell. I think one of the problems for that is becaues its near Times square and the bums from the area walk in and use the restrooms since its free.