Needing Input

[bwilliam79]

I have a business idea and want to get some input from the community...

How much would you be willing to pay per hour to play games at an internet gaming cafe? $5.00, $7.50, $10.00

Please be honest, it won't hurt my feelings.

Also, what games would you like to see available?

Any input would be appreciated.

[Zoist]

I have seen many cafes close due to lack of business/interest etc. I don't think there is much interest these days. Everyone, well almost everyone has a computer these days and people would just do gaming on the Internet.

[elderdays]

i think it's a bad thing to go into right now. Just about everyone has "high-speed" internet at home these days and if they don't they probably will soon. The type of people that care about playing PC games are the people that already have the stuff to do it themselves at their home.

[hellrazor]

While I agree with the two previous posts I think that it can be done if it is given the proper atmosphere. ( i used to run coffeehouses) But the focus should be on the food drinks and sevice with the high speed access and games as a bonus. No one will come if it is just another internet cafe, but if it is more like a cafe or club (ie a place for people to hangout) that has all the stuff to play already there then it could work. think of it like the old school arcade, once king and now replaced by mega bar entertainment complexes. Anyway just a thought.
PS also think about hosting LAN parties at a discounted rate, you know like rent-a-lan for a byopc counter-strike party or somthing.

[stumbles]

Originally posted by bwilliam79
I have a business idea and want to get some input from the community...

How much would you be willing to pay per hour to play games at an internet gaming cafe? $5.00, $7.50, $10.00

Please be honest, it won't hurt my feelings.

Also, what games would you like to see available?

Any input would be appreciated.

I can't really see myself setting in a cafe playing some video game. Not that I play them much anyway.

I suppose if a person did not have a PC (beefy enough) and a bradband connection. A gaming cafe might fill the bill.

Though seems to me if a person was really into games a cafe would be too expensive.

[elderdays]

Originally posted by stumbles
Though seems to me if a person was really into games a cafe would be too expensive.

I guess PC Gamers are all poor.

Good idea hellrazor. When you said "coffehouse" it brought to mind all of that caffeine stuff on thinkgeek.com (http://www.thinkgeek.com). PC Gamers love caffeine. Maybe you could sell all of that stuff there too.

It would be cool to have a place like this that sells all the stuff you find at places like thinkgeek and also sells stuff like PC accessories (cool cases and mod stuff) and games. Location is just the biggest part. This wouldn't go over well in a rural area, but in an urban area it probably would.

[bskahan]

I agree with the previous posts. I have a nice computer, comfy chair, coffee maker; all in my house.

but... I still go to a cafe every morning around the corner, its a social thing. There are 2 cafes in close proximity to my apartment, both are nice, good people, good coffee, overpriced food. I go to one over the other for no particular reason, however if the other one offered internet access I would switch in a heart beat.

Don't just put some PCs, offer 802.11b wireless access to anyone with laptop, be creative - LAN parties, office meetings. Get out and promote the idea.

thats the key, your selling a _new_ product (coffee is old, coffee and net is new), talk to businesses, rent out a seperate room for corporate presentations and meetings. Get involved in the community, get college kids interested.

don't be an ISP, be a kickass cafe and restaraunt with a twist.

[Icarus]

Having a WAP in-house that customers can use is a great idea. There are many places around here doing that (Starbucks to name one). That way you can host many things, not just games. Games are great, but it is a nitch market...your average soccer mommy is not going to come in and play a 2 hour marithon of UT2003 (Unless it's the coolest soccer mommy I've ever met :D)

Having the network open for customers is a good thing, making them pay more then the $4 coffee is going to turn people off. At the least (for the WAP) change the encyption key more then daily so they need to make a purchase to get the key, this will keep the 'warchalkers' away ;)

Oh, and do try to push the 'gaming' part as much as the access. But don't say that is the only thing it is for, also let them know web browsing and web based e-mail are an option also (some IM clients would be good for the die-hards)

Don't forget to get a good proxy so people don't surf for pr0n all day either ;)

[bwilliam79]

All of this input is terriffic. We had no intentions of just opening up a plain jane cafe. The intention is to market the business as a social hang-out. It's also nice when you have 5-6 friends that want to get together and no one has the space, or no one wants to have to move their computer. I have a decent machine at home as well, but it's a pain to have to move it all somewhere just to play games. Keep the input coming.

[joesbox]

i was just going to mention about the wireless thing. that is a great idea but dangerous. i got a wireless router that if i wanted i could share access with my neighbor at half the cost. these things run at 2.4 GHz and someone outside could just jump right in and screw with the network. i know that i am running the same risk that is why i use SSL and firewall on all of my computers at home and not just the one from the ISP.
as far as patrons. that is sketchy. do you live near a tourist trap or anything?? or someplace where people are comming and going alot?? if so then you may want to make that your target audience for adverts. most busness people carry a laptop with them so the open connection would be good and people just on vacation my want to stop in for a while and check e-mail or something. most people don't take computers to vacation.

[Seminole]

I have thought about this sme thing. Actually a friend of mine's sone is doing this in NY.

I always thought that you would have to offer something that people don't already have.

In my scenario people would be happy to transport their boxes but probably not their monitors. They are heavy and noone wants to make two trips. Most hardcore gamers have portable boxes that they carry just for LAN parties. You would want to offer them a reason to leave their houses and go to your place.. I would have stations with 21" monitors (not everyone has them). Let people come in and rent the stations for a fee (not hourly) but say 6 hours for 20 bucks..

Then you should have a LAN already in place so they don't have to have hubs, etc.

They could just plug and play with their boxes and input devices.

make sure to have a rule that headphones HAVE to be used if they want sound. You may want to have some handy but then again, not too many people want to slap on a used headset.

Then you should have quality servers and host tournaments. You should have a ladder system and hold special events for all the major games and rotate them on weekends so everyone can schedule a time to get into the mix. Offer prizes (hardware / software for the winners and charge more to let people play in the tourneys).
You will need decent food and drinks. Some people like to drink beer, but that's a bad idea I think. Keep it simple and in favor with parents (lets be honest, most people that come in will be under age).

You should also have a fat pipe to the internet so people can play online or on your servers.

Have keyboards and mice available as well as CAT5 cable in case people forget theirs. You could actually move some merchandise on spur ot the moment purchases, but I doubt you should try to make a living battling the internet stores for hardware. You will lose everytime.

If you can get the word out and can actually maintain the LAN and have stable servers, people might come play. The other thing you would have to worry about is viri and file sharing.

You wouldn't want your place getting infected with any nasty stuff. I'm guessing you would run linux but I don't think you can get all the top games on the Linux servers and the last thing you need is that hassle.

Anyway, where are you planning on doing this?

[hellrazor]

yeah, where's this going up? I though about it all the way home most of the ideas have been posted though so I won't bore you. It would be cool to have a place like this in any area not just urban areas, Some subuerban areas need good clean fun. I agree to play on the wireless lan as a cost effective solution to a hard wired network. Byopc stations are not a bad idea either but not for daily use, I've done tha lan party bit and its fun but only on occaision.
you want to have a place that's cool to go and chill with out the access, and have that as the tie breaker, (I've wanted to do this myself for sometime so I've thought about it) and like elderdays said market thinkgeek stuff (stickers, shirts, toys) and extreme computing stuff, and then staff the place with tech savvy high school/college age hackers to keep it real. :)
At any rate I wish you all the luck (and let me know if it goes up in the greater boston area.)

[Icarus]

Originally posted by Seminole
The other thing you would have to worry about is viri and file sharing.

You wouldn't want your place getting infected with any nasty stuff. I'm guessing you would run linux but I don't think you can get all the top games on the Linux servers and the last thing you need is that hassle. Yes, virii and anonymous ftp/kazaa can be a nightmare. Be sure to keep backups of the servers and update them nightly.

I would say use linux servers to get around the rampant virus problems, but it is a problem that is getting worse for Linux so your not bulletproof using Linux.

Also, most of the popular games have Linux server versions...Half-Life/Counter-Strike, Quake3, UT, UT2003...and many more. You can also easily have a Windows server or two on hand for the games that don't have a Linux server.

[elderdays]

Maybe you could get an aquarium built into the wall and hire some chicks in mermaid suits to swim around in there all day.

[komaseth]

check this out, www.arena1337.com its supposed to be really good. fully networked comps with latest games on em.
never been to one though. (im in the wrong state heh)