Cyber-Cafe

[george langham]

Hi guys, me and a friend are planning on making a Gaming Cyber-Cafe after we leave college.
We want to prepare for it before we get it going by planning all the things which we should buy and researching other cybercafes.
We are already aware of the Steam Cybercafe game bundle + sponsorship bundle and are considering using it.
We need some advice on systems and game server management technology and the actual server computer itself.
It would also be nice to know if anybody knows of any government grants for technology and community based industries.

The final thing we'd like to know is if they think it'd be possible to strike a deal with overclockers uk so that we can bulk buy gaming computers for use in the cybercafe.

Cheers for any help you can give.
George and Josh.

 

[george langham]

bump

 

[george langham]

We are planning on getting a loan, yes.
Along with a savings account.

The bump was accidental, I typed it in but intended to delete the post a useful answer would be nice erj instead of just pointing out the obvious.

Are you guys aware of any available grants in the UK?
we are already aware of the community help grant (which we could technically fit in to)

And the other thing me and Josh are slightly fighting over is the target audience, we know we want gamers.
But we aren't sure if the target audience is Commuter looking for a short gamer session (quick shooters via LAN and Internet, more business comes in, but not stay as long) or University students having days off from University (longer time inside, but also higher chance of being empty some of the time when people are in university. And near drought during University holidays)

Based on a web search (on google maps) the area with the least Cyber-cafes in the UK is Cheshire, although not sure if this is due to lack of people trying the idea out or for some other reason yet.

We were planning on starting in Chester or Crewe
(I prefer Chester but Crewe is much cheaper.)

We could do a few homebrew games, and some PC repair and on the phone help, as well as hiring out the PC's to College and Uni for very basic PC tutoring (people that have no clue how turn on PC, never mind use it)

 

[george langham]

As far as making a deal with OcUK, you'd probably get a better response if you call them. Maybe getting OcUK to sponsor, or put up OcUK advertisements in the cafe? "Powered by Overclockers.co.uk", for example.

Dear George and Josh,

Thank you for your webnote.
We may be able to look into possibilities open to us on bulk purchases. When you know a little more specifically what you want and are getting ready to place your order, please give our friendly sales team a phone call on 0871 910 910 1 and they can look into this further for you.

Regards,

Simon Bagshaw

 

[george langham]

have you researched it? very few make any profit and most close within a few months. The price of the systems, Software and games usually outweighs anything people will pay.

We are going to visit the ones which are still running and see how they cope, also the ones which run Using the The Steam Powered Cyber Cafe Program have a bit better support and last a lot longer, in fact some indie games in the Steam store are supplied by such cyber cafes.

oops accidental double post again. Not sure how delete posts on this forum, most forums have a clearly labeled delete post button.

 

[george langham]

But we aren't sure if the target audience is Commuter looking for a short gamer session (quick shooters via LAN and Internet, more business comes in, but not stay as long)
or University students having days off from University (longer time inside, but also higher chance of being empty some of the time when people are in university. And near drought during University holidays)

Based on a web search (on google maps) the area with the least Cyber-cafes in the UK is Cheshire, although not sure if this is due to lack of people trying the idea out or for some other reason yet.

Many University students are too much in debt to afford PC's until leave University or are too worried about the poor campus security to dare fetch something as expensive as a computer into a dorm, But may have enough spare to use a Cyber Cafe for a while.

Commuters also often have time between trains to waste, and may want to spend it on games.

We could do some PC repair and on the phone help, as well as hiring out the PC's to College and Uni for very basic PC tutoring (people that have no clue how turn on PC, never mind use it) in moments of cash flow shortage