Internet\Gaming Cafe - Would you use it?

[Inoshishi]

Me and a friend have been thinking about setting up an Internet Cafe \ Gaming Cafe, It would have a few PC's for Surfing\Email - Then Another say 10 PC's for LAN\Internet Gaming, and maybe some Xbox360's \ PS3's for console gaming. And of course a coffee\cake area.

Local gaming tournaments could be held there and stuff.

Its just an idea at the moment, we were wondering if it would be popular though, if this was set up in your local town centre, Could you see yourself using it?

One of my thoughts are that people who game, already have decent setups with a decent net connection in there own house, so why would they bother going to a cafe.

 

[Zefan]

Me and a mate were going to set up a mobile one, that would've been the best thing ever.

 

[roboffer]

One of my thoughts are that people who game, already have decent setups with a decent net connection in there own house, so why would they bother going to a cafe.

I think youve answered your own question, I would never use one.

 

[furnace]

if this was set up in your local town centre, Could you see yourself using it?

Nope, because...

people who game, already have decent setups with a decent net connection in there own house, so why would they bother going to a cafe.

I think you'd have to bring PC Gaming into a new light to get popular... Somehow make it a more communal thing - make people want to get out of their house to do it... somehow.

 

[Ripper]

I remember seeing a thread exactly like this not long back. I think my reply was somewhere along the lines of no, it wouldn't work.

I suppose it can be made to be successful if there's an alternative attraction rather than just internet/gaming, but I can't see much profit being made with connections as they are these days. They cost a lot of money to get up and running too.

 

[PaulB]

I agree with Roboffer's answer - wouldn't use one personally.

They seemed to be all the rage a few years back, but what with broadband being so widely available, I don't think they are a particularly viable proposition any more.

 

[4T5]

One of my thoughts are that people who game, already have decent setups with a decent net connection in there own house, so why would they bother going to a cafe.

No matter what kit you have at home there is nothing that compares to Pwning someone who is in the same room as you.
Half a dozen mates shouting/laughing/sniping Great fun.
As long as the kit was half decent & i could take my own Keyboard & mouse i would happily use it.
Your market would probably be young'uns though who can't afford there own system yet.
Go for it i say & Good Luck with it.

 

[Nebzor]

We have an internet cafe in town down here. It's very rarely used, and so I'd definitely say it isn't worth it.

 

[caeteez]

The profits associated with businesses like this are very slim, unless you manage to hit it big. The problem is that the chains end up dominating the market.

The start-up costs would also be huge.

 

[colinuk]

There was one run by a mate of mine in 'the wirral'. he had a room with about 20 pc's, ran frag games and gave free tea and coffee, had a lounge area to relax in and had little prizes for *** competions. Its all about advertising, word of mouth and what games you have on the menu.

Also, and im not sure how you would go about this, having internet based games, ie, WOW, L2, LoTR's ect, you would have to have a secure PC system to stop people installing key loggers ect.

What my mate did was a bit long winded but got him respect, he had an image of each PC with the software on it. When you log off he put the image back on, removing any unwanted data being left on the PC. Long winded, took about 20mins, but people liked the idea.

Good luck with it. One other thing, he made more money out of upgrading PC's and fixing them than he ever did out of the gaming side, btu he got a lot of walk in's from it too...

Colin

 

[Glaucus]

No, however if you decked it out for lan tournaments it might work, with a cafe out the front.

The back (lan area) could be hired out. You could also try and get a regular monthly lan tournament going.

Then sell paninins and stuff in the cafe and to the lan players. Wifi in the cafe and maybe a 2/4 computers with free internet access 20min login or something, to attract people.

 

[Luke]

If there was an internet/gaming cafe that was open 24/7 that sold coffee etc, then I might make use of it.

 

[Inoshishi]

Well i've probably got enough money to get it off the ground, but my initial thoughts seemed right, gamers just wouldn't bother , I know I wouldn't myself, I have everything in the house.

Plus the money would probably be better spent on a house deposit

 

[Martins]

Just do a cafe with Wifi and maybe a couple of small terminals.
Gaming Cafes are dead.

 

[ScarySquirrel]

I used to go to one to play CS back in the day, this was before I had a decent PC. It closed down, as did every other one in the area.

I think in this day and age of cheap broadband it wouldn't work.

 

[tsinc80697]

gamers will bother if you start proper tournaments with proper teams going, ie CS 1.6 or CS:Source.
There are a good few competitions going on up and down the country every year, and obviously abroad. The best ones in the Uk will have decent prizes for first place, ie a grand and some headsets/mousemats etc

If you did it properly with enough room for atleast 4x5person teams to play at once, you could have 2 day tournaments with entry fee, which mostly pays for the prizes, sponsors arent that hard to come by these days for gaming events, and things like food/drink always helps

 

[Deiwos]

Theres been countless ones set up in Nottingham, and I've only seen one last more than a year, and thats mainly because its sat right next to the main cinema in the city centre. All the others have been in out of the way places, which I think has to be why they've failed.

I've never liked net cafes/gaming cafes. They're always expensive, run by obnoxious geeks (in my experience), and the hardware never matches close to what I have.

 

[Inoshishi]

run by obnoxious geeks (in my experience)

Geek maybe, Obnoxious no


No seriously, thanks for the reply's guys appriciate it.

 

[Tomsk]

Gaming = high(ish) end PC's and consoles = very tempting target for the thieves.

 

[Bug One]

Only time I've used an Internet Cafe was abroad.

They're popular with foreign students, so if I was going to setup a business like that I would target an area with lots of foreign students, but without a good campus.