MAJOR help from the Hexus think tank required!

[Prime]

*if this thread could be kept Strictly on topic for when i require future reference i would be extremely grateful!*
i very good friend of mine is a step closer to his dream of opening a LAN gaming centre with a small in-house eatery.
he has alot of the subjects covered with regards to the start up and running of the Centre and just wants a bit more info from not only the Core Hexus gamers - but also advice from any of its members wishing to contribute.
Taking a role as Mike's creative designer i simply create him logo's, promo's, possible floor plans, posters and so on but i also wanted to hear more from the people with experience in company management, out of home LAN gaming and for this requirement: there is no better place than HEXUS!

the following is a brief email Mike has sent me just to give you the basis of what he is trying to achieve followed by a few questions.

We as gamers are a community of our own, a community that the rest of the social world looks upon as nerds, geeks, boring. How would you feel about a place catered specifically to a gamers needs, rejoice in an environment custom built by gamers for gamers. Nerd talk is the norm, no more shying away or strange looks when you discuss your favourite subject in public. Cutting edge gaming technology and the lowest pings physically possible at the moment. Meet and interact with the thousands of gamers living all around you. In every town and every street there is a dedicated gamer with no where to enjoy their hobby besides their own home.
Tech Haven Gaming is a revolution in the social field, founded and operated by long time dedicated gamers with decades of experience to refine what gamers crave when they log in to enjoy their free time. Providing all styles of games, from MMO’s, FPS, RTS, Localised LAN’s for all popular games and those long lost heroes of pre Internet Multiplayer. Also including fully streaming in game combat at the internal snack and beverage bar, forgotten consoles to play with friends while you wait, regular organised tournaments of your favourites and an atmosphere designed entirely around 100% gaming.

just a few questions below that i would greatly appreciate answers too along with any related comments.
(granted its mainly gamer based questions and would appreciate only relevant answers)

What would you expect to find when you entered Tech Haven?

What would draw you to a local Tech Haven to use your online time?

What can’t you do at your home system that Tech Haven could provide?

would you expect a mixture of retro LAN and modern games, please give examples of a many as you can.

would you participate in various in-house leagues as well as possible cross country leagues, representing Tech Haven

truth be told - i'd LOVE to see Mike succeed with this as its been his ambition for a very long time and not only do i want to be a part of it but i want to help him as much as possible along the way!
maybe as things progress - this thread could be used as a think tank, a reference and other useful tool in subjects outside my boundaries which i can relay to mike - and in return i would more than be happy to include Hexus as much as possible in terms of links, thank yous, and any other way beneficial way i could to pay back for the help and give back for the help - obviously with consent from Hexus officials . . . i'd like to make more people aware of Hexus - gaming is just a small portion of what this site has to offer!

Thank you VERY much in advance, to all of you!

Andy 'Prime' Booth

[G4Z]

Well, I am a huge gamer myself but really I have to say I think the idea of LAN gaming as a viable business is pretty shaky. The simple fact is most hardcore gamers who are likely to find this appealing are also very likely to have high end gaming PC's, consoles plasmas and all that jazz. chuck in near universal broadband availabillity with most games supporting integrated voice and why on earth do you need to leave the house to game?

I personaly would never go to a LAN place and pay to game when I already have eveything I need right at home.

I really don't wanna put a downer on your mates project but I can see with the price of hardware going down all the time then i forsee this trend will only incerease. so I think making it a viable business will be a pretty big challenge.

I think if he is serious he needs to come up with a few real USP's, things you can't do yourself at home. One idea I would go with is gaming competitions and if possible a drinks license. I could defiantely see myself competing in a pro evo tournament with a pint in my hand...

I think it would also be well worth going after female gamers as well, if you can get females gamers in the door the blokes will most certainly follow.

[Disturbedguy]

Well, I am a huge gamer myself but really I have to say I think the idea of LAN gaming as a viable business is pretty shaky. The simple fact is most hardcore gamers who are likely to find this appealing are also very likely to have high end gaming PC's, consoles plasmas and all that jazz. chuck in near universal broadband availabillity with most games supporting integrated voice and why on earth do you need to leave the house to game?

I personaly would never go to a LAN place and pay to game when I already have eveything I need right at home.

I have gone to gaming centers a few times, never on my own but with mates. Once was after college, we decided sod it, went to town, went to gaming center and just had a laugh.

Other was, I was in a clan and there were some lads that were very local to Manchester, so we decided to meet in town and went to a gaming center, socialised and had fun.

Tbh, some of the draw I feel for people going to gaming centre's is winning prizes, some places, where possible offer prizes whether it is X-Amount of time playing for free or cash prizes.

I will answer the questions later, cant on crappy work tinternet.

[GheeTsar]

What would you expect to find when you entered Tech Haven?

• Decent spec machines and monitors
• Comfy seats
• Not too cramped
• Optional ability to use own mouse/keyboard/headphones
• No glare, but not like a dungeon either
• Air con for the summer
• Up to date games, patched and easy to run
• First class internet connection
• Online security
• A fair price

What would draw you to a local Tech Haven to use your online time?

• Trial of a new game before buying it
• Meeting mates to play together
• Tournaments
• If my machine at home couldn't hack the game I wanted to play
• A friendly atmosphere

What can’t you do at your home system that Tech Haven could provide?

• Tournaments
• Direct interaction with others
• Easier to work as a team in team based games

would you expect a mixture of retro LAN and modern games, please give examples of a many as you can.

• Yes. Classics like CS:S, TF2, Quake III, CoD4/W@W/MW, GRID as a starter for 10.

would you participate in various in-house leagues as well as possible cross country leagues, representing Tech Haven

• If I had the time

[Rob_B]

I'd tell him to drop the 'persecuted nerd/geek' language, makes it sound very whiny & far too niche (I'm assuming this is some sort of tagline/advertising he will be using)

[abaxas]

Without being rude, just take the money you curently have and give it to charity.

Much better return as you'll NEVER make any money from this.

However if you want to give you time for free and run this like a hobby. Go head.

[Salazaar]

I'm afraid I'm with the majority here and I'd tell him to question very seriously whether there is actually enough demand for this kind of venture.

I'm a fairly heavy gamer and I've never seen the draw of LAN centres like this.

He's also got to remember that he's not just going to have to pay for a lot of fairly expensive hardware but a) keep it up to date and b) keep on replacing it after it gets worn out and damaged by punters. This is on top of all the insurances and legislations he's got to keep on top of to open something like this to the public, especially if he's going to be selling food as well!

How is all this going to be funded? If he's expecting to get a business loan he'd better have a pretty water tight business plan to start with.

[Knoxville]

First off, I agree with Rob. A gaming centre should be somewhere people want to go because it's a cool place to hang out, not because they feel they're too uncool for everywhere else and require their own little home away from home if you catch my drift.

What would you expect to find when you entered Tech Haven?

* Well specced machines
* Comfortable seating
* Knowledgeable staff
* The ability to loan/hire decent joysticks and headsets for a session
* Good ventilation
* Up to date games
* A great internet connection
* Online security

What would draw you to a local Tech Haven to use your online time?

* A friendly atmosphere
* Fair prices
* Plenty of machines (no sitting around waiting for a party to finish)


What can’t you do at your home system that Tech Haven could provide?

* Tournaments
* System linked console gaming (Forza 2, Gears of War, L4D, Dirt etc etc.)

would you expect a mixture of retro LAN and modern games, please give examples of a many as you can.

* I'd expect classic titles like Counterstrike, Team Fortress 2, CoD4/W@W, Quake 3 and at least one flavour of UT to be honest as well as all the latest releases, some decent strategy games probably wouldn't go amiss either.


Would you participate in various in-house leagues as well as possible cross country leagues, representing Tech Haven

* If I had the time and the others in the party I was part of were all at a similar skill level.

[Knoxville]

Without being rude, just take the money you curently have and give it to charity.

Much better return as you'll NEVER make any money from this.

However if you want to give you time for free and run this like a hobby. Go head.

I disagree, provided its based in a large enough town and marketed properly gaming centres like this can turn a profit, it's hard work but it can pay off. For example there's been a LAN gaming centre near my local pub for easily as long as I've been drinking there which is probably seven or eight years by now and they're still there. It's like a snooker club or a pool hall, they never have a huge number of customers but they have enough die hard regulars and little enough competition that they can survive quite happily.

[G4Z]

I think Knox makes a good point which I touched on about a drinking license. The fact is, you wouldn't want kids for customers in any case, they have no money. Adults is where its at and a bar that is alsoa LAN centre would be the way to go to my mind.

One other thing on costs to think about is also the rather immense software costs. Say you have 20 machines, that means every time a new games comes out you are shelling out serveral hundred quid and games that people want to play come out all ther time and you would need to be up to date. In fact realease parties for some of the bigger games (like MW2, and the upcoming AvP) would also be a worthwhile inititive.

[Syllopsium]

I have to admit that at age 36, I may perhaps be starting to go outside the target age range, but in any case :

Speaking as a 'casual' gamer (I do game every week, but I have lots more outside hobbies), I don't see the attraction of such a gaming centre. I'm a bit unusual in that I have very little interest in competitive FPS unless it's with friends.

If I wanted to play the latest online games, surely I could do that from my own house.

What I would put myself to some inconveniece to go to, and pay a reasonable amount for, is say a one day event with a mixture of games both old and new, silly challenges, workshops on indie games, game design and other such things. I went to the retro games exhibition in London a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.

My horror would be that it'd be stuffed with annoying teenagers all hellbent on low ping times and playing Crysis. Don't get me wrong - I still like to game lots - many RPGs and playing Half Life 1/2 and Jedi Knight (with the enhanced texture pack) currently, but constant competitive twitch gaming has probably lost its attraction.

Still, your friend can't be the first person to have tried this. There must be some other gaming centres or suitably equipped Internet cafes (don't forget those..), and attempts to gather together large groups of WoW players to go on raids. Those will tell you if it's likely to succeed.

[abaxas]

I disagree, provided its based in a large enough town and marketed properly gaming centres like this can turn a profit, it's hard work but it can pay off. For example there's been a LAN gaming centre near my local pub for easily as long as I've been drinking there which is probably seven or eight years by now and they're still there. It's like a snooker club or a pool hall, they never have a huge number of customers but they have enough die hard regulars and little enough competition that they can survive quite happily.

Maybe you should do a cost analysis.

It reason I say this is becasue a friend used to run a similar thing with ~30 pcs. BAscially he struggled (even with it being full at weekends) to even make minimum wage.

As I said, if this is a hobby. Go for it, but as a business, never.

[shaithis]

MMO players will mainly play on their own PCs for a plethora of reasons......the main one being customisations to UIs and game features.

PC hardware is too cheap now, plus a large percentage of gaming seems to be shifting to consoles where the hardware is even more affordable.....I have seen plenty of these LAN places inventories on sheets of paper that a friend of mine gets, he works for the inland revenue and gets to hear about all the auctions for companies that go into administration while owing tax......

Now would be the ideal time to get out of the LAN centre market IMO.

[Phage]

Alternatively - Run some big arse servers as advertising and just run it as a cafe.
Think what the Ace Cafe is to bikes. It's not selling, it's not pushing, it's coffee, comfy chairs, bookshop, website, and forum.
Servers will have a longer lifespan, and won't be rooted by the punters. Reduces capital outlay significantly.

[Lucio]

In all honesty, I couldn't see myself going to a LAN cafe, why pay to play games I already own at home?

So, what that leaves you is catering towards the teenager market, who need somewhere warm, fun and cheap to spend their time. So in that case I'd expect to see comfortable but rugged furnature, monitors inside protective cases and the PC's locked behind some kind of protective cage.

Stick to cheap snack food (both hot and cold) and general junk food that can be had for under a fiver. Heck, if you're providing a "youth centre" type appeal, try the local council as well for a grant.

[kalniel]

Forget the hardcore market, I'd go for the mums and day time shoppers. Stock the place with Wiis, balance boards and rock band type games that are accessible to a wider market, make it girl friendly, smell nice etc.