The Student Room Group
Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>
Uni students - Complete our survey >>
Students at Cornwall campus, University of Exeter
University of Exeter
Exeter

This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

Gaming Centre – Thinking of opening one in Exeter city centre

Poll

Would you use a LAN based gaming centre if opened in Exeter?

Hi Folks,

A friend and I are currently toying with the idea of setting up a LAN based gaming centre in Exeter city centre. We are thinking along the lines of 25 gaming PC's (spec below), 5 Playstation 3 consoles, and 5 XBOX 360 consoles (numbers changed based on comments). Hours would cost between £2.00 and £4.00, depending on how much time you are paying for in advance (changed based on comments)

Standard Pricing
Time Price
1 Hour £4.00
3 Hours £10.00
7 Hours £20.00
20 Hours £50.00

University Students
Time Price
1 Hour £3.00
4 Hours £10.00
9 Hours £20.00
25 Hours £50.00

PC Spec
# Intel® Core™ i5 750 Quad Core Processor (2.66GHz, 8MB Cache) - LGA1156
# Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium Edition - 64bit English
# Midi Tower XGS Gaming Chassis - Black / Black Mesh + 700W PSU
# ASUS P7P55D LE Mainboard - Intel Core™ i5 / i7 - LGA 1156 / ATX
# 4GB 1333MHz Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM - (2x2GB)
# 1TB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive with 32MB Buffer
# Samsung 22x Dual Layer DVD Writer Super Format +R/-R/RW/RAM
# 1GB ATi HD4890 Graphics accelerator DVI, DirectX 10.1 PCI Express 2
# 7.1 High Definition onboard sound card - for 8 Channel Cinema sound

# 24" (1920x1080) Full HD LCD Screen

And we would run tournaments offering prizes on a weekly basis. We would purchase and license most of the popular games, and will also look at using some software that allows our gaming centre to share leader boards with other gaming centres in the UK and Europe, allowing us to run competitions outside of our local area, in addition we would have screens inside the gaming centre showing the current leader boards for our centre, and an overall leader board for Europe.

We are thinking of opening hours around 11am till 11pm Mon - Thu, and 9am till 1am Fri - Sun. We may offer certain tournaments that run all night if enough people are interested. We would also look at the possibility of other games such as pool, pinball etc.

By way of drinks and snacks we are thinking of installing vending machines offering coffee, energy drinks, soft drinks, sandwiches, chocolate etc at a reasonable price.

We would want the centre to look good, with decent sofas for seating, and for it to have a community feel about it, offering LAN based gaming in an exciting environment.

I would really like to hear from you all as to whether it is something that appeals to you, you would use, approximate hours you may see yourself using such a gaming centre, and any comments or suggestions regarding pricing, opening hours, location etc.

I thank you in advance for any feedback you may give, good or bad.

Kind Regards,
Paul.

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Avatar for Gueirguiy
Gueirguiy
13
LAN centres will need a minimum of 20 computers, you should cut down to 4-5 of each console.
Separate the price of using a pc depending on need, so gaming = full price, internet/microsoft word = reasonably cheaper.

The price seems really high and I don't understand why I would pay monthly to become a member but on top of that, pay more to use your center...

PS. A pool table or two is always good (bit of extra money too at 50p-£1 per game)
Students at Cornwall campus, University of Exeter
University of Exeter
Exeter
Reply 2
Avatar for Steeps
Steeps
11
Opening hours would be up to the council I assume so that's one thing that might not go according to plan. Whilst vending machines might be a secure way to sell food products I'm not really sure what sort of return you get on the sales, it might be an idea for the startup months to use a cash+carry and price competitively with neighbouring shops, in the long term you might want to move into hot snacks and a more cafe feel to help bring in the income and encourage people to stay in the building.

The most important thing is getting regular custom, it might be an idea to see if local universities/colleges have a gaming society or similar and offer discounted block bookings. I wouldn't leave out the wii though, might attract a couple more groups if they can try bowling or tennis 4 player on a projected screen.

It really is a hard market to get in to, I've seen a few successful places and quite a few failed projects, it really does depend on how well you market the place.
Reply 3
Avatar for Gueirguiy
Gueirguiy
13
Steeps

The most important thing is getting regular custom, it might be an idea to see if local universities/colleges have a gaming society or similar and offer discounted block bookings. I wouldn't leave out the wii though, might attract a couple more groups if they can try bowling or tennis 4 player on a projected screen.




or super smash brothers, zelda and mario kart!
Reply 4
Avatar for Steeps
Steeps
11
Gueirguiy
or super smash brothers, zelda and mario kart!


:yes:
Reply 5
Avatar for r-dragon2k8
r-dragon2k8
I don't think 10 PC's is enough to be honest unless a tournement for a PC was to happen they could always bring there own pc
I wouldn't pay £4.50/hour.
Reply 7
Avatar for The Muon
The Muon
2
And to my knowledge you can't use WAN gaming with a ps3
Reply 8
Avatar for Rhys~
Rhys~
10 pc's is no where near enough, back home the local lan centre to me has 30 and is always full. The 5 360's they have are very rarley used. Monthly competitions always work well and you could have competitions on certain nights like a cod4 ffa where the winner gets free time etc. Also have a look into IGUK, not sure what its like anymore but they used to have several different leagues for where LAN centres played against each other.

Also bear in mind you will probably need air conditioning, the heat a large number of gaming pc's kick out is massive. I know of several LAN centres that had major problems with pc's overheating until they installed air con.

When i was gaming in LAN centres i was there maybe 2-3hours each evening during the weekdays and then when ever my IGUK matches where. Then whenever clan matches where for the centres leagues.
Reply 9
Avatar for Swi1ch
Swi1ch
PC's would have to be good as well, with a lot games/tourneys. I wouldn't personally go out for £4.50 an hour to play on a machine that was equal/inferior to mine unless there was a competition with a prize.

You'd need to allow for people to bring kit as well like keyboard and mice.
Reply 10
Avatar for Rubgish
Rubgish
13
Yah, you need more PC's. Consoles are way less important, with a tournament you could easily fill up 24/32 PC's. Especially as online shooting games tend to have between 16-24 players playing at a given time. (sometimes more or less, but these are the most common).
You need more PCs and flexible payment options. Have you looked at your costs in full detail?
Reply 12
Avatar for paulbarfoot
paulbarfoot
OP
Well thanks for the all the recent comments, I see straight away there are areas I need to review. Please keep the comments coming, I will certainly review the hourly cost and allow for 20-30 PC's whilst reducing the amount of consoles to 5 of each... :smile:
Reply 13
Avatar for Peanut42
Peanut42
15
yoyo462001
i wouldnt pay that price but id definitely enter tournaments for it. Its a good idea so ill support it. but have you thought of just making a Gaming society (WHICH WE DONT EVEN HAVE!!) instead.


I thought we did? Oh actually maybe it's board games like D&D. :rolleyes:

Start one!
Peanut42
I thought we did? Oh actually maybe it's board games like D&D. :rolleyes:

Start one!

There is a gaming society - it covers most games from what I gathered when Jason was talking to them. Don't think they're doing too well though - they seemed happy just to have someone sign up for emails rather than join..
Reply 15
Avatar for theBOON
theBOON
paulbarfoot
Hi Folks,

A friend and I are currently toying with the idea of setting up a LAN based gaming centre in Exeter city centre. We are thinking along the lines of 25 gaming PC's, 5 Playstation 3 consoles, and 5 XBOX 360 consoles (numbers changed based on comments). Hours would cost between £2.50 and £4.00, depending on how much time you are paying for in advance (changed based on comments)

Standard Pricing University Students
Time Price Time Price
1 Hour £4.00 1 Hour £3.00
3 Hours £10.00 4 Hours £10.00
7 Hours £20.00 9 Hours £20.00
20 Hours £50.00 25 Hours £50.00

And would run tournaments offering prizes on a weekly basis. We would purchase and license most of the popular games, and will also look at using some software that allows our gaming centre to share leader boards with other gaming centres in the UK and Europe, allowing us to run competitions outside of our local area, in addition we would have screens inside the gaming centre showing the current leader boards for our centre, and an overall leader board for Europe.

We are thinking of opening hours around 11am till 11pm Mon - Thu, and 9am till 1am Fri - Sun. We may offer certain tournaments that run all night if enough people are interested. We would also look at the possibility of other games such as pool, pinball etc.

By way of drinks and snacks we are thinking of installing vending machines offering coffee, energy drinks, soft drinks, sandwiches, chocolate etc at a reasonable price.

We would want the centre to look good, with decent sofas for seating, and for it to have a community feel about it, offering LAN based gaming in an exciting environment.

I would really like to hear from you all as to whether it is something that appeals to you, you would use, approximate hours you may see yourself using such a gaming centre, and any comments or suggestions regarding pricing, opening hours, location etc.

I thank you in advance for any feedback you may give, good or bad.

Kind Regards,
Paul.


I suggest you offer other services other than gaming which should be the main one. Like a full furnished cafe' a perhaps, I assume, if you a tech-geek pc and console servicing, and pc and console imports. A lan gaming center alone may not be good enough to keep enough costumers.
Reply 16
Avatar for Peanut42
Peanut42
15
I think the lowered price should be for college students too, they're closer to the centre and probably less bothered about spending loads of time there. :p:
paulbarfoot

# 24" (1920x1080) Full HD LCD Screen




You realise if you are to have a tournament with a game such as Counter Strike, unless you allow them to bring monitors only a little kid would use a 24" monitor for that game.

Also take a look at the prices of this Gamer Heaven in Brighton (It has 24 gaming pc's)

Gaming per hour:
Members £2.20
Non Members £3.00


Gaming Membership:
Free for a limited time only (worth £15 per year).


Gaming Members discounted deals:
3 Hours of Gaming for just £5 to use anytime!
After school Offer between 4pm and 6pm week days
2 hours for just £3
Sunday Double 8 offer - 8 hours £8!!!
All Day gaming pass just £12.

You are going to have to revise your prices and work on good offers, also I think they do all nighters for £6.
Reply 18
Avatar for d3rail
d3rail
Gueirguiy
You realise if you are to have a tournament with a game such as Counter Strike, unless you allow them to bring monitors only a little kid would use a 24" monitor for that game.


What the hell are you talking about? Most players play on 20/22" screens, more and more are playing 24 and some (a small number) play 26/28/larger.

You don't need a big screen to play CS, you just need to be good :facepalm:


I would definitely be very interested in a gaming centre, as long as it was central, and was run well with good promotion/tournaments/prizes. I can't emphasise the prize/competition aspect enough - I have a perfectly good PC at home, with everything set up how I like. If you want me to come play, make it worth my while.
Reply 19
Avatar for Paul_T
Paul_T
A word of advice, there was a place in Exeter, I forget the name, where you could use the 'net or to play games - it was by Exeter Central first, then moved to the bottom of Paris Street and lastly up the top end of Sidwell St opposite the cinema (not sure if it's still there) but it did seem to be poorly supported by gamers - we used it from 1998 to 2006 or thereabouts, some of use travelled up from Newton for the sessions. Generally Counterstrike (& CS:s-smilie:ource), Half-Life, Far Cry & FEAR deathmatches - whatever was legally free to play (ie FEAR multiplayer) or that the guy had multiple licenses for.
It wasn't overly large (10 PC's max when in Paris St? all with 17" CRT's no consoles that I recall), it wasn't overly 'commercial' with a good vibe to the place, and prices were quite reasonable, but I just got the feeling that the people of Exeter weren't ready or interested in the idea. He (David G. I forget how to spell his surname) may still be up there.
Anyway, good luck if you do go ahead and make sure it's well publicized, don't think word of mouth will keep the punters rolling in.

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you