starting a lan gameing center

[hofulstrof]

hey guys im just curios on what the costs would be to set one of these places up. i live in a large town (could be clasified as a small city) and i have found a location available just across the street from the highshool ( used to be a video store). i just want to know what all the equiptment would cost to put up lets say 10-12 computers.

anyidea what the cost would be for equiptment and software to get something like this off the ground?

 

[R1C0CH3T]

umm have someone build you a pc, multiply it by 10 or 12 and BAM there u go. Probly about 1000 per pc for a nice pc. also have a fully stocked candy and soda place

 

[hofulstrof]

what about other hardware involved, routers, server?
and software. does each computer need its own copy of each game?

i went to a place in a differnt city and they had it like this:
go the the front dest. either set up a membership or buy xxx amount of minuites. then you go to a comuter and log in. then then the games all the games were listed on the screewn when you logged in and once your time is up it kicks you off. what type of program how much does it cost to get?

 

[cyrax]

I dunno what program it is, but yeah, you'd have the buy a copy of each game for each computer. You also have to pay rent on a building, that would be the most costly I think. You'd also need a router with a sufficient amount of plugs for what you're doing, just search for them on newegg to find the cost. You'd need some LAN cabling too, and you can just make your own cables, cheaper than buying them, just as good.

 

[hofulstrof]

yeah i have not inquired how much it would be to rent or lease the building yet.

ive got the cableing and bandwidth covered. i am an installer for a wireless internet company, so i can do the cables and install myself. i could proby trade advertising for bandwidth

 

[R1C0CH3T]

dont forget the candy and soda cost! cant have a lan center w/ out that. at my local lan center, they just told whoever to get off the computer, their time was up. no fancy technology needed there

 

[HAVOC]

You've got a lot more overhead then you think.

Consider:

Electricity, Water, Gas/Oil "Heating", "Cooling", Insurance "Renters insurance 100% & Liability", Security "Alarm, Camera, recording.
Advertising and marketing costs. [Staff? Employees?]

Not to mention the hardware, software & licenses, back-up - UPS's... networking equipment... ISP "high speed" T1/T3

You're looking at about $50,000.00+ for start up...

 

[Harper]

what about other hardware involved, routers, server?
and software. does each computer need its own copy of each game?

You do need to have 1 copy per pc load with that game.

How ever, contact the software developers as they might have bulk liences. I know valve as some thing where you can do that. However my knowledge on this is about 24 months old.

Some of the MMORPG cleints can be loaded on the computers too as the software EULA is really in the subscription paid by the player.
Eg. Ragnarok Online

The other thing is that you need to have a good venue.
You will need to purchase an air conditioning system.
You will need some betty good computer too. No scene in dusting off that old P-III 500 you might have laying around. You are going to need some thing up to date, and some thing that will tactle tomorrow games with mininal upgrading.

Smart thing to do is lease the computer gear so that you are not stuck with relics when it comes to upgrading. Leasing will be cheaper upfront.

 

[visionRAY]

Don't forget the cost of furniture either...you'll need chairs for each computer and a couple of big desks/tables.

Like the others said, make sure the computers can run all of the current games well, and then still play future games without the need to upgrade in a few months. You might want all of the computers to be the same, that way they'll all have similar performance and you'll be able to troubleshoot issues faster if the same problem occurs on more than one system.

 

[hofulstrof]

thank you for you unput guys. i an sill going to inqure about how much the building would cost(or rent). but i have come to the conclusion that the start up cost are just going to be way to high. there is no way a person could make enough money just of the gameing. maby if a person sold/serviced comuters at the same time it migth be worth it.