What Do You Want
<div class="IPBDescription">from a gaming community</div> good Afternoon people.
i am T or Tommy or more commonly Moq.
ive been a gamer for around 8 years now, and i have been involved in so many clans i couldnt even begin to count.
i have also done alot of work for the kazaa lite community as i owned the help room, but i have recently resigned from that position to concentrate on other things. like the venture i want to talk to you about.
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the basic concept of what i want to achieve is well a great gaming community with some fun loving competitive gamers.
now one of the most important factors is.. dont expect everyone to put theyre lives on hold to play. We play a lot, but do not neglect feeding the cats, getting a little exercise, and family. In other words, the bulk of the online gaming community.
we want to provide a good experience, my future goals apart from moving to the states involve opening a gaming bar. and so this is going to be a big learning curve for me.
we intend to offer as much as we can, although we dont fully know what YOU guys would want...
so what i want from you is to just tell me a few things...
1, what would you WANT from something like this, obviously im not advertising it to you, there is nothing to advertise yet.
2, what would you suggest to make some money on this. not a profit.. but enough to come out even. we intend to hold LAN events etc
3, the name. we have been bickering about this for a while now. i personally like 'Sedated Gaming' basically meaning like calm chilled out gaming..
ok so please PLEASE give genuine answers... cos well, yeah that is what we need to make the experienc better for all
Thanks..
Tommy
i am T or Tommy or more commonly Moq.
ive been a gamer for around 8 years now, and i have been involved in so many clans i couldnt even begin to count.
i have also done alot of work for the kazaa lite community as i owned the help room, but i have recently resigned from that position to concentrate on other things. like the venture i want to talk to you about.
----
the basic concept of what i want to achieve is well a great gaming community with some fun loving competitive gamers.
now one of the most important factors is.. dont expect everyone to put theyre lives on hold to play. We play a lot, but do not neglect feeding the cats, getting a little exercise, and family. In other words, the bulk of the online gaming community.
we want to provide a good experience, my future goals apart from moving to the states involve opening a gaming bar. and so this is going to be a big learning curve for me.
we intend to offer as much as we can, although we dont fully know what YOU guys would want...
so what i want from you is to just tell me a few things...
1, what would you WANT from something like this, obviously im not advertising it to you, there is nothing to advertise yet.
2, what would you suggest to make some money on this. not a profit.. but enough to come out even. we intend to hold LAN events etc
3, the name. we have been bickering about this for a while now. i personally like 'Sedated Gaming' basically meaning like calm chilled out gaming..
ok so please PLEASE give genuine answers... cos well, yeah that is what we need to make the experienc better for all
Thanks..
Tommy
Comments
gaming community like... kinda like wireplay servers for cs... you have to be registered on theyre site b4 you can play on the server.. something like that.. so you only get high quality gamers cos a lamer wont bother to reg an account just to come cause problems, they will just go some other place...
and then build on that community with competitions... and lan events server hosting website hosting/development
basically... i want to do alot of different things... but there is no point unless you guys wanna see them.. so i need you to tell me what you want like
would you want
a, public servers with plenty of admins...
B, registered members only servers with vote kicking etc
ya know? just what you prefer.. what gives you a good gaming experience..
we are starting with half life and its mods.. and then we will be heading to bf42/V and joint ops *in theory.. i mean if you guys dont like those games.. when i say you guys i mean gamers in general then there is no point
another Eg
would you rather just come online and see what the server is running?, or would you like a set thing like monday weds friday is de/cs maps (im using CS as an example here.) tuesday and thurs as custom map day...
that kind of thing...
all the advice you can give... you are the people remember <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<!--emo&::tsa::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tsa.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tsa.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Most of these people are fairly nice, and will be happy to give you pointers/advice. Hell, some of them might even want to collaborate with you on it.
It is geographical however, so I'd probably expect a colder response from the people local to you, physically. Simply because there's only so many players to go around, and anyone going to yours, isn't going to theirs. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
If you need any ideas/info on specific questions, feel free to ask though. I for one will answer as best I can, because I'd hope to receive the same treatment from others.
If you do manage to get one up & running, welcome to that little privledged club. You'll be behind the curtain, and get to see all the cogs & wheels. It's all downhill from there...
- Shockwave
as for making money to break even at least, I'm not against seeing ads on a community forum or something -- I sure as hell never look at them, but I respect the reason they're there <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> and if you were organizing a LAN party, I doubt most people would object to paying a few quid or something to help cover it...
as for starting a gaming bar - do you mean with drinking and everything? if so, brilliant idea -- I don't think people realize how many adult gamers are out there, so I think it'd really take off in the right neighborhood (like the NYC area)... I could just imagine how l33t it would be to be able to sit there playing games and have drinks served to me <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> would have to booze-proof the keyboards tho...
Obviously not just anyone could join at any time, but you know, like you said it yourself casual. Competition is good, but theres a limit to it. You know all those cool online games that require cooperation, or coop games themselves, that you really wanna play, but never find anyone to play with. Games like that. (Serious sam, avp2, NS!, STALKER!!)
2) Well firstly get going, once your set and have a proper community and some experience, then start worrying about money. But frankly the only way to get any cash together is have a moderate amount of people and simply paying it evenly. If they wont then they simply arent that much of a community anyway.
3) Yea yea.. Sedated gaming is fine. Nothging like "The dark grim reaper lords" unless you want angsty 14 year olds.
4) You also need a set of basic rules. Eg: whats your opinion of warez, wether or not everyone should have a mic, wether or not everyone should have top of the line hardware, language, age and location and so on.
as for starting a gaming bar - do you mean with drinking and everything? if so, brilliant idea -- I don't think people realize how many adult gamers are out there, so I think it'd really take off in the right neighborhood (like the NYC area)... I could just imagine how l33t it would be to be able to sit there playing games and have drinks served to me <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> would have to booze-proof the keyboards tho... <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
yeah thats always been my plan..
this is a pipedream so please dont knock it or give c and C on this, im just explainning to DZ..
the basic concept is like a regular gaming cafe...but with the added addition of a bar upstairs.. like a seperate level... and yeah... the bar is for gamers.. not just any old 18 year old pissant who wants to get drunk (or 21 if its the states)
but yeah.. for serious mature gamers to come and have a laugh... while being able to relax and have a few drinks. in other words i think alot of older gamers would jump at it.
im talking like big ol screens in the bar too like say there is a tourny... for the matches have the players all downstairs etc.. and anyone who wants to watch etc... **** just head up to the bar... grab a cold one and watch the fragging..
it'd be like an espn sports bar for gamers...
the idea is mine.. dunno how 'original' it is.. dont know if any actually exist... but yeah.. its a pipe dream <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
The dullest are the CS and stuff tournaments. I tried watching some with friends or joining a few but it's just bleh... a lot of people end up taking it too seriously, it's kinda hard to watch (not to mention boring to some degree) and it's just not got that friendly chatter a good fighting game breathes into it.
I guess sports games might be good for a bit of fun but I don't like that kind of stuff so I can't say ~shrugs and smiles~
Doing lil tournaments though is definitely a good way to cash in while everyone has fun ^^
1. Primarily - community. It's all about the kind of people you attract - after all, what's a community without it's members? So I'd say an active, welcoming community that gets to know each other; an irc channel and forums, like Lunix, would be fabulous. In the same fashion, server(s) with good admins and reserve slots for the regulars. Registered-member only servers aren't good because it keeps away potential community members who randomly happened upon server - it also means server isn't populated nearly as much.
2. Donations, LAN events, maybe sell t-shirts or something? I was with a CS community in my early clanning days that did the whole cafepress thing with shirts and bags and such.
i dunno cafepress seemed a little kinda... cheap crappy product with a logo smacked onto it.. ive never had anything from them.. dunno the quality... i dont wanna shift shite ya know? i wanna do this right <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
im b rowsing lunixm as we speak <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> altho iirc i went there the other day... and esuna was an admin? that speaks volumes <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Without clever manipulation, groups of people are heavily inertial once formed. In the LunixMonster example it means pretty much regardless of what you do or how hard you try to urinate on it, inertia will keep your playerbase around a long time.
In the same way, you can take a look at the Gorgerush.net server - which rarely has players, because no group ever formed in the first place. So only when by pure chance 4-5 people join it at once does it even fill up. Thats why most popular servers also have forums (voogru, LM, NSA) a site or some other form of focal point for its members to swarm to and banter.
What that means for starting your own cafe? Lets be serious for a moment - once you rent that property, you've made a serious investment (together with the machines and staff). You can't do that from scratch and expect much luck - you'll need to devise ways to alert your demographic (gamers with wallets in your vicinity) of your existence, think of a reason to play there (Why not play at home?) and ideally even have a core group of people you know will be interested and regular customers, so you have good odds of attracing more.
Is it feasible? Yes. But too many internet cafes suffer from under-exposure, bad location and just not enough thought put into them. For example I know 2 of them in my area - one is always dead, and in the middle of nowhere between a barber shop and a family restaurant. The other is next to an university campus, smack dab in the middle of the most popular eating areas - and constantly populated.
KTHXBAI
No really...
I don't seroiusly think that bar thing will work at all. The gaming community should be focused to a much larger scale of people, not just the ones who are over the minimum age.
Make sure you start off with a bang. Like I'm talking about telling a whole bunch of people and having a grand opening with huge prizes, and people will be flocking in. Tournaments are a big plus. People love tournaments, and if you make them good, popularity ensues! Treat your regulars like God, and have 1337 cs servers. The closer the server to your location, the more better. Get a direct connection and that will be a huge plus. Call your servers for e.g. ACAN EDMONTON SPIDEY'S WEB, and peeps closeby wil eventually stick to it. Then when you say LAN, everyone will be like: OMG@@!#$#@$ Give out admin to many, many people. As soon as you can trust someone good as a friend, give them admin access, and tell them to put an [ACAN] tag beside their name. Wisely, you should start doing this with your close friends. Forums are great, but only so if people know about your place, and the best way I see it is if you have a server up and running. Another then option is to have LANS and TOURNAMENTS. ETC ETC.
THIS IS ALL MUMBO and you prob already know it, but anyways...YEA
OK good luck.
Remember to put in comfy chairs!!!!