Should games stores offer wifi?

[grizzo]

Should game stores offer wifi in thiers stores for a fee? The reason for it the that way people won't spend the whole playing WOW all day and not buy anything.

 

[El Mahdi]

Yes!

This should be federally mandated by Congress or by Presidential Decree.



But seriously, a game store that wants to bring in customers in todays modern computer culture should probably have wifi. Whether they provide it for free or fee would be up to them and their research data. I think it's possilbe you might find that even people who spend all day in the store playing WoW, probably spend more than they would if the wifi wasn't luring them in. I think that's where real marketing data would help. I would also think that having to pay for wifi access would probably be a turn-off factor, but that's just my opinion.


Just out of curiosity, why are you asking?

Do you have a beef with your local gaming store?

Or are you a gamestore owner/employee that has a beef with people playing WoW all day?

 

[Fedifensor]

I think it's a good idea, as long as the store is smart about it.

* Secure the WiFi. You don't want people in nearby stores stealing your bandwidth. Change the password on a weekly or even daily basis. Yes, it means people have to retype the password each time...but that encourages people to stay a while, which means you have more opportunities to sell them product.
* Be careful about using it as a direct revenue source. Lots of places offer free WiFi these days, which means it's very difficult to charge for WiFi and make it worth the effort. A local store that is a combination game store/coffee shop (Enchanted Grounds) offers WiFi for free...but makes tons of money from people buying their drinks.
* Throttle it down. If you're offering WiFi for free, the last thing you want is some WoW addict using large amounts of bandwidth and not buying anything. Research how to lower the speed to the point where it's fast enough for web browsing, but isn't worth using for MMORPGs.

 

[Crothian]

No. If they want people to stay there all day they swhould be playing the stories games not croding the table with lap tops. It's already bad enough with people that stay in the swtore to long and reak of foul odors no need inviting the unwashed masses of WoW over to.

 

[grizzo]

Yes!

This should be federally mandated by Congress or by Presidential Decree.



But seriously, a game store that wants to bring in customers in todays modern computer culture should probably have wifi. Whether they provide it for free or fee would be up to them and their research data. I think it's possilbe you might find that even people who spend all day in the store playing WoW, probably spend more than they would if the wifi wasn't luring them in. I think that's where real marketing data would help. I would also think that having to pay for wifi access would probably be a turn-off factor, but that's just my opinion.


Just out of curiosity, why are you asking?

Do you have a beef with your local gaming store?

Or are you a gamestore owner/employee that has a beef with people playing WoW all day?

Just curious. No problem with the owners.

 

[frankthedm]

No. Too great a legal risk. Someone goes to the wrong 'chan and the owner catches the heat.

 

[Asmor]

I'd say a game store could get away better than most places without offering wifi. In fact, it seems to me that it would actually be bad because then you've got people taking up table space which would have been used by gamers.

Little tip, though: Go to any Panera Bread, or most other places where they have free wifi. Look around. Notice anything? No power outlets. Batteries provide a convenient way to prevent 'customers' from buying a coffee and sitting there all day leeching wifi (not to mention electricity if they could plug in...)

 

[Mistwell]

No. Too great a legal risk. Someone goes to the wrong 'chan and the owner catches the heat.

Bah, by law they are not responsible for the places their customers visit. Otherwise every Starbucks in the nation would be sued every day. But, if it's actually a concern, there are plenty of software blockers out there.

 

[Pyrex]

* Throttle it down. If you're offering WiFi for free, the last thing you want is some WoW addict using large amounts of bandwidth and not buying anything. Research how to lower the speed to the point where it's fast enough for web browsing, but isn't worth using for MMORPGs.

While you may not really want someone sitting there playing WoW all day for any of several valid reasons, bandwidth usage really isn't one of them. A few minutes of streaming video or running BitTorrent takes up as much bandwidth as a few hours of playing WoW...

Back to the original topic though:
If I were to hang out at a game store for any length of time I would very much appreciate WiFi access while I was there for access to online tools/data repositories.

Fedifensor is right about securing it though. You need to change your WiFi password every day so that today's customers are the ones benefiting from it.

 

[Fedifensor]

While you may not really want someone sitting there playing WoW all day for any of several valid reasons, bandwidth usage really isn't one of them. A few minutes of streaming video or running BitTorrent takes up as much bandwidth as a few hours of playing WoW...

Yet another reason to throttle down bandwidth. The two things you mention can easily veer into illegal territory (downloading copyrighted material) or can upset other customers (viewing porn).