News: Rotherham Gaming Café Success Stories Making Waves
Entertainment lounges have long been a part of Rotherham's DNA, ever since the first billiards and darts clubs captured the public's imagination. New digital incarnations have changed tack on this idea, introducing gaming activities that provide the next generation of players with wide realms of new opportunities. Illustrated by a few breakout success stories and bolstered by a modern age of technology, Rotherham is looking to find a place as one of the more welcoming towns in the UK for gamers.
What is a Gaming Café?
A gaming café is a professional establishment that blends video games with some kind of food or drink service. In this way, it's similar to the classic pool or dart clubs that have long been loved in English culture. The difference is that gaming cafés leverage much younger forms of entertainment and have yet to find mainstream footing in much of the Western world.
While gaming cafés have been tried in Rotherham before, with mixed results, this is an area where progress is more of an inevitability. The success of a gaming café depends on the willingness and understanding of the population to play games. Gaming has been on the uptick for generations, with many of today's adults having grown up with consoles and PC systems. With bigger audiences, the viability of gaming cafes continues to grow. International precedent shows that there is enormous potential here, once the market reaches a certain point.
Korea is one of the best examples of early and ongoing gaming café success. First arriving in the late 80s, cafés and lounges called PC bangs are now a staple of Korean entertainment life. Commonly featuring dozens of computers to play as well as options for food and drink, there are thousands of PC bangs in Seoul alone, many of which are open 24/7.
While Rotherham can’t match the population of Seoul, it still has the opportunity to scale the success of PC bangs to a local level. It’s a primed market in more ways than one, where we’re waiting for businesses to finally capture that magic.
Rotherham’s Position for Success
There are several key elements that every city needs before it can hope to capture a chunk of the gaming café market. The first is interest in gaming, which as we touched on above, is increasingly here. The second is the willingness of the public to try something new.
The first steps for a wider gaming café market have already been met in Rotherham with establishments like the Extra Life Gaming Lounge and Guild of Games. These have shown the interest of a market, playing their part in driving a gradual cultural shift towards public enthusiasm.
Next is the infrastructure and online connectivity required not just for the café, but for the local gaming community. The benefits of connectivity here are again illustrated by outside examples, in this case, the success enjoyed by the best online casinos in the UK, and how they excel. Modern online internet speeds mean comparing and accessing websites like Mr Vegas and Pub Casino without delay is simple even on older devices. Mobile 4G and high-speed home networks mean practically no barriers to collecting bonuses or playing, and while video games are more demanding on data, similar possibilities are still available in this space.
The only real part that makes video gaming different is that gambling enjoys more of a legacy in public enthusiasm, and multiplayer video games are less viable on mobiles. Video games in public establishments are closer to untested waters, and this is a common roadblock faced in the Western world. As the forward-thinking business already breaking into Rotherham video gaming still challenges more reticent perceptions, this will continue to slowly change, it's just a matter of when.
Acting as the kicker is how welcoming Rotherham and the rest of the UK is with lounge culture. This isn’t a case of having to reinvent the wheel, it’s more about adapting what already exists to service a new generation. The components of technology, love of gaming, and social enthusiasm are already here, we’re just waiting for businesses to show how effective they can be when combined.
As much promise as the coming years and decades have for digital gaming establishments, they'll never be a full replacement for our nation's favourite gaming pastimes. Rather, gaming illustrates one more addition to the classic experiences that make our leisure culture so renowned. It’s an exciting time for the city, so even if you haven’t picked up a joystick in years, consider seeing what these forward-thinking businesses are bringing into Rotherham’s domain. You never know which one might be the next big thing.
Images: Flickr / Joop999 / Dark Dwarf Used under Creative Commons
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What is a Gaming Café?
A gaming café is a professional establishment that blends video games with some kind of food or drink service. In this way, it's similar to the classic pool or dart clubs that have long been loved in English culture. The difference is that gaming cafés leverage much younger forms of entertainment and have yet to find mainstream footing in much of the Western world.
While gaming cafés have been tried in Rotherham before, with mixed results, this is an area where progress is more of an inevitability. The success of a gaming café depends on the willingness and understanding of the population to play games. Gaming has been on the uptick for generations, with many of today's adults having grown up with consoles and PC systems. With bigger audiences, the viability of gaming cafes continues to grow. International precedent shows that there is enormous potential here, once the market reaches a certain point.
Korea is one of the best examples of early and ongoing gaming café success. First arriving in the late 80s, cafés and lounges called PC bangs are now a staple of Korean entertainment life. Commonly featuring dozens of computers to play as well as options for food and drink, there are thousands of PC bangs in Seoul alone, many of which are open 24/7.
While Rotherham can’t match the population of Seoul, it still has the opportunity to scale the success of PC bangs to a local level. It’s a primed market in more ways than one, where we’re waiting for businesses to finally capture that magic.
There are several key elements that every city needs before it can hope to capture a chunk of the gaming café market. The first is interest in gaming, which as we touched on above, is increasingly here. The second is the willingness of the public to try something new.
The first steps for a wider gaming café market have already been met in Rotherham with establishments like the Extra Life Gaming Lounge and Guild of Games. These have shown the interest of a market, playing their part in driving a gradual cultural shift towards public enthusiasm.
Next is the infrastructure and online connectivity required not just for the café, but for the local gaming community. The benefits of connectivity here are again illustrated by outside examples, in this case, the success enjoyed by the best online casinos in the UK, and how they excel. Modern online internet speeds mean comparing and accessing websites like Mr Vegas and Pub Casino without delay is simple even on older devices. Mobile 4G and high-speed home networks mean practically no barriers to collecting bonuses or playing, and while video games are more demanding on data, similar possibilities are still available in this space.
The only real part that makes video gaming different is that gambling enjoys more of a legacy in public enthusiasm, and multiplayer video games are less viable on mobiles. Video games in public establishments are closer to untested waters, and this is a common roadblock faced in the Western world. As the forward-thinking business already breaking into Rotherham video gaming still challenges more reticent perceptions, this will continue to slowly change, it's just a matter of when.
Acting as the kicker is how welcoming Rotherham and the rest of the UK is with lounge culture. This isn’t a case of having to reinvent the wheel, it’s more about adapting what already exists to service a new generation. The components of technology, love of gaming, and social enthusiasm are already here, we’re just waiting for businesses to show how effective they can be when combined.
Images: Flickr / Joop999 / Dark Dwarf Used under Creative Commons
