Cybercafe games and licenses

[swoosh]

I live in a small/medium sized town in Norway and I'm (like many others I guess) seriously considering an cybercafe/netcafe/etc. There are no competition whatsoever, and lots of potentional customers (cs-kids generally), so I actually believe it can go around.

Obvious target: gamers.
Reason for them to visit my place: no other places to go if they want to get that "lan-feeling".
Setup: 1 server (web, mail, management), 15 clients (as a start).

But anyway. Not beeing a gamer myself I have no idea how these game-licenses work. I know you can get a single-license by going to a store and getting a copy of the game, but how am I supposed to do it if I want these games installed on 15 computers?

Anarchy Online
Battlefield 1942
Battlefield 1942 - Desert Combat
Battlefield 1942 - Eve of Destruction
Battlefield 1942 - Silent Heroes
Battlefield - Vietnam
Command & Conqueror - Generals
Command & Conqueror - Generals Zero Hour
Civilization III
Deus Ex 2
Everquest
Farcry
GTA III
Gunbound
Half-Life
Half-Life - Counterstrike
Half-Life - Day og defeat
Half-Life - Richochet
Half-Life - Natural Selection
Half-Life - Steam
Heroes of Might & Magic IV
Star Wars - Knights of the Old Republic
Lord of the Rings - Return of the King
Max Payne 2
Master of Orion 3
Neverwinter Nights
Prince of Persia Sands of Time
Quake 3 Arena
Simpsons Hit`n Run
Star Wars Jedi Knight 2
Starcraft - Broodwars
The Sims
Unreal 2 XMP
Unreal Tournament
Unreal Tournament 2004
Warcraft 3 - Frozen Throne
Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory
Worms 3D
Worms World Party

(stole the list from some other cafe's site)

[foxyloxley]

I believe that there is an instruction on the CD covers for this ..........

Or, go to the developers website, at the very least they will have a 'contact us' button, where you can ask.
At best, it will be laid out in full view, as you enter..........

[CXGJarrod]

I remember talking with Cybr1d about this a long time ago. He used to own a cybercafe. As far as I remember you need a special license to play Counterstrike in a Cybercafe. You may want to PM him.

[cacosapo]

I know you can get a single-license by going to a store and getting a copy of the game, but how am I supposed to do it if I want these games installed on 15 computers?

Talking about LICENSES, you SHOULD have one license of EACH game for EACH game computer. Usually, game licenses are per seat basis; that means one for each computer.

About buying, you should go to the distributor/reseller near your place and ask for discount or other special offers for large aquisision (althouh i think that 15 is a small one). Some companies use to have specific rules on each countries -- just to adhere the local regulamentation. For example, In your country you may have the possibility of acquire 1 box and 14 "paper licenses" for your lanhouse. This will low your costs. But you should go to a reseller to ask about "special acquisitions" available at your country/town.

[SDK]

Everquest? This is a game that you pay per month. I don't recommend it for a cybercafe.

And another one, you don't need all those games on very PC. Be selective.

[swoosh]

Originally posted here by CXGJarrod
I remember talking with Cybr1d about this a long time ago. He used to own a cybercafe. As far as I remember you need a special license to play Counterstrike in a Cybercafe. You may want to PM him.

Gotcha, I just mailed cafe at valve.com and got the instructions needed for their software, easy one there.

Originally posted here by cacosapo
Talking about LICENSES, you SHOULD have one license of EACH game for EACH game computer. Usually, game licenses are per seat basis; that means one for each computer.

About buying, you should go to the distributor/reseller near your place and ask for discount or other special offers for large aquisision (althouh i think that 15 is a small one). Some companies use to have specific rules on each countries -- just to adhere the local regulamentation. For example, In your country you may have the possibility of acquire 1 box and 14 "paper licenses" for your lanhouse. This will low your costs. But you should go to a reseller to ask about "special acquisitions" available at your country/town.

Yup it's extremely important to have the paperwork right. Seems like they (atleast valve) sell "cafe-licences" (or whatever), which are one-owner/multi-user licenses. But yeah I'm always making sure to specify the exact numbers of licences wanted.

Originally posted here by SDK
Everquest? This is a game that you pay per month. I don't recommend it for a cybercafe.

And another one, you don't need all those games on very PC. Be selective.

"Everquest", "Anarchy Online" and "World of Warcraft" are games which cost per disc and per month. As a cafe I'd only pay for the discs (or an "install licence", if you want), and the users would have to log on/pay using their own accounts. AO and WoW are games which a large scale of the "gamers" around here trow away their time with, can't dissapoint them.

And no I know it's not really needed, but since the plan involves such a small amount of computers I guess the games I'd end up with would be installed on each system (set up one, ghost + getting serials off the server).