Gaming Centers to Open

A few years back, when John Borland and I were writing our book, we hung out quite a bit in a gaming cafe in San Francisco. Actually, it wasn't much of a cafe. It was more like a big room with lots of computers -- and darkened windows to keep the glare of the screen.

The New York Times wrote a story about that cafe, describing its ominous look (the dark glass kept people from seeing inside). What could possibly be going on in there? (Had the reporter walked inside -- and I swear, my office at Technology Review was as big as that place -- they would have seen kids laughing and playing Counter-Strike).

I tell this story (or re-tell for you long time readers) because today in the Washington Post, there is a different type of cafe story:

(Michael) Feldman doesn't design or sell games, but he's hoping to cash in on the $7.3 billion market just the same. He and a group of investors are launching a chain of "gaming centers," to bring players out of their basements by offering them a communal space to play on the latest equipment.

"There's a thrill in being able to look at the person next to you and say 'Ha, I beat you,' " said Feldman, president of X3O Emerging Technologies . "Kids don't want to be sitting at home in their rooms."

There is no promise that these will actually take off as they have in places like South Korea, where socialized gaming is more of the norm. (I've been told because homes are so small, gaming centers give kids a chance to hang out with their friends in a more publicly private setting, if that makes sense.)

However, in just three years, these centers have gone from NY Times ominous to WP chic.