Within the terms of the licenses, I mean. My boyfriend (and I guess I) is starting to think about starting an arcade business (well, an interactive arcade offering stuff kids don’t have at home) and he was thinking that the best way to minimize costs at startup is to use a lot of console games. Is it legal to do that, charge people to play them? If it’s hazy, is it legal to just “lease time” on consoles? He wants to have a mix of regular consoles and hawt arcade games and possibly move into the PC arena - is this a possible concept?
There is a place around here called Gamers Lounge that does that sort of thing. They don’t seem to have their own website but here is some info on them.
I can’t think of any special legal status associated with gaming PCs.
The paranoid answer: run the EULA for each game you plan to provide to consumers past an attorney competent in this field of practice.
The middle-road answer: try calling Microsoft’s anti-piracy number and the BSA phone number and asking them. Maybe contact the game vendors.
I am by no means any kind of legal or business expert, but it seems to me that you might be able to base your business (and fees) not around charging for playing the game(s), but leasing time on your game consoles and/or monitors/TVs, or charging entrance fees to your arcade to cover overhead (rent, utilities, administrative fees, etc).
Just my $.02
I’m not a lawyer but I play one on the Internet. You can charge someone all you want for using something you own. But, you do have to pay royalties for the music in a jukebox and so you may have to pay royalties to the game makers. But I really don’t think one arcade in SC is going to become a target for the Software Protection League. The local library has “Game for a Day” for the kids. You could write a letter to Entertainment Arts, or whoever asking permission just to CYA.
How would you charge? You’d have to set up a coin mech with timer or do a debit card thing. A local kid’s arcade (birthday parties and such) has a couple of Playstations as well as the usual game and redemption games but they charge per child and not per game.
We’re thinking some sort of card system. At least for PCs, I know that could work in much the same way as the reservation system does here at the library, only you’d have to pay and be debited. And we were thinking a way around would be like ExTank, leasing time.
The reason I brought it up as a concern is that it’s definitely illegal in terms of movies, and small time concerns have been busted in that regard. I’m sure our business insurance won’t cover lawsuits that come out of us doing dumb things that aren’t legal or that break contracts.
Make sure 100% of your apps are licensed on 100% of your systems.
Remember that if you have 25 stations with F.E.A.R. on them, you need 25 licenses for fear.
The fact that 24 users are playing not-F.E.A.R. at a time while only 1 guy is likely to be using it at a given time will not allow you just buy one copy of F.E.A.R. in 99% of cases. Some of this crap is variable by title, as EULA terms vary, which is where it gets nasty.
Remember, the only place I’m admitted to practice law has no computers except those operated by imps.
Are you planning on Xbox or Playstation, or both?
That may be subject to a license fee on Xbox
Well, that article suggests that whoever makes the card system has to pay them, right? Not us?
And Mr. Slant, you’re talking about PC games there, right? That we have to have an individual copy of the game for each specific computer, correct? We were anticipating that.
Yes, I was referring to PCs.
I was anticipating that you would eventually choose to put at least a few PCs in the shop for gaming.
I only mentioned it because I’ve seen commercial LAN party organizers blatantly ignore that. I’ve never seen one get caught, but piracy is like unsafe sex; you only have to get unlucky once to ruin your year or worse.
Exactly. We do eventually plan to have a nice big World of Warcraft room and make a fortune with a Cheeto and Mountain Dew cart.
Have a fountain drink dispenser. I hear the markup on those things is unreal. 
Oooo, can I come?
There was a local video rental store that did the console thing back in the mid-90’s. For $2 every half hour you could use their consoles/TVs and any game you want. I asked how that worked legally, and the owner told me that they passed many of the legal checks by logging it as the person “renting the game” and letting them play it there for free.