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The founders of the CyberJocks gaming center in Amherst, NY (just north of Buffalo) created the iPGCL concept in June 2003.
They felt the game center community was lacking when it came to showcasing game centers themselves. After contemplating the idea
for over six months, the CyberJocks team began full time development of what was designed to be an
organization focused on not the gamers, or the games, but the game center. Not only
would it focus on the game centers, it would also only focus on the centers which were the best of the best.
In an industry that's becoming increasingly more competitive, there is little to differentiate
between the quality of the centers that are out there. This became even more apparent to the iPGCL founders when in
February of 2004, a local "premier" center opened in their area. Although this competing center had only a small
percentage of the computers and lacked much of the other important technological infrastructure, it was
classified the same as the CyberJocks center. How would a gamer know how to find the best gaming experience in
their area? They couldn't!
The big question is "What is the definition of a premier gaming center?" Is it based on a monthly fee, or is
it based on what is actually in place for the gamers to experience? The answer to this question has
prompted the creation of the iPGCL. The answer is not an easy one, as there are many factors that influence a
person's experience at a game center. Some of these factors include quality of the computers and technology, the
personality of the staff, the professionalism of their events, and the level of integration. It is all of these factors
in conjunction with the overall atmosphere and community that keep gamers coming back for more.
The iPGCL takes all of these factors into consideration when choosing which centers will become a part of the
organization. The emphasis is on quality, not quantity. The centers that are a part of the iPGCL have been hand
picked, and have been labeled as some of the best that you will find anywhere. They have superior facilities,
management, staff, events, and technology.
A superior level of technology serves two major functions at a gaming facility. First, it gives users a smooth experience through a
tight level of integration. This makes the center's gaming systems more than simply "computers with games
installed". The second function of technology is to keep a high level of automation so that the staff can spend less
time on operations and problems, and more time developing the gaming community with awesome events.
The staff at a gaming center are also critically important. They have to have great personalities, technical savvy,
know how to run tight events, and be able to rally their customers to have a great time. No gamer is going to
notice a lump sitting behind a counter, but everyone looks forward to seeing the energetic and funloving leader
of the center's activities. Game centers are all about the social envrionment created around games, and the staff
must reflect this all the way.
During the same period of time that the iPGCL was envisioned, the developers at CyberJocks ran into increasing
resistance and problems trying to get key games integrated into the facility with their automation process. Although legal
licenses were held for all of these games, there was still no protocol available for disabling some of the copy
protection, which is primarily designed to thwart piracy among home users. In fact, the CyberJocks developers
often had to revert to using unsupported third party applications to work around this. In some cases, they
had to write custom applications to assist in the integration process. Unfortunatly, there were some games with
no feasible way to automate such processes due to the copy protection in place, leaving the game publisher with
zero representation and loosing exposure to thousands of potential customers.
This is why it is one of the main goals of the iPGCL to work with game publishers to make their products more
friendly to game centers, who are valuable front lines when it comes to promoting their products. These changes, although small for the publisher,
could mean a higher level of integration for the game centers that would normally be impossible. The overall level
of integration in the end means a better experience for the gamer themselves. The better experience a person has
playing a particular game at a facility means that they will be more likely to purchase it themselves. This way everyone wins!
The iPGCL is event driven, as competition and rivalries are some of the best ways to generate interest in the centers.
These events are designed to be loose knit, and not reliant on specific players to be present at a certain time.
This keeps things moving smoothly. The centers compete with whatever players they want from the facility. This
promotes the game center, and builds interest among local players who might not otherwise have a chance to be on
their sponsored house team. Plus, we don't want excessive rules to get in the way of having fun, which is what
we are all here to do!
The ability of the game centers to make direct challenges through the web, and then have all aspects of the matches tracked
was designed so that rivalries between game centers can quickly grow. This encourages and excites the local players,
and gives them a sense of patriotism towards their center - it helps strengthen and build the local gamer community
like nothing else can. Everyone wants new and exciting events to offer their customers, and the iPGCL is an endless
source of them!
iPGCL events also encourage local sponsors to become active in the gaming world by offering "local
flavor" prizes. These prizes are similar to the mayors of Super Bowl Team cities exchanging prizes that are based
on the locality of the team. This gives local businesses a chance to expose themselves on a national scale, while
also gaining lots of local attention.
Finally, the founders of the iPGCL strongly believe that video games will continue to become increasingly social,
and will continue to grow and prosper in gaming centers. It is the mission of the iPGCL to promote and encourage the best
environment possible for this new frontier of the gaming industry. As many of the best game centers have worked hard to build their
image, we want to help promote that image on a worldwide scale and build local interest, all the while
having a great time playing the games we all love!
See you in the game!
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About the iPGCL