Morality issue

[Ceifeirot]

I wasn't going to charge for playing games on my cabinet when I bring it to college (despite many people telling me I should) because I don't feel right about making a profit off games I don't "own".  However, my dad said that I should have the machine use quarters and charge people to use it, but use the money as a "party fund" that I wouldn't use for myself but rather for parties or possibly maintaining the machine. Would this be ethical? Is including the machine's maintainance in the fund less ethical?

Any ideas appreciated

Thanks
Alex

[AmericanDemon]

Legally you cannot charge and make profit from people playing the games.  However, in a high maintenance area there are ways around charging to play the games.

Simply do this....

Replace the coin mechs with Token mechs and then sell tokens.  Legally you have gotten around having people pay to play.  They are only paying for tokens which are then good to play games.

You can of course buy BYOAC tokens!

[SeanFu]

Ethics aside:

I think your dad doesn't want you to have friends or parties.  Wait until you go over to a friend's house for a little X-box action and they ask you for a quarter...

Trust me, people aren't going to be lining up at your Mame cab to put a quarter in.  It will sit there unplayed and they'll think you're a bit of a jerk.

[Ceifeirot]

I guess the idea would be that if there was a party going on I could then take the machine out of "free play" mode and people would be paying for what they consume and getting some fun out of it.

It isn't such a serious idea, it's not like I'm planning a business around it.

I'll consider the token method.

[Wienerdog]

Forget about the "token method", it doesn't get around anything.  You're talking about ethics, are you trying to fool yourself into thinking you aren't making money, lol!!!  There isn't a MAME police officer that is going to stop by your apartment and check to see if your machine takes quarters or tokens.  The "ethics" has nothing to do with how you are making the money, just the act of making money.  You could also charge admission to your apartment and leave the machine on free play.  In the end, you are still accepting money for the right to play a game.  

Don't get me wrong, we are all stealing the games when we play them on our own machines without owning the ROM/chip.  I agree with SeanFu, the perception of charging to play a game will be really bad.  Would you give refunds if the front end crashes?  Do you spend all night showing people how to choose a game and what controls to use?  Do you charge if somebody wants something to drink?  If they want water, do you give it to them but charge 5 cents for the cup?  Of course I'm just joking, I know you aren't talking about doing that.  In the end, you won't take in enough money for it justify the perception that you're a jerk.

 

[ani]

I'm in college and got my mame cabinet. I also have alot of friends with fairly diverse intrest.

I can safely say with no doubt that if you try to pull this with people who are slightly socially adept you'll just come off as a ---tallywhacker--- and get alot of crap for it.

For example, if we were at the same school, obviously me and you would have alot in common and be good candidates to be friends. So if I show up with one of you're friends at your place and wanna play casually, and you tell me to buy some tokens, I'm gonna rail on you pretty hard. I would also have a good time making fun of you with my friends for some time. As a matter of fact, I will probably make fun of you with my friends tonight.

You might as well go ahead and make people buy tokens to watch your TV, I mean you do need to pay for it. I'm sure they won't mind, especially if it's going into the "party fund."

Don't mean to be a ---tallywhacker---, but you'll see what I mean when you get to college.

[Wienerdog]

As a matter of fact, I will probably make fun of you with my friends tonight.

That's harsh, but damn funny!  That's exactly what I was thinking, but I'm out of college and lost all of my friends when I started charging for toilet paper.

[Ceifeirot]

Haha, thanks for the great feedback.

I've realized the absurdity of the idea, so don't mind this thread anymore... I'll be leaving my cabinet on free play for the enjoyment of all..

I think I'm still going to get the tokens though, and just leave them in a bag by the machine or something. I like the idea of tokens because they're fun to put in

[Zakk]

And as luck would have it, you can now order BYOAC tokens for your machine!  

Get yourself a keg and install it into a beer fridge (there's ho-to's on the net), and charge a quarter for a glass of beer.  Although I agree nobody's going to like you if you charge for games, nobody minds paying for beer, and hey, a quarter is a hell of a deal for a cold beer, and you'll recoup some of your expenses.  (And wait till your dad sees your custom made beer dispenser!)

[Ceifeirot]

That's a neat idea  

[jerryjanis]

During my freshman year of college my suitemates picked up an Asteroids machine for their dorm room.  There were ethically and legally entitled to charge money to play it (unlike with a Mame cabinet), so they did.  And I think it just collected dust.  I put a few quarters into it to try it out, but I (and everyone else) still felt like it was a real dick move to charge the people that are supposed to be your friends.  If they had opened it up to be a free play machine probably everybody would be hanging out having a grand time playing asteroids.

[Chris]

And as luck would have it, you can now order BYOAC tokens for your machine!  

By the way, that link to purchase tokens is here, in case you haven't noticed.  

--Chris

[mahuti]

Yeah, charging is just silly. You could put a sign that says "quarter donations accepted, or press 'quarter' button to begin" People that want to pay willl pay. A few of my friends have given me quarters just for kicks. You will probably get more money by suggesting donations than forcing people to pay.

[Mugzilla]

Leave the cabinet at home. You are in college to study, get a degree, and get a real job. You aren't there to further your cabinet profit making!

Don't be like me and drop out because you didn't study, and you were too busy chasing skirt!

[Ceifeirot]

I won't be bringing it on the first day but after I get accustomed to life there. It would be just as tempting as a PS2 or other computer games anyway. And I don't plan on failing -- I have a full scholarship for the 4 years, and would not like losing that I'll see how it goes first then decide whether to bring it or not.

As for profit making, I'm not even considering charging for it now.

[ChadTower]

Of course, charging has the deterrent effect of stopping drunk --missioncontrols-- from knocking on his door at 1am to play.  Trust me, if he has a MAME cab in a freshmen dorm, it will happen.  It will happen a lot.

[fredster]

I was at the auction and found 2 Mame machines that took quarters. I bet they are out on the street now making somebody some cash.

[Lilwolf]

one thing you can do is this

take your coin mech out.  take it apart.... hack it to take any coin (pennies / nickles / quarters)..

then its not as much a big deal.  have a dish of pennies next to it and your done...

but I wouldn't charge anything myself...  Most games are more fun with two...

[Tilzs]

If you really wanted to charge you might be able to work something out with the hall council and arange to have the machine in a common area (for a cut going to the hall council). But then you have the headache of it being in the common area and who knows what can happen to it there.

Some halls are pretty strict on copyright stuff though so this being pretty grey (well downright illegal) might stay away from it just for that.

I know we had a big fuss about public showing with our movie night for a while.

[AlanS17]

Well I had an MK3 machine and Killer Instinct machine in my frat house. Both were left to pay and together they made about $200 in 3 months. Nobody ever complained about paying for games, either. However, if I were there playing I'd set it to free play and then just put it to charge again when I left.

However, for the $200 it made, I probably gave away over $1500 in free games. So nobody really minded. Nobody got upset at me for locking the box. These were nice machines and nobody wanted to see them damaged or broken into.

[kahlid74]

Ethically it is wrong, and as stated above, no matter what way you try to twist it, in the eys of the Law it is illegal.

For my machine, I have the ability to either pay to play or click a button, its just a cool side effect.

I love seeing peoples faces when I tell them they have to pay to play, then show them the button for free play 2 seconds later.  They always point out I am an ass .

Free play gets the most attention and the most use.

[hulkster]

alright dude, heres what you need to do.  ive had this same thought going through my mind...."it should be free, but man it would be cool if i could make some money off it".  well im buying some ultimate mechs from TheNasty here on the board (go to the buy/sell/trade forum) which accept all coins.  yes, all coins, even tokens.  on my cp i have coin buttons for each player, but im also going to wire my coin door to accept coins using those mechs.  and i will encourage a "donation".  i know i wont make much, but hey, it will buy me a coke or something every now and then.  

example:  my friends come over, and ill say "alright, you can play as long as you want, and as many games as you want, just give me the change you have in your pocket."  which would be like either a dollar, or two cents.  its just spec, but it could happen.  and if nothing else, just say, put a quarter in and you can play forever.  just a thought.

[Ceifeirot]

I think I'll just have instructions to press the coin release button to get a credit I guess.

I'd rather make more friends than make a few dollars.

As for drunks.. maybe I'll just make a sign saying it's only open at certain hours

[Mugzilla]

Make it so the coin activates the joystick.

It will be free to play, but will cost you $0.25 to play by using your joystick...

[GamingGreg]

Glad you came to your senses.  If you want to keep this hobby alive, keep it free.   I don't think that Atari,Namco,Midway,etc mind so much that people are playing these old games in their homes for free.  But if they hear about people charging for playing MAME, they might change their opinion of it, and start "sicking the lawyer dogs" onto us all.

[rpfinley]

As a former fraternity member who lived in a room with 4 tvs all on satellite and a big bar I know the advantages and disadvantages of being the place to be.  In all seriousness I'd make a nice looking sign that said something like, "Games are free but Beer donations are welcome"

[DrewKaree]

...As for drunks.. maybe I'll just make a sign saying it's only open at certain hours

ROFLMAO @ the naivete....so a drunk who thinks it's ok to knock on your door at 2 in the morning will look at your sign and magically come to his senses!  That's just friggen precious!

They always point out I am an ass .

See the above.....My guess is that drunk dood will be quick to jump on the "helpful tip" your friends give you!  How nice of them to tell you you're an ass....but if you truly were one, wouldn't you instinctively know it?  BTW, did you go to the Midwest Classic show?

[Witchboard]

If you were really wanting to charge.. couldn't you just setup MAME to register like 50 credits per quarter or something?  Not sure if this has already been mentioned.  I really didn't read all the way through the thread.  The only problem is if they change the game, the credits wouldn't roll over... or could they?  

[Pasqualz]

It's been 12 years since I was in college and thinking back to what dorm life was like, you're going to run into an inevitable problem.

1 -  You want to have something that will differentiate you from all of the other kids in the dorm, so a Mame cabinet is just the ticket.
2 - You don't want to offer the games for free because you will never have time to study with the line of kids going out your door.
3 - You don't want to make people pay (no matter what amount) because you will be seen as the "different kid on the third floor who has a really cool MAME cabinet, but is a big ---tallywhacker--- for making us pay to play!"
4 - You will probably need to put some money into maintaining the cabinet, since it will get alot of use compared to having it in your room at home.
Here's the equation:
 (item 1) / (item3) x (item 4) - (item 2)^2 = DON'T BRING THE CABINET TO COLLEGE!

You'l regret it as soon as you come back to your dorm room and find a cigarette burn, or spilled liquid (insert your favorite drink or body fluid here) on the control panel. You will totally freak out the day you come back to your room and find that the PC doesn't boot up anymore!!! You'll be suspicious of everyone, thinking that someone broke it and won't admit it, then you'll have to wheel the cabinet out of the dorm with your head hung low and all the kids laughing at you from their dorm room windows!!

Yes, I'm a pessimist tonight!

[Apollo]

What about starting some kind of club with a subscription. People pay say $10 or $20 a term/year to play, this will cover you for the inevitable repairs. At the same time you have the machine on a timer which is installed in your locked cab. So the machine is available to play from say 9am to midnight and if you want to let people play later you unlock the game and bypass the timer? To avoid problems with people hogging the game you could limit the membership to say 30 people and have a 1 or 2 hour time limit. If someone wants to join and the membership is full members could trade their memberships for cash or beer or whatever.
I dunno just my 2c worth.

[ChadTower]

I have to agree that it's probably a bad idea to bring it until you have a better idea what the culture of your dorm is like.  It would probably work in an upperclassmen's dorm, but in a freshmen dorm, you're just asking for major headaches.  It WILL get abused and you WILL get harrassed.  If you charge anything at all, you'll be a ---tallywhacker---.  If you don't make it available at all times, you'll be a ---tallywhacker---.  Basically, if you do anything that makes it less than free and less than 100% available at all times, you'll be a ---tallywhacker---.  It's a no win situation.

If you're dead set on having a mame setup in your room, build yourself a small arcade control panel and use it on your 60hz monitor.  People will view that as no more than a video game system and you can put it away when you don't need it out.