Oh man, reading through this topic gave my some intense nostalgia waves. I live in a small town in Bulgaria and computer halls as we called them were hugely popular here in the early 2000s. Almost every male friend i had back then visited one on a regular basis, and so did i. In fact, one of my earliest childhood memories is me begging my grandma to take me there and then having her repeatedly call the guy that watched over the computers cause i couldn't actually read at that age (i was like 4 or 5) and therefore didn't know how to start the game. The first game i played was Delta Force, but everyone else was really into Counter-Strike. I remember walking into the room and seeing nothing but de_dust2 on every screen. The main reason they were so popular was cause almost nobody had their own computer back then due to the huge cost compared to Bulgarian standards (my first pc in 2000 cost about 3 of my mom's monthly salaries) but the social aspect was pretty significant too. I continued to visit them several years after my parents bought me a computer because i wanted to play with my friends.

Huh, I never actually saw those before. I've heard about them but never actually have I seen one in person. Personally when I needed internet access I used to go down to the local library. 🤣

As others have mentioned, one of the most important aspects of cybers back then was that they were place that you would "hang out" with friends while playing together. Nowadays almost every one that still runs is solely for internet use.

No, however this week (just got home from Columbus yesterday) and we played lots of TF2 LAN parties. I'm trying to set up a LAN party on facebook right now! Never played TF2 until then and its an epic addicting game.

Just remember: Play TF2. Don't play "pony server's", "Mariokart" or Vs. or things like that. the scene is pretty humorless in a YTP/roblox kind of way

When I played TF2 I stuck to the ATF server which tends to be bullshit free (no trading/crafting, no music, no toxicity, no porn, no combat medics, no stupid donator perks) and had a nice not-gimmick custom map rotation and the admins are pretty damn swift with good judgment. Before that I was involved with The Couch with Lei-Lei (NO RELATION!!!), then some creepy infighting happened amongst the ranks, people got bored and pso2 took over some admins lives.

leileilol wrote:

Just remember: Play TF2. Don't play "pony server's", "Mariokart" or Vs. or things like that. the scene is pretty humorless in a YTP/roblox kind of way

Even I don't play on pony servers in TF2! Stick to proper Valve servers if you want the most fun from that game.

On topic: Closest thing to an internet cafe for me was the computer labs at my local schools, playing stuff like Heretic after getting all my assignments done. SkyRoads was pretty popular among my group of friends. I don't remember seeing a proper internet cafe close to where I live. Then again, the fact that my family got dial-up internet at our home around '99/'00 eliminated the need for an internet cafe.

Sutekh94 wrote:

leileilol wrote:

Just remember: Play TF2. Don't play "pony server's", "Mariokart" or Vs. or things like that. the scene is pretty humorless in a YTP/roblox kind of way

Even I don't play on pony servers in TF2! Stick to proper Valve servers if you want the most fun from that game.

On topic: Closest thing to an internet cafe for me was the computer labs at my local schools, playing stuff like Heretic after getting all my assignments done. SkyRoads was pretty popular among my group of friends. I don't remember seeing a proper internet cafe close to where I live. Then again, the fact that my family got dial-up internet at our home around '99/'00 eliminated the need for an internet cafe.

Wow, these days, our HS is pretty strict on their PC's. Stupid "Lightspeed systems" internet-gestapo software and you can't even go on game sites. The teachers are all pretty douchy too.

I used to be student & network administrator. I used to play Red Alert on community college PCs a few times a week. This was back in the 1990s. 😀 Dial-up internet mostly back then.

I had the same experience of Internet-Cafe's, just in a little different way. So.... Yeah... Never really wen't to those places.

As I said, I have never actually been at such places. They were just too "alien", for mee.
Most of the male cliantel, were pale pizzafaces with a look on there face's wich basically told you that nothing was rotating inside the brain.
They smelled too, as they really were the kind of young males that do not shower more than once a week or once every 14 day.
Those places basically smelled like a mix of hard smelling old sweat and old used cooking oil. Mixed with the smell of urine.
The awefull smell of really bad hygiene. And that is something I just can't cope with.

They all sat enclosed in their little world, with headphones, not talking to anyone.
And when they did "talk", it was a chat-message, sent in-game. Not talking to each other, in person.
That was in the years of 1995 to 2003. And that was the sad, sad, sad type of people attending those places.

So... Me being a metal-head, looking for beer and party, only having computers as my spare-sparetime hobby.
These places did not speak to me at all. Mostly of other experiences from the past.

Around 1989 to 1992 I was involved with the local computer clubs in one way or another.
And two times a year, they held a private computerweekend. A term that evolved to "LAN-Party" in the years to come.
We were highly socialised, meaning that it was not 100% computers those weekends. (though they were the primaery thing)
We used to play basket-ball. Play hand-ball, watch terminator and other new movies on vhs, in the improvised cinema.
Yeah... We got by, using a vhs player (not recorder/player) and a 14 inch crt television.
We had a "cafe" were meals were cooked, and you could sit down and drink coffee/tea at any time.
4 cups of coffee at 3am! Anyone? 😁 As we all stayed awake the whole weekend.
Then we had competitions in sensible soccer or floppy-disk throwing. Who could through a floppydisk the longest?!
Yeah... Good times... Good times... As we talked about both hardware and software. And other teenage stuff like music.
It was a time of both Amiga and PC fanboys, getting together, forgetting the Amiga-VS-Pc fight for one weekend.

Anyway...
The other experience was when I started to study and mooved away from home.
I started to study computer science at a technical school/college... You know.. Were carpenters, and other craftsmen
get their education. Anything not bussiness related and anything not highly intellectual related.
(Just keep forgetting the english term)

The dorm-rooms were located alongside a hallway. 22 to 30 rooms, were 2 people were sharing 12 square-meters of space.
We were all studying computers and we were all in different stages of our education.
So what did aprox. 26 to 28 students do with their computers in 1995?
Well... We made our own little LAN-network... Using coaxial cables in a big messy web. And they were all tangeled together.
We even had them on the walls, outside the windows, when the small gap under the door's ran out of space.
Then we all held our own LAN-Party, for next to nothing. We played C&C, Descent, and Doom against each other.

Yasashii wrote:

(...) But I can tell you, I would pay a pretty penny just to once again be able to sit in a room full of computers and random people and experience the feeling of sharing the awesomeness of the internet with them. There was nothing like it before and there hasn't been anything like it since. (Well, except those huge LAN parties one reads about that never seem to happen near the place you live).

Come to Lisboa then, we still have a couple of them even today 😀

leileilol wrote:

Just remember: Play TF2. Don't play "pony server's", "Mariokart" or Vs. or things like that. the scene is pretty humorless in a YTP/roblox kind of way

When I played TF2 I stuck to the ATF server which tends to be bullshit free (no trading/crafting, no music, no toxicity, no porn, no combat medics, no stupid donator perks) and had a nice not-gimmick custom map rotation and the admins are pretty damn swift with good judgment. Before that I was involved with The Couch with Lei-Lei (NO RELATION!!!), then some creepy infighting happened amongst the ranks, people got bored and pso2 took over some admins lives.

No nonsense servers are best if you don't like playing with a lot of B.S. house rules. It's like playing Monopoly. I always make sure to ask if house rules are going to be used before accepting an invitation to play. I'm pretty much a stickler for playing according to the rules that came with the game. House rules makes it needlessly complicated because everyone has their own unique set of rules and it's too much to remember them all.

I am from a country that is far from Third World, but it is one of the best developed from the post-communist countries, but at the same time one of the economically less developed European Union countries, Slovakia (think roughly the same as Portugal economically level wise). I am from a small town of 25 000 people. I did not attend a true "internet cafe", but there was a room with public computers with games on them and an internet connection in the local kids/teens free time centre.

I attended there since I was 13 (2006) to when I was 16 (2009) because it closed in 2009. So not that long ago. If it was still available I would still go there despite having an i7 machine at home. The internet penetration rate was 56 percent in 2006 in Slovakia so many of the kids there actually had a PC at home (I had an even better one than those computers), BUT we preferred to all get together in one room and play CS 1.6, Warcraft, Call of Duty 1 etc. Some of my friendships started there and honestly, it was one of the best times of my life. The vast majority of people there were my age or younger, so not really a nerd without eye contact type of thing, more like everybody screaming at each other in real life while playing a game. It was cheap, 10 Sk or around 35 US cents I think per hour.

The computers there were TOTAL CRAP and we DIDN'T CARE. It was basically an in-joke. Those computers were the worst ever. 64 MB integrated graphics, 256 or 512 MB RAM, virus and porn filled beyond belief. But they had Warcraft 3 with DOTA, CS 1.6, CoD 1, Half Life on them and we played the crap outta them over LAN. It was part of the experience. Once, a badly functioning DVD drive sent out a CD flying across the room. Sometimes, the computers would sound like a firing machine gun when starting up.

In short I loved it, and would go there for ever if it didn't close up (some bit better PCs would not hurt through). It was never about having to go on internet outside home for us, playing with your pals over LAN when they are sitting next to you is something different than playing with some Russian (no offense, insert any other far-away nationality) teen punks who call you names you don't even understand and accuse you of cheating when they lose (I am looking at YOU rude LoL players).

sliderider wrote:

No nonsense servers are best if you don't like playing with a lot of B.S. house rules. It's like playing Monopoly. I always make sure to ask if house rules are going to be used before accepting an invitation to play. I'm pretty much a stickler for playing according to the rules that came with the game. House rules makes it needlessly complicated because everyone has their own unique set of rules and it's too much to remember them all.

Monopoly house rules can be OK, as long as they have some point, like speeding up gameplay.

When my family plays Monopoly, we use a "shot clock" so people don't spend ages making decisions and holding play up. Also, if you "forgot" to collect your "GO" money on your last turn, stiff shit.

ahendricks18 wrote:

Sutekh94 wrote:

leileilol wrote:

Just remember: Play TF2. Don't play "pony server's", "Mariokart" or Vs. or things like that. the scene is pretty humorless in a YTP/roblox kind of way

Even I don't play on pony servers in TF2! Stick to proper Valve servers if you want the most fun from that game.

On topic: Closest thing to an internet cafe for me was the computer labs at my local schools, playing stuff like Heretic after getting all my assignments done. SkyRoads was pretty popular among my group of friends. I don't remember seeing a proper internet cafe close to where I live. Then again, the fact that my family got dial-up internet at our home around '99/'00 eliminated the need for an internet cafe.

Wow, these days, our HS is pretty strict on their PC's. Stupid "Lightspeed systems" internet-gestapo software and you can't even go on game sites. The teachers are all pretty douchy too.

I got around that internet gestapo crap by using tor and my own computer. Its slow, but you can browse freely. Just make sure you use your own computer, some computer security software can track everything you do. I got busted for making a batch program and transferring it to almost every computer through the network. Thanks symantec, you landed me 5 days school suspension 😒