Game stations see high profits on holidays

Urip Hudiono, Jakarta

Ragnarok is the name of the game, and children all over town are swarming to the nearest online computer game stations in their off-school hours so as not to miss out on the gaming world's latest fad.

And as the school holidays approach, the game stations cannot but expect a further increase in their school-aged customers.

At the Millenia game station located on the 4th floor of the Ratu Plaza shopping mall in Senayan, South Jakarta, Adi, 13, skillfully maneuvered his mouse to navigate the main character in the Korean adventure game on his terminal's screen.

To the left of his keyboard, which has keys he occasionally taps to enter a command, was a half-finished plate of fried rice. To the right, an empty soda bottle -- evidence that Adi chose to have his lunch while playing.

"It's a Saturday, so my parents let me play as long as I like after school," he said, without even once looking up from his screen. Adi only stood up once, to help his friend at another terminal who was experiencing difficulty in finishing off one of the game's 99 levels of skill.

At the Speedy game station, located just across the hall from Millenia, a similar situation was seen -- with its 45 terminals, more than half occupied by Adi's peers, many of them having their lunch as well.

Markus, the game station's manager, said that weekends were indeed the most crowded days. He also said the place was also full on holidays.

"Like during the junior high school national exams, when the first and second year kids were on holidays, there was an increase in our customers of some 50 percent," he said, hoping for a similar rise during the upcoming school holidays as well.

Gerry and Alwin, two 14-year-olds who are regulars at Speedy, said that they liked to play Ragnarok simply because it was challenging and a fun way to spend their weekends.

"I managed to reach level 70 after a lot of practice," Gerry said. Alwin, who usually plays the online game from his Internet- connected computer at home as well, has already reached level 95.

Gerry said his parents gave him an additional allowance to play Ragnarok at the game station, apart from his weekly allowance.

Frans, a 12-year-old sixth-grader, however, said he had to carefully manage his pocket money so that he could play the game with his friends at the Uno game station on Jl. Panglima Polim South Jakarta, near his house.

The average cost at the game stations is Rp 6,000 (63 U.S. cents) an hour. In addition, customers also have to purchase time-based vouchers to play Ragnarok, which varies between Rp 8,000 for 10 hours and Rp 65,000 a month.

Farah, who was waiting for her son at Millenia, said that she allowed her son to play the online computer games for four hours on Saturdays, because her son deserved his time off, after his school's full schedule from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m every day.

"My son needs his recreation," she said. "If you ask these children playing here, most of them will also say they are exhausted with their school's daily schedule."

"I also noticed that these computer games actually make a child smarter in their tactical skills, and in their command of English," she added.

Farah, however, said that she had found it more difficult these days to find a game station that is not so crowded for her son to visit.

"Almost all the game stations I know, like the ones in Taman Anggrek, in Kebayoran and in Kuningan are always full, especially on holidays," she said.