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Top1. Introduction
It has been shown that even though a person does not own a particular information and communication technology (ICT), there are different means of accessing it with the aid of another member of the family, a friend or a neighbor, through the workplace, or in public places (Olatokun, 2009). Free public access of computers and Internet can be done in telecenters or in public libraries. On the other hand, they can also be accessed for a relatively small fee through cyber cafés.
It is argued that cyber cafés could help bridge the digital divide since they could provide better equipment or faster connections for different and more advanced users (Haseloff, 2005), and could offer minimal cost alternative to personal computer ownership, Internet access, and other multiple financial barriers (Adomi et al., 2003; Haseloff, 2005). Because of these advantages, they became the most common Internet access model (Haseloff, 2005; Kadli Jayadev, 2010) in developing countries (Rogers and Shukla, 2001; Wahid et al., 2004; Furuholt and Kristiansen, 2007b) either in urban or rural settings (Alam et al., 2009; Furuholt & Kristiansen, 2007a; Haseloff, 2005; Liff & Lægran, 2003). Thus, Rogers and Shukla (2001) concluded that most of the people in developing countries relied on cyber cafés.
In the Philippines, public access to computer and Internet is also predominantly done through cyber cafés. The cyber cafe is interchangeably called internet café, internet shop, or computer shop. The cyber café became an instant-hit business in the Philippines because of its affordable services. In 2004, one of the biggest cyber cafes in the Philippines had 112 branches all over the country (Netopia, 2010). Today, almost every corner of the streets of Metro Manila has an Internet shop or a cyber café. In Manila alone, there are 627 cyber cafes scattered all over its 14 districts (Business Record Database, 2010). The convenience of having a high-speed broadband connection for a relatively small rental fee (Alam, et al., 2009) makes this business innovative (Icafebusiness.com, 2009).
Cyber cafés offer varied services. One of these services is gaming. Gaming is the central activity in café life (Haseloff, 2005; Alam et al., 2009). Somoni et al. (2010) found out that customers repeatedly returned to the cyber cafés because of computer games. This was also confirmed in the studies on cyber cafés in Malaysia (Alam et al., 2009) and in Pakistan (Batool & Mahmood, 2010).