Introduction: The Rec Center has become a bit obsolete in terms of gathering. Custom rooms and general instances have made the Center a bit unneeded due to the fact that you can log into Rec Room and join any game/room without having to even touch the Center. I was thinking that we could revamp the small corner with lockers and the big mirror and extend it to have a Cafe.
Why a Cafe?: With the introduction to Pizza, Rootbeer, and even the shop we have seen people buy food and share with friends and other's around. We have also seen the new currency system into effect and how much fun it can be to earn these tokens and use them in certain ways. Would it not be a bit more enticing to earn tokens and hangout with friends in a cafe or even meet strangers, sit down, and have a meal or treat someone special? It would certainly be a blast to meet new people and just be able to sit down in the general area without having to feel as if there is nothing to do while chatting.
How would this be used?: As stated earlier, the tokens and shop has given us even more of a reason to work harder at the challenges. Obviously it would be difficult to do such "realistic" things, but I thought it would be nice to have chairs and tables set up in a decent sized room. When you sit down, you would have a menu popping up asking if you'd like to buy anything. If others are sitting at the table you can buy something for them. Once you select what you want it could appear in front of you and/or the other people in a simple or stylish type of way. It could work in a more fast food type way with there being a counter with a pre-recorded holotar showing you how to order and a menu up above showing what you could potentially have.
What benfits could this have?: This could benefit players by allowing them to feel more use in going into the Rec Room. The introudction of the Booth gave us more reason to go in there, since boxes with random clothes were taken out, but after the Shop was added the booth has been seen to not be used as much due to the fact that you can go into the shop anywhere. Players would also be more inclined to go into the Cafe to meet up with friends, meet new people, or just to spend their hard earned tokens on something special for themselves. This could also introduce more variety of foods with each week choosing a different delicacy for a special meal depending on different regions of the world.
In Conlusion: Yes, this idea is a bit far-fetched due to there being no real permanent rewards and just being for fun or maybe a bit of role-playing, but I will implore you to stop and think about how much social fun could happen in such a cafe. It could spice up the Rec Center and even intice different types of food, social interactions, and friendships. As always, I invite anyone to brainstorm and/or add on your own ideals. Thanks for listening!