Marcus Richards
As technology has developed, so too have the capabilities on offer. More and more people see a games console as an important part of a living room setup. The chance to switch your brain off from a day at work or school is a welcome one.
The previous vehicle for escapism would be to watch a movie but as games consoles, and the games themselves improved a switch to a new medium was inevitable.
Along with the hardware, consumers began to develop as well. There became a need for more online gaming.
Where friends could create groups online and play together on whatever device they had.
This social element to gaming meant that people were now socialising from the comfort of their own home, meaning they would need a comfortable place to sit for hours while playing with their online friends. This has given rise to the advent of specialised seating for gamers like bean bags and other devoted options (Source: LuxiGaming).
This need for comfort created a gap in the market for a chair built specifically with gamers in mind.
Interestingly, in recent times, more people than ever, both gamers and workers have embraced gaming chairs and seating options.
For example, many homeworkers as well as those in offices are using gaming chairs as comfortable and viable work seating options. Increased comfort has allowed more people to be more productive than ever and with the increase of gaming chairs coinciding with that of task management solutions and applications (Source: Chanty), many businesses are seeing increased productivity from staff.
What Makes Gaming Chairs Different?
In a standard office chair, your spine is responsible for holding up your arms, torso and head against gravity. When your back gets tired from holding everything it begins to curve, causing you to slouch.
As time passes, the slouch becomes more present until it eventually becomes your default position. The ergonomically designed gaming chairs alleviate this problem. This is why they are so useful for people sitting for hours upon hours in the same position.
The first specifically designed gaming chairs came out around the mid 2000’s. The original design for gaming chairs was based on racing seats in sports cars.
The reason for this design choice was that the designers believed the racing seats gave the most possible support without feeling compressed. Gaming chairs have a backrest much higher than a regular office chair.
It supports the shoulders and the back a lot more than a conventional chair and they are positioned so the user sits up straight due to having that support for the back and shoulders. The reason for designing the chair to sit the user pushed upright is because it helps alleviate pain felt from sitting in the same position for a long period of time.
Another feature to gaming chairs that is not found in regular office chairs is the increased adjustability.
The user is able to alter the back of the chair, the tilt, the lumbar support, the headrest and the armrest in several ways to make the experience as comfortable as possible.
When gaming on a PC for example the desk is fixed so the chair needs to be able to be adapted to cater for the space it is in. It is this ability to change so many different parts to meet the requirements of the user that makes gaming chairs such an enticing option.
As the gaming landscape has evolved the needs of the gamers needs to be met to ensure comfort and well-being are taken care of. The revolution in gaming chairs has helped nurture a growing and captivating culture of online gaming.
