Community Resources
Setting Up Your Game Room
Playing video games, just as watching movies or television shows, is all about comfort. Unlike watching a movie or television show, you are controlling the program on the screen. You are the show! However, you want to make sure you have checked all your boxes, so that you have long-lasting health and enjoyment from what you are doing, so that you don’t fall prey to fatigue, or other health related issues. That’s where this page comes in handy.
For The Casual Players and Content Creators
What is in a Game Room?
This is the most important space for your gaming experience. Depending on your age, you may have very little control over how your game room functions. It can be your living room, bedroom, or a designated place for your entertainment purposes. Regardless, you need to make sure that you have control over your space, by which you can place your monitors, consoles, games, and other equipment, free from hassle and distraction, without impeding on the space of others. The reason for this is because you want to create peace of mind. Without peace, you will get frustrated and distracted, resulting in a horrible gaming experience. Your budget will control how organized you are.
If you are a loud gamer, you want to make sure you have ways to isolated sound going through the walls, or inform your neighbors and/or family of what you will be doing, in order to negotiate procedures, some of which will involve the time of day you start playing. They have every right to be upset with you, if you do not communicate what you are doing, which may be out of the norm for them. Overall, figuring out where you are going to play, who is around you when you play, and your budget for staying organized will be essential for your experience as a gamer. If you are a content creator, perhaps you can include your family and neighbors in one of your segments, and split any revenue. Just an idea.
How to pick the Best Gaming Chair
Remember the good old days when dad would come home from work, and sit in his favorite chair with a newspaper, and the TV playing either the news or football game highlights from the other night? The concept behind this type of chair will now be your chair. This will either make or break your entire gaming experience.
When you pick a chair, you have to think about cushion for your cushion, because your pelvis is the center of everything that moves around your body. Comfort is key, because of blood flow. If you are sitting in a chair, and after a time your legs fall asleep, then that is a sign you either have to get up and move, or find a better chair. Blood flow is essential to this, and if getting a chair that raises your legs helps with circulation, then all the better.
Next to the cushion is lumbar support ie your back health. Too often, people sit at a desk with a hunched over spine. You need to align yourself upright in order to maintain proper posture. If your back gets tired after adjusting, then its because the muscles that support proper posture are not developed well.
Third, we have the head and back. However you like to align yourself to the monitor, you want to make sure your neck is in proper placement, so that you are not looking like a vulture when you are looking at the screen. This is to reduce cramps and strain, which will cause you to become fatigued. Ideally, the position of the head needs to be aligned with your back, which creates a comfortable experience for you.
Lastly, you need to think about how you place your forearms on the arm rest. Your elbows are an indicator of how high the armrest for a chair should be. If they are too low or too high, it will have a negative effect on your shoulders. If the elbows are too high, then you are adding tension to your shoulders and trapezius muscles that are over your shoulders, back, and neck, which can cause early fatigue, and cramping. If too low, the shoulders become stretched, adding discomfort to the shoulders, back, and neck. In any case, if the forearms fall asleep, then that’s a sign you have bad placement of your armrest.
In short, cushion your pelvis, make sure you have proper circulation for your legs, arms, and back, and that your neck and head are in proper alignment between your chair and the screen. Or, you can just sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”, to aid as a final check up.
Nutrition for Gamers
Everybody loves snacks! Whether its popcorn, chips, soda, or cookies, you need to make sure first that your body has an adequate amount of more nutritious food preferably before, during, and after your gaming. Gaming takes a lot of energy, believe it or not. Whether its mental or physical, because your hands are moving, you want to make sure your have proper fuel before the junk (if that’s your taste), so that you can concentrate better, and eliminate any fatigue happening in your body after the deed has been done. The number one thing you can do before, during, and after your gaming is to drink a glass of water to hydrate your body. This is going to help the body not just hydrate, but provide fuel to the liver and kidneys to help filter the body. This may also limit the amount of migraines you may tend to get as well. In addition, having fruit, vegetables, or some kind of protein like beef jerky or tuna will provide energy for your body through digestion. When the body has fuel to metabolize, you will have fuel. For optimal energy, stay away from high caloric foods or foods with high saturated fats, because they will take longer to metabolize in the body, which will cause you to become more sluggish. You can’t properly win games if you’re tired all the time.
