Ideas for a more comfy gaming setup.

[Southpawe]

I was trying to think up some ways to make my gaming setup more comfortable. Right now I am still living at home while working a job to save up money for college. As is the case with most people 18 and up and living at home I am living in the basement and I have been trying to work with the space that I have down here. (which is not very much)

Right now I have a old art desk that I have my monitor, desktop, sound system and keyboard&mouse on. Then pulled up to that is an old green office ish chair that I got at a yard sale several years ago. I have been looking to improve my comfort level when gaming because any more that 30-40 minuets and my tush and back are starting to hurt. I'm guessing the chair is what is causing that, but I was wondering if anyone had an idea of how I might set up my computer in more of a console gaming kind of style.

I have a Ps3 in the other corner of my room and my setup with that is the tv is on a little stand from walmart, (about 2ft tall) and a gaming chair set up in front of that. I normally find it most comfortable to play games on that while sitting on the edge of the gaming chair in a "Indian style" sitting position.

Would it be wise to maybe take the computer desk completely out of the room and replace it with a smaller stand like what I have my tv on? Space for my desktop won't be much of an issue as I ordered a Alienware one a couple days ago and its about the size of a Ps4.

Any ideas?

[Joki the Disco Bandit]

-Try to get the center of your monitor at eye-height.

-Probably not a good idea to sit on the edge of your chair, definitely not long-term (anything more than a few minutes). Ideally you want the chair positioned so that your feet rest flat on the floor, and your back can lean straight and comfortably against the back of the chair.

-Your desk height should be such that when sitting straight in the chair, feet on the floor, your arms bend 90 degrees or thereabouts at the elbow, so that your hands can rest comfortably on the keyboard without much bend at the wrist.

-The distance from your eyes to the monitor should ideally be 2 feet or more, though this depends in part on monitor size/brightness/resolution.

-If you tend to use the PC late at night just prior to going to bed, you might want to adjust your display to remove some of the blue light, as this tends to make it harder on your eyes at night, and might give you trouble attempting to fall asleep. Some monitors have built-in software that will track and adjust based on time of day, so you can set it up to be brighter during the day, but dimmer/less blue light towards the evening. If not, you can find 3rd party software that can do the same thing, or simply find one setting you're comfortable with and leave it at that.

-In general, it's like your momma always told you: Sit up straight. Don't slouch. :) The particular chair you use, in itself, may not be the best for your frame size/height, even so. If you sit straight in it, toward the rear of it, the front edge of the chair should be roughly just behind your knees. If you can't sit far enough back in it that the backs of your knees don't touch, the chair depth is too great. Vice versa if, when sitting all the way back, the backs of your knees are really far from the front edge of the chair, it may be too shallow for you.

-If your feet don't sit flat on the floor when you're correctly seated, the chair is too high. If your upper legs/thighs don't make contact with the seat of the chair, but your feet are flat on the floor, the chair is too low. Adjust the height accordingly, if it's adjustable. If not, get a better chair.

-If you're using a controller much of this becomes moot, at least the bits relating to keyboard and arm/hand position, but you still want to be sitting straight, in the back of the chair, not the edge.

-Take frequent breaks, regardless of how comfortable you feel. Every 30 minutes is often recommended, but at least once an hour you should get up and stretch for 5 or 10 minutes.

[Southpawe]

Originally posted by Hotblack Desiato:

-Try to get the center of your monitor at eye-height.

-Probably not a good idea to sit on the edge of your chair, definitely not long-term (anything more than a few minutes). Ideally you want the chair positioned so that your feet rest flat on the floor, and your back can lean straight and comfortably against the back of the chair.

-Your desk height should be such that when sitting straight in the chair, feet on the floor, your arms bend 90 degrees or thereabouts at the elbow, so that your hands can rest comfortably on the keyboard without much bend at the wrist.

-The distance from your eyes to the monitor should ideally be 2 feet or more, though this depends in part on monitor size/brightness/resolution.

-If you tend to use the PC late at night just prior to going to bed, you might want to adjust your display to remove some of the blue light, as this tends to make it harder on your eyes at night, and might give you trouble attempting to fall asleep. Some monitors have built-in software that will track and adjust based on time of day, so you can set it up to be brighter during the day, but dimmer/less blue light towards the evening. If not, you can find 3rd party software that can do the same thing, or simply find one setting you're comfortable with and leave it at that.

-In general, it's like your momma always told you: Sit up straight. Don't slouch. :) The particular chair you use, in itself, may not be the best for your frame size/height, even so. If you sit straight in it, toward the rear of it, the front edge of the chair should be roughly just behind your knees. If you can't sit far enough back in it that the backs of your knees don't touch, the chair depth is too great. Vice versa if, when sitting all the way back, the backs of your knees are really far from the front edge of the chair, it may be too shallow for you.

-If your feet don't sit flat on the floor when you're correctly seated, the chair is too high. If your upper legs/thighs don't make contact with the seat of the chair, but your feet are flat on the floor, the chair is too low. Adjust the height accordingly, if it's adjustable. If not, get a better chair.

-If you're using a controller much of this becomes moot, at least the bits relating to keyboard and arm/hand position, but you still want to be sitting straight, in the back of the chair, not the edge.

-Take frequent breaks, regardless of how comfortable you feel. Every 30 minutes is often recommended, but at least once an hour you should get up and stretch for 5 or 10 minutes.

Well thanks for all the pointers Hotblack, I'll try my best to make sure I use this as a guide to how to correctly have a pc gaming setup.

I sit "Indian style" on the edge of my gaming chair for my Ps3. Its the kind that sits on the floor and is half-oval shaped. If I sit all the way back on that it puts me too far from the screen.

I guess don't sit all the way back most of the time in my computer office chair either though, probably because it has a really small back and not arm rests.

[Joki the Disco Bandit]

I'm guilty of the same, far too often. :) Sitting Indian style, that is, on my chair or elsewhere. I don't necessarily think that's bad in and of itself, at all, but for anything long term that's requiring your concentration at the same time it's maybe not so good. If you play games that tend to generate tension in you, FPSs or the like, sitting that way long-term will only increase the tension and cause you pain.

I recently got a much larger office chair, with a very high back and arm rests, and it's much more comfortable. Maybe you could get lucky and find something affordable and suitable at a yard sale or the like? People are always selling old furniture. Anyway good luck. :)

[Azza ☠]

DX Racer - Drifting series has a comfort rate of approx 7-8 hours continuous sitting. Otherwise you need a more expensive solid office chair for the same back support. Or you can go the other way around and just get a bean bag. Inbetween however tends to have little to no actual support.

It actually ends up more expensive getting and replacing cheap/budget chairs over and over. They last 6 months, then fall to bits. Most people just tend to learn to live with it, even though they use it daily. If you can't even lie back 90 degree and chill out without fear of even tipping over, what's the point of the chair.

ps: You are probably sitting Indian style because the chair has no (or woren out) padding.

[Southpawe]

Originally posted by Azza ☠:

DX Racer - Drifting series has a comfort rate of approx 7-8 hours continuous sitting. Otherwise you need a more expensive solid office chair for the same back support. Or you can go the other way around and just get a bean bag. Inbetween however tends to have little to no actual support.

It actually ends up more expensive getting and replacing cheap/budget chairs over and over. They last 6 months, then fall to bits. Most people just tend to learn to live with it, even though they use it daily. If you can't even lie back 90 degree and chill out without fear of even tipping over, what's the point of the chair.

ps: You are probably sitting Indian style because the chair has no (or woren out) padding.

I don't sit Indian style when at my computer desk, just about half the time when I am sitting in my gaming chair that I use while playing Ps3. I find that it will put my legs to sleep if I sit in normally.

The office chair I am using now is an oldie office chair, its poo green with aluminum base that the wheels and back rest conect to. (there is not plastic at all in this chair)


Maybe I'll look around to see what is available for chairs.