Why are all gaming chairs so bad?

Associate
Joined
3 Jan 2018
Posts
15
Why do you want a gaming chair over a normal office chair ( not the premium chairs )

Most office chairs suck too. The one given to me by my firm is so bad, I ended up buying a Leap V2 with my own money and using that instead. If I'm going to be in office for 50 to 60 hours a week, I'm not suffering any more than I have to.

That cheapo chair they got me and all the other staff was a medieval torture device. It didn't fit my height/body shape at all. Seat pan depth was too big, back pan height too high and flat. Non-adjustable, non-removable arm rests that crash into my desk and prevented me from getting good typing posture. They either hit the desk surface so I had to stretch to type or I had to lower seat height to the point where I was typing at almost shoulder height. Ridiculous.

That being said, racing seats look the way they do for very good reasons. They wrap around your body to hold you in place when you are taking corners at high speed, otherwise the centripetal forces will throw you out of it. They have high backs with forward tilted head rests to stop your head snapping back past your shoulders when you brake suddenly, reducing the risk of serious whiplash injury.

None of these design considerations matter when you sit at a desk. One thing I'll say about racing style gaming chairs is at least they would make suitable racing seats if you ever game while taking corners at 120 kph. It'll never happen because lol but at least its designed for something, even if its copied from something else.

Bad office chairs remarkably fail at everything. I've sat in office chairs that were so bad they gave me legitimate occupational health reasons to leave the office and not do any work!
 
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Soldato
Joined
16 Aug 2009
Posts
7,728
GamersNexus did a video on gaming chairs and basically found that they are all built in the same factory and have insane markups. Also the side support means you have to sit with a unnatural posture

I will say I like the design of the ESO and FO4 themed chairs they've been selling lately if I had the space I'd buy both not to sit on but for decorative appeal lol
 
Associate
Joined
28 Sep 2013
Posts
37
I also have a DXracer bought from here in march 2016. Mrs used it all day working from home for 2 years. then I used it in the evenings. I have sat in it for god knows how many thousands of hours... Same experience as others. the "leather" is peeling on the leg hugging bits on one side where I sit funny and the headrest is peeling. Apart from that its still as good as it was. No squeaking loose bits etc. i still have my little 5 minute nanna naps in it on a regular basis :). Back then I thought ****, 320 quid for a chair! But I just cannot fault it tbh....
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Feb 2019
Posts
17,464
At my local store Noble chairs went from $600 each to $300 each in the space of less than a year - nothing about the chair design or materials changed, the only thing that changed is demand for gaming chairs has reduced

That shows you how large the markups are
 
Associate
Joined
5 Nov 2020
Posts
104
100% just buy a used higher-end office chair (or new, if you can afford). Used prices have gone up a bit since WFH, but I think you can now pick up an Aeron for ~>£250 again, if you shop around. Not only does it last so much longer and look less tacky, it helps your back out so much. Won't be buying a new desk chair for a couple decades at least.

People thinking they need shoulder supports as if their gaming chair is going to be launching them about like a rally car
 
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