Serious gamers need a serious place to hunker down without distraction for a truly immersive experience. Of course, nothing kills the mood more than cord tangles, missing gear, and messes that take time out of your game.
With a little forethought and some careful design, you can up your game by getting your gaming room organized and keeping it organized with some of the following tips.
Wall Mounts For Controllers & Headphones
A lot of serious gamers use headphones to give them a level of immersive audio that monitor speakers simply can’t replicate. Creating a wall mount for things like headphones and controllers lets you grab your essential gear at a moment’s notice without having to hunt for it. It also helps keep it from getting tangled up with everything else that lives on your desk. Not to mention, it will truly save your controllers and headphones if and when you have that catastrophic spill!
Run Cables Through A Sleeve Or Conduit
While wireless controllers and Bluetooth devices have taken over the interactive side of the gaming world, cables, wires, and cords are still a basic reality that needs to be dealt with. What might start out as a convenient array of zip-tied cords can quickly descend into a spaghetti madness of stray wires over time. Running all your essential cords through a cable sleeve or a conduit keeps them organized and prevents unnecessary tangles.
Use Storage Cubes For Unused Equipment
Sinking down deep into a game is one of life’s true pleasures. With headphones on, controller in hand, you are ready to take on the virtual world. Books, gear, unused consoles, and other items just get in your way. While they might be essential tomorrow, you probably don’t need them here today.
Using tote bins or cloth tubes with a rigid bottom and a sealable top lets you quickly put away the things that you aren’t using. If you need to pull them out later, you will know exactly where they are.
Choose The Right Lighting
Glare from anything on your flatscreen or gaming monitor is a real buzz kill that can get you killed in a first-person shooter game. If your game room has windows the lighting can change throughout the day cause some real and virtual headaches.
Investing in some high-quality blackout curtains will go a long way toward keeping the glare of the sun at bay. Then you can turn your attention to finding the right lighting solutions for your space.
LED lighting fixtures can be directional. This lets you point the light where you want it and away from where you don’t. This is great for times when you might want to read a guide at a glance, without the light from a lamp causing glare on the screen.
LED lights can also be shaded to just about any hue, and some are adjustable. This lets you set up the lighting to the mood of the game you are playing. Since LED lights produce almost no heat, you don’t have to worry about them damaging woodwork and papers like you do with incandescent and compact fluorescent lights.
Invest In An Audio & Lighting Gaming System
If you really want to take your immersive gaming experience to the next level, you can invest in a gaming light & audio system. You essentially run your audio outs through the sound device which then coordinates with the light fixtures and they respond to the sound. They will do things like flash for a gunshot, or scatter light for an explosion. Mounting them on the sides of the monitor or flatscreen TV prevents glare while giving you great mood lighting.
Cubbies & Dividers To Keep Consoles Separated
Twenty years ago gaming consoles just sat out on the entertainment center like bricks with wires attached to them. Today wireless technology has made it possible to put a gaming console just about anywhere in the room. Giving each console its own compartment or cubby not only looks cleaner, but it lets you group games and ancillary equipment nearby. This is great for times when you might want to change games from one platform to another without having to kill a lot of time switching everything over.
Enclosed Console Storage
Even if you are an avid gamer, you might not want to always have your consoles out for all the world to see. Setting up a gaming cabinet with a recessed or pocket door lets you store your console away when you aren’t using it, while still keeping it connected to the power. You can open and close the door as you see fit. This is handy if you are having guests over and don’t want to come off as some kind of super gamer geek.
A Dedicated Snack Tray With Handy Wipes
It’s a principled truth of the gaming experience that you are going to get hungry. Being able to grab your favorite snack whenever you want is one thing. Having the crumbs and grease from that snack transfer from your fingers to your controller is something else.
Investing in a cheap snack tray with a shallow lip and a handy wipes dispenser lets you keep your hands clean, rather than waste time cleaning up an annoyingly sticky controller. The lip on the tray is also nice for that time when you know you will spill your drink and you don’t want it soaking everything.
Consider Your Cooling Options
Game consoles, monitors, computers, and equipment can generate a lot of ambient heat that gradually builds up over time. Suddenly you find yourself stuck to your favorite chair in a sweaty heap. If you don’t have good air conditioning or climate controls in your gaming room, try to set up a fan to gently blow air at you. Several models on the market are whisper quiet and even have ambient lighting to help you see what you are looking for, without having to turn on a light.
