Which one should I choose between a gaming chair and an ergonomic chair?
Is a gaming chair just a waste of money? Are there any gaming chairs that are breathable, have strong lumbar support, and are comfortable to sit on?
1. Commonalities and differences between gaming chairs and ergonomic chairs
To define which one to buy between a gaming chair and an ergonomic chair, you must first know what the commonalities and differences are between the two? Then match them according to your needs and current situation, and remember that the one that suits you best is the best.
Commonality
Design concept:
Although gaming chairs were not originally designed entirely based on ergonomics, modern gaming chairs are also paying more and more attention to ergonomic principles. Like ergonomic chairs, they are designed to provide users with a more comfortable and healthier sitting experience to reduce fatigue and damage to the body caused by long-term sitting. They are designed to take into account the natural form of the human body, such as the curve of the chair back, the height and angle of the seat, etc., to better fit the human body and provide appropriate support.
Adjustability:
In order to adapt to the physical needs and usage habits of different users, gaming chairs and ergonomic chairs often have a certain degree of adjustability. For example, there are seat height adjustment, backrest angle adjustment, armrest height and angle adjustment, etc., so that users can make personalized adjustments according to their needs and find the most suitable sitting posture for themselves.
(E-sports chair adjustment diagram)
(Ergonomic chair adjustment diagram)
Optimization and upgrade:
Both e-sports chairs and ergonomic chairs are constantly being optimized and upgraded to make up for the previous deficiencies and disadvantages and explore new needs to meet users. The specific presentation trend is: the e-sports ergonomic chair and the ergonomic e-sports chair, both are evolving in the direction of "good-looking and easy to use".
Difference
Appearance design difference:
The design of e-sports chairs usually pays more attention to the fashion sense and personalization of the appearance, and the shape is cooler and unique. Bright color matching, unique patterns or shape design are often used to attract young e-sports players and game enthusiasts. The overall style is often more technological and futuristic. Some e-sports chairs will also incorporate elements or themes of e-sports games, which are closely linked to e-sports culture. The design of ergonomic chairs is more inclined to simplicity, practicality and functionality. The appearance is relatively simple and generous, usually without overly complex or exaggerated shapes and decorations, and the color selection is relatively conservative and stable to adapt to various office and home environments.
Differences in core users:
The core users of gaming chairs are people who have a clear interest in "e-sports, games, live broadcasts", etc. There are relatively more young users, and the overall scale is smaller than ergonomic chairs, but the purchase intention is clearer. Ergonomic chairs are more suitable for the general public and have no obvious preference for the crowd.
Differences in demand satisfaction:
The initial design focus of gaming chairs was mainly to meet the needs of e-sports players during the game, such as providing a better sense of wrapping and stability, so that players can keep their body posture stable and reduce shaking during intense game operations. On the other hand, it provides more atmosphere and psychological sense of belonging, so that users can have a "more professional" feeling in the game.
Differences in usage scenarios:
E-sports chairs: Mainly suitable for e-sports game scenes, as well as some entertainment spaces or personal rooms that pursue fashion and personality. Due to its unique design style, gaming chairs are more common in e-sports venues, game studios, and the homes of e-sports enthusiasts. Ergonomic chairs are widely used in various scenarios where you need to sit for a long time to work or study, such as offices, study rooms, conference rooms, etc.
Summary
In fact, the essence of the two types of chairs is to make the target group sit comfortably and use them happily. The two are not completely opposite, and they are even gradually merging towards each other, learning from each other's strengths and weaknesses. There are gaming chairs with high ergonomic configurations, and there are ergonomic chairs with cool appearances. So you have to choose based on your own needs and preferences based on understanding the product.
For game enthusiasts, anchors, or most young friends who like cool appearances, they will definitely have more preference for gaming chairs. So is gaming chair an IQ tax?
2. Is gaming chair an IQ tax? The emergence of this controversy is inseparable from the development stage of gaming chairs.
The 1.0 era of gaming chairs: the gaming chair has been created from scratch.
The gaming chair can be traced back to 2006. Its prototype evolved from a racing chair. Racing is a highly dangerous competitive sport. Its seat structure must have a certain ergonomic design to increase the protection of human bones and muscles, as well as driving stability and safety. Therefore, it has the characteristics of being wide and having a strong sense of coverage. At that time, China's e-sports industry had just started, and the development of the supporting facilities industry related to e-sports was almost zero. The chairs used by players in Internet cafes were very simple, and they were prone to back pain after sitting for a long time. So some businessmen added armrests, poles and pulleys to the unsalable racing chairs, and packaged them into e-sports chairs, and the e-sports chair market began to emerge. The consumer demand during this period was mainly "trying new things".
The 2.0 era of e-sports chairs: the e-sports chairs have been realized from having to being abused.
In 2008, e-sports chairs ushered in an explosive period. At that time, the Shamatte culture was popular, and Internet cafes became the main place for young people to surf the Internet. E-sports chairs not only inherited the "fashionable sports" appearance of racing chairs, but also formed a dimensionality reduction attack on ordinary chairs in terms of comfort. Coupled with the values of "individuality and uniqueness", it became a must-have for "good Internet cafes". In the following years, thanks to the development of e-sports culture and the improvement of consumer awareness, e-sports chairs have successfully entered the homes of more users and become a very important personal item for gamers.
With the increase in users and the increase in usage time, more and more people have discovered the shortcomings of poor air permeability and weak lumbar support of traditional e-sports chairs. At the same time, driven by interests, the market is flooded with inferior chairs, lacking the comfort and quality they should have. The e-sports chair industry has encountered unprecedented "challenges" and has also been labeled as "show goods", "exclusive", and "IQ tax". Most of the controversy about the category of e-sports chairs originated from this stage. The consumer demand during this period was mainly "following the trend".
The 3.0 era of e-sports chairs: professional chairs are beginning to emerge.
After 2020, especially in recent years, the "pain points" of the industry such as the airtightness of e-sports chairs, weak lumbar support, and the inability to take into account mobile games and terminal games are gradually being solved. Innovative products that are more comfortable, more professional, more cool, and more in line with user needs have begun to appear in the market, and are increasingly moving towards the industry vision of the gaming chair category, which is to sit healthy and have fun. The consumer demand during this period is mainly "professional".
The 4.0 era of gaming chairs: technological chairs will be the mainstream in the future.
In the next few years, the technological development of gaming chairs may be a key development direction. At that time, the chairs can be intelligently adapted according to different games and players, different themes can be changed, and the appearance can be DIY modified. The temperature and humidity, the hardness of the seat, and the height, size, width and narrowness of each part can all be intelligently adjusted. It truly achieves a complete match with individual players.
Overall, the development of gaming chairs, like many other categories, has shortcomings in the early stages of development, but with the maturity of the industry, many products have solved the original problems, so we should still look at the problem from a development perspective, and don't generalize and say that it is or is not an IQ tax, which is one-sided.
3. Functional value + emotional value are all that gaming chairs are made of, and neither is indispensable
In fact, in addition to buying functions, buying gaming chairs is also about emotional value, which is what every gamer pursues in their hearts and is incomprehensible to non-gamers.
Emotional value satisfaction mainly comes from several aspects:
Professionalism:
It can be said that gaming chairs are made for gaming, especially brands or companies that focus on the field of e-sports, which often have a deeper understanding of user needs, and users have a higher degree of trust in brand products. For example, Aofeng, a well-known brand of professional gaming chairs for ten years, takes competitions and team needs as the starting point for research and development, invites top professional players to participate in product development, and creates professional gaming chairs that are more suitable for e-sports players. Let users feel "at ease".
Sense of identity
In the choice of gaming chairs, whether the favorite team or IP can form an emotional resonance with oneself, or even self-motivate under the power of role models, is also an aspect that users value very much; in addition, some special gaming chairs also carry social attributes-having special co-branded products may become a topic of discussion among other players and gain more attention.
Sense of belonging
Chairs of the same brand or style may become a link for players to communicate and form a certain sense of group belonging. Let players get more emotional value experience besides playing games.
All of the above are emotional value satisfaction of gaming chairs based on functions. The value depends entirely on the players' love and involvement in gaming itself.
4. The choice of gaming chairs should be based on products, not categories.
There are good and bad products in any category. As a user, don't make general cognitive judgments about categories. It is best to analyze and compare specific products to see if they meet your personalized needs. It is easy to be blinded by generalizations, and eventually fall into the consumer "entanglement" of not knowing what to buy.
Summary: If conditions permit, try to buy a good gaming chair.
It can be seen that in 2024, many gaming chairs have gotten rid of the so-called IQ tax through continuous optimization and upgrading. There are many good chairs worth choosing on the market, but of course there are still a lot of "low-quality junk products" in the current market. You should still be careful to avoid pitfalls. Don't touch too cheap gaming chairs, because they may be junk. We have disassembled many of them. If you think it is junk but still want to buy it, it is better to choose a second-hand branded product.
