Billions of people around the world play video games. The United States alone has 244 million video gamers in 2020. Thanks to the ongoing global pandemic, you can expect this figure to increase. The reason is that more Americans are staying at home and looking for ways to pass the time or distract themselves.
Gaming is an effective way to alleviate stress and enjoy your me-time if you live alone. If you’re thinking of playing for extended periods, however, camping out in your bedroom or huddling over a PC or television may not give you an excellent gaming experience. You’ll want to have a personal space that works for you without having to stress out physical games and bulky console equipment taking up space.
Enter the gaming room. This type of room serves as a dedicated space for relaxing after a long day, playing video games for long periods and even hosting parties if you have gamer friends. If you have extra space in your residential property, consider converting that area into a video or PC gaming room.
Benefits of Having a Dedicated Gaming Room
A dedicated gaming space is a lot better than using your living room or your bedroom as an entertainment area.
Here are the advantages you’ll enjoy when you construct a gaming room in your house:
More Options for Quality Family Time
An entertainment room isn’t just a place where you can enjoy quality solo time. You can also build this space to get your family to come together and have hours of fun.
Instead of sitting down together and watching a movie together, why not take your family bonding time up a notch and play video games in your new room? Although movie nights are great, this activity can get a little stale, especially if you don’t find anything good to watch on TV or Netflix.
If you have a game room, you could play loads of video games that the whole family will enjoy, including Mario Kart, Heave Ho, Untitled Goose Game and Sonic Mania. Playing together as a family is a more active solution than slumping in front of the screen and munching homemade flavored popcorn.
An Exclusive Space to Chill Out
A typical home consists of a living room, a bathroom or two, a kitchen, a dining area and bedrooms. If you have a large family, you and everyone else in the household don’t have much space to spread out and relax.
Although the living room is a great place to spend leisure time, family members may use that area for other purposes. Your children, for instance, may use the living space to work on their school projects.
When you have a dedicated video gaming room, you have a place all to yourself. You could retreat in this space and play games to your heart’s content.
An Excellent Place to Host Guests
Whether you’re entertaining your friends, visiting relatives or your children’s friends, a game room is a perfect place for providing wholesome fun for everyone. You can use your dedicated video gaming area to comfortably host gatherings and parties in your home. You and your guests will be able to stay at home while playing awesome games, such as Fortnite, Among Us, Overwatch and other multiplayer titles.
If you’re the type of person who likes hosting parties at home, make sure you including gaming room construction in your home upgrade or home improvement list.
An Opportunity to Raise Your Home Value
Building a gaming room can bump up your home value — ideal if you have plans to sell your house in the future. Some prospective homebuyers look at recreation or bonus rooms as valuable assets, adding hundreds or thousands of dollars to a residential property’s overall value.
Obviously, your purchased games and console systems will not impact the value of your home. What will matter in the long run, however, are the developments and added facilities to your video gaming room. Constructing a few extras, such as a home theater and a bar, will give your game room a new purpose and add a component that doesn’t exist in most residential properties.
When the time comes to sell your home, you can list your gaming room as an extra feature that will make your property more attractive.
The Essentials in a Video Gaming Room
Many want a game room in their home, but have zero idea on where to start. Before you focus on room décor, make sure you purchase the essentials necessary to make this part of your home a paradise for gamers.
Here are the components you’ll need for your video gaming room:
Computer or Gaming Console
At the center of a video game room is a computer or console.
When choosing the computer that you want to buy, you could build your own or opt for pre-built systems. If you do plan to build your own PC, you’ll have to buy each component.
You’ll need the following:
- Internal storage device (HDD or SSD)
- Motherboard
- Gaming processor
- CPU case
- CPU cooling fans
- GPU (graphics card)
- Power supply (including backup supply that prevents power outages from damaging your computer)
- RAM (memory)
Equally important to a PC is a gaming console that allows you to play exclusive titles. Some of the major consoles you can choose from are a PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and a Nintendo Switch. Once you’ve made your selection, place your console on a floating shelf. This helps you avoid unwarranted clutter that can affect your gameplay.
Desk
A floating desk is a great option if your gaming room comes with multiple PCs and consoles. Just grab a large shelf bracket or free hanging shelf bracket, add a surface of your choice and you’re all set to install.
Seats
Gaming can cause a person to sit for extended periods, so you’ll want a chair that can support your back. A few of the seating products that you could buy are a gaming chair, a few beanbags (for multiplayer gaming sessions) and a comfy sofa.
High-Quality Sound
If you’ll be playing awesome games in your room, remember to buy awesome speakers and surround sound that will heighten your overall gameplay experience. Place your portable sound equipment firmly on a shelf or surface, so that they don’t fall when the bass is bumping.
Bass Traps
A gaming room tends to get noisy. So, make sure to install bass traps to prevent bothering everyone else in your house. Although these won’t necessarily reduce the noise levels in the room, they’ll help absorb low-frequency echoes and make bass-like noises less intense.
Accent Lighting
Ample internal lighting is instrumental to help gamers fully immerse themselves in the in-game worlds they’ll be exploring. The lighting setup for your gaming room should be similar to a home cinema area. It should stay cool and moody. Consider adding general fixtures, such as recessed spotlights, around your room to create an engaging gaming atmosphere.
TV or Projector
If you host multiplayer games, you’ll want to invest in a projector that supports split-screen gaming. Apart from that, you should get a TV tailored for gaming purposes. Get a large TV set that offers superb viewing angles and color reproduction.
Tips When Building and Decorating the Perfect Gaming Room
Once you have all your essentials in one area, the next step is to build and decorate your video gaming room. If gaming happens to be your primary free-time occupation, you’ll want to make sure that this part of your home heightens your gameplay experience.
Here are a few tips when preparing your dream game room:
Showcase Your Style
The ultimate gaming room should reflect your style and personality. If you’ll be using this room most of the time, don’t hesitate to transform it into your ideal space. You could, for instance, rearrange the lighting and furniture to better fit your needs or preferences.
Another suggestion is to hang up posters of your favorite game titles and put a snack bar or mini-fridge near your computer. Then, add various types of décor and accessories, such as game artwork, pillows and colorful gaming room furniture, such as extra chairs for guests.
Repaint the Walls
A game room doesn’t always need to be crispy white. Feel free to choose colors that will make your gameplay experience more enjoyable. A relatively time-proof suggestion is to paint the ceiling purple and the walls with a dark blue shade. This color scheme creates a nice space-themed gaming room and gives off an oceanic ambiance.
Design with Energy Efficiency in Mind
When building your gaming room, make this area more energy efficient. If you’re a frequent gamer and tend to use a lot of electrical appliances at home, make sure you invest in energy-efficient upgrades. This typically involves sealing leaky cooling or heating ducts, keeping your vents free of debris and installing energy-efficient LED lights.
When you’re setting up your video gaming room, be creative, have fun and add as many elements as you want. By having a dedicated gaming space in your home, you no longer have to camp out on your couch or hog the living room.
