So many products are marketed towards "gamers"

[kyrax12]

Gaming keyboards (Usually Mechanical)- It makes sense. Mechanical keyboards are more comfortable and tactile than rubber dome keyboards, which makes smashing keys more comfortable and fun.

Gaming mice- Usually gaming mouses only have extra mappable buttons and higher DPI than regular mouses. The logitech g100s is pretty nice. The Dpi switch is pretty neat too, but I don't find myself usually it too much.

Gaming chairs- This is where it gets ridiculous. Apparently it is marketed towards hard-core gamers and I have no idea how good they are. Never own one. I guess long session gaming should have a good comfortable chair....

Gaming monitors- I heard these are pretty crappy. Also kind of ridiculous too, I doubt anyone would really notice the difference between a conventional monitor and a "Gaming" monitor.

Antivirus for Gamers- This is where it got me. I saw an ad for this and was like wtf.... really?



It is near summer. As a gamer, I think there should a gaming fan. I wonder how many gamers are susceptible to these kind of marketing.

 

[SheHateMe]

"Mice" not "mouses"

 

[kyrax12]

"Mice" not "mouses"

Fixed.

 

[UglyCasanova]

I hate the term "gamer"

 

[shortylickens]

 

[John Connor]

I'm a gamer, but I only play the old crap still. I do have BF3, but kept getting shot up and gave up. I don't even remember my Origin key! PITA to use shity Origin. That was a huge blow to me as a gamer. I like, and still play BF2 and the AIX mod. I will still play Command And Conquer Generals Zero Hour. But my biggest game I play which is a 26 GB install is FS2004. I do have FSX, but I have far too much invested in FS2004. I spend most of my time in that game and not in CC Generals or BF2, COD, BFBC2, etc so a gaming chair I don't need. Bigger monitor I could use though. I just have a lame ass Logitech wireless mouse and it works. Never could understand the DPI thing. I can see RAM drives giving you a better edge.

 

[master_shake_]

gamers got money, companies need money...

its just like enthusiast, its a buzz word.

 

[Ruptga]

I hate the term "gamer"

I can't take seriously anything or anyone that uses it seriously. The image that comes to mind is a bit like this

but choking on Adderall pills, wearing a hat like this

and surrounded by cans of Monster and the mutilated hopes of their parents, all while shrieking about noscope headshots, hackers, and fucking fuckers.

All that said I spend quite a bit of my free time gaming and always have.

 

[Ahsan558]

Games are the best way to promoting the products of the different companies but some companies are doing fraud. So, be careful.

 

[gorcorps]

Fixed.

No it's not

Anyway, gaming gear is usually BS but the ones you picked may have merit. Chairs actually have ratings based on how many hours of continuous use from the user they were designed for. We have a 24/7 operation where I work so we had some 24hr chairs. Cheap chairs wear down too quickly and can cause back problems. That being said, I doubt the gaming chairs are that good or any better than a usual 8hr chair.

Gaming monitors are purely refresh rate. The image is usually poor quality but there's no blur in fast games. It can be important to competitive players. Average users usually won't care though, so it's worth it to get a better picture with a slower panel.

 

[Ichinisan]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=248110

 

[Ichinisan]

"Mice" not "mouses"

I think normal pluralization rules apply when we aren't talking about small furry mammals.
Likewise, I think little microorganisms can be called "virii" while multiple examples of self-propagating malware would be referred to as "viruses."

...but that's just me.

 

[rcpratt]

I think normal pluralization rules apply when we aren't talking about small furry mammals.
Likewise, I think little microorganisms can be called "virii" while multiple examples of self-propagating malware would be referred to as "viruses."

...but that's just me.

Just because some words are used with different meanings in hardware/software space doesn't mean that it should change the grammatical properties of said words.

But anyways, I definitely think a decent chair is important if you're going to sit and play for hours at a time...but you certainly don't need a "gaming" chair for that.

Those days are behind me...

 

[reallyscrued]

Had to get rid of a monitor; had it on craigslist for 2 months with no bites. Full specs in descriptions, pics of actual monitor, etc.

Realized the 5ms response time could be marketing toward 'gaming'.

Renamed it a 'gaming monitor' on craigslist and got bites immediately.

 

[Vdubchaos]

The reason for it - gamer = one of the most ignorant/addicted individuals out there. Of course companies will market towards it.

Look at the entire game industry. They are putting out the same crap over and over. Not only that, improvements are MINIMAL yet the hardware you need to run has quadrupled if not MORE.

Then they sell you 1/4 or 1/2 the game for full price and force you to by DLC or map packs. What an amazing marketing scheme, bravo to companies.

And thumbs down to consumer that accepts/buys this crap. You are feeding a crappy industry that's only preying on ignorance more and more and laughing all the way to the bank.

And now you see why my gaming interest have dwindled to NOTHING past 4-5 years.

I know # of people that are "gamers" and they can hardly hold a job, live with their mom's, have no savings yet still "rent" high end video cards and have top of the line hardware to play games that HARDLY look or play any different than games from half decade ago.

Smart, I tell ya.

 

[mmntech]

Gaming has become a competitive "sport" in recent years. That's who this stuff is being marketed too. Just like any other sport. Golf is an excellent example of the same thing. They'll sell you a driver with a liquid titanium core that will hit your ball a whole extra half yard. Yay. In other words, it's all snake oil but people feel cool using it.

 

[DesiPower]

its a 20 billion dollar + industry, it would be foolish not to try to tap into it. Although most of the PC gamers are matured people, and don't fall for this crap. HOWEVER, an antivirus with inbuilt punkbuster or something like that would be cool...

 

[momeNt]

There are quantifiable differences in the sensors in mice that make some good for gaming, and others not.

Mechanical keyboards are usually centered around N-Key rollover and low latency, and custom pressure.

Gaming monitors also make a difference. Refresh rate is similar to CRT monitors, which many older gamers were so used to before switching to LCD, so it feels better to them.

Chairs? I think that's mostly just color schemes. A nice executive chair is also going to have good support for sitting for long periods of time.

 

[Imp]

This stuff, I don't mind.

It's the Fatal1ty and other gamer "celebrity" branded stuff...

 

[SlitheryDee]

The gaming chair thing is the most unnecessary one for me. An office chair designed for someone who spends long hours working in front of a computer would work just as well for long hours spent gaming in front of a computer.

Surprisingly I can imagine a use for a gaming antivirus that has a special setting for gaming so that it doesn't somehow flag the network traffic as malicious during a gaming session. I can also imagine a very low latency monitor being labeled a "Gaming" monitor, but I agree that this isn't really that noticeable for most people.

You joke about the gaming fan, but imagine something low profile that is designed to blow only on the keyboard and mouse hands. You'd sell plenty of those to sweaty-palmed gamers I think.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

Most of it is marketing. They're targeting a pretty big niche.

Gaming keyboards usually let you hit more than two keys at a time. A lot of the cheaper keyboards limit you to two or three key presses at a time.

Benq is the brand I think of when you say gaming monitor. i would say it's a matter of refresh rate and better blacks. you don't get that blue tint that other monitors have. they also have other settings you can use if you do long gaming sessions.

There's also gaming headsets, speakers, laptops, etc.

I actually bought a domain a while ago which was going to target this exact niche. Gamers get pretty hardcore about their gear. Like a gamer might choose a mouse based on its sensor, lift off distance, frequency?, weight, macro buttons, grip style, drivers vs no drivers, etc.

 

[SheHateMe]

The other night, some kids won $400,000 playing competitive call of duty. The team in second place won $200,000. Third place got $150,000.

Thats some serious dough for playing video games

 

[Theb]

18 - 30 males are a key demographic. Gamers are a subset of that demographic that will pay $60 for a game and then pay additional money to unlock all the features. That's the kind of thing that gives marketers priapism.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Benq is the brand I think of when you say gaming monitor. i would say it's a matter of refresh rate and better blacks. you don't get that blue tint that other monitors have. they also have other settings you can use if you do long gaming sessions.

Gaming monitors typically have crummy blacks because "gamers" tend to play with low contrast and high brightness to minimize the ability of opponents to hide in shadows. I had a BenQ for a long time, and it actually had pretty good IQ, but it did make me turn my gamma way up in Counter-Strike to see anything.

 

[Midwayman]

Gaming monitors- I heard these are pretty crappy. Also kind of ridiculous too, I doubt anyone would really notice the difference between a conventional monitor and a "Gaming" monitor.

Oh you are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo wrong here. There is a night and day difference between a gaming monitor with the strobing function and a plain old monitor.

Try this site. Especiallly this test.
http://www.testufo.com/#test=photo&photo=toronto-map.png&pps=960&pursuit=0&height=0

I can clearly read the fine scrolling text on my gaming monitor. On my work monitor, or the really nice IPS 2nd monitor I have at home its a blurry mess.