I am a gamer By Dan Sharpe

The Oxford Living Dictionary defines this as; "A person who plays video games or participates in role-playing games".

I’ve rocketed and warped into thousands of worlds since I was 5 years old. It wasn't Christmas, nor was it my Birthday, heck it wasn't even Fatherly bribery (well perhaps, actually), It was, however, a phenomenal present! A gorgeous, shimmering, boxed NES console (Nintendo Entertainment System) with the TMNT Turtles game included within it. The constant telly adverts had mangled my brain to the brink of psychological breakdown, so to get one out of the blue, man, elated doesn’t even come close. Gaming is an unconditional love I’ll always have and it’s allowed me to develop and refine certain skills and abilities throughout the multitude of universes I’ve existed in. Problem solving, hand-eye-coordination, logical thinking and spatial awareness, to name a few. Thinking back, Mother often said; “They’ll rot your brain!”……….Who’s laughing now, hey?

During years of gaming, I’ve represented the UK playing ‘Super Smash Brothers: Melee’. A registered E-Sport and subjectively the quickest and most dexterity rich fighting game ever created. With upwards of 300 actions per minute (APM), it requires incredible focus, execution and precision. All of which demand a mind be free from all outside interferences, such as my comfortability factor, for example.

I think we're all guilty of taking comfort for granted, on more than one occasion, are we not?

We don’t usually think about how comfortable we are, instead focusing on how uncomfy something is. “This bed’s too soft!”, “Those stools are wobbly” or “Awww, my bum’s going to sleep”. It’s something that comes to the forefront of our minds, the moment we feel it and I’d say it’s down to living in a world which provides us with everything we require, hastily, inexpensively and with little to no effort on our parts. We’re just used to getting what we want basically, aren’t we?

“All of which require a mind to be free of all outside interferences” and “forefront of our minds” don’t mix well, do they?

If you’re gaming and you are uncomfortable, it’s detrimental. Nothing but a constant, annoying hindrance. A fixable issue though, thankfully. Ergonomic chairs are awesome! Designed for comfort, you’ll forget everything but your preferred video game. Isn’t that the very point of comfort? It’ll be one less worry in one life so you can immersively live another.