Girls + Gaming: 4 Things Your Battlestation Needs For Game Immersion
Ahhh, the battle station. Sometimes we girls can overlook this key feature of our gaming lives, especially when we are first dipping our toes into the virtual landscape.
But really, it’s the home of your gaming operation – the cave to dip away from all those troubles, sit down, and enjoy endless amounts of gaming in peace and comfort.
The goal of any battle station is to fully simulate the gaming experience; you want to feel like you’re submersed in-world, whether you’re currently fighting the Eve Online war — which, by the way, is turning out to be pretty epic — or trying not to starve in Don’t Starve. Even if you’re replaying all of Mass Effect to try and romance Garrus, you want that deep, intimate conversation between you and your Turian crush to feel as realistic as possible.
So. Let’s look at the four components of any good battle station. (Mountain Dew not included.)
1. Top-of-the-line headphones
The typical gamer starts gaming with a pair of cheap ‘phones and slowly begins to graduate to more high-end options. After all, a game’s soundtrack is just as important as its visuals (sometimes more so). New games are so audio-lush that you can hear your enemies breathe, and sound is the first element that truly adds to the in-game immersion experience.
Our pick for best gaming headphones is always Turtle Beach, but you may have a different opinion. (I know a few gamers who swear by Beats By Dr. Dre.) Just make sure your ‘phones and mic are sharp enough to pick up all the footfalls and friendly fire.
2. The Fastest Possible Internet Connection
Gamers need internet. Whether you’re playing multi-player or downloading the latest upgrades, you need the fastest connection possible to get things done. It’s hard to say whether internet is more or less important than sound to the game-immersive experience; after all, there are still a few games out there that don’t require an internet connection, but those are becoming few and far between. Let’s say they’re roughly equal: if you don’t have headphones, you can’t hear the game; if you don’t have fast internet, you can’t play the game.
This poses a problem for those out in areas not so well covered. If you are in an rural area that doesn’t have a lot of options, look for DSL deals (compared to the available dialup), which you can actually save on since the AT&T promotion cards still don’t need any codes. This lets you play just as fast as your guild mates in better-connected cities.
Besides, how are you going to stream walk-throughs on YouTube and play at the same time with a slow internet connection?
3. The Right Hardware
We’re not all privileged enough to have the expendable income to buy the latest, top-of-the-line gaming PC hardware, but we should make the effort to upgrade, over time.
What we all want:
· A big monitor
· A beastly PC
· The latest systems
· The best games
If you have to choose what to invest in, focus on the fundamental hardware for your setup – pick a smaller monitor and a faster PC. If you wait it out you can generally pick up most of the AAA titles for a pittance of the original cost. Create a small backlog in your gaming (be a patient gamer) and suddenly *gasp* you’ll have money to invest in that wide-screen monitor, upgrade your drivers, and immerse yourself even more fully in your gaming experience.
4. Comfortable Seating
I can’t begin to tell you how many battle stations I’ve seen where the person went all out on the computer (or gaming system) and skimped on their seat. You know the ones – those little swivel chairs that are majorly uncomfortable.
Truth be told a lot of gamers don’t care; they’re perfectly willing to power through the pain. In fact, when you’re fully immersed in a game, you probably don’t even notice that your feet are asleep and your lower back is screaming.
But here’s my advice: as soon as you can, spend the extra $100 – $300 for something decent. Your back will thank you for it and you might as well be comfortable while playing rather than constantly switching which leg to sit on during the session. Pick an immersive-design, surround-sound gaming seat that is designed to integrate you into the gaming experience and support you as you fight the Alliance or meet Garrus up at the Citadel.
These four components are the pillars of game immersion, and once you level out all four, you’ll find yourself truly sucked in to the gaming world — as if it were the only world that existed.
