
Gaming is often associated with a certain aesthetic, one filled with dark-coloured boxes, RGB lighting, and the occasional bright pink outfit. In decades gone by, it was marketed exclusively to young men with early attempts at attracting more women to play failing as they just dressed up bad games with garish amounts of pink.
The black, pink, and RGB stylings of traditional gaming equipment and furnishings all stem from these roots, but these stereotypes are slowly being cut down.
This has been driven by trends in video gaming that have encouraged more people from previously underrepresented groups from trying out the medium. You’ve likely seen this pm a personal level, if you think of the people in your own life who play games today, this group might include your mum, your grandad, and even your auntie Mabel. 20 years ago, these people wouldn’t have been smashing buttons on a PlayStation 2 controller, they’d simply have shown no interest in gaming at all. Incorporating classic games like Connect 4 Online into your gaming setup can add a nostalgic touch, offering both entertainment and a nod to timeless favourites.
For anyone that’s closer to this group than a stereotypical gamer, it can be a struggle to create a space in your home where you can enjoy your gaming hobby without having to be drenched in RGB colours. So to help you, here are some helpful tips on what to think about.
Think About Your Gaming Space
What you play greatly influences just about all of your decisions about your gaming space. Not only does it affect the hardware you need to buy, but it should also be factored into locations, positioning, and other decor.
Design Your Space to Cut Out Distractions
Distractions can degrade both your gaming abilities and the overall experience. Struggling to concentrate because of an annoying racket or frustrating glare can take away the fun or cause you to miss something important and lose a game.
For example, if you’re planning to take part in online poker tournaments, then it’s important to stay focused throughout. There are many factors that go into this, including spending time to prepare, making the most of break times, and adjusting your approach at different stages in the tournament.
Similarly, long sessions playing first-person shooters or racing simulation games in which a momentary lapse in concentration can make the difference between virtual life and death require a lot of concentration.
Having a space that is free from distractions is also important. Locating your gaming space away from high-traffic areas of your home or using doors and soundproofing to keep the noise down can help. Similarly, avoiding distractions from other screens, windows, and other such objects will give your mind fewer reasons to wander.

Consider Connectivity
If you’re planning to play games online, then you need to have a strong and stable internet connection. If your gaming space will be in a room at the opposite end of your house to your router or even further away in your garage or shed, then you might find the signal is weak or even non-existent.
If this is the case, then there are a few things you can do to get better connectivity whilst you play.
Traditionally, this required running physical network cables across your house. However, this isn’t ideal if you’re not redecorating large parts of your house at the same time as it requires you to either open walls, lift up floorboards, or run unsightly trunking.
Thankfully, mesh routers make this much easier. Just swap out your standard ISP router for a mesh one and then plug in another closer to your gaming space and the network will bounce between them. You can make it even faster by adding more nodes to the mesh too.
Style
The important thing to remember about style is that it can be anything you want. You don’t have to buy products marketed as “for gamers”, that’s just to differentiate them from other products. Simply choose a style of decor that suits your taste. You can take a similar approach to designing a home office, balancing aesthetics, practicality, and cost. Just make sure what you choose is also comfortable so you can spend your time playing rather than thinking about how your back hurts.