You must have seen popular gamers or YouTubers sitting on a fancy Gaming Chair. It is highly probable that you are here after being influenced by them.

These Gaming Chairs recently got popular whereas the office chairs have been around for quite long time.

Before finalizing any of these chairs, you are bound to question their utility. This is what we are trying to answer in this article by introducing the gaming chair vs office chair comparison including the pros and cons of each.

Gaming Chair vs Office Chair: Advantages and Disadvantages

Are the gaming chairs just a marketing gimmick or is there a substance to prove their supremacy?

The main reason to question them is the recent advancement in the making of office chairs.

Nowadays, we have an ergonomic chair that provides you good support and is designed to sit for hours without affecting your posture.

So, here we are going to analyze all the advantages and disadvantages of owning a gaming chair as well as an office chair.

Gaming Chair

Gaming chairs got popularized by twitch streamers and then YouTubers. These chairs look like car seats with winged backrest and bucket seat designs.

Not limited only to the name it has, gaming chairs are nowadays used by anyone who sits in front of a computer system for long hours.

From graphic designers, editors to YouTube streamers, they all find it comfortable because of its highly ergonomic design.

These chairs are generally available in 2 designs i.e. rocker gaming chairs and floor gaming chairs (whose seats rest on the ground).

Advantages of Gaming Chair

You already know the hype around gaming chairs. Let us now look at the advantages of gaming chairs over office chairs to get a clear picture of their worth.

The adjustability of Gaming Chairs

This advantage of gaming chairs depends on how you are going to use the chair. The office chairs and the gaming chairs have a lot in common when it comes to adjustability features but the latter offers far more flexibility in adjustment.

The gaming chairs have height adjustment, adjustable armrest, footrest adjustment and a lot more adjustability. The headrest and lumbar pillow too are adjustable that we will discuss in the next point.

One adjustability feature that you will not find in the office chairs is the complete recline function.

Most of the gaming chairs can recline far to the point of making you lie down. You can comfortably take a nap for a while or even watch a movie.

Gaming Chairs are Comfortable

Gaming chairs have a lot of elements that make them more comfortable than regular chairs. The first element is the thickly padded seat with plush foam you feel relaxed on.

The ergonomic design of the chair supports your whole body up to the head and you can use your gaming consoles even while lying back on the chair.

The other comfort enabling features of the chair include the detachable lumbar and head pillows. These things help you keep your spine in a healthy position also avoids strain in your neck.

In most gaming chairs, you can adjust the height of the lumbar support according to the sensitive areas of your back. Some chairs also let you adjust the head and neck pillow as per your height.

There are a lot of unnecessary features in the gaming chair that we will discuss in the disadvantages but they are largely made to provide comfort in comparison to the office chairs.

Whereas the office chairs are made to last long in an office environment. Though it is important to mention that the headrest in the office chairs is sometimes better than the gaming chairs and not every gaming chair comes with a head pillow.

Maintenance of Health

As we discussed, sitting on a gaming chair is somewhat healthy if you are sitting for 8-10 hours straight. Your spine will not be affected after prolonged sitting sessions because the gaming chairs help you to maintain a good posture. The lumbar support too is healthy for your spine and the back.

The recline function of the chair lets you take rest properly between the sessions, thus helping you cope with the exhaustion and stress better.

But the takeaway here is that office chairs too are a good option considering your health.

Looks and aesthetics

Gaming chair aesthetics! This is the primary reason why people buy gaming chairs. The hype about gaming chairs is primarily based on this.

And we have to accept that if you stream your games online or have a gaming setup established, only a gaming chair will be suitable for that.

A whole generation of streamers and gamers have ignored the drawbacks of gaming chairs and purchased them because of the gaming aesthetics they bring to the table, literally.

Office chairs on the other hand do not possess the looks a gamer would want to add to their YouTube frame.

Additional Features of Gaming Chair

Gaming chairs have other features that you might find useful. A cup holder in a chair helps you minimize the mess on your table.

The additional features you see, especially in the expensive gaming chairs are speakers, mousepads, earphone jacks, USBs, etc.

Some of the gaming chairs also come with vibration technology beneficial for recreation.

Disadvantages of Gaming Chair

Here are few reasons that explain why some people do not consider gaming chairs as something very necessary for your desk setup.

Expensive with useless features

Some features in gaming chairs that particularly make them stand out from the office chairs are not really useful.

The raised front lip of the chair is inspired by car seat designs where the driver needs his feet elevated in order to make the brakes and accelerator properly accessible. But the gaming chair does not require a raised front lip.

Similarly, the bucket seat and the winged back are for a car driver to make him stay in the seat in case of sharp turns.

But in the gaming chair, these features just serve the aesthetics and nothing more. This enhanced look of the chair makes them more expensive than the office chairs.

Apart from this, the gaming chairs with a low budget are not durable at all.

They are only made appealing by using attractive colors and design, but the material does not stand the test of time. A good, durable gaming chair is highly expensive.

Limited Sitting Area

The cons of the gaming chairs we discussed above not only affect your budget but also decrease the sitting area of the person.

Though the movability of a gaming chair is excellent because of the swivel but your movability will be highly compromised due to the bucket seat and the winged back.

They need more space

Gaming chairs are comparatively larger than office chairs. If you have limited space and the gaming setup does not have a separate room, you would not like to suffocate the space with a huge gaming chair.

Office Chair

As these chairs sort of look alike, a gaming chair is often compared to a standard office chair by people who want to spend their money nicely.

An ergonomic office chair is meant to be used in offices and other workspaces with a desk. Almost all of these chairs have casters and swivel and are ergonomically sound enough to get you through 7-8 hours.

Lately, more attention is being paid to their design by the manufacturers to deal more efficiently with the problems of back pain and numbness on the legs.

Advantages of Office Chair

Below are the advantages of a good ergonomic office chair with efficient designs.

Comfortability

It won’t be wrong to say that there are office chairs that provide even more comfort than gaming chairs.

If an office chair has a proper leather seat with a high back and thick padding, it is good to go for long sitting hours.

The office chairs do not have winged back and bucket seats to restrict your movement. The waterfall seat design in the office chairs is good for your legs and you will not feel the strain.

Affordable

Though good office chairs are expensive, their price is nowhere close to the ideal gaming chairs. Office chairs do not have those unnecessary features we discussed in gaming chairs.

They are not made shiny and appealing like the gaming chairs and are just meant to support you comfortably for long hours.

You can find a really good office chair under $200 whereas a reliable gaming chair will be around $200 and above.

Adjustability

Office chairs might get fewer marks than gaming chairs in adjustability but still, they have to be counted among the toppers.

If you choose office chairs wisely, you will find good adjustability in the seat height as well as the armrests.

Some office chairs also come with a headrest that can be adjusted according to your height.

Office chairs rarely have a full reclining function but they recline enough to give you a relaxing break.

Durability

While the gaming chairs are filled with different features and most of their budget is focused on design and attractiveness, office chairs are made with reliable material and focused on withstanding the office environments for years.

Disadvantages of Office Chair

Here are few things about office chairs that might stop you from liking them over gaming chairs.

Though we have already discussed these things on different points, it is important to look at them in one place to make a final decision.

No full reclining feature

Very few and very expensive office chairs have the full 170° reclining feature. If you need a comfortable chair specifically for that, office chairs are going to disappoint you.

Monotone colors

As office chairs are made for office environments, you do not find flashy colors and designs on them as in gaming chairs.

Though there are good-looking chairs, the colors they mostly offer are black, grey, white, etc. If everything around you is related to gaming and your desk setup screams ‘gaming’, the office chairs won’t blend well.

Material

No doubt, the material on good office chairs is durable, but a lot of them are made up of mesh material.

Mesh chairs are good in terms of breathability but not up to the mark in comfortability. Also, compared to other material it is not easy to clean mesh chairs.

If you want coziness and do not concerned about breathability much, you will have to go for leather office chairs.

Final Words – Gaming Chair vs Office Chair With Comparison Table

There cannot be a clear winner between these two types of chairs. You might have seen that both these chairs have their own benefits.

But for the final verdict, let us look at the table below, and then we will see why should you buy one of these chairs.