Playing Comfortably

When trying to get better at Starcraft II, most players will focus on the most obvious thing they should do; play more. And while that is certainly true for the most part, there are other ways you can drastically improve your game that can happen before you’ve even launched the client. I tend to call it “playing comfortably” and this can actually have a significant impact on your ability to perform for extended periods of time and even raise your own personal skill ceiling.

I know, it seems kind of dumb and most of you right about now are probably thinking “I feel comfortable", the thing is, you probably aren’t. I’ll start right off by saying I’m not a doctor nor do I have any relevant training in medicine, everything I’m about to say is made up of things I have learned throughout the years, being a gamer and not enjoying being in pain. Also, most of these tips are already used by pros and people who generally spend a lot of time using their computer.

One of the most important things you can do during any long term gaming session is taking breaks. It can be really easy to just play match after match and not really think about it, however, this can actually be bad for both your focus and your body. You need to move, get the blood flowing through your body and most of all give your brain a rest. Starcraft is a very mentally taxing game and, shockingly, can be very difficult to focus on for extended periods of time. If you are playing for a while, it would be very beneficial to take a 5 minute or so break every 45 minutes to 1 hour. You don’t need to do much, just get up, walk around, maybe take a drink – the important part here is that you are not looking at your computer, resting your mind, and getting the blood flowing.

This seems like a really obvious thing, standing up and taking breaks, but you may be surprised to know that so many people don’t take any such breaks and just press on for hours at a time. This has multiple potentially harmful drawbacks: it can impact your health by causing excessive eye strain and if you aren’t positioned correctly can even harm joints and muscles. Perhaps even worse (:P) it can hamper your gameplay! Playing for too long in uncomfortable or incorrect positions could be having an imperceptible impact in your ability in the short run, however, over the course of years, can severely degrade your gaming skills.

So, when you aren’t taking breaks, what is important is to ensure that you are playing in a comfortable and suitable position. There are a few things to keep in mind when considering appropriate positioning. The first is that it might not actually feel very comfortable at first. The reason for this is quite simple, your body gets used to living and functioning in certain ways and when you abruptly change that, it will feel awkward and potentially uncomfortable. If you all of a sudden paid close attention to your posture and forced yourself into a perfectly straight back position, you will notice after a few minutes that your back will begin to feel strained. The same is also true for the rest of your body, so with that in mind, there are some things you can do to maintain the integrity of your body over time.

How exactly should you be sitting to not harm yourself? It isn’t too complicated really, most people just have their chairs at random heights but it is crucially important to have your chair at a height where your wrists are parallel to your desk, not angled either up or down. This simple action can alleviate a lot of wrist strain and potentially carpal tunnel syndrome – the bane of computer gamers everywhere. It’s funny because most people don’t really think of doing this but it is so simple and if you’ve noticed that after a long gaming session your wrist has been hurting, there is a very good chance that your seat is not adjusted appropriately!

Another vitally important aspect of playing comfortably is posture. It can be very easy to hunch over or even to slouch back in your chair, however, this is extremely bad for both your back and your neck. Constantly being hunched over will cause you to lose a lot of neck support and can develop into back problems and get even worse later on and who knows, you might develop some kind of wicked hump on your back. One of the simplest fixes I have seen people recommend to try and mend this problem is sitting on a pillow. It may sound silly but it actually works. A pillow isn’t as firm as your chair and kind of molds itself to your body when you sit in it, as a result, it essentially forces you to use your back muscles to correct your posture. If you have never done this, try it, I highly recommend it. It will most certainly feel uncomfortable at first and will even feel like it is causing strain but it really isn’t.

Monitor distance can be another source of eye strain. I’m not going to sit here and pretend I’m your mom when you were six and tell you that staring at the screen to closely will make you blind, but it can cause unnecessary strain; finding the correct distance is really just a matter of personal preference. Similarly, adjusting the brightness can also help reduce eye strain. While playing with the brightness at 11 may look really pretty, it may not always be the best for your eyes.

Ultimately, a lot of personal preference comes into play in this topic and if you already have great posture then it’s kind of pointless for you to have read this far. Simply put, playing comfortably will both allow you to play longer and play better, so why not make the effort!