Has Gaming Influenced the Interior Design of Your Home?

How has gaming changed the way things look in your home?

In my house:

There are computers in the kitchen, the sunroom and two of the bedrooms. These require their own desks, except for the kitchen, where I've extended and lowered the kitchen counter to accommodate the computer. There are game jewel cases and game boxes arranged carefully in a prominent area of the living room that used to have books only. And I've thrown out one of my sofas to make room for four people to play Wii tennis simultaneously.

Oh Boy, Becky

This is a good topic.. Five years ago there was one computer..With that big fat monitor

Five years ago there was the TV's with the same type monitor..

Now ..Since I have been an avid PC adventure game player...I have a great computer ,with a thin LCD monitor..I have my own room...I made a special shelf for all my games...

Now on to the kids...They all have their own computers..My son has WII also.. Hubby has Xbox360 & his own computer....Also all the TV's are now LCD's whew!!!! I am done..

Also my house is a gamers heaven...Between the kids & hubby they have at least 150 Xbox & Xbox 360 games..

Definitely yes!, but only in the lounge which is fairly large (bedroom & kitchen too small to accommodate anything like TVs, PCs etc!)
We have a large flat screen TV (a present to myself - but I rarely get to watch it!) linked up now to PS3. Also have another smaller TV linked up to a PS1 & PS2 which can be quite comfortably accessed sitting in one of our two sofas. (I want to replace that TV with a small flat screen to match the large one) I deliberately thought about, bought & arranged furniture to cater for gaming (& to allow for my partner to watch sport & we have a selection of headphones - he has also added a surround system!) I also have my own PC desk with a big comfy chair to match the sofas! Our lounge probably looks like a small branch of an 'electronics' store!!! Sad? maybe, but we like it!

Adventure gaming hasn't yet influenced the design of my place, but then I live in an apartment with only a bedroom, living room, bathroom, and small foyer-like front room (and a kitchen, but it's not a separate room -- it's like a galley kitchen, but with NO actual floor space! It's off the living room, and although the Super. said this isn't the case, it looks as though there was one wiiiiiiiiiiide -- about 8 or 10 feet wide -- closet there, from which they removed the doors and put in a nearly full-size fridge, stove, sink, cabinets, and a bit of counter space, lol!). Once we have a larger apartment or a proper house, if we have a spare room it's likely to end up as the library / computer room, and be decorated accordingly -- with comfy chairs and a mini-fridge and the like, lol!

Anyway, despite that, I think this is a very cool topic! I enjoyed reading the responses so far, and can't wait to see how others respond.

Hi UpTooLate,

You might want to PM chrissie on your side note. I will edit it. Thanks.

The answer to the question is "you bet it has"!

We have a "computer room" in our apartment with two PCs and an Amiga. My wife nags that we should either move or make it a baby room if we want to breed some day. I don't understand, can't a baby fit under the computer desk?

Why do you want to have a baby when you have a computer? You can play with your computer, you can buy cute new gadgets for it and the best thing is you can put it in sleep mode whenever you want!


Bernard

It's a funny thing really, but I think I used to have a dining table. In fact, I'm absolutely positive that I did. These days when I look across in that general direction, I see a computer, speakers, keyboard, mouse, printer, and a big stack of current games by the side of the computer, speakers, keyboard, etc etc. I no longer have room to eat. My elbows hit things when I get excited about my spaghetti. One false move with my wine glass and, by hecky thump, I'll need a new keyboard.

Over in the main living area, I have two tall shelving units. One is stuffed with DVDs, the other is packed with games. I can't fit any more in. I need more storage. Actually, a castle might be better. Yep, I need a castle to keep all this accumulated gaming nonsense in. With a moat.

Why the moat?

Well I had a large room with a big library and a chair to seat near the window, have a view and read books, newspapers. Now it has changed to a pc-room. A small light is always on to give an atmospheric touch in the area especially when I play games! The amount of games is so big that 80% of them has been removed into the kitchen shelves! When people are invited at first sight they do not understand 'what these titles mean' and it's really funny. They believe that I exaggerate but when I explain my passion about games (well you can't explain passion in words but anyway!) they accept it! Moreover, when I play games I switch off my self-phone, stg I didn't do before. Finally when I play a game I feel really lucky sharing these magical worlds with you, the Adventure Boomers!!!!

Moats are good for keeping out game-stealing vagabonds from the bad side of town. I might even add some alligators while I think about it.

I have a second bedroom that is my Computer room. At one time I had 3 computers set up, each on their own desk or table: my old e-Machine with Win98, a Dell with XP and my new Dell with Vista.

About 6 months a go I decided 3 was too much, so I packed away my old e-Machine with its big fat monitor into the closet where it's still waiting for my to haul it out and fire it up again.(A lot of good games played on that machine.)

Every spare nook and cranny is filled with bookcases and shelves holding my games, manuals, walk-throughs, my "Dummy" books and all the other paraphernalia necessary for hours of great gaming.

As you can tell this is my favorite room in my condo.

Of course it did... I have a huge desk in my bedroom with my screen on it among other stuff. I don't need for the time being a second computer cause my house is not very big... I added recently a little more shelves for my games and i changed about a year ago my screen and i bought a bigger one which looks like a frame on the wall... If i didn't play games i wouldn't need a PC (maybe a laptop would do for the other needs)so i wouldn't have this desk in here... No more room in here

Once the kids starting going on to college and then one has moved out, I gained a bedroom. Which now of course is set up on each desk with the old 98 and the XP. Several shelves and a desk that I got on clearance from Staples holds games too! Then add the laptop from Christmas and I have to have a small stack in the living room and it is next to the laptop bag in order to "pack" a couple of games/walkthroughs in case I go anywhere. I just spend four days in the hospital for an asthma attack and my husband had to run home and pack some things, especially the laptop. Even had wireless internet there, WOW, how things have changed! Used to pack my kids a bag, now Grandma has to have her bag of toys!

Koalanut :spring:

Koalanut -- are you feeling okay now?

Yes, thank you Becky. It is slower than I would like, but finally getting through the day breathing better. Not sure what happened, usually a bad attack means a bad infection, but not this time, just a bad reaction to something.....maybe Indiana??? Anyway, I am back to walking the halls at school, slower, but gaining speed.

Thanks!
Koalanut

Hang in there, Koala!

Well, Lets see--Our den has a tv/console game area--and the two computer desks side by side with 4 computers. I have shelves and CD holders arranged where ever there is room--I have played games on top of the entertainment system.

Ahhhhhh Life is good!

Well, my computer is in my living room, and games can be found all over the place... But, I tried to find some paintings to hang on my walls and then realized that some screenshots would suit there most, so I had some screenshots from Myst games printed on canvas and hung them on my walls... I think they look great

Our Dinning area has been turned into a Computer area. We have 2 computers on 2 desks in an L shape. Who needs a Dinning table when you can eat at the computer and game at the same time. We have 2 gaming consols in the living room and 1 in our bedroom. There is also a gaming consol in our grandsons room. Games are everywhere we can fit them.

Great topic When I look around in our livingroom, I don't think gaming has influenced the design much - at least not to a larger degree. There are two computers with comfortable chairs, mine - facing two windows on the left and right - is flanked by two Benno shelves (Ikea design, I just love it) stacked with cds, software and a couple of games. And an action figure of old Elvis as portrayed in the movie Bubba Ho-Tep
To the right of the right window, there are three more Benno shelves; one of them is already packed with games, some games I had to move to another shelf which still has some space left. A little to my left, there are more shelves - these are filled with books, two of them are filled with dvds. Every time I buy a new dvd I wonder where to store it; same with games. Although our apartment is fairly large (67 square meters), we have run out of places to erect shelves on. We plan to move to a bigger apartment in the near future (2-3 years, need to save some money first) with at least four rooms, one of them will become our multimedia room containing all our books, cds, dvds and games. By then, my collection will probably have grown

I'd love to have a multimedia room... With all the games, PC, gadgets etc...

Surprisingly, it hasn't changed my room much. Only a nice shelf on the wall to hold some of my games, and the rest are in my closet, or scattered on my desk.

Jehane, your place sounds exactly like mine. Games, books, DVDs, they really eat up the free space.

back room down stairs computor and a bed room up stairs computor and games .I guess it does in a way

Every floor and a computer eh? Now this could save you from a lot of walking up and down

Fo sure changed my home i have one computer desktop in my room and another pc in my office and i another laptop, before that begin play Adv i do not have anny pcs....

Love Maria

This is such a funny thread. It sounds like we are describing how we provide loving care for our "babies". I have a small room, might pass for a nursery but not more, with my fast computer and my old pentium 3 for the old games. Two bookcases (one had to be put inside the closet) full of games. I orginally had a drafting table in there but had to move that to my bedroom to make room for all that "baby" paraphernalia.

Now that is a great idea--So many games have such beautiful scenery.

Sadly, I have no room on the walls for anything else.

When I first read the title of this thread, Becky, I was thinking you wanted design tips we may have gotten from games. In keeping with that, I would so love to redesign our house with separate pods like Tomahna in Myst 4, but then I'd need a property much bigger than the one I have now.

My husband already has his own pod - a detached garage. His computer is out there along with his tools and his motorcycle. It's a perfect retreat for him.

My sister has a computer in her room and keeps her most frequently played games in her own desk, and I have the front room of the house, the former living room, as my office/computer/craft room. I have a big roll top desk that will instantly hide my current mess of game notes and other paraphernalia if company comes, and my extra-long computer table holds my iMac, scanner, printer, paper organizer, and drawers for the disks I'm currently using. My typewriter table (sans typewriter) is just right for keeping snacks off the keyboard and holding stray game folders, and a 24-drawer apothecary chest holds most of my games in jewel cases. Two side-by-side legal-sized file drawers hold all my game filescontaining collapsed game boxes, game notes, and purchase receipts. A tall and thin bookcase holds game guides, DVDs, and unusually-shaped game boxes.

I also have internet hookup for my laptop by my comfy chair in the living room and a special kidney-shaped tray that goes across the chair arms so I don’t have to hold the computer in my lap. The drawers in the table next to my chair hold my smaller laptop and note paper.

Finally, the library/guest room (my retreat from my chatty sister) has a convertible chair and a small adjustable laptop desk I can pull up under the chair. A small chest of drawers holds game items as needed.

It’s true that my house would be much less crowded if I didn’t play games, but life certainly wouldn’t be as much fun.

I was kind of thinking the same thing. I used to have grand plans for room additions and other redecorating. After playing games and seeing smaller, humbler abodes (as in Norrköping, Sweden; Capri, Italy, for example), I've come to appreciate what I already have: My smaller, older home with its so-called outdated spaces & appearance... appliances included. I have an old, cheap-o, tall bookshelf where I store my games in their boxes. The 5 or 6 shelves seem to be enough storage for what I've got. My PC is in an armoire, which holds some more games, but most important, hides lots of desk clutter.

Hah! Great topic! Indeed it has!
We are building a new home, and computers/gaming/shelving/extra
electrical plugins are in the design that never would have been several years ago.
The conduits coming into the house are numbered to allow for all of the extra
connections that we are going to need, including the Satellite TV needs.
It's amazing how the focus has changed over the years.

I wouldn't call it "design" but it is a definite yes.

We have a great room dining/living room and 2 computers, one in each, for hubby and me

Linda

The computer has always been in the living room, but I did buy some bookcases to store the games. Also, ever since we bought some consoles, we have created some empty space in front of the television and placed our hometrainer(bike) there. I sometimes spend my lunchbreaks playing a game while working out, and my husband often does so at night. We're currently playing CSI Hard Evidence on the Xbox 360 for instance, in chunks of one hour at a time, and Wii Fit on the Wii (not really a game). I also have some old PlayStation adventures that I play on the PS2 while cycling "around".

Gaming and Computer have taken over my home, family, friends entertainment budget......and I love it. Nothing better to keep the mind sharp, when a new game arrives, my husband says goodbye for a few days. We meet at the kitchen stove and he will pass through the office to see if I am still among the sane.

My goodness, reading all these posts makes me realize I am way behind with the times. I bought my first computer 3 years ago (with XP) and then a laptop. And I thought I was pretty hip with this
And I see people who have their old computers - 95, 98 etc lined up next to their new computers or with special rooms for gaming.
Oh well, I'm over 60 so I can't be expected to keep up with the under 50 crowd.
Becky - one question - why a computer in the kitchen?
RAL

I have quite a few pics that I have taken off the internet and framed them including pics of my own children and grand children

RAL -- the computer in the kitchen means I can watch my young son while he's online. Also, the kitchen really is the cheeriest place in my house.

Good call, Becky.

As for my place, I just have my desktop in my bedroom. Same as I always have. But I've had to clean out some storage space for all the games I've accumulated over the last year.

The house we moved from had a large extra bedroom and I had plenty of space for computers, games and books. When we down sized my room was half the size. I built shelves for my games and left room for the new games that arrive. I do not know what to the books, but then I have not looked very hard. The rest of the house looks normal?, I think.