Our evaluations and opinions are not influenced by our advertising relationships, but we may earn a commission from our partners’ links. This content is created independently from TIME’s editorial staff. Learn more about it.
Who would have ever thought a chair can make all the difference in the world? But if you stop and think about how many hours you spend in an office chair, or relaxing through multiple rounds of gaming, then you may quickly realize there’s a need for picking the right one for whatever task is at hand.
If you spend any amount of time working from home, but you also enjoy gaming with your friends, you may be torn between a gaming chair versus an office chair. Both chairs were designed for sitting for extended periods of time, but each has its own unique qualities and one may be better suited for your body type and tasks than others.
While they may look similar to some, gaming chairs and office chairs serve two very different purposes and include varying design features. Gaming chair design typically focuses on style, sleek aesthetics, and ergonomic support. They’re made for enhanced comfort during prolonged gaming sessions and usually incorporate vibrant colors or gaming-themed details in the design.
Office chairs, on the other hand, prioritize practicality and professional appearance over bold design choices. The goal of an office chair is providing comfort for extended work hours while maintaining a more understated design suitable for office environments or video conferencing.
Gaming chairs include features not only focused on aesthetics, but also comfort for longer gaming sessions. A highly-featured gaming chair might include:
Office chairs focus on functionality too, with an emphasis on comfort for longer, all-day support and especially promoting good posture and reducing strain. While not all office chairs include these features, you may find the following in a well-constructed office chair:
Both a gaming chair and office chair offer their own distinct levels of comfort, but the areas of focus vary because of the different tasks at hand.
A gaming chair offers extra padding and lumbar support for extended periods of activity. It also typically features adjustable armrests and a reclining function, so you can have a little more freedom of movement while gaming. You can also find models with footrests.
For office chairs, you typically don’t have the added pillows and padding, but you can get an adjustable lumbar support system, which offers added comfort.
One of a gaming chair’s signature features is the raised front lip of the seat. This slightly inclines the legs, similar to how your legs raise up slightly in a real car.
An office chair doesn’t feature the raised front lip. Instead, it has a 90 degree angle (called a waterfall edge), so your feet remain flat on the ground, or even on a footrest. This offers better ergonomics for anyone sitting for a longer period of time.
Another signature feature of a gaming chair is the inclusion of lumbar and head pillows. Both offer additional support for the spine and neck, but the best pillows are those you can easily adjust to allow for more personal contouring.
Most office chairs do not include additional pillows and instead come with fixed or adjustable lumbar support, depending on the model. An ergonomic office chair, however, would be designed with these features in mind.
Style is likely one of the biggest differentiating factors between a gaming chair versus an office chair. Gaming chairs often include bold colors and eye-catching designs, with some even having added design elements like LED lighting. (Some manufacturers of gaming chairs also make coordinating headphones or gaming headsets.)
Gaming chairs almost always have high backs, bucket seats, and winged backrests, for even more comfort while gaming.
Office chairs may have a short or high back, but generally have flat seats and wingless backrests. Most office chairs only come in standard colors, although you can occasionally find a bold color choice for an office chair.
Many gaming chairs—no matter what the budget is—are made of highly durable faux leather materials. As you go higher with the budget, you may find the material is even more durable.
This doesn’t mean office chairs aren’t built to last, though. While many of them feature more breathable, mesh materials, you can find office chairs offering superior durability. As you go higher in the budget, office chairs will often include higher-quality casters, sturdier bases, better lifting mechanisms, and numerous other features for improved durability.
Both gaming chairs and office chairs offer adjustability, but it’s typically in different focus areas. For gaming chairs, you can find some models with adjustable armrests. You can also find models made for a high degree of reclining, which is a fun feature when you need to relax but still feel physically immersed in your game. And of course, you should have the option to adjust the height of the seat.
Office chairs offer some of the same adjustability features, such as adjustable armrests and height adjustment. However, you may find an added feature of an adjustable headrest, for further neck support, whereas most gaming chairs do not offer an adjustable headrest. Office chairs recline, too, but the recliner is typically lower on the backrest, compared to the high degree of recline on a gaming chair.
Price may be the area where both a gaming chair and office chair are most similar. This is simply because you can find almost any type of chair to fit almost any budget, both for gaming and office chairs. You can find options as low as $35 for office chairs and up to several hundred dollars, while gaming chairs start around $75 and also go up to several hundred dollars.
The largest determining factor in choosing between a gaming chair versus an office chair is whichever one you will likely use the most. Plus, it depends on what means the most to you, such as style versus ergonomics, or durability versus adjustability.
Personally speaking, I can attest to trying to use a gaming chair as an office chair because I didn’t think it would make too much of a difference with my home office setup. I quickly found out that a gaming chair is not built for easily moving around a desk area, or for a full eight hour work day. If you work at a computer for an extended period of time, an office chair is likely a better choice because it’s built for all-day comfort.
A gaming chair works great for sitting for a few hours at a time, but you most likely won’t find it comfortable enough for all-day sitting. One of the main points to remember about either chair is comfort is the name of the game. Everybody has a unique body type, so it’s best to read as many reviews as possible or even test the chairs out locally if you can.
amazon
$249.99
buy on amazon
amazon
$189.99
$119.99
amazon
$249.98
amazon
$149.99
Gaming chairs work great for what they’re intended for, i.e., gaming. They’re designed for use for a few hours at a time, with some comfort features and perhaps cool additions such as LED lights and built-in speakers. Sometimes they’re less expensive than an office chair, too. However, office chairs were designed for sitting for longer periods of time.
The design and functionality of an office chair makes it more suitable for all-day comfort, versus a gaming chair. The best office chairs feature multiple adjustable points, such as the back and arms, and neck support. There may be other features too, such as footrests and lumbar support, that you might not find in a gaming chair.
If you enjoy gaming and find yourself playing for a few hours at a time, a gaming chair may be a better choice. However, if you need a chair designed specifically for all day comfort, then an office chair is likely the better choice.
Some gaming chairs come with lumbar and neck support, usually in the form of extra padding and pillows. It depends on the exact chair and brand, though, as to how much support it actually provides for your back.
The design of a quality, well-made office chair lends itself to sitting for longer periods of time. If you’re wondering how to choose the right office chair for all-day comfort, look to ones that feature more ergonomic support.
This is a matter of opinion, but if you want a chair comfortable enough for both office work and gaming for a few hours, then choose a chair where you can easily adjust both the arms and height. Plus, if you can find one that reclines and offers neck support, such as this model, then you can use it for both office work and gaming.
If you’re shopping (or starting to think about shopping) for a new chair, you might notice that gaming chairs and office chairs are the two predominant types of options available right now. At first glance, you might think the two different types of chairs come down to simple aesthetics, but there are also ergonomics and comfort features to consider. Depending on what your primary needs may be, from your budget (you may prefer our Best Budget Gaming Chairs guide) to your at-home lifestyle (if you're a more casual gamer for example), we’re here to help you understand the main differences between a gaming chair and an office chair so you can spend your money wisely and feel confident in your choice.
It’s easy to tell if a chair was made for gaming or office work in mind based on common features. Most gaming chairs feature a design heavily inspired by race car bucket seats, which normally feature oversized frames to support helmets from behind and bolstered sides to keep racers in place while they're turning hard.
While you won’t be traveling at high-speed and experiencing extreme gravitational forces, this type of design helps support gamers for long stretches of sitting in place. The long backrest ensures your entire back is supported at all times. Meanwhile, the side bolsters help support your legs and back so you can sit up straight for long periods with less effort. Unfortunately, those tall wings on the seat also make it hard to sit with your legs folded.
The design of office chairs varies, but for the most part, they feature mesh backs and a flat seat cushion. Although they also offer support to be sat on for hours on end, a flat seat and back aren’t nearly as supportive as the design of a typical gaming chair. That said, the flat and waterfall seats found on most office chairs also help better support your thigh muscles all the way to the edge.
The lumbar support on office chairs is often more effective and adjustable than moving around a support pillow or the internal mechanisms found in some gaming chairs. The only thing most office chairs lack is a headrest as it’s often seen as a premium feature.
When it comes to ergonomics for both types of chairs, you can be confident in having solid adjustability options either way. Without good ergonomics, you could be risking a potential sore back, stiff neck, worn wrists or worse. That said, chair adjustability is the name of the game here, so here’s a quick overview of how office chairs and gaming chairs perform in this department.
Most gaming chairs come with support pillows for your head and lower back that attach to the frame via stretchable straps. Beyond that, gaming chairs offer seat height adjustment, adjustable armrests, a tilt lock, and the unique ability to lean back up to 180-degrees – so you can lounge back between matchmaking sessions.
Chair Pillow Attachment FeaturesOffice chairs are often far more adjustable with the ability to adjust the depth of the seat, seat height adjustment, tilt tension and locking, adjustable armrests, and built-in lumbar support that slides up and down. Sadly with an office chair, you can't usually lean back all the way like you can with a gaming chair, so this is something to consider if the recline is important to you.
In the last few years we've also seen a number of ergonomic gaming chairs. These types of chairs are easy to pick out because their styling is more subdued by losing the side bolsters and introducing a flat or waterfall style seat. Essentially, they look more like office chairs, but with blacked out upholstery and flashy highlight colors.
Additionally ergonomic gaming chairs feature dedicated and adjustable lumbar support that you would typically find on an office chair. This extra support and adjustable element is a big step above the usual lumbar support pillow found on most gaming chairs.
A key example of an ergonomic gaming chairWe've seen and reviewed more than a few ergonomic gaming chairs including the Cougar Argo and Cooler Master Ergo L. If you're looking for a chair to use for both working and playing, an ergonomic gaming chair might be the best option.
Alternatively, we've also seen some office chairs rebrand themselves for gaming by adding bold colors. Two key examples of this are the Herman Miller Sayl and Herman Miller X Logitech G Embody Gaming Chair.
Gaming chairs are already a bit excessive, so it seems only natural they would uniquely have more features than their office-bound cousins, which tend to be simple.
Here are some fairly impressive gaming chair features to highlight:
These days you’ll find gaming chairs equipped with heating pads and/or cooling fabric. Additionally, we’ve even seen a few gaming chairs that come with a massage function built-in. And, if you’d rather have a seat that vibrated in relation to the games you play, the Arcadeo features haptic feedback.
For something more aesthetically cool, a handful of gaming chairs come equipped with RGB lighting. And of course, we can’t forget that some of the very first gaming chairs came with integrated speakers, which a few continue to have today.
Gaming Desk SetupGaming and office chairs start off at very low prices, but these extremely affordable options aren’t worth buying in the end. Instead, you’ll find better value and longer-lasting chairs by spending a little more. Gaming chairs tend to be more affordable in the end, with a variety of cheaper, high-quality options versus office chairs, which tend to have a narrow selection of affordable, high-quality chairs.
You can get a quality gaming chair like the Respawn 200 at $219. And if you’re comfortable with spending a little more than that, suddenly you get access to fantastic options like the $300 Razer Enki X and the $319 Respawn Specter.
Most quality office chairs start at a higher premium with one of our lowest cost favorites being the Autonomous ErgoChair Core at $349. From there, well-equipped options get significantly more expensive like the $609 Secretlab NeueChair or the $899 Steelcase Think.
There's a lot to think about here, but we hope you have a better idea of which chair is best for you. In addition to our overall gaming chair buying guides, we also have a specific list for Big and Tall Gaming Chairs you may want to check out if the standard gaming chair size tends to be too small for your needs.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Kevin Lee is IGN's SEO Updates Editor. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Green Bamboo Leaves for New Zealand, Natural Bamboo Leaves for Philippines, Bamboo Leaves for Nigeria.