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Anyone WFH/remote learning not able to PC game anymore?
- Thread starter Bengraven
- Start date
Get a gaming laptop and play it on the couch. Also get fireproof pants to protect your legs.
I play wow in the arm chair most days. For awhile I had my gaming PC and work laptop connected to the same monitor and a USB switch to flick the keyboard and mouse over. It wasn't great for my productivity.
I do understand the feeling though. With a wife and a kid and a dog. Playing for longer than 30 minutes feels wrong. There is so much other chores to do and leisure time really has to be spent with the family.
My dedicated gaming PC is hooked up to my OLED in the living room next to my XSX and PS5, so I don't associate it with my work (laptop) whatsoever.
If I gamed at my desk then I could relate, but that's a massive generalisation of PC gaming.
If I gamed at my desk then I could relate, but that's a massive generalisation of PC gaming.
I'm on a PC at work all day, but my PC at home is 100% entertainment.
I have other hobbies as well, so maybe that helps? I don't know but when I sit at my home PC, it's play time.
I have other hobbies as well, so maybe that helps? I don't know but when I sit at my home PC, it's play time.
Yep, I'm unconsciously doing everything I can to avoid gaming on my PC. I don't have any other rooms available to seperate work from gaming so I just play a lot of console lately
I don't play games that require a mouse/keyboard, and have a dedicated gaming PC connected to a television so it's almost like a console.
This has happened to me before during crunchy times at work, and yeah has happened at times during the pandemic. I just do other stuff. Eventually a particulsr game or something pulls me back in
My desktop PC is connected to the TV, so I mainly do couch gaming anyway with a controller. But I also don't use that machine for school/work. I have a laptop for that, and I usually sit somewhere else.
So it hasn't been any more of a problem than other forms of gaming.
So it hasn't been any more of a problem than other forms of gaming.
Weirdly enough yeah. I will sit and stare at my Xbox or Playstation menu, trying to think of what I want to play despite having several games on my Pc backlog I'd like to try. The idea of getting off the couch and going to the laptop makes me cringe due to my work and school pressure sullying it.
And yeah, I can't play PC on my tv due to circumstances but that could change someday.
There have been studies even before the WFH boom where people associate rooms with X or Y. For example, years ago I read of people having issues sleeping if they watch TV or read on a chair in their bedrooms as they are people who need more separation. For them the bedroom should be for sleeping and sex.
My kid had issues with doing remote learning because he said he started to hate being in his own room sometimes due to feeling like there's "no wall between school and home, Dad".
Yeah, I really struggle with it. I have a gaming PC, and I want to upgrade it for the Bethesda / MS titles coming, buuuuut....I hate being on my PC after spending 8+ hours on my PC in my office. I hate being in the office atm other than for working.
I might end up just getting an XBOX, not sure.
I might end up just getting an XBOX, not sure.
Yeah, I feel this very strongly. I have a nice home office and a great desk, but it feels like work to be in there. I don't like to relax there.
This is why I've gravitated toward Series X—it's probably the most PC-like of the consoles but I can sit on my couch and play on my C1.
I still have a gaming PC for strategy games but I don't use it much at all honestly.
This is why I've gravitated toward Series X—it's probably the most PC-like of the consoles but I can sit on my couch and play on my C1.
I still have a gaming PC for strategy games but I don't use it much at all honestly.
This is interesting, I do the standing desk thing already but haven't considered the other options. Do you really find switching mouse and keyboard makes a difference?
Yeah I'm feeling this too. Originally I planned to use a steam link I bought to couch game for everything, HOWEVER a LOT of steam indie games I play have the "headphones recommended" thing at the start and I feel like a bad person for playing them on a tv with shitty speakers.
I guess the best solution to this is getting a steam deck but I wouldn't get it for years at this point based on what I'm hearing of the ordering issues, it costs an arm and a leg and local classifieds are just full of overpriced scalpers.
So until the Deck become feasible, my station stays both for work and play.
I guess the best solution to this is getting a steam deck but I wouldn't get it for years at this point based on what I'm hearing of the ordering issues, it costs an arm and a leg and local classifieds are just full of overpriced scalpers.
So until the Deck become feasible, my station stays both for work and play.
Literally why I checked out the next gen consoles, eventually buying them both. I had to get away from work, which is in my office on my PC, to game in a different environment/set-up in front of my TV on a couch; already started feeling that way pre-pandemic, it just accelerated it. And no, it isn't feasible for me to hook my PC up to my living room TV.
It does for me personally, I'm just trying to create as strong as a mental delineation between my desk as a workspace vs a place space. A pavlovian response when I'm standing vs sitting with a different lighting temperatures, and equipment in front of me to bring me into a different place.
I felt this for a while, started shifting more towards portables after six months or so into the pandemic because playing on my PC started to feel like "work." Eventually I moved my PC to the TV and haven't moved it back. I do miss playing at a desk and I imagine I'll move it back next time I want to play something with mouse and keyboard, but for now this has been a good solution for me.
Used to work from home for almost 3 years, same desk for gaming and working. Never had an issue switching off from work, mostly because I despised the job.
I've had my steam deck for about two weeks and that has been a godsend for gaming. I also stream to my main tv
Can't stand sitting at a desk anymore.
Can't stand sitting at a desk anymore.
No not at all.
Even before the work from home stuff (2 years now) I worked all day on a PC and then came home and used my PC for hours and hours. So its not a problem for me. There is a very clear distinction in my mind what is computer use for work and what is computer use for leisure. Very different in my head so doesn't both me at all.
What I do at home since I don't have a separate office space (which would be awesome) is arrange my furniture (a small folding computer desk) for work and arrange it a different way for leisure and off time. Works really well keeping things separate.
Even before the work from home stuff (2 years now) I worked all day on a PC and then came home and used my PC for hours and hours. So its not a problem for me. There is a very clear distinction in my mind what is computer use for work and what is computer use for leisure. Very different in my head so doesn't both me at all.
What I do at home since I don't have a separate office space (which would be awesome) is arrange my furniture (a small folding computer desk) for work and arrange it a different way for leisure and off time. Works really well keeping things separate.
PC is my primary gaming platform. I have the luxury of being able to maintain a dedicated gaming PC that is hooked up solely to my LG OLED in the living room. If anything, the pandemic and going full remote has helped me achieve BETTER work life balance; before the pandemic, even when I was telecommuting several days a week I would spend way more time at my work PC after hours; playing the occasional FPS or CRPG on there while doing controller based games from the couch (at the time this was on the single PC with multiple monitor profiles). But just before the pandemic hit I made a conscious decision to go all in on couch PC gaming and started building out a dedicated PC and running optical HDMI/Displayport across the house so that I could keep the noisy PC in my back room but play in the living room on the PC.
I'm glad I did, because the pandemic lockdown really drove home to me how important it is to strictly define your work/life balance. Now, coming out of the pandemic with permanent remote for me and the team I manage, I sit down at my desktop at 8 am, leave for an hour at lunch, and then shut everything work related down strictly at 5 pm and move out to the couch PC.
I've never been happier and less burnt out with my job. I consider myself very fortunate to able to afford the type of equipment setup that I have to facilitate this, but I can definitely see how it could be draining for somebody to stay in one space during and after work.
I'm glad I did, because the pandemic lockdown really drove home to me how important it is to strictly define your work/life balance. Now, coming out of the pandemic with permanent remote for me and the team I manage, I sit down at my desktop at 8 am, leave for an hour at lunch, and then shut everything work related down strictly at 5 pm and move out to the couch PC.
I've never been happier and less burnt out with my job. I consider myself very fortunate to able to afford the type of equipment setup that I have to facilitate this, but I can definitely see how it could be draining for somebody to stay in one space during and after work.
Eh, I just throw in some Switch sessions or consoles from the couch. Not going away from PC gaming any time soon.
My gaming PC is in my living room and my work comp is in my office. I PC game mostly with a controller on my couch so I don't have this feeling at all.
This is actually a great idea. I moved my main gaming PC to my office during the Pandemic, and have an "emulator" PC hooked up to the TV instead. Maybe I should get my main PC connected as well. That way I'd have full on separation like you said. It's probably better for mental health.
Maybe I'll try that and I have been meaning to get an OLED as well. :)
The opposite for me actually. I just picked up a gaming laptop to get back into pc gaming and couldn't be happier. it helps that my work laptop and gaming laptop are separate devices and that I don't strictly work and game in a single location. I move around the house throughout the day so I don't associate any one place with work and the gaming laptop lets me do the same now with games where before I was chained to a chair in front of the tv.
My work laptop and my gaming laptop are separate which certainly helps keeps thing in its own space. Never really have an issue with this myself..
It also helps to just have regular "screen off" time. I suppose I'm lucky in that a hobby of mine is just playing golf after work now that warmer weather is around (played guitar in the winter months), so it's just important to have those moments to refresh and keep your eyes healthy.
It also helps to just have regular "screen off" time. I suppose I'm lucky in that a hobby of mine is just playing golf after work now that warmer weather is around (played guitar in the winter months), so it's just important to have those moments to refresh and keep your eyes healthy.
I have my computer hooked up to my TV as well as 3 monitors.
No need to seel it. It's just like a console.
No need to seel it. It's just like a console.
Even before work from home I had that issue—though of course I always worked at least partly from home during grad school and then in my career as a professor before going fully online for a while (have been back to a mix of in the office/work from home, in-person and online classes for a while now).
It never bothered me much with just gaming with the PC hooked up to the TV and playing with a controller on my reclining loveseat as that mostly feels the same as console gaming. But definitely kept me from wanting to play any games as my desk. I went back to just owning all three console platforms this gen though. Too costly to upgrade/replace my PC, I didn't really like any PC exclusives I tried other than some indie stuff that mostly made it to consoles later on, don't like kb/m controls or gaming at my desk and don't care enough about graphics and performance to pay that premium to just game on my TV with an Xbox controller.
It never bothered me much with just gaming with the PC hooked up to the TV and playing with a controller on my reclining loveseat as that mostly feels the same as console gaming. But definitely kept me from wanting to play any games as my desk. I went back to just owning all three console platforms this gen though. Too costly to upgrade/replace my PC, I didn't really like any PC exclusives I tried other than some indie stuff that mostly made it to consoles later on, don't like kb/m controls or gaming at my desk and don't care enough about graphics and performance to pay that premium to just game on my TV with an Xbox controller.
I spent most of 2020 looking at my screens in the mancave while working. In 2021, I got a new job and when we started going to the office, I chose to do it every day. I hated being in my mancave because it felt like I was at work. I also use my PC on the television too at home so I play Civ6 and others on a big screen while lounging instead of at my desk.
I do most of my pc gaming on my recliner on my LG CX, or more recently lots of Steam Deck as well. So to me it doesn't feel much different.
I play most stuff with a Xbox controller but I also have a lapdesk thing if I want to use mouse and keyboard (I also have a Bluetooth mini keyboard+touchpad I use if I need that functionality between games etc.
I play most stuff with a Xbox controller but I also have a lapdesk thing if I want to use mouse and keyboard (I also have a Bluetooth mini keyboard+touchpad I use if I need that functionality between games etc.
I have been spending more time on my couch with my laptop playing games in the past few years. It's a nice change from sitting at a desk and my cats like to sit next to me and cuddle with me.
Really looking forward to my Steamdeck so playing on the couch will be an even better experience. At the rate the US 512 queue is moving I'm hoping I'll get to order it next week.
Really looking forward to my Steamdeck so playing on the couch will be an even better experience. At the rate the US 512 queue is moving I'm hoping I'll get to order it next week.
I live in a studio apartment, so my bed, desk and kitchen are all in the same room. My consoles are hooked up to my PC monitors, so I'm at my desk regardless of whether I'm playing PC games or console games.
I just mute Slack, Teams, Outlook, etc when I'm not working. That's all the seperation I need.
I just mute Slack, Teams, Outlook, etc when I'm not working. That's all the seperation I need.
I never could understand the "I work around computers all day that i cant touch computers in my personal life" crowd. You can literally treat your PC as a console, if you feel the need to. I work around computers and i still manage to come home and spend time gaming on my PC.
