Get a gaming laptop and play it on the couch. Also get fireproof pants to protect your legs.I actually sold my gaming pc a few months ago due to feeling this. I can't separate my desk from feeling like I'm working now. Couch gaming all the way!
You specifically say PC gaming, I'm assuming other kinds of gaming are fine for you OP?
Either way I PC game on my couch, desk or bed the same way I use my consoles so it feels the same except the online is free, I can use any controller I want, I can emulate to my hearts content and I can use mods.
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?I made a deliberate effort to separate my gaming and work space in my home office. Not everyone is going to be able to afford to do this, but:
By separating the lighting, sitting vs standing positions, and the actual keyboards/mice I use, I'm developing a good separation between my home office for work vs for personal use.
- A standing desk where I stand when I'm working, and I sit while I play
- Hue bulbs in my home office with a work and a play colour profile
- Different mech keyboards and different mice for work vs play
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.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?
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.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.