Office Chairs Vs Gaming Chairs: Which Is Best For You?

Office chair or gaming chair? If you’re torn between these two choices, you’re not alone. It’s an ongoing debate between geeks and executives all over the world.

Lucky for you, you are in the right place to clear all doubts and finally settle this debate. By the end of this segment, you’ll be able to make your final decision on which one is right for you, and which one is worth buying.

Sure, both office and gaming chairs come with their own pros and cons – there’s no one size fits all. So today, we’ll be delving deep into each of these chairs and comparing their features to find out which chair suits your needs best.

Let’s hop right to it then, shall we?

Office Chairs Vs Gaming Chairs: A Detailed Comparison

Since ancient Egyptians invented the first stool, chairs have been an essential part of our lives. Did they have rock and boulders to sit on? Of course.

However, chairs were invented because we needed something that was not only portable, but could also provide us with continued comfort. But as we continue to progress, the need for comfort and functionality becomes more and more.

We’ve seen the evolution of gaming or e-sports in a whole new dimension. Some of these e-athletes remain seated for an entire day or night necessitating the advent of new gaming chairs.

Today, hundreds of brands are out there making great gaming chairs with awesome designs. And when it comes to office chairs, rarely will you see such magnificent and opulent practicality.

But what makes gaming chairs so different from your typical office chairs?

Let’s compare and contrast.

1. Design

Looking at both these types of chairs, it’s obvious they have unique and different designs. Office chairs are meant to stay in the office (so we’re told) and gaming chairs are there to help games perform at their best as the name suggests.

Owing to that, both these types of chairs have design elements that allow them to execute their functions appropriately. In other words, they both have designs that support their claims on what they do.

Office Chairs: Comfort First

The foremost element kept in mind while designing an office chair is the comfort. You may already know this out of your own experience. However, comfort is is the very first thing to consider when looking for an office chair. After that, it’s all aesthetics.

An office chair’s looks are governed by decency and office environment. Think about it! You’ll never see garish, eerie, or overly colorful chairs in an office setting. Most of them are quite professional with either gray, black, white, or off-white colors.

That’s because workplaces and your home office need to have limited distractions. Everything from the chair to the desk should complement an office environment to minimize distractions and promote focus.

Gaming Chairs: Looks First

Now onto gaming chairs. I’m sure you can guess what primarily governs their design. Yep, it’s the aesthetics. These chairs have outstanding designs modeled after the seats of racing cars. They look like something out of an F1 McLaren or some other fancy sports car.

However, this does not mean that the designers overlook the comfort features. After all – that’s the main purpose of a chair. These chairs are also quite comfortable and ergonomic.

They’re built to resist compromise from gamers sitting for hours gaming on their consoles, laptops or PCs. As such, you don’t need to be worried about the comfort levels in your gaming chair.

Winner?

Well, to be honest, Gaming chairs surely stands out from office chairs in terms of design. They are garish and cool-looking. Everyone entering your office or room would have their eyes fixed on what you are sitting on.

But in the same breath, office chairs offer unrivaled subtleties. As we mentioned earlier, not every setting would be appropriate for a gaming chair. Considering their stark colors, they definitely won’t blend in with the rest of your furniture.

The gaming chair is the clear winner here for me. But that doesn’t mean Office chair have bad designs. They just come with modest or moderate styles which are perfect for the office environment. It’s all about what kind of look you’re going for here.

2. Comfort Level

We’ve covered the designs; let’s talk about the comfort levels of these two types of chairs and if they differ at all.

Office Chairs

The line that divides office chairs from gaming thrones can be described in one word – comfort. Just try to compare office giants like Steelcase and Herman Miller to any gaming chairs out there. Do that and you’ll see who’s clearly winning the fight.

Office chairs are primarily built for comfort above all else. They have ergonomic features that are sometimes only exclusive to them thanks to the science of sitting incorporated by the leaders in this category.

Take Herman Miller’s Embody Chair as an example. To make it super comfortable, more than 20 designers and experts had to put their expertise to work. It weighs 52 pounds and has unique features that are just drool-worthy.

It’s got a Pixel Matrix that helps in keeping your heartbeat and stress checked, Backfit Adjustment designed to keep your spine in perfect alignment, and much more.

As you can see, office chairs are specifically created for comfort only. There are office chairs specifically made for big and tall guys, or chairs designed for working long hours.

Gaming Chairs

As opposed to the office chairs, gaming chairs have scarce comfort features. Still, this does not mean that they are not comfortable at all. It just means that compared to office chairs like Herman Millers, they don’t stand a chance.

It is best to say that comfort level in gaming chairs are kept optimal to suit the needs of the gamer. Why? Well, let’s face it – prolonged sitting in a squishy, super comfortable chair can get you a bit lazy.

Which if you think about it, translates to the death of gaming for many people. Gaming chairs, in that sense, keeps you alert all the time with their not-so-comfortable seat and back.

Again, there are gaming chairs designed for specific needs, including those for big and tall.

Who’s Winning?

There’s no need for artificial suspense here ladies and gentlemen; the answer is quite clear. Office chairs have a lot of comfort features designed to oust all other types of chair out of the competition. To boost the competition, we’d have to move on to couches and lazy boys.

Then again, it all depends on your requirements or preference. Some people don’t like to be tucked in a chair for longer periods because they tend to lose concentration or get lulled into a nap. That’s because we all have different types of bodies.

Some are more muscular, so they won’t mind even if they are sitting on a rock, while others sleep, eat, and live in a chair, so for them, comfort is everything.

There’s a lot of difference between office chairs vs gaming chairs in terms of design. So, I’ll leave the choice open here for you to make the final call.

3. Adjustment Options

If anything can make a chair versatile, it’s a couple of adjustment options. You could be a fan of reclining, seat adjustment, back adjustment, or armrest tweaking. But here’s the thing, a chair without any adjustment options is like sitting on a rock with any back support.

Why would anyone want to sit on a rock when you have the option to experience the full benefits of the science of sitting? Both of these types of chairs have some adjustment features, but here, too, there is a winner. Think you can guess who that is?

Office Chairs

For office work, you might need to move around the office quite frequently. You answer the calls, frantically type on the keyboard, roll forward to pick a file or recline to see if your boss is coming so you can close solitaire or look busy.

Basically, there’s a lot of stuff going on. This is the sole reason why office chairs have a lot of adjustment options.

This is particularly true for high-end ergonomic chairs such as Herman Miller and Steelcase. They have some crazy adjustment options to help boost comfort and movement.

For example, Herman Miller Sayl Task Chair (you see the “task chair” in the name?) comes with ArcSpan to support your spine while you move. It also has 3D Intelligent Suspension that takes the shape of your back. The armrests can be adjusted as well.

However, people have been talking about the durability of its armrests. That is to say that “crazy adjustment” does not get you everything in one package. You might have to sacrifice one aspect or another.

Also, there are some exceptions to the level of adjustment offered by office chairs – those pop up when we go down the price lane.

As an example, the Workpro Quantum 9000 or Aeron lack some of the more advanced adjustment options, which explains why they are cheaper than some of their counterparts.

Gaming Chairs

Gaming chairs also have a lot of adjustment options. They are touted to have “ergonomic” features which in some aspects, that is true. For example, RESPAWN 110 Racing Style Gaming Chair has a perfectly reclining back, 3D armrests, and seat adjustment.

These features are bound to provide versatile adjustments. But if you look closely, you’ll see that this chair can also be used for executive functions.

So, we can assert that the chair has many adjustment options because of that. Also, having them in this price range is a miracle indeed (I’ll talk more about this below).

Winner?

Office chairs are wondrous when it comes to adjustments. So, you can say that they are the winners in this category. But at the same time, we have to see where the winners stand in terms of price range. It’s safe to say that some of you won’t like them too much when they’re in the range of $500 to over $1000.

Descending from that level, the office chairs lose their adjustments. For example, the AmazonBasics High-End Executive Chair is only worth slightly over $100 and it only has basic adjustment options. In the higher range, gaming chairs offer more adjustment features in my opinion.

4. Price

We can say that a product’s price depends on the individual product. The more features it has, the higher the price. However, this is not always the case. The name of the manufacturers and their credibility sometimes adds to the overall worth of the product.

You see, quality sells for more than quantity. But even here, there are some anomalies. I mean there are products that have lesser prices, but they function well beyond those with a higher price tag.

Office Chairs

There are definite price classes in this category. As you go up in the executive level, you’d likely prefer the higher-end chairs from Herman Miller or Steelcase.

With these types of chairs, you’ll have tons of features to choose from. Just be ready to dig deep in your pockets because they go for anywhere between $500 and $1,500.

There are chairs that cost less than $300, but again, you’d have to compromise on the features if you want to buy them. Still, they’ll do the intended job just fine if that’s all you’re going for.

Gaming Chairs

In this category, you can easily find a good chair for just $400-$500. If you can spend more than that, you’ll be getting a premium chair with a stunning and aggressive design. It all depends on you and which type of chair you would want to buy.

Winner?

There is no winner here. Every product has its own price and depending on your requirements, you should only invest money in the features you want most and not in the product itself.

Final Words

As you can see, both office and gaming chairs have a fair amount of advantages and disadvantages. If you want a clean and neat design for your work environment i.e. office space, meeting room etc, I would definitely suggest going for office chairs.

But if you want an aggressive, stylish look that is sure to turn heads impress your fellow gamers, don’t hesitate to go for gaming chairs.

What do you think of these difference between Office Chairs Vs Gaming Chairs? Do you want to add anything to this list, do let us know via comments right below. All your comments, questions, and feedback will be highly appreciated.