There's a lot of debate online over what makes you a Real Gamer. I never seem to make the cut :(
I don't beat brutally difficult games without walkthroughs or "cheats." I only recently bought my first PC, meaning most of my life I've been a filthy console casual. I don't even (and please hold your horrified gasps) own a designated gamer chair.
By every metric set by the shadowy group of people that get to decide who constitutes a Real Gamer, I'm not one of them. And that's despite having avidly played video games since I was a kid and then also building a whole career around writing about them professionally. Wild!
So what was a girl to do?
Well, at CES I heard about Acer's Predator Thronos Air gamer chair. Finally, I thought, my prayers were answered. I mean, you can't get more Real Gamer than dropping $13,000 on what can only be described as a gamer pod ready to rocket launch you into gamer space heaven, right?
Just look at this guy in the promotional material. This is the devilish smirk of a man who is assured in his Real Gamer status:
I wanted that joy, I wanted that gamer confidence, I wanted full gamer immersion.
But when I arrived at Acer's Open House on Sunday at the Sahara in Las Vegas, something felt off:
Maybe it was my subpar Not Yet A Real Gamer noob mindset, but this didn't feel like the "space-age styled cabin" and "premium, private game haven" that the advertising had promised. This looked more like three (quite nice) Acer monitors stuck together on a crane with some LED lights.
But I persisted because #GamersRiseUp!!!
I got to test out Project Cars 2, a hyper-realistic race car simulator. I was told the $13,000 chair worked best for simulators, but didn't perform well with First Person Shooters. You'd think FPSes would be integral to earning your Real Gamer credentials, but I stood corrected!
Despite my initial disappointments, though, I put on my best Real Gamer face:
I drove around the Daytona map in a Toyota for about siz laps, mostly consisting of never lifting my foot off the pedal and moving the Logitech wheel controller as little as possible. I noticed the monitors weren't really aligned, leaving a gap of several inches between me and my full immersion. The car mirrors aligned with the two outer monitors, which made it feel somewhat similar to an actual driving experience, I guess?
It turns out the Thronos Air is actually a cheaper model of the original $29,000 chair. The previous and pricier version came with a fully-motorized and remote-controlled arm, an embedded chair integrated into the pod itself, and an actual desktop gaming system. This one...does not. Aside from the monitors, the now manually adjustable crane, and a loose chair, all the other necessary parts (a PC, keyboard, mouse, controllers, racing wheel, and pedal) are sold separately.
I can't say I left the experience feeling like more of a Real Gamer. I can't say I left understanding why dropping obscene amounts of money on designated gamer stations is such a staple of Real Gamer culture. I can't say I left feeling anything but empty and cheated.
But maybe, that's just what happens when you become a Real Gamer. Obviously, I wouldn't know.
