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Videogame Injuries - The Ugly Truth
Thanks to the BBC for their article discussing the problems of injuries sustained while playing videogames. The author discusses the "definite physical element" to some gaming, commenting in relation to F-Zero GX: "Those [real-life] finger tendons and neck muscles can suffer when your game of choice involves efforts to overtake a craft travelling at 1,400kph." He also discusses stranger problems: "Possibly the most bizarre games-related condition that has been reported is Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (Havs), something previously recognised in operators of jackhammers, but now increasingly associated with joypad vibration." What terrible injuries related to gaming have you sustained?
If you used to play NES games with the official controller, you know what I'm talking about. The unergonomic design of the original controller caused blisters for many an old-school gamer.
I have found over the years that I get severe pains in the area of my right hand furthest from the thumb when I play heavily mouse based games. I came to the conclusion that the mouse simply wasnt big enough to support my hand across its entire width as I have quite large hands. I solved the problem by sticking two mice together side by side with double sided sticky pads.
If they can make pointing devices for people with small hands you'd think they could make them for people with big hands but there you go.
Oxford Dictionaries Online
Did you ever try comparing the money you pay your optometrist and the price for a monitor that can do 100Hz or higher at whatever resolution you like using?
So many [quite-tech-savvy] people pay hundreds of dollars for CPU cycles they don't use or a twice-as-fast FSB, and yet a good 90% of them utterly neglect to buy hardware (like a good monitor for your eyes or a decent chair for your back) that has an adverse affect on their health. Needless to say, once they need treatment, they do pay that same money to the doctor.
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