Improving My Work and Gaming Environment
Back in September 2015 when I was living in a flat, I wrote a blog post about my personal work space. I touched upon the subject again in June 2016, as part of the Newbie Blogger Initiative, in a further post about the importance of a good writing environment. The reason I mention this is because today, I finally got around to replacing my old “fun size” desk with a newer, larger model. It’s nothing special, just something I saw on Amazon, that suited my requirements and more importantly budget. However, it provides a wider work surface, allowing me to write free hand (I still make notes in this way) as well as type via the keyboard. The desk also came with a matching monitor stand which raises my screen to a more suitable height, as well as a handy file shelf which allows me to stow pens, my phone and pending correspondence. It also provides a home for Pliny (the Raven). Not bad for £47.99 including delivery.
My “office” is the spare bedroom of our two-bedroom bungalow. My granddaughter’s cots that I have shared the room with for the last two years have been replaced with a single bed. This has freed up valuable space and provides an alternative place for me to sleep if I am working late into the night and I don’t want to disturb “Mrs. Peril”. She often turns in at a far more respectable hour. Because our main bedroom is right next door to the office, I have started using my gaming headset as an alternative to speakers after a certain time of night. It has been quite a revelation, highlighting the complexity of audio design in contemporary gaming. Friday the 13th: The Game is especially atmospheric, and the soundscape really enhances gameplay. Also, because of my new desk and its facility for cable management, I’ve now permanently attached my Xbox gamepad to my PC for convenience.
While discussing the subject of personal work and gaming environments with friends on Discord, it became very clear how people like to embellish such spaces with personal knick-knacks and trophies. I think that it’s very important to “humanise” what is to all intents and purposes a very functional space. Having trivial items that delight us nearby can be very uplifting and a reminder of the things that we enjoy and inspire us. This can be very useful if you’re labouring over a blog post or article and it isn’t proving as easy to write as you’d imagined. Plus, this personalisation process is another means for us to express ourselves and assert our identity, if you want to get all deep about it. In the meantime, I shall look into the practicality of setting up my desktop microphone or possibly integrating a webcam into my set up. Perhaps rather than return to podcasting, it’s time to move on to streaming of some kind? It’s curious how a minor change in your work and gaming environment can precipitate such a stream of thought and facilitate new ambitions.
