Rolling Thunder, Padded Chair: The Return

You never can really anticipate what will most rile people. The pieces I believe are controversial often barely provoke a peep, while the most innocuous bit of fun is never lived down. Case in point: A few months ago I poked fun at the grandiose descriptions of "gamer chairs" on the Best Buy website in an off-the-cuff post that continues, bizarrely, to generate a few emails a week. Most echo, in one form or another, this most-succinct missive: "Your obviously not a gamer, so what would you know?" Indeed. Anyway, I just noticed this comment from August on the post this is a little more expansive in its critique:

It really amazes me at the ignorance of other posters when it comes to the "Gaming Chairs" !I am a gamer, and have been for 25+ years, and if you READ the full desc. of the adds for these chairs, you would realize they ARE not trying to say you WILL GAME better with them, they are SAYING you will be more comfortable in them for LONG periods of time, which GAMERS usually spend!;

Leaving aside the odd gamer pride (Um, congratulations on your ass's amazing endurance?), which can be more fully understood, I believe, by watching the brilliant documentary, The King of Kong--here is what the Best Buy description actually said:

Relax with the comfort and support of this PC gaming chair, so you can stay calm and composed when you're faced with the most intimidating of virtual adversaries.

                                                

No? Not your style? Well, how about Model OK1, the AK Designs Octane PC Gaming and Office Chair:                                                                                                                                    

Designed for ultimate comfort under the most extreme virtual conditions, this PC gaming chair allows you to stay relaxed while conquering distant lands in the virtual realm.      

Help in conquering distant lands in the virtual realm and remaining calm and composed when you're faced with the most intimidating of virtual adversaries certainly sounds like better gaming. But, then again, I'm not a gamer. As Bill Hicks once said, I'm a reader. Our friend continues:

My biggest bitch about regular office chairs is Lumbar support, and problems with my legs after playing just for a few hours, but JUST LOOKING at the design of this chair, I can tell that it was designed to greatly help those issues!...So the guys who think they are called gaming chairs just to be a higher price, DESERVE to be racked with pain from thier inferior basic office non support chairs!!

Just a few hours? Yikes! I suppose I'm the one who deserves to be placed on the modern day rack?