You don’t have to be an avid gamer to know just how serious the industry is these days, if it’s not you, it’s likely your friend, partner, sibling or colleague that’s been bitten by the bug that is gaming. Where it used to be the case that gaming was something of a bedroom hobby, confined to the dark recesses of the home and never spoken about in public, in the last few years eSports has captivated the world and thrust some gamers into the kind of spotlight and high-earning potential that has even eluded some athletes. Make no mistake, this is no hobby, this is a billion-dollar industry and one players treat with the kind of seriousness and commitment as you do a full-time job.
Hardly surprisingly, where there is a boom there is money to be made and the industry has capitalised on the growth of gaming on a wider scale. Now, there’s special chairs, controllers, a computer mouse that’s been ergonomically designed, and so much more at your disposal. But what happens to our actual body, what changes will our obsession with gaming and gripping the controller with all our strength have in bodily development?
Well, according to the experts at gaming product company Cornelius Creative and casino review site SlotsWise, it’s not particularly attractive. The two companies partnered together to look into the future of our bodies if we keep up with such a hobby, drawing up a terrifying render of what our hands might look like.
As the website posits: “Gaming has become an industry where consumers are no longer settling for less. Equipment for players is continuing to adapt and grow to help increase performance output. We ask the question – what if evolution within our hands was the key to being a better gamer?”
Though we can’t be sure if gaming controllers will grow in size in the future, our fingers just might do the work for them. The experts forecast that our index and middle fingers will get enormously large compared to the rest of our hands, while the ring finger is due to shrink. The change in size is due to statistics showing how gamers grip a controller for almost a quarter of the day, resulting in significant muscle strains. To overcome this fatigue in the finger, a lengthening of the core fingers required for gaming could prove a pivotal transformation in the human body.
According to Simon Cornelius, managing director of Cornelius creative, “Controllers, as they stand, are ergonomically designed, however the increased immersive experience of some games require more buttons to play. Looking at it another way, the manufacturers are responsible for designing controllers that lessen the impact on our physiology.”
Simon predicts that controllers will increase the number of buttons required for gameplay, putting even more strain on fingers that are already limited. “An increase of buttons on the controllers means our fingers, specifically thumb, index, and middle are doing more work and must stretch further,” he said.
“I would therefore expect an evolution of our hands to include a lengthening of those fingers with fast reaction times. The ring and little finger would recede and possibly become more claw-like to wrap around the controller.”
Yikes. It’s enough to make you put down the controller and switch off gaming completely. Well, almost.
