Whether you are a pro gamer, streamer, casual gamer, or just a fashion buff, gaming glasses are the new accessories that are gaining popularity among other gaming gadgets. Gaming glasses are a tool every gamer craves for. Be it hours of hours on Minecraft or strategies over strategies for Valorant, the only thing that can sustain your gaming habits are these gaming glasses!
But do they really work? And does it improve your gaming efficiency? Let’s find out.
What are gaming glasses?
You must have seen a pair of yellow glasses every streamer fashioning beneath their headsets. And yes, it is quite cool and looks fab. Not to forget paid collaborations and sponsorships for the streamers to promote them. But is it all about style? Apparently not! These yellow-tinged lenses with anti-reflective (AR) coating have their usability. These gaming glasses are targeted at gamers and are often paired with headsets. These gaming glasses are designed to prolong gaming hours and sustain your gaming career by reducing the strain on your eyes. But what causes the strain?
How do gaming glasses work?
All electronic devices including monitors, TVs, and phones emit ultraviolet light. This wavelength often causes strain and disrupts sleep cycles. Gaming glasses filter the UV light. And while there is no direct evidence to support that gaming glasses help protect your eye, but anecdotal research like wearing blue light-blocking glasses for a few hours before sleep can reduce melatonin suppression induced by light to improve the sleep cycle. Because the blue light from artificial light sources has a bad rep, marketers often target this aspect to claim by blocking blue light you can improve your eyesight and overall gaming performance in the long run. While there may be some science behind improving eyesight, there is absolutely no science behind gaming glasses improving gaming efficiency.
Do Gaming Glasses work to help reduce strain on your eye?
Given the exposure to screentime, the youths are putting themselves, after hours of a raid in World of Warcraft, your eyes probably start to water, you seem to lose focus, and even may itch or pain. Coupled with the usage of mobile, tv, and other electronic gadgets, we are bombarded with UV emissions from every device all the time. And albeit low, these glasses do provide a certain amount of magnification in view and reduction in blue light which is beneficial for the eyes. There are some prescription standard blue light-blocking glasses as well. It will be difficult to quantify to what degree these glasses protect the eye, but it certainly does to an extent.
Benefits of Gaming Glasses
Three main functionalities of gaming glasses are:
- Anti-Reflective properties: Apart from enhancing color contrast and focus, the AR coating in the gaming glasses reduces the glares from the monitors which can reduce the strain caused in your eye.
- Magnification: A mild magnification in the glasses will reduce squinting.
- Protection from Blue Light: Yellow or amber-tinted gaming glasses can help reduce eye fatigue and improve sleep cycles.
How to choose the right gaming glasses?
- Lens tint: The darker the tints, the lesser the exposure, and the better the protection. Darker tints block a higher percentage of blue light. Black tints compromise the brightness and hence the visibility.
- Material: The gaming glasses are designed to be compatible with your headset and hence are needed to be lightweight and flexible, resistant to damage. Materials like nylon and acetate are often considered prime.
- Size of the Frame: Comfort is key hence always pick the glasses as per your fit.
- Coating: The gaming glasses should reduce glare from the screen and should be resistant to scratches. Hence, they should be coated with compatible films.
- Portability: Minimal and easy-to-carry gaming glasses are the most desirable ones.
The Final Verdict: Should you as a gamer go for Gaming Glasses?
As a pro gamer or a streamer, you will be spending hours and hours in front of the screen. That too for a considerable amount of time in your life. Even if you are a casual gamer, the extent of UV emissions we are subjected to is unprecedented. In these scenarios, we should use every measure possible to reduce the strain on our eyes and improve sleep cycles. And even if you are not gaming or not even an avid gamer, you can use these glasses throughout the day as they are versatile, funky, and adds a swagger. So, no harm in using them. However, these gaming glasses will not help you achieve a higher score in the game you are invested in.
