I’m probably going to take some more more heat for this, but I think it’s worth it. Before I continue with this piece, let me explain my methodology for choosing those pictures found in this post. Every once in a while you’ll see a message board thread inviting the community to share their gaming and/or home theater setups. Eager forum users time and time again step up and post their pictures while proudly stating, “this is my setup!” Well, if you’re going to put yourself out there, I’m going to be the jerk that saves your picture, shares it with an audience, and ridicules each and every one of your missteps. To be fair, however, I don’t make fun of people for having poor setups due to financial constraint; everybody is judged according to how well they did within their financial means. It’s all about execution, people! Also, you can click on the images to enlarge them (and believe me, but the final image you’ll want to).
Note: I’ll be adding to this as the need arrives. If you find worthy submissions, email them to me at jar155 [at] gmail dot com.
I’m guessing that there must be a good reason why everything in this person’s room is jammed into this single little shelf unit. I figure that the house was built upon an active volcano and that the floors are indeed made of hot magma. Why else wouldn’t you let your power bricks sit behind everything on the floor? Or maybe they just look great elbowing for space with dusty figurines, smashed game boxes, and whatever else might be on there. One solid bump, and that’s all coming down.
I had a conversation with this guy, and I said, “Hey buddy, why don’t you move some of that stuff into boxes or somewhere else where they won’t be so tightly crammed in?” He said, “Well, now, I can’t do that, can I? I already have the game shelf. It’s the game shelf. I put my game stuff on the game shelf.” In order to avoid a possible British comedy style conversation, I just nodded and left him be.
I’m not certified, and I’m certainly not qualified, but I have to write this guy up for a safety violation. We all can see what’s going to happen here. This guy will asleep in bed and his little brother will be using the bathroom in the next room. Little bro will let the lid drop too hard on the toilet seat and the resulting vibrations will send everything crashing down. Should he survive the initial avalanche, digging out won’t be easy. And how in the world is he getting games out of there to play? Some of those are stacked two deep and several levels high. I want to make friends with him just to ask if I can borrow one of those hard to reach games.
And finally, you don’t need to store your Rock Band drum sticks in the impale position, there’s a holder for them that lets you store them horizontally, also known as the “don’t die” placement.
Keep reading past the jump for more. You know you want to. You know you will.
Wow, this one is special. I figure this is how their buying checklist went when they were moving into what looks to either be a new home or a newly finished room. PS3? Check. HDTV? Check. Gaming-class PC? Check. Cable? Check. So, what’s left to get after we steal our neighbor’s deck furniture? Nothing, right? These guys at VERY LEAST could have put outlet covers on their electrical outlets. They still have the stickers on their windows, floodlights in the room, exposed wiring, and they’re more concerned about getting in a quick picture to show off. Nice priorities, boys. Oh, but that empty paint tray liner does make for a killer remote caddy. Sweet awes!
So…we ask for gaming setup pictures and this guy submits a picture of his Macbook. Macs are fine and all, but can they really be considered a gaming platform? Can any laptop be considered a gaming setup without a mouse?! No sir, it cannot. This entry is invalid. Props for good cord management though. I see that this guy has adopted Apple’s minimalist designs into his desk space usage philosphy as well.
Hey pal, this was a “show your gaming setup” thread, not a “show your gaming setup and 3 weeks of undisposed garbage” thread. The setup is fine, for the most part, but if you’re going to present this to thousands of people, at least scoot the Sunday ads and your empty Hi-C bottles out of the way. My readers don’t ask for much (well, they do, but it goes unheeded), but at least show them the decency it would take to kick that stuff off camera. Oh wait, it looks like Old Navy is having a sale! Neat!
Ropes were made for jumping, not lighting up your PC gaming rig. It’s true, I can figure eight, double dutch, blue bell, and even pull off a mean half twister if I’m particularly loose that day. I also like that the table legs are touching the couch. What, you couldn’t drill holes in the couch to insert the legs directly into it?
This is either extreme dedication or insanity. There’s no gray here. So the guy has enough scratch to put a Wii, 360, and a PS3 under his (nice) TV, but he doesn’t have enough to put in better shelves/storage above it? It’s like a perverted game of reverse Jenga going on up there. I get that sometimes we need to stack things, but is it a good idea to not line things up properly or to put thinner things on the bottom? How does one walk away from this and think that the way that they’re leaving things is not just acceptable, but also worth showing off online? It was considerate of the robbers to leave the shelves when they took the dresser though.
Home Depot Salesman: Speaker wire? Sure, I can cut some for you. How far are your speakers from your receiver?
Champ: About 3 feet.
Home Depot Salesman: Ok, good, so you probably need about 5 feet for each speaker.
Champ: Can we make it an even 50? That would be best.
What you see pictured here are the results of the above conversation.
It has to be nice to be able to sit down in your computer chair, give yourself a good, hard spin, and just be able to open your eyes up to a different computer to use each time. In fact, I’m about 99% sure this is how he decides where his hardcore gaming will take place each day.
I’m pretty sure it’s a crime in 43 states to have a PlayStation 3 hooked up to a 13″ Aiwa TV set through composite cables. Check Craigslist and you’ll see at least 50 TVs within driving range that you can use as a replacement for less than the cost of that wicked rad and almost completely concealed wall scroll up there. Now, you will have a better TV, but you won’t have the scroll. Tough choice, I’m sure. Seriously though, I Just looked and there were several 27″ TVs to be had for under $25 (some free!). Do the right thing; stop the PS3 abuse.
I included this one not for the ridicule, but simply because it kind of blows me away. Yes, there are issues with what you and I are seeing, but the sheer craziness of it is almost inspiring. You’re seeing pretty much every gaming console from the Atari 2600 up to the current generation all hooked up to a single TV. Look at that highway of cords running to the back of that stand. I am seeing several switchers to accommodate the cause, so these are readily playable. There’s now way this guys plays all of those systems regularly, but man, at least he can. I do have to give props for Tempest 2000 sticking out of the Jaguar, too.
Oh who am I kidding? This is ridiculous! Yeah, neat, you have a ton of systems, but would it kill you to stick one of them in a shoebox? Also, close your NES cartridge door, it’s firing off my OCD triggers.
Past iterations of The Gaming Setup Hall of Shame (Parts 1-3 are much funnier, I think I’m running out of material here).
Part Three - Where the jerkfaced criticisms should have ended.
Part Two - Where the jerkfaced criticisms continued.
Part One – Where the jerkfaced criticisms got started.
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