Bias Lighting 101: How Adding LEDs to Your Setup Changes How You Play
Glowed up.
Do you remember the good old days of playing Need For Speed: Underground 2? So many of us spent hours customizing cars and fine-tuning them until we had the sweetest hot rod in the game. There was always one specific customization that stood out as the one that would turn your modded hatchback up to 11: neon underglow.
The idea of having your in-game car project colored light onto the ground while driving was such a foreign concept back then. Now, in 2018, we've decided to take the philosophy of neon underglow and apply it to anything we want. Most notably, the back of our TVs. But instead of glass tubes of neon gas, we’re using safe and flexible LED light strips.
Of course, adding a strip of color-changing LED Gaming Lights to your TV makes it look futuristic and adds a nice ambient mood, but the benefits of LEDs aren't solely cosmetic. You can use rear mounted LEDs as a “Bias Light” to actually help reduce strain on your eyes and allow for a longer, more comfortable gaming experience. They even help increase the contrast of your television screen to improve overall picture quality.
Here at KontrolFreek, we're all about comfortable gaming, so we took a dive deep down into the internet to find out what adding Bias Lights to your gaming setup can really do. Now here you go FreekNation - from our office to your computer/phone screen.
Feast Your Eyes
Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and turned on the lights only to be immediately blinded by the immediate change in brightness? It hurts, no? The immediate change from dark to light doesn't give your eyes enough time to adjust, which is why it feels so uncomfortable.
When you stare at a TV or monitor in complete darkness, you are essentially doing the same thing on a much smaller and more prolonged scale. Your eyes are registering everything in the room as dark except for the brightly lit screen. This puts an unprecedented amount of strain on them and is typically why you may end up with bloodshot or dry eyes after coming out of a long gaming session.
One obvious solution to this is to turn on some lights in your room, but that also introduces glare, and removes that awesome home-theater-like sense of immersion you get from being in the dark. This is where Bias Lights attached to the back of your TV screen work their magic.
By projecting light onto the wall behind your screen, you're leveling out the brightness of the viewing area, which allows gaming in the dark to be much easier on the eyes. That means you’ve got more time to complete those side quests or get a few steps closer to hitting the next prestige.
Compare The Contrast
Color contrast is another thing that is sacrificed by playing in complete darkness. A good balance of dark blacks, and bright whites, is really what separates good image quality from great image quality. Good image contrast simply makes colors appear richer and more vibrant.
Since you can only do so much brightness and contrast adjustment within the settings on your actual screen, LED lights can help pick up the slack. Why? It's based around a simple optical illusion called "the simultaneous contrast illusion". This is essentially a fancy way of saying that if what's in the background (LEDs) is lighter than the colors in the foreground (your screen), then the colors in front appear darker. Pretty cool huh?
Pick Your Color
It's not secret that colors represent certain moods. You can also choose what color to have in the background and it will have some interesting effects on gameplay. Here's a nice chart that lays it all out:
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RED This intense color stimulates aggression, happiness, and passion. Red evokes ideas of action and strength, and can accelerate heart rate and breathing. It is best used as a boost during a critical raid or mission. |
PURPLE Purple is often referred to as the color of royalty. It’s perfect for adding a luxurious, sophisticated glow to your setup that can make you feel more powerful and creative. |
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BLUE Blue causes the opposite reaction as red. Peaceful, tranquil, it causes the body to relax by producing calming chemicals. It is best used when you need to stay cool under pressure.
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ORANGE Orange is a combo of red and yellow, and the responses it creates are representative of both. Orange can raise your energy level and make you feel more aggressive, making it the perfect alternative to either red or yellow. |
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GREEN Green is the easiest color on the eye and can improve vision. It is a calming, refreshing color that promotes harmony in the mind, creating a balance between body and mind. It’s the perfect choice for RPG games.
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YELLOW Yellow is an attention getter, but it is also the most difficult color for the eye to take in. Yellow enhances concentration, but can cause people to lose their tempers more quickly. It’s great for stimulating a quick burst of energy during marathon gaming sessions. |
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WHITE White acts as a clean slate to promote creativity. Use white light to optimize bias lighting behind your TV or monitor to reduce strain on eyes and improve picture clarity when gaming in a dark room. |
INDIGO Indigo is the color of intuition, higher thinking and perception. It’s used to facilitation deep concentration, but can make you feel a little dazed. It’s the perfect choice for helping you solve a puzzle or strategy challenge. |
We've got you covered.
So now you're wondering what you can do to set up some Bias Lights of your own. Right? You’re in the right place.
KontrolFreek just launched a brand new product to bring your setup to the next level when it comes to comfort, image quality, and personalization. Our Gaming Lights™ are sure to add some nice ambiance to your setup with the added benefit of being easy on the eyes. Click any of the links below to check out the new setup-enhancing products from the gaming wizards here at KontrolFreek.
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