I enjoy watching some other speedrunners do their thing, but sometimes I wonder, when I watch their fingers fly across the keyboard in the runs that have keyboard cams for anti-cheat, that there’s something that can really hamper a speedrun. Just like how athletes need to warm up before a sport, I realized that cold can be the enemy too. And sometimes, there are no options, let’s say hypothetically it’s in winter, and then your heater broke, but maybe you’re in a competition or tournament, what are the alternatives then?
I think that, like poor scrat here from the movie Ice age, forever chasing after his nut. The cold, then, is what stops us speedrunners from achieving the goal, or getting the acorn in Scrat’s case.
Just like how the poor squirrel is always encased in ice, or dunked in freezing water. The freezing feeling due to the weather, or maybe a freezing air conditioner that your roommate at the dorm or office workmates that absolutely refuse to bring the temps down, and you just have to live with it because they argue that the weather is blazing hot outside…
In any case, shivering hands and fingers, is a problem, whether you’re working or playing, either on a keyboard or with a gamepad.
I’ve looked at various things online on how to keep hands warm while gaming and there are cool gizmos for that that humans have invented, ranging from the cheapest and practical, like fingerless gloves to keep “most of your hand” warm (what about the tips of your fingers?), to some things that just amaze me that they exist.
Some of my research: Reddit discussion from r/GirlGamers on how to keep hands warm, for relevance Old discussion from r/LeagueOfLegends, on how to keep your hand warm, besides just sitting on them
Things like heated mouse pads, which somehow sound reasonable to me, to things that are cool looking but strange, like a heater that’s directed at your hands, basically like an oven toaster, shown below
Keyboard hand-heater uses infrared to keep your fingers toasty
There are also things like USB powered hand warmers, which are also more on the fancy side of things you could try out if you want, some people actually use and like those ones.
Also, there’s something like “Gaming” Rechargeable hand warmers, by the lighter company zippo, which also functions as a power bank, but I don’t know if I’d want one considering the price of those things. Maybe only fanboys/gals would like to buy these… not me though. 😂
https://www.zippo.com/pages/zippo-gaming
I didn’t know these things existed before I started looking these up on the internet honestly. 😅
So people of speedrun.com, does anyone use anything more fancier than fingerless gloves? Or do you guys have something like a portable desktop heater?
I’ve even seen some people claim (maybe as a joke) that their PC is so powerful it functions as a heater as well. 🤣🔥
Now I think I also remember this GIF of Anna from the movie Frozen…
Sometimes I feel like this while trying to play dark souls… then I die. 😂
uh.... no, I'm no bot, I'm just really curious and sometimes making stories for context gets the better of me... 😅 you know things like internet rabbit holes and internet icebergs explained, like on reddit... I show people where I got my ideas because sometimes, people are lazy to even google stuff, and also sometimes people on the internet say I'm inventing things...
Iceberg charts on reddit are some of the places I frequent for example: https://www.reddit.com/r/IcebergCharts/ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Upulie-Handalage/publication/357163863/figure/fig2/AS:1102614494232578@1639895189553/Internet-illustrated-in-an-iceberg-Source-Extracted-from-11_Q640.jpg
Seriously is cold that much of an issue im ok with hands that needs to be warm, but for the pc i believe is preety good. The funny thing is i'm facing a problem with heat the summer is my worst season for my tablet i can't play for very long so automatically this means i can't grind...... i already made a thread about this.
@Parasxos yeah, it's an issue for some... but of course, the opposite is also a problem. right now in some parts of the world it's blazing hot, but elswhere it's still quite cold...
https://www.speedrun.com/streaming_recording_equipment/thread/yc938 this is the thread you're talking about right? have you found a cooler for your tablet yet? 🤔
@M_CBL_ Sadly not..... the are for phones only however i have another crazy idea i can glue 2 fans side by side i'm still thinking on how i can do that also how i can power them and lastly how much it will effect myself and the tablet.
also i'm sorry i missed the point you are making about the cold.
And yes this was the thread you can go ahead and laugh with my Stupidity. A Tablet in Freezer!!!
@Parasxos I don't really think that was stupid though. 😅 cuz I've done that with phones too as I've said.
may I ask what tablet you're using exactly?
[quote=Parasxos]i have another crazy idea i can glue 2 fans side by side i'm still thinking on how i can do that also how i can power them and lastly how much it will effect myself and the tablet.[/quote] well that is crazy, but also "cool" ❄ if you get what I mean. 🤣 it can probably go on a tutorial for https://www.instructables.com too haha. I look at the projects posted there every once in a while.
also the phone coolers you're talking about looks like these ones right?
mostly I can find these one's online that are made mostly in china... but I wonder how heavy are they.
also, here's another idea for you, maybe you could also try using a laptop fan/cooler on a table at an angle, for your tablet while playing or doing a run instead of carrying it around.
the ones that look like these:
They don't look exactly like the one i saw but yes is close on shape. My tablet is Samsung Galaxy Tab E and i have it 4 years now.
The big drawback i see is Clearly the weight 2 fans and the 10000mAh power bank to power them, i need the battery on my tablet for best performance so the power bank is necessary. The Big fan on bottom photo is for Laptop and sadly is very large... I did think to buy one but is impossible to find a suitable one. On a angle is hard because i will break my comfort on the touchscreen... i guess i can let it be as is.
So to summarize all this.... I'm back at square one with those installed because it may increase my grinding for a couple minutes which is not worth the effort. Thanks anyway @M_CBL_