Gaming: PCs & Consoles

The claim that game publishers can legally retaliate against your account after an FTC or state AG complaint sounds alarming. But the sources provided don’t actually back it up — and publishing it as fact would be doing you a disservice.

A VPN sounds like a clever workaround — but some games are watching for exactly that, and getting caught can mean losing your account for good.

Years of progress, rare skins, digital purchases — all of it can legally disappear if your parents flag your account as belonging to someone under 13. Here’s what COPPA actually means for your games.

Gamers are one of the most heavily marketed groups for energy drinks — and research shows that the more you game, the more likely you are to drink them. That combination has real health stakes, especially if you’re under 19.

A $500 graphics card from a random Amazon seller could leave you with limited protection if something goes wrong — and it happens more often than you’d think.

You just dropped serious money on a console or PC parts — don’t let a missed registration deadline cut your warranty coverage. Some manufacturers require it, and the rules vary more than you’d think.

Gaming controllers and keyboards can carry more bacteria per square inch than a toilet seat — and some of those germs can survive on plastic for days. Here’s what’s actually living on your setup and what to do about it.

If you’re streaming or recording gameplay at home without protection, your IP address is quietly broadcasting your general location to anyone watching — and swatters have used exactly that to send armed police to streamers’ doors.

Most people think the worst that can happen from modding their console is a voided warranty. The reality is a lot scarier than that.

When you hop on a multiplayer game at a coffee shop or library without a VPN, other players can grab your IP address — and that’s more dangerous than it sounds.

When you buy a digital game, you’re not buying it — you’re buying permission to play it. And that permission can disappear overnight, legally, with no refund owed.

Some prebuilt gaming PCs sold at big box stores use non-standard parts that can’t be swapped out later — and when something breaks or needs an upgrade, you’re stuck buying from the same manufacturer at their prices.

We’ve all been there — so frustrated you just want to kill the whole console. But force-cutting the power mid-game can wipe out your save files, and sometimes cause other problems too.

A power surge lasts microseconds. That’s all it takes to fry your GPU, hard drive, or console — and a basic power strip does absolutely nothing to stop it.

Resting your elbows on armrests or keeping them bent for hours while gaming can compress a nerve in your elbow — and if you ignore it long enough, the damage can become very difficult or impossible to reverse.

Your eyes are probably fine. Your sleep schedule is another story. Here’s what screen light is actually doing to your brain at night.

Selling or trading in your old PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo Switch without doing a factory reset first can leave your payment info, linked accounts, and personal data exposed to whoever gets it next. It takes five minutes to protect yourself.

You probably don’t feel it yet — but the way you sit while gaming might be building up damage that’s really hard to undo. Here’s what’s actually happening to your back.