Normally gamers are used to people worrying for their mental health, the stigma towards video games still helping to fuel the myth that they create killers and/or alter your behaviour; I’ve played plenty of farming sims and still haven’t opened a farm. But now concern is for the outside of our heads as more and more gamers find dents from wearing headsets.
Although it’s not quite as strange as reading about streamers selling vagina-inspired beer, this is the kind of news that has you scratching your (dented) head. Despite sounding like a myth, much like the shenanigans of a certain family in Amsterdam a few weeks back, this is actually true. Turns out, real life is wild.
Maybe leave those headphones off for Alan Wake II...!
Twitch streamer Curtoss, real name Curtis, was shaving their head for charity on a livestream when they were shocked to discover their very own dent. “I’m looking at an indent here – this is where my headphones go. I have a f**king headphone indent in my head. What the f**k,” they said, before adding, “I thought that was just my hair; I thought just my hair did that.” Now, as silly as it may sound to believe it was just their hair, I’ve had an indent in my hair after wearing headphones on a particularly long walk, so there is sound logic there. Sadly though, this isn’t a case of that happening.
But before everyone starts to panic that permanent damage is being done, allow us to put your minds at ease and explain that these types of dents will go. For a significant change to happen like a permanent dent, you’d need to withstand 135kg of pressure on top of your head – most of us aren’t going to let that happen. And so, while shocking at first, this gamer dent is only temporary.
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Not that it was shocking for those who watched the scenes unfold – for them, this was hilarious. “Once you stream on Twitch enough your genetic code changes and your skull becomes soft and pliable,” joked one Twitter user, while others offered advice that bordered on sounding like a disappointed mum, “PLEASE invest in IEM's [in ear monitors], getting bald spots or having an indent in ya head isn't worth it.”
So, there you have it, while headsets won’t cause lasting dents in your head, loud volumes can and will still damage your hearing. Though this is hardly new information, merely information we often choose to ignore; how else will we hear creepy sounds in our horror games?