You probably don’t need us to tell you that first-person shooter games pull millions of players each month, from around the world.

Games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, attract, on average, over 7 million players per month, with other similar games like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Left 4 Dead 2 pulling their weight, too.

Maybe you’re here because you’re one of the millions that enjoys these games each month.

There’s just one tiny thing missing.

If you don’t have the ideal gaming room set up, you’re missing out on the full-blown experience.

Here are some high-level pointers on how to make it happen.

The Gaming Rig and Headset

First and most importantly, the gaming rig you choose is more important than all of the other items mentioned here, put together.

You’ll want to invest in a PC gaming rig that offers best-in-class frame rates and processing speeds to eliminate lag times and speed up rendering.

Consider a pre-built gaming rig - or build your own - with a processor that can handle being overclocked, which can improve its speed, and performance, and increase its longevity, too.

Also, consider a rig with an advanced liquid-cooling system as these are more efficient and more effective than conventional cooling systems and can help ensure better performance and higher-frame rates even under heavy demand.

Also, for the monitor, get several monitors and link them together to create the illusion of an immersive experience. It’s cool enough gaming on a single screen with excellent graphics - and an entirely different experience when you’re encircled by your monitors.

This brings into question the size of the desk - make sure it is big enough for your computer, peripherals, and monitors.

Also, don’t cheap out on the headset. Consider one that offers exceptional sound quality as well as, potentially, noise-cancelling capabilities.

Utilize the Right Furniture

In addition to a quality gaming rig and a headset that delivers, you’ll also want to make sure you work the right furniture into the setting of your game room.

This includes not only a high-quality gaming desk with space for your computer and peripherals, but also a comfortable gaming chair that will keep you comfortable during long hours at the keyboard.

If your gaming room is also your bedroom, consider a gaming bed. High-quality gaming beds will not only have you more comfortable for longer, but will also provide additional options for storage space while opening up other areas in the room for different uses and storage, optimizing the utilization of your room’s layout.

Immerse Yourself in Sound

For the most part, you can lean on your headset to immerse yourself in the experience of the gameplay, from audio effects to music.

But, for those times when you don’t want to wear the headphones, you can get a high-quality surround sound system that will bring your gameplay to life and ramp up the gaming experience a thousandfold.

A surround sound system with speakers and subwoofers will increase the realism of the experience multiple times over and vastly improve your time spent gaming.

Although, one word of caution: you might also want to consider some soundproofing material for the room.

Not only is this a courtesy to other occupants of the building (gaming can be quite loud when not restricted to a headset) but some systems can improve acoustics while limiting sound egress beyond the room at the same time.

It’s All About Lighting

The gameplay experience is as much about ambient lighting as it is about sound and visuals. It sets the mood and you should create a modular lighting environment that can be changed in terms of color, color temperature, and brightness to suit the setting.

In general, dim lighting is the way to go when gaming, but if your gaming room is also your bedroom or your office or work room, you don’t want to be in perpetual darkness all the time. Dim lighting, is, however, imperative for when you’re gaming because bright ambient lighting will compete with your monitor’s brightness and glare can make gameplay much harder and much less enjoyable.

This makes dimmable lighting a must. Consider LEDs, too, as these are longer lasting and much more energy efficient. Save your discretionary bills for your gaming rig, not your lights!

Another thing you can consider is installing LED strip lights alongside or under your desk or along the trim of your walls, or even around any shelving you install.

Oftentimes, high-quality LED trim lights can be changed via a remote to dim or brighten them, or even to change the color or color temperature.

Decorate: Cheap Airsoft Guns and Air Guns

If you’re into one of those shooter games, what makes a better game-room decoration than a realistic model or likeness of a gun?

Except, who has money for a genuine HK MP5 or an M24 sniper rifle? Forget the money - who wants the liability of hanging that on a wall, if only for decoration?

There’s a better way to utterly complete your gaming room. It’s called: cheap airsoft guns (or even cheap air guns) as an alternative.

There are some very realistic-looking cheap airsoft guns that are not only much more affordable than real firearms; it’s safer to hang them on the wall, no one will know the difference by looking, and if you live in a state like Illinois, it’s easier to get one, too.

You could also use a more affordable air gun instead of a cheap airsoft gun - but if you like in a state like New Jersey where it’s tough to get an air gun, consider a cheap airsoft gun instead.

Turns out cheap, spring-powered airsoft guns, like airsoft rifles and pistols, aren’t just good for the airsoft arena. These types of airsoft guns are great for decorating a game room, too.

Decorate: Shelving

Last but not least, installing shelving in your game room will give you so much more storage space and flexibility for your surround sound system, decorations, collectibles, and computer equipment.

Installing shelving in your game room can also serve as a potential attachment point for LED strip lighting, improving your ambient lighting infrastructure.

Adding shelves is easy. You can buy prefabricated shelves or hang them yourself, and as an added bonus, you can use the extra space to store your game collection, if that’s all you needed room for.

That’s All There Is to It - From Surround Sound to Cheap Airsoft Guns

Now that you have our best insider tips for how to create a realistic game room, all you need to do now is see your vision and bring it to life.

So get to it!