Anyone who owns a gaming chair is a member of the gaming elite. This is an image reinforced by the entire industry and certainly touches on something very important. If you are going to be playing games for extended periods of time, you should think about your choice of gaming chair.

I know it's not the most romantic part of your PC build and it's not as appealing as spending hundreds of dollars on a brand new graphics card, but investing in a gaming chair is just as important, not only to look good, but to protect your back from future problems. Or, it could be the catalyst for you to change years of inactivity starting today.

Recently, there has been a lot of activity in the ergonomic gaming chair market, with most major manufacturers turning their attention to new ergonomic designs. One such manufacturer is Cooler Master's Ergo L, which I have been testing for the past few weeks.

The Cooler Master Ergo L is a bit different from the retrofit ergonomics often found in gaming chairs; Cooler Master has settled on a chair design that integrates ergonomics from the ground up, rather than simply adding a lumbar pillow and calling it a day.

The setup process is perhaps where the Ergo L's most glaring shortcomings reside. Ideally, it would be better to have a friend by your side to help you set up, but this can be difficult in these less social times. But even without a friend, you can probably get by with some careful balancing and exercising those burly biceps. I had my roommate help me.

The Ergo L arrives in a huge box measuring 67 x 54 x 74.5 cm. Inside are all the parts that make up the chair, surrounded by cardboard and packing material. One day I would like to see a chair with complete cardboard packaging, but that is not today.

Once all the parts are lined up, all that is left to do is fit them together like any other. The arms fit into the central upholstered unit, and the backrest does the same. That is, of course, once the giant wheels are attached.

This is where the difficulties with the Cooler Master Ergo L began. The bolts connecting the armrests on the underside of the chair could only be screwed in halfway. This is not a major problem, as each arm has three connecting bolts, and I doubt the same thing will happen on many units, but the machining seems to be a bit off, and no amount of force will hold the screws securely in place.

Still, I managed to assemble the rest of the unit in less than 20 minutes, but what I noticed immediately upon assembly was its weight. The armrests and backrest supports are made of sturdy metal, and the finished product weighs 27.8 kg. Despite the fact that I don't have a scale at home to recheck, I think this is about right.

Unfortunately, this one screw was not the only frustration with the setup process. There is no setup guide for the chair, either in the box or online. While the basic functionality of the chair is obvious by pressing the lever and moving it in small increments, I would have liked some guidance on how to set this chair up for maximum comfort and postural support.

I ended up guessing the position of the hand-adjustable back lumbar support (which needs to be moved to a position between the two posts of the backrest) and using my best judgment to find the armrest fit as well. While there is plenty of range of motion to get the armrests into the ideal position, the lack of a lock on the horizontal adjustment often causes the armrests to slide back and forth when the chair is moved, shuffled, or sometimes even sat on.

The level of customization of the Ergo L is at least equal to other high-end gaming chairs, and in some ways better than more common designs. The seat depth can be adjusted from 45 to 49 cm, and the rear back support can be secured in a variety of positions from Monday at 9 am to Friday at 5 pm (in layman's terms, 90° to 120° recline).

The headrest, however, is a bit unreliable and, despite its claimed tilt function, can only be adjusted in height. It may also be a bit low for my height (6'2"). In fact, this is not strictly the chair's fault, as it is recommended for users up to 170 cm, but it is definitely something to consider for anyone over 180 cm. Even at my height, I think I am testing the limits of the chair's ergonomics.

The armrests are just 2D (lift, forward two dimensional movement) but well designed to allow the arms to sit comfortably.

In terms of arm support, the Ergo L is certainly commendable. The armrests on the Ergo L follow ergonomic best practices and support the arms to sit in a more natural and comfortable position.

This speaks to the quality of the ergonomics, which from the beginning was aimed at a healthy design suitable for prolonged use.

That said, the chair is a bit of a disappointment. Not that there is anything wrong with the ergonomic design, but it is not on par with what one would expect from a $599 (£500) gaming chair. There is no doubt that a great deal of investment has gone into the Ergo L's design, but not much thought seems to have been given to how it should be combined or what to do with it once it is set up.

This is a somewhat surprising and slapdash approach for a chair whose concept is that time and thought should be put into setting up a PC.

This is well illustrated by the fact that after only a few weeks of using the Ergo L, the back support creaks somewhat. And while I think other designs look and feel tough enough to stand the test of time, I am already considering doing some maintenance on this chair within weeks of receiving it. [I will admit that Cooler Master is on to something with the Ergo L, and they deserve credit for tackling ergonomic chairs earlier than many other companies in the gaming chair market. However, in many ways it falls short of the ergonomic office chairs we recommend in our Best Office Chairs Guide. It also has quality control problems and is overpriced, and we fear that it will fall behind its competitors, who are finally waking up to the importance of ergonomics.

I don't think Cooler Master needs to take the Ergo L completely back to square one, but it will need to take a half-step to improve the quality of life to make this gaming chair truly worthwhile.