I have seen lots of great sites that use all white pages (Stack Overflow?) without having the content column set against a different color background.
I am designing a web game and was wondering if the all white (or solid color) is the way to go or if having a content column against a backdrop is better.
If its a "it depends" answer, can you describe what it depends on and how to make the right decision?
I've found that I appreciate sites that only use white backgrounds on readable content. Here's an example. I work on (2) 19" monitors that, regardless of how I adjust them, remain bright and really start to give me a headache towards the end of the day. Its especially noticeable at night when I'm playing games that use bright colors, too.
Just this old dog's input.
IMHO, I don't think you should come up with a design just because another site uses it, especially that site has a totally different nature from yours. Take Stack Overflow for example, the white background is geared for readability. But at the same time, it's minimalist and cold. This may not be suitable for your gaming site.
What you want to do before you even design, is to define "the feeling" visitors should have when they come to your site. If it's a gaming site, it's supposed to be more visually engaging(but not overwhelming). You may use different illustration, icon styles.
Having that said, i find that one trick to get around using only all white, but still keeping that airy 'n open feeling is, to have your content area #fff, but pick a very faint gray as site's background color. eg: f8f8f8. the subtle difference in color creates a visual cue for division of plane, very subtle.