I’m naturally a rather messy person. To counteract this, I decided a few years ago to be more of a minimalist. Decorations and unnecessary items tend to collect dust and create clutter. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t own anything I don’t currently need.

But a nerd’s heart also beats in my chest. And the nerd in me thinks merchandise is cool. An R2D2 figure like in the cover photo, a Cyberpunk 2077 world book, the Grimoire book series from Destiny 2, or a replica of Cayde-6’s revolver, Ace of Spades. Or simply the Saturn V or the Space Shuttle from LEGO. I think these things are really cool, but in the end, they’re just decoration. Decoration that needs to be dusted.

Luckily, I haven’t bought a 3D printer yet. Otherwise, I could just print all this stuff myself. I would definitely have fun doing it, but in the end, it all just lies or stands around and, in the worst case, even gets in the way. And it has to be cleaned every cleaning day, instead of just wiping a clear surface.

So even though my fingers are itching, I hold back for the most part. The Saturn V and the Shuttle might still be coming, as they would fit perfectly with my ISS. But that’s supposed to be it for decorations. Except maybe for some cool pictures on the wall someday; I’ll probably make an exception for that in the future. The metal posters from Displate look pretty cool, but they’re also expensive.

So far, I only have merchandise for one game. I bought the EVE: The Second Decade Collector’s Edition 10 years ago. Unfortunately, I’ve lost the symphony CD, the Rifter is slightly damaged, and the Mystery Code has since been forgotten by CCP. But the box sits on the shelf as a whole; the Rifter is of little use now and disrupts my sense of minimalism.

As you can see, there’s a constant battle going on inside me. I see merchandise that I just think is cool and want to buy, but in the end, my minimalism wins out. Merchandise serves no practical purpose and is therefore unnecessary.