#My Zoom background is not only a nerdy gamer show shelf, it is a number of chapters of my life story – Destructoid
Rising older has taught me a number of issues over my 36 years on Earth, however one realization I’ve been pondering quite a bit about currently is simply how a lot rattling stuff one can accumulate over their life.
I lately re-organized my workplace and bed room house with quite a lot of modifications and a number of subtractions/cleansing, however one other focus of the overhaul was the backdrop of my webcam that I’ve meticulously crafted to show my passions and hobbies. Whereas some individuals blur their backgrounds or hold their cams off, I like having a background, a persona that reveals up often throughout the professionalism of a piece setting.
It began out as one thing cool and a little bit of a venture to work on, however I additionally quickly realized it’s greater than that. It tells just a little bit about my life story.
When becoming a member of Destructoid conferences with my co-workers, they’re sadly greeted with the picture of my face, so I’ve tried my greatest to snazz up the background with my cabinets. And in doing so I’ve observed that a number of my little odds and ends and trinkets that I’ve collected over a number of a long time say quite a bit about me and my pursuits, however each knick-knack has a narrative to inform, too. And let me repeat: these things has been compiled over a long time of my life, as this kind of ornamental shelving doesn’t occur in a single day.
Taking a better take a look at my cabinets tells a narrative of a gaming journalist and author who’s coated a number of totally different particular video games whereas additionally having a deeper love for others. At one level, I used to be dead-set on accumulating each Overwatch Funko POP! determine. That was till the Symmetra determine took a nose-dive off of a shelf and destroyed the arm of a premium Overwatch Reaper statue that was a present from a good friend that I met via gaming. Reaper is buried someplace and Symmetra has been kicked to the curb in a closet or a field elsewhere, however another Overwatch heroes nonetheless stay all through.
I’ve spaced out my figures and statues with books on that backside shelf, however these even have a number of ties to gaming, just like the official Mass Impact books, the novelization of Steel Gear Stable, S.D. Perry’s traditional Resident Evil novels, and Hideo Kojima’s autobiography. The affect that video games have had on me could be seen in all the pieces.
The second shelf has numerous Future statues as a result of I’m undecided the place I’d be with out that franchise. If not for the hundreds of hours I’ve put into these video games, the skilled protection of it I’ve completed, or the chums I’ve made via it and due to it, I possible wouldn’t be right here, so it deserves its personal highlight.
You may’ve noticed some Ninja Turtles, too. That’s as a result of “turtle” was my first phrase, and TMNT have been my first nerd love. I used to be born in 1989 (ow) so that they have been and nonetheless are an enormous half of popular culture, as is Spider-Man who will also be seen throughout, my No. 1 favourite character of all time, and one which I’ve appeared to as a supply of inspiration all through life’s struggles.
The little Michelangelo plushie stands atop the trophy of my largest battle, a kidney-shaped pillow I used to be given within the hospital after my profitable kidney transplant in July 2023. I used to be born with kidney illness, suffered via dialysis for a few years, however got here out the opposite facet happier and more healthy.
However identical to me, my cabinets are a continuing work-in-progress, too. I’m at all times shifting one thing into a distinct space, transferring one thing out and changing it for an additional merchandise, and so forth. And identical to life, it’s not all happiness and positivity as a result of a few of these reminiscences are tied to unhappy or adverse emotions. As a result of that’s life.
This different shelf off to the facet options Mass Impact’s Garrus and Mordin (“Would’ve cherished to run checks on the seashells”) and Songbird from BioShock Infinite, two franchises which have had a profound affect on me. However the house above it on the wall is empty, crammed with alternative for one thing new. Or possibly one thing outdated.
With every statue and determine, every plushie or e book or commemorative merchandise, I’ve a reminiscence tied to it. That reminiscence may very well be an individual, a battle, an occasion, or simply one thing I get pleasure from. This stuff collect and accumulate over time like life expertise, and the years on our our bodies.
Getting outdated sucks, and it appears to make you a little bit of a pariah within the gaming neighborhood the place gamers and energetic members are seemingly getting youthful by the day. However getting old can be superior and the very best we will anticipate in life, as a result of it lets you look again in your journey and admire what you’ve got, so I feel we’d as properly all show our passions proudly.
Do you’ve got a webcam assembly backdrop? What does yours appear to be? If you happen to’re a gamer like me, do you’ve got your personal cabinets? Let me know within the feedback as a result of I genuinely would like to see what everybody else’s nerdy partitions appear to be.
