Colonnade

Issue date: 10/30/09 Section: Campus News

Media Credit: Matthew Chambers From top, freshman Adam Mitchell and sophomore Scott Wofford prepare for battle against zombie players.

Media Credit: Matthew Chambers

Media Credit: Sarah Mellor Junior rhetoric major Patricia Fredrickson, a zombie, "kills" human sophmore b iology major Devin McGinty.

While standing in the stairwell of Sanford Hall, freshman Adam Mitchell spotted eight zombies heading directly toward him. Armed with only a Nerf blaster and a sock, he took off out the backdoor while the horde followed close behind. Mitchell attempted to fight off his foes by using the foam darts fired from his blaster. Despite stunning one, the other zombies cornered him and were able to infect Mitchell while he was trying to reload.

"Lasting against eight zombies for a good six minutes," Mitchell said. "I was proud, an epic moment."

Like Mitchell, humans all over campus are at war with zombies in a game called Zombies vs. Humans.

These zombies are not the typical slow moving, decaying corpses of the movies. In fact, the only thing that sets humans apart from zombies is the location of their bandannas.

Two students, Mason McNay and Matt Boyle, and a group of their friends started the campus-wide game.

"Matt called me and told me that if I was playing the game I was one of the initial infected zombies," said junior Jeff Redwine, who was one of the first to be given the task of infecting humans. "It was mine and two other peoples' jobs to get as many zombies as we could into the game."

McNay and Boyle used rules from other campuses that also host Zombies vs. Humans to help create the GCSU variation of the game.

"We had to fix (the rules) to fit the smaller campus," Boyle said. "We've been tweaking a lot this week."

The rules are simple, every Monday at midnight select individuals are infected and become zombies. The zombies try to exterminate the human race by infecting human players. Players wear bandannas on their arm to show they are humans, whereas zombie players place their bandannas around their neck or on their head.

Zombies can infect humans with a simple two-hand touch. To fight off these touches, humans can use non-modified, brightly colored Nerf blasters or socks against the undead. If hit in the head, zombies are stunned until morning, if anywhere else and they are only incapacitated for 15 minutes.

Infection and combat can only occur on campus, but not in the residence halls during quiet hours. There are various safe zones scattered around campus, including places such as the dining hall, bathrooms and active classrooms.

Upon being infected, humans have 30 minutes to complete their mutation into a zombie. Players are responsible for timing themselves and mutating in accordance with the rules.

"It's an honor-code based game," Boyle said. "If you're hit admit it."

During the first week of the game play, Director of Campus Life Tom Miles sent out a message focusing on safety issues regarding Zombies vs. Humans.

"Games involving simulated weapon, such as secret agent, tag, or assassin are exceedingly dangerous and have resulted in deaths of students nationwide," the message said. "Student organizations or other groups may not organize or engage in such contests regardless of location."

After the message was sent out, McNay, Boyle, and Redwine met with Miles and discussed the game's future on the GCSU campus.

Following the meeting, a few rule changes were pointed out in another message from Miles. The change was made that Nerf equipment "may be used and they MUST be bright red, green, yellow, or orange in color." Players must also drop all Nerf equipment in the presence of Public Safety to assure maximum safety of students.

Despite the setbacks, Zombies vs. Humans continues to gather more support and players.

"We initially started with about 60 people," Redwine said. "We're pushing 300 after three days of play. It's growth I didn't even imagine."

According to McNay, the game's popularity is owed completely to the appeal of zombies.

"If someone invited you to run around with a group of friends and hit people with socks, you'd take a few steps back and say it's stupid," McNay said. "But if it's Zombies vs. Humans, it's a pop culture popularity thing."

McNay and Boyle plan to harness that popularity to grow the game.

"We're going to become an official club and get some funding," McNay said. "We got invited to a eight-man tournament over at Georgia Tech."

A Facebook group has been created to help contact current players, but joining the group is not a requirement to play. Currently, the game is completely open to the entire GCSU community.

"Everyone's welcome to join," Boyle said. "All you need is an armband and a sock."

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