Humans vs. Zombies game attacks Earlham
Wielding a Nerf Vulcan cannon, sophomore Robbie Bean left his room on second-floor Bundy on Monday evening, expecting to return in the same state in which he left. Little did he know, his world was about to change.
As Bean entered the stairway, a zombie charged him from behind the door, in an attack leaving him with one hour of humanity before he himself would hunger for the taste of human brains.
The attack on Bean is part of what some students at Earlham have been expecting for a while: a zombie invasion. The invasion began last Saturday, March 27, and continues through Friday, April 9, as part of a group of students playing Humans vs. Zombies, an advanced form of tag.
The game begins with one zombie, who feeds on Human players, making them Zombies who also must feed.
Humans defend themselves with melee weapons, Nerf guns and socks — used as ranged weapons — to stun Zombies for 15 minutes, during which they cannot feed on any Human.
Zombies have to feed every 48 hours, or else they die and are eliminated from the game.
Zombies win by tagging all Humans, whereas Humans win by starving the Zombies.
Humans, however, are protected in “safe zones,” which include academic buildings, school functions, dorm rooms, bathrooms, Saga and Saga lines, theaters and the coffee shop. The safe zone extends to within 10 feet of the location’s entrances.
Bandanas identify the players — Humans wear bandanas on their arms, while Zombies wear bandanas around their heads.
Junior Spencer Zimmerman brought the event to Earlham by creating a Facebook group, now listing over 100 members, for Earlham’s version of Humans vs. Zombies. Recently, he made a Facebook event, which listed 25 confirmed participants at the beginning of the function, and has since grown.
“It’s taken on a lot,” Zimmerman said. “I’m really surprised about the number of people who have expressed interest.”
Senior Patrick Raines, a Human as of Monday evening, found survival not as easy as some might expect.
“There’s more and more Zombies every day, and so each day I get new challenges,” he said.
Sophomore Kenneth Holbert, who became a Zombie on Tuesday, agreed that the game was demanding on Humans.
“Being a Human was certainly fun,” he said. “I had to reconsider how I got to places … because I’d have to go multiple different routes or I’d have to go with people.”
To combat these challenges, Holbert founded what he called “Zombie Watch,” which was designed “to keep the Human players informed of who was a Zombie and who was still alive” so that they would have a better chance of survival.
Sophomore Eric Schnitter noted that Bundy stands as a prominent zombie-infested area. Schnitter, a Zombie as of Monday evening, said that this situation made survival much more difficult for Bundy residents.
“Wellness floor [second-floor Bundy], where I live, happened to be the center of the zombie population,” he said. “My roommate and multiple other people were zombies, so it was very nerve wracking to wake up every single day and have to skitter outside the dooms.”
Some participants are dissatisfied with certain aspects of the game. For instance, players have questioned the fact that Runyan Center is not a safe zone, even though the rules state that “academic buildings” are.
“I believe Runyan should be a safe zone because there’s classes in there, there’s people trying to do their business in there, people work in there,” said freshman Alicca Rice. “We don’t have a right to interfere with that.”
Freshman Justin Vadas has participated in Humans vs. Zombies at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., and thought that Earlham’s game could improve.
“What happened with this game is that the rules that were set up weren’t geared towards Earlham’s campus,” he said.
Along with general organization, Vadas thinks specific rules could be implemented, giving the example of uniform bandanas to use in the game.
“[In this game,] there were a couple incidents where a bystander was wearing a bandana around their head, and then they got pegged with a Nerf dart because people thought they were zombies,” he said.
However, Vadas notes that this event was intended as a test-run, and is participating in an effort to improve Earlham’s version for the future.
“We’re in the process right now of implementing the comments from the players and from bystanders to try and make a better game for next semester,” he said. “By next semester, this will be a lot better, a lot more fun, and we’re hoping to get a lot more people to play.”
Students at Goucher College in Towson, Md. invented the original Humans vs. Zombies game in 2005. The game has since spread and “is played at over 200 colleges and universities across the country,” according to the game’s Web site.
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