Adriana Daniel
Equinox staff
For seven years on the Keene State College campus, students have been fighting off the zombie race with the on-campus club Humans vs. Zombies. With the club gone, the Gamers Guild has decided it is their turn to save the day.
Humans vs. Zombies, after seven years, has been dissolved as a club on the Keene State College campus. After their final semester in the spring of 2018, the club was left with no new participants and an e-board of graduating seniors. The Gamers Guild has picked up the long-standing game, hoping to keep the fun alive.
President of the Gamers Guild Joseph Erwin said, “All of the e-board graduated at the end of last year, leaving them with no effective command. One of the members of Gamers Guild wanted to make sure Humans vs Zombies was getting enough attention, and we said alright.”
In the past, Humans Vs. Zombies was played outside for a week. A third of the players were zombies who were attempting to “kill” the humans, and the rest of the players were humans trying to stay alive for the entire week. Usually played with 40-60 students, the Gamers Guild weren’t able to gather up the same about of interest from former years. Erwin said, “We’ve had decent amount of interested [students,] not the largest, but a decent amount. I think we’ve had about 20-25 people who are on the email list.”
With the change of ownership, the Gamers Guild did not be playing the game over a week’s time, but instead an evening. Saturday Nov. 10th, the Gamers Guild played their first ever sponsored event for Humans vs. Zombies.
The event was played in the Student Center, at 7 p.m. The Student Center was not closed for the game, since players are instructed to leave “civilians” alone and any interaction with them can lead to explosion of the game. Players were divided into three teams, and in rounds, the players will swap out being zombies and being humans. The goal of the game is to find the one of three ‘bombs’ hidden in the Student Center. Each ‘bomb’ will be labeled with a different team’s number, to win you most find your team’s ‘bomb.’
Daniel Siletti, a junior at Keene, signed up for Gamers Guild with his friends because it sounded fun. When asked if he would ever be a part of rebuilding of the Humans vs. Zombies Club, Siletti said: “I don’t know, I’d probably lean toward no. The reason I was hesitant to sign up was because I get a little annoyed about the whole ‘zombie craze’ that’s going on. It seems a little over the top, and I think it’s a little forced, and that it’s time to move on to a different subject, so I’d say probably no.”
Erwin said: “Primarily we are Gamers Guild, we are giving [Humans vs. Zombies] the same treatment we would give any other Gamers Guild event… essentially we are sponsoring a few events to hopefully to gain new members for it. Largely this is to build a new player base and make a new e-board.” The Gamers Build does not aspire to have Humans vs. Zombies be theirs forever. Erwin got the idea to adopt Humans vs. Zombies from an Alumni, Dmitry Borisov. Erwin said “Dmitry Borisov was a part of Humans vs. Zombies while he was here, but right now he is an alumni who just works here. But he attends Gamers Guild and takes an active role in student life.” Borisov declined to comment.
Adriana Daniel can be contacted at adaniel@kscequinox.com
