Before I begin my discussion of the zombie outbreak on college campuses, I’d like to apologize for the errors I made in last week’s post and the resulting irritation in my readers. Yes, it was sloppy of me not to catch the incorrect date and season of a film and television program, but please keep in mind that I am a blogger and by no means an expert on zombies. I simply write about what I know based on my own experiences and research. Granted, next time I will be certain to check dates.
I would also like to thank the anonymous commenter who drew my attention to these flaws, which will be corrected today.
Now, to business!
Each time I walk into the campus library, I pause and examine the flyers and advertisements covering the bulletin board. After a few years of this mechanical activity the words start to run together. I no longer notice things like “work for students,” “room for rent,” or “free wifi.”
One morning early in spring semester of last year, I scanned the board disinterestedly as usual, but a new word had appeared among the many predictable flyers: ZOMBIE.
As you can guess, I got incredibly excited, and by excited I mean jumping up and down and trying not to shriek my excitement in one of those high-pitched girly outbursts.
When I finally calmed down enough to read the flyer, I discovered that it was an advertisement for a game called Humans Vs. Zombies (HvZ), which was to be played at USF for the first time the very next week!
I had never heard of the game before. Invented in 2005 by Goucher College students Brad Sappington and Chris Weed, the game quickly spread to over 200 campuses all over the country, and recently all over the world. The game just started in Australia!
For those who are unfamiliar with HvZ, it is a massive moderated game of tag played on college campuses around the country and recently, around the world. Students wishing to play register online, where they are given an ID code. This code must be written on an index card or slip of paper and carried on a player at all times.
Everyone begins the game as a human and must wear a noticeable bandana around one’s arm to designate their status. However, the organization hosting the game secretly selects a few “original zombies” who are not bound by the bandana-rule. These few spread the virus rapidly in the first twenty-four hours. Once caught by a zombie, players hand over their ID code, which the zombie uses to report a kill, and then tie their bandanas around their heads to denote their joining of the ranks of undead. You are only safe from a zombie attack when you are inside a building. Parking garages do not count. Beware.
How can you defend yourself? Humans are allowed to throw balled-up socks at the zombies, which freezes them for fifteen minutes. Yeah, not very comforting, right?
Traditionally, humans win when the zombies starve to death, and zombies win if they catch all of the humans. This particular rule has been altered at USF to allow the game to be played in a specific time period.
Okay, now you know the basics.
Playing for the first time, I had no idea how strenuous the game would actually be. Of course I know that if/when the zombie apocalypse actually occurs, I not only need to be able to run, but also be stealthy and scheming. Unfortunately I’m one of those people who trips over her own feet and runs into things frequently, so my first game didn’t go very well. My advice, if you aren’t a runner and can’t be stealthy: hide. I hid everywhere, in between vending machines and cars, in the midst of a group of people I didn’t know, even behind the library dumpster. (By the way, that last one is a zombie hotspot now. If you play, don’t hide there unless you actually want to be caught.)
But sadly, you can’t hide forever. On the very last day of the game, I found myself needing to walk either directly in front of the Marshall Center or end up late for class. I placed my bandana around the arm not facing the building and tried my best to appear like a normal student and not one of the only surviving humans in an imaginary invasion of the undead.
This doesn’t work if you’re also trying to look out for zombies.
I heard footsteps pounding behind me and reaching quickly into my bag, I pulled out three fuzzy slipper socks. It wasn’t enough. There were five of them coming at me at once, a few of which were very athletic. I aimed my socks at them, hitting two but missing the fastest. I turned and ran as fast I could, mentally kicking myself for not being in better shape. My lungs hurt and my legs were getting numb. I couldn’t run any farther.
WHAM!
The zombie, apparently making up for my inability to continue fleeing, couldn’t stop running. He ran right into me and nearly knocked me over. Defeated, bruised, but a little relieved to be honest, I gave up my ID card and put my bandana around my head.
You’d be amazed at how different if feels to be a zombie. As a human I felt constantly jumpy and scared, nervous that someone would spring from a bush and scare the daylights out of me. As a zombie, that fear is gone. I sported my bandana proudly and watched the humans run. I couldn’t chase them of course.
Christians in Action (CIA), the student organization who brought the game to USF, made it possible again during the fall 2010 semester. This time around, well over a thousand people participated. It was amazing. Bandanas were everywhere.
I was ready.
I still couldn’t run, but I had the stealth-mode down, and I could aim a bit better with my socks. With my new survival skills I made it through the entire week and only fell during the final battle, which was an epic game of capture the flag.
The fall 2010 game brought a new addition to the game: Zombie Prom!
I had more fun at Zombie Prom than I had at my own high school proms, perhaps because everyone who attended the HvZ event had a similar interest. There were chocolate fountains with skulls on top, Halloween lights and tons of candy, and the DJ played “Thriller” and the “Time Warp” over and over. Of course, the repetition of the latter song led to the dance floor (and me) being covered in fake blood.
There were so many interpretations of zombies represented. There were undead Disney princesses, prom queens, and pirates. Her Campus USF founder Daylina Miller came as a Steampunk Zombie, and I constructed a costume that at least vaguely resembled Milla Jovovich as Alice in the Resident Evil film series.
It was the most fun I’ve had since I’ve been in college.
Sadly, all good things really do seem to come to an end. The game will not be played at USF this semester. From what I’ve heard, the administration finds the game a bit dangerous.
True, the game does have its faults. Nerf swords have been banned in the game because a few people found a way to make them actually hurt people. Players ignore crosswalks and run idiotically in front of cars. People cheat, like with any game. People trip and fall and come to Zombie Prom with real wounds.
All fun games have side effects, don’t they? I wish that we could just emphasize caution and common sense and still play our game. This may be my last semester at USF, and I was looking forward to chasing zombies one more time (while they’re still pretend).
HvZ, despite its pitfalls, is really a good experience for college students. The game is usually held around midterm time to give students an outlet for all the stress and panic in their academic lives. What will we do this week without HvZ to distract us from worrying over our exams and papers?
We shouldn’t be losing HvZ because some silly people can’t follow the rules. The game is important to us. It matters because without it many of us would never have met hundreds of other students who share our interests.
I enjoyed getting to make friends with fellow students who are just as zombie-crazed as me. I loved knowing that I belonged to a community, even one as whacky as HvZ. Although I probably won’t get to play here again, I am going to try bringing the game to my graduate school, and I sincerely hope that my friends here can bring it back to USF.
*Photos by Daylina Miller
If you are interested in learning more about Humans Vs. Zombies in general, visit:
http://humansvszombies.org/
For information specific to USF:
http://cia.hvzsource.com/