By Brianna Robbins Contributing Writer
Humans vs. Zombies is about to rock the UMF campus once again, and just in time for Halloween. “Humans vs. Zombies is, at its core, a giant game of tag,” Cheyenne Candow, a participator for nine semesters, explained.
The game entails, as the title suggests, a hoard of people acting as “zombies” versus a group of humans. The goal on the zombie side is to tag all of the humans, converting them into a new, brain-loving zombie form. The goal of the remaining humans is to survive.
Humans are equipped at first with melee weapons made of socks, and gradually get to upgrade their weapons to include nerf guns. These upgrades can be obtained after nightly missions, which land this year on Sunday, October 21, 2018 through Thursday, October 25, 2018.
These missions are required gameplay to get participants active in the plot of the game. Candow went on to explain past missions: “Each semester, we pick a plot that will influence what kind of missions we have and how they’re explained. Some of my favorite plots have been: warring frats, forced cybernetic enhancements, and one where an ancient curse had been released.”
The person in charge of this semester’s campaign is Raven Walczak, who wrote the plot for the upcoming game. The central story involves a group of humans trying to stop a demon from opening the gates of Hell before the full moon.
When asked the challenges of heading the game, Walczak commented, “A lot of planning actually goes into Humans vs. Zombies. The plot writer is responsible for writing five missions that will happen each night from Sunday to Thursday during Humans vs. Zombies. Aside from the plot writer’s responsibilities, there is a moderating body that is constantly refereeing the game and making sure everything is safe, fair, and fun. Before I became a moderator I honestly didn’t realize how much [work] went into it.”
Walczak went on to explain their favorite part of the game: “Each semester has different missions, but there are trope missions that also happen each semester, like the discovery mission, holding location mission, and escort mission. My favorite would have to be the escort missions because we allow our escorts to do whatever they please when being escorted.”
When asked what her favorite part of the Humans vs. Zombies campaign was, Candow said, “My favorite parts are when a ton of people are playing and it’s midweek with sizable forces on both sides, and players are camping out in front of the student center, zombies waiting for openings, humans on guard.”
Candow continued, “There’s this awesome sense of camaraderie, and it’s one of the only times I feel any sort of campus-wide connection, even though it’s only like…ten percent of campus at most.”
If you would like to participate in Humans vs. Zombies this semester, it will be held from October 19, 2018 through October 25, 2018, and signs up will be held during common time.