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From April 5 to April 12, zombies roamed free on the Ole Miss campus, while humans bearing Nerf guns tried to stop their invasion.
The commotion was all a part of an elaborate game of tag called Humans versus Zombies, which has taken hold in many universities in the U.S. and has spread to six continents. Ole Miss was registered to have 184 students actively playing on the game’s official website.
Tyler Penny, an Ole Miss student who played in the game described it to be a campus-wide game of modified tag. Zombies could tag humans to infect them and turn them to zombies, or humans could shoot at zombies and render them inactive for 15 minutes.
“In order to play, you had to register online before the game started. Humans could tag zombies with either thrown socks or nerf blasters, some people even went to lengths of using marshmallows. But, if a zombie tagged a human, he would become a zombie and the original zombie would register him as no longer human on the website,” Penny said.
Humans were visible to zombies by wearing an armband around their arms, while zombies were required to wear them as headbands. If all of the zombies had tagged the humans to be zombies, the zombies would win. However, if any humans were remaining by the end, the humans would be victorious.
The game was put on halt from the moment a student walked into a building on campus, to prevent disruption to classes. In order to avoid the humans from hiding in buildings, missions were assigned to the humans to put them out in public. If a zombie is unsuccessful in converting a human to a zombie in 48 hours, they would be considered dead from starvation.
The humans were successful during the final mission the night of April 12, which lasted until midnight and had 12 humans left to fight. Only three of the 184 students remained human by the end, which is still considered a victory.
“It brought me to meet new and interesting people. It is definitely exciting when you are surrounded by 15 or more zombies outside of Peabody when you come out of class,” Penny said.
Jackson Fitzgerald, an Ole Miss student who played for the zombie team, was interested in the origin of the game and how far it had spread.
“The game had originated in Goucher College in Baltimore, but by only a few people. Now, it’s ridiculous, it has spawned all across the world. Over 600 colleges have had games on their campuses and it has been in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and England that I know of. It was stated by just two guys in Baltimore,” Fitzgerald said.
Each game of Humans versus Zombies is organized on the ground by local moderators. Gnarwhal Studios is the company which oversees the games from start to finish, and was actually created by friends of the original inventors of the game.
The website humansversuszombies.org states that their mission is “to spread the game as far and wide as possibly by providing it for free.”
In order to participate, there is no need to pay anything to register on the website or play the game. The company even offers a free game hosting service called HvZ SOURCE that helps people organize their games. The company gains profits by selling merchandise on their website.
The website also offers advice for those seeking to create their own game. They suggest to start by viewing the Dungeon Master’s Guide. There are also alternate rule sets available on the Multimedia page of their website and have public forums. The website also says to contact them for any help at their email address, info@hvzsource.com.
Facebook offers multiple groups, which are free for anyone to join, that people who are experienced veterans of the game or others who are simply interested have started. The purpose is to provide a way to contact or keep in touch with others.
Humansvszombies.org states that the purpose of the games is to create a teamwork situation where people of all ages, races, and backgrounds can come and work together, eliminating social barriers.
“Many players report that Humans vs. Zombies is one of the most meaningful experiences of their lives. The game creates deep bonds between players, instantly removing social boundaries by forcing players to engage as equals and cooperate for their survival,” the Humansvszombies.org website states.
When this statement was read aloud to Penny, he agreed that this indeed was the result of the game. Penny also spoke of the many friends he has made and the lasting experience it provided not only to his social life, but to his class attendance.
“I looked forward to come to campus every day.” Penny said.
The web address Olemiss.HvZSource.com is the personal website dedicated to this past game and can be accessed by anyone without registration. There is no indication on the official website, Humansvszombies.org, that another Ole Miss game is scheduled for the future.
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