Campus club trying to make playing video games a more social experience
Gaming does not have to be an isolated activity. It can be a social activity as well, according to the leaders of Utah State University’s Gamers’ Guild.
“Don’t just sit at home and play the games by yourself – come and play with us,” said guild vice president Robert McConkie, a senior majoring in English.
Members of the Gamers’ Guild on campus not only play video games, but look at their place in our society and their impact on students. The guild, which formed October 2005, is meant to bring gamers together.
“We know there are gamers out there on campus, we just need to find them and get them here,” said Ryan Moeller, faculty adviser to the guild.
“We have this huge digital projector and screen, so even when there’s a lot of people playing, everyone’s got a good view — it’s awesome,” McConkie said. “We just get together, play games and have fun.”
Wilson Bateman, a senior majoring in English and guild unofficial president, said, “We also plan outside activities like big ‘Halo’ tournaments at Funatics.”
Bateman said that he has always loved playing the games because he was attracted to the storytelling.
“Games are good at teaching messages,” he said.
Each of the gamers said they have their own favorite games.
“Mine would have to be ‘Ms. Pac-Man’ because it had such a great story line,” Moeller said.
Bateman said his favorite game is “ChronoTrigger” on the Super NES game system, the first system he ever played on.
McConkie’s favorite is any game that is first-person-shooter, such as “GoldenEye 007” on the Nintendo 64 game system, he said.
After playing the games, the guild members discuss them and turn the findings over to the Learning Games Initiative, where they look at the statements games make and the effects they have on society.
Moeller, McConkie and Bateman, correspondents of the initiative, are taking the game “Katamari Damacy” and its statement about consumerism to the National Public Culture Conference in Albuquerque, N.M., next week.
A specific game is usually highlighted, but there are times when whole genres will be brought into the guild’s meetings.
“I love horror role-playing games. I like to be as freaked out as possible,” McConkie said. “Does that make me weird?”
He said video game genres are constantly merging and old games are being recast into different genres, like “Metroid Prime” remade into first-person shooter format on the Gamecube system.
The guild also looks back on game technology and forward to where it’s going.
Moeller said, “Remember when you played ‘Pong’ and you thought ‘I’m never going to get the hang of this!’
“They are making them as realistic as possible,” Moeller said. “The new ‘Battlestar Gallactica’ has flight in actual zero-gravity conditions.”
The new ‘Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas’ gives gamers the ability to build things into the character of each player, McConkie said.
For students who are gamers or are interested in becoming so, the Gamers’ Guild meets every Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Ray B. West Building Room 214.
-jminer@cc.usu.edu