The Campus Activity Board’s “Humans vs. Zombies” was a weeklong campus event from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1 that had people paranoid, but left them disappointed, leaving room for plenty of needed improvement.
Before the game, all players received a bandana. Humans had to wear their bandana on their arm while zombies wore them as headbands to indicate their team.
Any human tagged by a zombie joins the zombie team and wears their bandana accordingly. For self defense, humans could stun zombies for 30 minutes with throwable sock bundles or sock flails, leaving them unable to tag.
During the game, 15 feet within a building or parking lot is considered a safe zone. Each day, the games started at 7 a.m. and ended at 10 p.m.
This was a promising setup, but, during play, there were multiple hiccups.
Day one was immediately difficult. CAB advisor Shawn Burnette specifically picked the first zombie called “patient zero” and instructed them not to wear their headband on the first day. This had humans wary of everybody they walked around, including non-players.
Humans questioned how quiet the day was in the game’s group chat until Stone Nicholson, a senior forestry major, was revealed as patient zero. Unfortunately, it was because someone he tagged complained about Nicholson camping outside of the dining hall, posting his picture in the chat.
“I was having a phone call outside because D-Hall is too loud, but I was hoping I would find people,” Nicholson said. “I measured it out to make sure I wasn’t in the wrong in case I saw someone, and I tagged her in the spot that wasn’t in the buffer.”
This sparked controversy about rules regarding camping and safe zones, but it ended with the tagged player being excused.
Day two was less eventful, even with more zombies. Humans begged for “special events” mentioned in the Humans vs. Zombies preparation slideshow. However, some humans decided to group up and hunt zombies.
One hunter, Jake Kelly, said, “It was very paranoia-inducing, but in the end, I was glad to survive.”
Day three picked up intensity but still faltered. Burnette held the first special event by announcing that there was a “care package” in Branch Hall.
At first glance, this was perfect for the zombies to set a trap, requiring humans to proceed carefully. On the contrary, many humans arrived without issues. More controversial was how the “care package” was a club T-shirt advertising CAB and its many events—none of which included Humans vs. Zombies.
“I was honestly disappointed by the shirt… We had nothing to relate to us having participated in the school event that actually referenced back to it,” said forestry major Kat Bailey. “I don’t want to be a walking advertisement.”
Players were disappointed that this was the only special event that occurred in the entire game.
On day four, the zombie stun time was reduced to 5 minutes. Some humans became so bored that they willingly got tagged under the assumption that playing as a zombie was more fun. Most zombies began to target senior wildlife major Jeremiah Jarrells, who was notorious in the game for his skepticism of all players regardless of their team and his agility.
“[Being targeted] made the game more exciting. It put me on guard every time when I’m outside the campus buildings, and I had to strategically think about my escape plans,” said Jarrells.
While day five ended early, it ended on a sour note since no game changes were made. Humans had to “survive until the CDC arrived,” and expected a glorious sendoff or predicted they had to run to safety. Unfortunately, all they had to do was not get tagged until 12 p.m.
According to Burnette, 43 out of 83 players that signed up were active. Over the course of five days, only 12 became zombies.
“Due to the low count of players and my busy schedule, it was very hard to find people playing around campus,” said Nicholson.
There was also no reward, with the only items players could receive being their bandana and the CAB T-shirts. Many inquired whether or not the event was worth their time, given that some players didn’t attend classes, club meetings, and even the dining hall to stay alive.
An overwhelming majority of players claimed the event needs stricter, more specific rules and exciting feats to be the truly harrowing experience it aimed to be. With more feedback and better ideas, Humans vs. Zombies could become a staple in October events for CAB—just not in its current state.