Today, I was standing outside of Clements Hall talking on the phone. Out of nowhere, a man with two large guns ran swiftly up to me, shot me in the chest, and killed me. Fortunately, the bullets were slow moving and made of foam. Unfortunately, this means I am officially out of the Nerf Assassination game in my residence hall, Virginia-Snider.
This game may seem juvenile to the non-V-S resident, and I will grant you, it definitely is. But that is the best part. There is no better stress reliever than the ability to run up behind someone with a Nerf gun outside of the cafeteria, shoot them and yell, “I KILLED YOU!” It’s like a flashback to running around playing Power Rangers in my backyard when I was in kindergarten.
I only recently transferred into Virginia-Snider from Mary Hay, and I decided to participate so I could get to know people. It worked very well. You are assigned targets, and you must find out who they are so you can hunt them down. At the same time, someone has been assigned to hunt you, but you aren’t told exactly who. Through a process of elimination and an intense process of questioning all other players, you can find out and you do your best do avoid them. You form alliances, set people up, and wait in the rain outside of your targets class to shoot them as the exit the building. Needless to say, all of the networking to achieve your goal makes introducing yourself very easy.
This game eliminates the problem of awkward introductions. It puts everyone on an equal playing field and fosters discussions. You are forced to talk and strategize if you want to stay in the game, so it encourages random introductions and exciting conversations among strangers.
It is also highly organized. A Web site was created to keep track of who is killed and what teams are left in the game. The mind behind the organized game is Alex Ehmke, a resident assistant in V-S He assigns teams and targets, and reformulates the game based on who is left after someone is killed.
I have to admit, I’m pretty impressed by the whole process. It’s very organized, and though you may not think so, V-S takes this game very seriously. Over one third of V-S’s residents are participating, and all of them made special trips to the store to pick out their perfect gun. Many even modified them for better performance. Leave it to college students to make children’s toys especially violent.
The best part about this game is the small amount of time it takes. Busy college students are in no place to take on a game that requires such intense work and planning that they begin to ignore their studies. This game takes that into consideration, and only allows you to shoot people outside. Buildings are completely off limits. So, the only time you spend worrying and looking around is on your way to class or the cafeteria. Which, if you ask me, only encourages me to hurry up and get there fast.
Even though I have been killed and can no longer participate in shooting, I can still tip people off, help in planning, and look out for my friends. So, even if you get out early, you are still just as crucial as you were when you were armed and dangerous.
Basically, this is an awesome game. I wish that games and events that required this much networking and planning among students took place more often. I think that if they did, students in general would be more enthusiastic about going out of their way to meet new people and actively participate in school.
Jessica Huseman is a sophomore CCPA and Political Science double major. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].
