The Online Reflector

The event Humans vs. Zombies was held by UIndy Gamers Nov. 4-8 with a new theme and new missions.
HVZ is a campus-wide event in which students playing either humans or zombies are given missions every night at 9 p.m. to complete while trying to survive the apocalypse. Zombies will  try to infect humans and turn them into zombies, while humans will try to stun the zombies with Nerf blasters or socks.
Senior biology major Marcus Montgomery, the head moderator of HVZ, said the game first started the first semester of his freshman year. Alumnus Phil Hassman was the first head moderator. Hassman had heard about the game and decided to bring it to UIndy. Alumnus Ben Lewis then took over after the first semester and ran the games for three semesters. Finally, the UIndy Gamers RSO took over the game and continues to run it.
As the head moderator, Montgomery not only thinks of missions for the humans or zombies and makes sure everything runs smoothly, but he also thinks of a theme for the game. This semester’s theme was Rangers vs. Zombies, in honor of the 20th anniversary of “Power Rangers.”
At the beginning of the week, students who wanted to play signed up at tables in the Schwitzer Student Center. With the help of the website hvzsource.com, UIndy Gamers made sure that every student participating had signed up and signed a waiver. The website also had a set of rules for everyone to follow.
The students were then given a bandana. If the bandana was on the arm of the student, that meant he or she was a human. If it was on the head, it meant he or she was a zombie. Some moderators would wear the bandanas around their legs.
The event is fueled by adrenaline as humans try to survive, according to sophomore history major and moderator Richard Olsen.
“I just love seeing people chase each other,” he said. “The fact that humans are trying to shoot at the zombies or the zombies are traveling in packs and chasing the humans makes it fun.”
Olsen and Montgomery both stress that HVZ is a chance for students, especially freshmen, to meet people and make their college experience unique.
“Because college is supposed to be the best years of your life, you don’t want to spend your whole time studying … in your dorm or at your apartment,”  Montgomery said. “Make your experience fun. Meet other people. Get out there … Basically, it goes back to making your experience at UIndy whatever you make it.”
Not only is it a chance for students to make friends and be included, but Olsen said some may be inspired to keep the tradition going.
“We try to keep in mind [that] we don’t know who might end HVZ,” he said. “But we always try to keep people entertained and see who would be considered staying and working with it as an actual moderator in the future.”
If anyone missed the event this semester, HVZ will be held next semester, and Montgomery is thinking of a “Supernatural” theme then. In the meantime, students can get their socks and Nerf blasters together, study their survival guides and remember the most important thing: survive.