Zombies invade campus
The University of Melbourne faced a zombie invasion on Easter Sunday, with hundreds of people – students and non-students alike – participating in a zombie-themed nerf war all across the campus. Tsubu, the campus bar, and the southern entrance to South Lawn carpark were transformed into human bases, while North Court became the spawn point for zombies.
The premise of the game was simple: there are a bunch of humans (four hundred students) and a small outbreak of zombies (initially, a dedicated band of volunteers). But, as zombie lore promises us, once bitten by a zombie one joins the growing horde. To win, intrepid survivors had to last from noon until 8pm and make it safely to the evacuation zone. We have it on authority that no-one achieved the latter part of this feat.
All players were required to produce their own nerf guns and wear a coloured armband to designate their team, but after that, stylistic choices were up to them. This meant that some students came in normal workout gear and some came decked out, head to toe, in commando gear. Full khakis, helmet, boots, the lot. One team even had in-ear radio devices for communication and a helmet-mounted GoPro.
The excitement was maintained throughout the long day with side missions available to teams on Zedtown’s app, including the release of an indestructible witch late in the game. Yas, a volunteer on the day, said that despite the long game time, “there were things happening all the time”, adding that it was “incredibly immersive”. The app provided teams with the ability to report their kills and thereby provide up-to-date information on the number of zombies and survivors, so humans could see themselves slowly becoming outnumbered.
Luke, crowned Zombie King for making the most kills as a zombie, expressed how much fun he’d had during the day, but also confusion at the way humans reacted to him as a zombie: “None of them start sprinting and then turn around and shoot you. They just run. If you’re faster than them, that’s it. You’ve got them. I don’t know why they don’t turn around – they’ve got the gun. I guess it’s just the psychology of it.” Rachel, a human, had a different take on the psychology of the situation, stating that the day had shown her what she would be like in a real zombie apocalypse, and that she “did not like what she saw”.
The event was coördinated by the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU) Activities Department. It was organised it in conjunction with Zedtown, who organise similar events at University campuses across Australia.