For those of you who didn’t know, Humans Vs. Zombies occurred during the week of Sept. 19th through Sept. 24th. This year’s fall game storyline was derived from the realm of DC Comic’s Gotham City. It was the perfect blend between zombie and comic book culture.
This fall game’s head admin was Chris Guarnera.
Below you’ll find an interview conducted by one of the OkState Her Campus writers, Justine Smith, about his experience on being the Head Admin for the 2016 fall game, as well as a player for previous games.
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JS: Tell us a little about yourself.
CG: I am 27 years old, a Junior majoring in computer sciences. I’m in the military, US Army Reserves, with the rank of Sergeant. I’ve been deployed two times, and my next deployment will be during the spring semester of 2017.
JS: When / How did you first hear about HvZ?
CG: I first heard about HvZ in the spring of 2012, via my roommate at the time. My roommate tried to get me to play. I was dating a girl at the time who had a love for zombie culture, so I decided to give it a try as something we both could get involved in. We both went to the Humandatory Meeting, but she never showed up for the missions after that. I, on the other hand, was interested, and the rest is history.
JS: How would you explain HvZ to non-players?
CG: It is a very large scale game of tag that takes place across the entirety of OSU’s campus and lasts an entire week. There are 2 teams, humans and zombies. Zombies are it and are trying to tag humans. If a zombie tags a human, then the human now becomes a zombie and increases their team’s numbers. Humans can defend themselves in three ways. Being very fast and outrunning a zombie (good luck), using a foam dart blaster and shooting a zombie before they tag you, or using a rolled up sock (Preferably clean) to hit the zombie before tagging you. Humans win the game by completing the storyline and completing the missions. Zombies win by stopping them from completing the storyline.
JS: Do you have a favorite game in HvZ?
CG: My favorite game at OSU would have to be game four, because it was extremely hardcore, and it was the game in which my squad made a name for themselves. We kicked so much ass in that game. We were a group of fourteen people who were greatly feared by the zombies because of our aggression and lack of fear.
JS: What made you want to become the Head Admin of HvZ?
CG: I’m very passionate about the OkState HvZ, and I felt I was the best equipped to take the steps necessary to ensure the health of the game.
JS: How did you come up with HvZ Gotham City?
CG: Last summer, I reached out to the Global Admins, who are other admins across the country, to see what the best games were in HvZ history. The name that kept coming up was the Missouri State’s Gotham City game. I reached out to the admins of that game, and asked if I could use that as a platform for our game.They happily obliged and even was apart of our original game discussions that we were able to use to jumpstart our own game. So we had a platform set in place, and we took it from there to create the game as our own.
JS: Who would you usually be running with, if you were a player for this game?
CG: Niko Perez (pictured below, on the right). We have fought and died together many, many times. Us as a duo are unkillable. We have taken on and won against many, many, MANY zombies.
JS: How would you explain being Head Admin to those who are wishing for that position for future games?
CG: It is a great challenge, but very rewarding when you see the hard work your team and you have put together come to life and enjoyed by the players. There are very few challenges I have come across that compare, in regards to stress and hard work, but it is very rewarding.
JS: Any last words/advice for the incoming humans/admins of the next game?
CG: A single quote is hard for me to do, however my most important advice is that you can’t make everyone happy. Change is often times needed and most people will try to maintain the status quo rather than do something new, even if it is the most healthy thing to do. You need to stand up and make those tough decisions even in the face of adversity. There are many times where you are going to have to make a decision that might not be the best course of action, but make sure to stand by your decision and take responsibility for it. Don’t blame someone else or use a scapegoat.
As head admin, everything that happens ultimately falls upon you and you should be the one owning up to that.
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If you would like to keep up with the game, or want to be a player, you can go like their page on Facebook, Humans Vs. Zombies – Oklahoma State University.
If you would like access to their website, it’s http://hvz.okstate.edu/en/