Last Year = Success; this time no Nerf? Help?

[Rrruffles]

Hey, All!

I'll be brief.

Last year I hosted my school's first game of HvZ (at St. Mary's College of CA), running it through the Campus Activities Board (the programming branch of our school's Associated Student Body). I worked very closely with the Assistant Dean of Student Life and we made lots of compromises to get this game going (no playing inside, no modded Nerfs, etc.) It was a huge success, and from what I hear, the administration loved it, and there is a huge buzz for it to come again, especially with the people who didn't participate last year.

This year, I wanted to make an Urban Gaming Club--like the one Penn State has--has to better organize events like HvZ, including Assassins and the like (organizing it myself last year was almost overwhelming). The Assistant Dean of Student Life (who oversees the non-event-based clubs on campus) suggested that the way that I was told to do this was to go through our Rec Sports organization. So I met with the person in charge of Rec Sports a month ago.

Here's what our meeting went like:
I brought Penn State's UGC constitution for her to peruse, and she seemed on board with the idea, though she wanted to iron out HvZ before we started talking about a club for it. (She wanted to focus on HvZ because it was the most tangible thing the school had done, then focus on the club later). She asked me of the several ways it could be played, and I explained the rules we had last year, including the unmodified aspect. I focused on the safety elements on the blasters, and where they were and were not permitted.

Her main issue was with the Nerf blasters. Her argument was essentially this:

- She can envision a menacing, shadowy figure with the silhouette of a gun. This image is not only frightening, but brings up thoughts of the Columbine Shootings. She feels strongly about this, and this is her biggest reason for not having Nerf.
- She does not want Rec Sports to be associated with that fearful image.
- Last year a player played only with socks, and that was okay. (Marshmallows are a no-no at my school)

She said that she would contact her "Rec Sport Friends" at other schools, I'm assuming to see if they have any experience with HvZ, and whether or not Rec Sports should be the organization that handles my club. I assumed that she would contact me again. (She hasn't. She never replies to emails. It took me weeks to track her down for an impromptu meeting)

I didn't challenge her argument there, because I felt that my foot was in the door--she was considering HvZ.

After that, though, I went back to the Assistant Dean of Student Life (the person I coordinated HvZ with before) and told her of my predicament. She thought that Nerf would be okay, and that last year the "No modding or painting" rule should cover that. She suggested that I do research about other schools and how they dealt with this then email the Rec Sports person and CC her with it.

I read over the pinned threads here, but still would appreciate some guidance. (If worst comes to worst, I could run it through the Campus Activities Board again, but this would not be beneficial to making a club, which is my long term goal: making something that will last for HvZ after I graduate.)

Thank you for your help!!

[TremoughsFate]

Her main issue was with the Nerf blasters. Her argument was essentially this:

- She can envision a menacing, shadowy figure with the silhouette of a gun. This image is not only frightening, but brings up thoughts of the Columbine Shootings. She feels strongly about this, and this is her biggest reason for not having Nerf.
- She does not want Rec Sports to be associated with that fearful image.
- Last year a player played only with socks, and that was okay. (Marshmallows are a no-no at my school)

This does seem like quite a predicament.
I think perhaps one step would be to bring a simple maverick before her and let her see that it is made of bright neon plastics that cannot be mistaken even in the dark and also how the shape is completely unlike that of a real gun. Equally mentioning that there was no such association in the previous game may help swing the case, as if nobody found it a problem last year it shouldn't suddenly have changed.

Really I think your best bet would be to read this: http://wiki.humansvszombies.org/index.php/Responding_to_a_Game_Challenge_or_Ban

It covers most bases!

[ritHvZack]

Is the Rec Sports thingy the only way you can make a club?  If you could form a "normal" club is that covered by someone else, that you could go talk to?

[SniperFox17]

From experience at our university, NEVER make HvZ a club or student organization that is sponsored by your campus.  Once you do, you have to strictly abide by their rules and regulations.  This happened to our school last fall and the next spring the mods removed it from being a student organization so we could play again.  It's kind of stupid how it worked that way but it sounds like the path you're heading on.

EDIT:  Seems I may have slightly necro'd this thread so forgive me if I did.