Newly chartered “MC Gamers” is ready to press start this semester
“This is so exciting!” said MC Gamers president, Renee Reeve.
Reeve set down her notebook as the first club meeting of the semester came to a close. After a rocky beginning at the tail end of last Spring, the newly chartered campus club is making up for lost time with a calendar already packed with events for the coming weeks.
MC Gamers – which existed as an interest group for several years but only became officially chartered near the end of the 2016 spring semester – is dedicated to bringing students together around games of all forms. Video games, card and board games – even tabletop role-playing games are represented.
“When I went to college…I found that it was harder to form a group of friends to play [games] with,” said faculty sponsor Robert Lowe, assistant professor of the computer science department. “What really excites me about MC Gamers is that it will help students find people to continue their gaming hobby while in college.”
MC Gamers newfound prominence can be attributed to current president, Reeve, who upon being elected last semester radically reformed the club to be more, inclusive and organized. Originally, club events and meetings were handled solely by the club president.
“That much pressure on one person and events could not come out as frequent,” said Reeve.
In its current form, MC Gamers’ events are now subdivided to different representatives who each handle a certain type of game. This has allowed for events to be both more frequent and more varied, as each member of the “Council of Gamers,” as Reeve calls it, is able to plan and organize their own events while the president Reeve, vice president Wesley Blevins, and treasurer Rhiannon Williams oversee promotion, quality and room arrangements.
As for the events themselves, MC Gamers has already held several successful game nights – featuring games as varied as “Magic the Gathering” and “Cards Against Humanity” – and has many, many more in the pipeline.
“October is when the real fun begins,” said Reeve. “We are dedicating all of October to scary and spooky games. Every week will be a different spooky event . . . and at the end of the month around Halloween, we are going to hold a Murder Mystery Dinner Party in the House in the Woods!”
Come November, MC Gamers plans to host a “Pokémon: Sun & Moon” launch party, as well as Maryville College’s bi-annual Super Smash Bros. tournament.
So far, students have met MC Gamers with extreme eagerness. At their booth at the Opportunities of a Lifetime fair, the half-table allotted to the club proved far too small to accommodate the swarm of students taking interest in the club. “The turn out to our last couple of events has been great, as well!” Reeve added.
MC Gamers is quickly shaping up into one of Maryville College’s most exciting new clubs, and from the looks of things is showing no signs of slowing down. Which isn’t surprising, as more than anything, Reeve stressed that “MC Gamers” is a club dedicated to the student body.
“I want everyone to experience the happiness I feel while playing games, even if they’re not a ‘gamer.’ That’s the goal of the club – for everyone to have fun,” said Reeve.