Matthew Maravilla
Since this is NJIT, of course a lot of the students here play video games. One might ask, why don’t we have a club on just playing video games? Well, unless you don’t consider the basement of the Campus Center as part of the school, we do! The Game Club is a club dedicated to just that, playing video games socially and competitively.
Most of the game tournaments being run around campus have some help from the Game Club. This includes the most recent Geek Wars that was run by the RHA and HOPE. Of course, the club has their own huge tournaments like last semester’s Geek Wars (which happened to also include a really big Magic: the Gathering tournament).
You may be saying to yourself, “Wait, these are tournaments! They don’t happen all the time!” However, the club does host its own local tournaments and have club meetings on a weekly basis. Some of the games played at these meet-ups include Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, Playstation All-Stars, and Super Smash Brothers: Brawl. Also, there is the little obscure indie section of the club that ruins all childhood memories by playing Not Tetris by Stabyourself Games.
Does the Game Club just play games? Far from it! The Game Club has also helped out the most recent blood drive that was run by Sigma Psi Kappa. They aided the drive through helping build awareness and help increase the blood drive’s presence. Of course, they also donated blood.
The Game Club represents a good majority of not just our school, but also Rutgers Newark, Essex County College, and other colleges in the area, who like video games enough to share that same joy with each other. Yeah, the club plays a lot of fighting games but that doesn’t mean they don’t share their passions with each other. Every ounce of rage and laughter can be seen from great bouts in UMVC3 to someone permagrabbing their opponent in SSBB and watching the victim’s face just about explode!
At face value, but people you wouldn’t normally be able to talk to because of their little gaming escapades get to open up because there is a club environment for gamers to mingle. Actually, you don’t even have to be a gamer to just have fun at the Game Club! Two weeks ago, you had 0n army vet and a random Essex County student having a grand ‘ol time dancing to Cupid Shuffle and Ice Ice Baby while ten more people joined in and started dancing in the background.
There’s something special about the Game Club. Yeah, they play games and trading card games, but for some, this is a great place to just let loose and talk about things they wouldn’t normally talk about outside of the club. Video games are a medium still looked down upon by some, so what’s wrong with a space for gamers just to talk freely about what they like?
Want to be a part of the Game Club? It’s a really fun club with a lot of cool people. Meetings are on Wednesday nights from 7pm to 11pm. There is free food and some great games and matches being played.
The Game Club will host their biggest game tournament on April 21. Prizes will be huge, faces will be palmed and upsets will be enshrined in the minds of fellow onlookers. It’s going to be big. It’s going to be so big in fact, that a sponsored Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 player has anted up and added a good $50+ of his own money to the prize pool.
