ITS and Student Involvement join forces to bring students a night of gaming
Whether an avid “League of Legends” fanatic, “Halo” pro, expert “Magic the Gathering” fan or gripped with a different strategic pastime — Vandal Overnight: Games (VOG) is the upcoming event catered to student gamers.
Information Technology Services (ITS) and the Department of Student Involvement teamed up to get students off their couches Friday with the first ever VOG. While the University of Idaho hosts a wide range of events throughout the year, VOG will be the first official event for students interested in gaming.
Brandon Krous, technical support representative for ITS, said both local and national businesses are sponsoring the event including Strategy and Games, Sodexo, Deranleau’s and Microsoft are among the sponsors of the event.
VOG is from 6 p.m. Friday to 4 a.m. Saturday morning on the 4th floor of the Idaho Commons.
Darren Kearney, an ITS Help Desk manager, said the event is strictly BYOD — Bring Your Own Devices. He said VOG is an alcohol-free event to provide students with a fun alternative to substances for a weekend activity. Students are encouraged to bring their laptops or computers and ITS staff will help students set them up, Kearney said.
ITS staff are also working to create a special network with faster connection speeds and larger bandwidth availabilities for students to use.for online multiplayer games.
Kearney said students should show up between 6 and 7 p.m. to sign up for tournaments. He said students need their Vandal Card to get into the event because that’s how students would receive the prizes throughout the night.
The conference rooms on the 4th floor of the Commons provide a versatile space for gamers, Kearney said. There will be four gaming rooms equipped with power, tables and network hookups — there will even be a few televisions set up with Xboxes.
Halo 4 will dominate one of the gaming rooms. Microsoft donated an Xbox One to the illustrious gamer who wins the 7:15 p.m. Halo tournament. The winner must make it through several grueling rounds of free-for-all action in the top half of the scoreboard to receive the prized gaming system.
The second gaming area will be the League of Legends section. Those who have not heard of, or seen League of Legends played, will have a chance to come see what the game is all about. ITS will stream some of the tournament on online so others can watch. UI’s League of Legends club will help organize the 7:30 p.m. tournament and winners receive gaming headsets while the runner-ups will receive gift certificates.
The third area is the free play area for students who brought their own devices to play whatever games they enjoy, provided ITS will help set up the equipment. Kearney said the free play area is a great option for people willing to explore new games and meet new people.
“We are doing this for the students, if people bring their ideas to us beforehand we will do whatever we can to make it happen,” Kearney said.
Local gaming store Strategy and Games will manage the last gaming room, which is for students to play board games, card games, table-top games, pen and paper strategy games and more. Strategy and Games will provide a limited number of gift baskets to students who come in and try new games. Fan favorites, such as Settlers of Catan and Warhammer 40K will be present, as well as many more interesting and different games.
Sodexo will provide food throughout the night to keep gamers fueled with pizza, snack foods and drinks.
ITS is looking to make the event a light, fun-filled social event for students to enjoy, Kearney said. Whether a hardcore competitive gamer, a casual gamer or just curious about different types of games, Kearney said students are welcome at VOG.
Macklin Brown can be reached at [email protected]