Knox College students have formed gaming groups around campus, named Gaming Information Network (GIN). Those who take charge of the group, seniors Maggie Darrah and Daniel Miller, have decided to focus on improving the communication between the community's leaders as well as solving the issue of the organization being spread out.
Darrah told The Knox Student that the gaming culture at the school is not "as cohesive as it used to be." She also revealed that there are some gaming groups that don't communicate well with each other and aims to create a wider branch of gaming genres to direct people according to their preference.
"I think the ideal system would be an email network between the various gaming leaders across campus so that everyone is aware of what there is and a sharing of resources when necessary," Darrah said. "Multiple groups could work together for an event. If a person came to a group and said, 'Hey, I'm interested in this,' and that group doesn't have it, they could point them to the group that does."
As a senior, Miller revealed that he wants to make the gaming scene more accessible to people. He also wants the groups to be an avenue where they can talk about games as well as other topics in a comfortable environment.
"I want to be able to sit down somewhere and say, 'Hi, do you wanna play video games and chat about your life?'," Miller said. "I want to be able to talk about how things are going and provide for them a safe and welcoming space where they can interact with other people."
Junior Brendan Reeves noted how the stereotypes of gaming culture have evolved into something much different. Before, gamers were seen as the outcast kids. Now, cool kids such as those from the football team also play video games such as "League of Legends" or "Grand Theft Auto 5."
According to the school's official website, GIN has created a community of gaming through free sharing of game-related information between members and awareness-raising activities targeted to non-members. The organization is not only focused on video games but also have tabletop role-playing games, board and card games, rhythm games as well as war games.
