Andrew Leigh-Bullard, a first year graduate student of Library Science watches as Jon Leach, graduate teaching assistant for TESOL, signs in for the meeting. The Gamers Guild’s first meeting was held last Wednesday. Julie Thephacha/The Bulletin
The Gamers Guild hosted its first meeting last Thursday night in the Phi Kappa Phi room of the Memorial Union. Participants voted members into the executive office, including re-elected Matthew Wilkins as president, Jade Querner as vice president, Kylish Parrent as secretary, Michal Renner as treasurer and Carson Moor as sergeant at arms.
“This meeting included special elections and setting up the board,” said Andrew Leigh, graduate library science major. “We reviewed the constitution and we set up an immediate to-do list to get us through to the next week. Today was business so we can play later.”
A total of 23 participated in the meeting, including Ashley Vogts, ASG president, and Jennifer Cheray, vice president.
But Gamers Guild does not only promote games, the organization provides participants an opportunity to connect with diverse members of the community with common interests.
“It’s not just important to gamers, it’s important to the entire community,” Leigh said. “The one thing that every student from every culture brings in is the games they play. Gamers Guild provides a chance to bring in the games they played before and learn new games.”
Gamers Guild is also recognized by the ASG for promoting diversity.
“The RSO caters to a very unique group of students,” Cheray said. “It shows how many organizations that we have on campus that can fit a large variety of students.”
Gamers Guild also focuses on stress management and provides a social outlet for participants.
“It promotes gaming on campus as a method of relieving stress, encouraging better grades through stress management and to provide a safe and happy place to play games,” Wilkins said.
“Gamers Guild lets me be social with people who share similar interests,” said Eric Lloyd, freshman computer science major.
The Gamers Guild plans to hold community events to raise funds for Gen Con, a gaming convention held in Indianapolis on Aug. 4-7. Gen Con allows members to create professional networks in the gaming industry and sample lesser-known games.
The Gamers Guild meets every Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. in the Phi Kappa Phi room of the Memorial Union.
Simone Cosper