We’ve all come across the Auburn University game room while in the student center. You might hear people with headphones on, screaming viciously at computer screams, or you might notice the crowds of people swarming the television screens. However, there is more to the game room than you might expect.
Miguel Somosot, freshman in pre-computer science, knew the ins-and-outs of the Auburn game room.
“The game room is basically open to everyone to hangout and play their games,” Somosot said. “They usually offer the highest generation when it comes to the consoles. There’s also not that many rules, just be respectful to each other. You’re just there to have fun and play games.”
The frequent players wanted to make one thing clear though – the PC gamers outside of the game room are completely different than the console players inside the game room.
“It gets kind of loud sometimes where the PC gamers play, and that can get annoying," Somosot said. "The game room has rules that say you can’t scream too much or cuss."
Stacey Henderson, graduate student in software engineering and manager of the game room, has been a constant figure in the game room. She has been working in the game room for six years, and most of the players described her as “the mother of the game room,” but it hasn’t always been the best time for her.
“This is the first semester that I’ve actually enjoyed this job,” Henderson said. “We had a pretty competitive atmosphere in here for a long time, and that lead to a lot of anger. Last year we got rid of the competitive games for the most part.”
With the competitive nature, came a sort of obsessive behavior in the game room community, Henderson.
“We had a lot of people just stay here all day and then not go to class, and fail out of school,” Henderson said.
Games that led to this were taken out of the game room all together last year, but there are still groups of students playing on their own. However, when asked what the most popular game in the game room is currently, there was a unanimous decision.
Somosot and Nathan Lawson, a sophomore in exercise science, both agreed that Smash was the current favorite among players.
“The game allows up to eight people to play together, and just have fun,” Lawson said. “It’s basically hitting each other, but it’s not really competitive, it can be, but the way we just play it in here we just play for fun. You get to play with the most popular Nintendo characters also.”
Christopher Looney, a senior in pre-chemical engineering, has been familiar with the game room for years. However, he has found his friend group through the fighting game community.
“It’s really good for community building and finding other people that play those certain games,” Looney said. “I play 'Mortal Combat' and 'Street Fighter'.”
In the gaming world, a community is mostly known as gamers coming together that enjoy playing the same type of game.
“The fighting game community has been developing, and we have about 17 people in our fighting community," Looney said. "There’s a few of us that play at Game Time Hobbies as well, and we exchange knowledge with the games."
Looney and his friends compete in fighting game tournaments across the country.
“People from all across the country compete, and the one I’m going to this weekend is in Arkansas, and I’m going with friends from Auburn and from home,” Looney said.
There are cash prizes involved in these tournaments, Looney said.
“The tournament I’m going to in Arkansas has a guaranteed money pot of 500 dollars, and the top three players will split it,” Looney said.
Many people might think there is a certain type of personality that usually play these PC or console games, however once stepping foot in the game room you will soon realize this is just not true.
Terrance Wheeler, a freshman and cornerback on the football team, spends quite a bit of time in the game room when he’s not in class or on the field.
“My friend actually introduced me to this place, and a couple of guys from the team come and play here too,” Wheeler said. “We really just play sports games though.”
At first glance, the Auburn University game room may just seem like a majority of boys with headphones on their ears and controllers in their hands. However, to the gamers, it is much more. You can find students from several other countries, different majors, and many diverse interests. The game room is a place for students to have a good time, and relax from the stresses that school often comes with.
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