Jacob Newell ENGL 1101-025 Rebecca Agosta 11/11/2013 Humans vs.

Zombies UNCC Style I chose the discourse community of Humans vs. Zombies for my ethnography paper since I was involved with it and was able to make good observations while I actually played along. There is a lot to humans vs. zombies that not many people know about. It is more than just a stupid game that people get to have fun shooting nerf guns at other people, it is all about missions and trying to survive while trying to go through an everyday routine. Humans vs. Zombies is a game that is played around campus twenty-four hours a day seven days a week but only for one week a semester. Any student is able to join this discourse community as long as they sign up to play before the meeting that starts the game. After the meeting two original zombies are notified that they are the original zombies and try to tag as many people as they can as fast as they can. They are unmarked until they get five tags so that they have a fair chance to get as many zombies on their side as possible. After the five tags they can choose to stay zombie or become human. The rules of the game are as follows: you must wear your bandana at all times while the game is going on, you must not have nerf equipment out inside any buildings, all buildings are safe zones, you may not mod your nerf gun or make it look like a real gun, if you are tagged by a zombie you must give them your id card then wait an
Comment [j11]: ID Comment [j9]: put this towards the beginning of the paragraph/paper Comment [j10]: what does the bandana meanremember you are writing to someone who has no idea what humans v zombies is Comment [j6]: reword Comment [j7]: first meeting Comment [j8]: you used "original zombies" twice in one sentance Comment [j1]: because Comment [j2]: delete Comment [j3]: should this be capatilized? Comment [j4]: this as well Comment [j5]: use a hyphen or semicolon

hour to become a zombie, if a zombie is stunned then you must remained stunned for fifteen minutes then break the line of sight of any humans around to change into play mode, the stun time for zombies is not the same during night missions depending on what the moderators decide. During the first day you are only allowed to use marshmallows, socks, and thrown nerf darts until you are halfway through the night mission on the first day which is where you unlock nerf equipment. The only nerf equipment allowed to be used at that point are semi-automatic and single fire nerf guns. After a few days during a night mission or during a special day mission humans get to unlock heavy weapons which include sniper rifles and fully automatic weapons. The reason behind unlocking these guns later on in the week is so that the zombies have a more fair chance on infecting more humans early on in the week and so that the humans have a little more advantage later in the week when there are more zombies than humans. In order to keep up with what is going on in the humans vs. zombies discourse community there is a website called hvzsource.com where it posts recent tags and you get messages about missions. There is also a Facebook page where you can talk to other players and also find out about different missions and important updates for the game. These sites are very important because they help make the game run smoothly and it helps get the information out to all of the players a lot easier than having to send emails or texts. These sites also make it easy for people to look at them at any time during the day instead of people having to go to a specific place on campus to find out information where, if a human, would be put in danger. Literacy's that are needed to be able to use these artifacts are the literacy's of knowing how to use the internet and being about to join groups on Facebook, also being able to log in to the hvzsource.com website and be able to know how to navigate through the tabs. Another literacy
Comment [j15]: delete Comment [j16]: information about Comment [j13]: which Comment [j14]: delete Comment [j12]: didn't read this, assuming you know how to write rules

that you would have to have to play the game is knowing the layout of the campus so that you can get around quickly and know the most direct route when you need to get somewhere. Although humans vs. zombies is one discourse community, it has two discourse communities within it. The Human discourse community is a lot different than the zombie discourse community. While a human in this game you have to constantly be on the lookout for zombies so that you do not get tagged and become a zombie. So many people get into the game that some will change up their daily routines completely just to avoid being tagged. Some people just skip class throughout certain parts of the week so that they do not get tagged. Other people will leave an hour early for class so that they can get there before the class change so that there were less zombies out and about. Also when in between class changes they will go around in different routes and go through different doors to get into buildings so that they do not get seen. I have heard of some people that will only go to class then they will stay in their rooms for anything food based so that they do not get trapped in dining halls like the Residential Dining Hall or Crown Commons in the Student Union. Also kids will change paths to avoid certain areas like Prospector, the front of the Student Union, and also the courtyard in front of Moore Hall and Sanford Hall. When walking around campus humans always have to have nerf equipment available for quick use just in case a zombie or horde of zombies comes and attacks you, then you will be able to shoot and stun them so that you do not become a zombie. As a human you also try to find other humans that are in your classes and try to meet up with them while going to class so that they have a higher chance of staying alive. There are a lot more occurrences of this during day and night missions.
Comment [j17]: I like how here, you told the reader what the values of the players are. They game is obviously important to them for them to want to skip and leave class.

During the week the moderators will host day missions and night missions where you can unlock different equipment or earn special abilities for the rest of the week. During night missions humans will group up for the mission to complete the objectives. During the completion of these objectives, groups of humans will walk around the perimeter of campus so that it will be easier to spot zombie hordes. While moving through areas of uncertainty a few scouts will be sent forward to check if the coast is clear for the group to move ahead. If not the humans will run back and warn the rest of the humans of the zombies ahead. After the notice the group will then have their guns out and ready and proceed with the mission just in case of an attack. This tactic is used more often when the human groups begin to reach their objective so that they know how many zombies are there and what they need to prepare for in the upcoming battle. While playing as a human multiple groups might also communicate with each other if a horde is near. They can do this by contacting another group by calling someone within the group or texting them. If worst comes to worst the human group near the horde will flee silently to go towards another objective or on another path toward their objective. The best way to survive during a night mission is staying within a group. This is important because, if you are alone walking around campus when you know that there are a lot of zombies walking around in groups searching for humans, you have a small chance of coming out as a human at the end of the night since you are one single target against a lot of zombies. Another thing that is important is to stay quiet during night missions. The reason behind this is so that no zombies know where you are or so that they can't locate you easily and set up an ambush and take you and your group out. The story is completely different when you become a zombie.

Your paper tells the system and values of the game, but does not tell the lexis or language used. What specific terms or literacies do they use that may not be familiar to outsiders?