On a night when most people at the library are sitting in obscure corners, bogged down in textbooks or bulldozing their way through last-minute essays, there’s another part of the building where laughter, debating voices and occasionally the sound of Pacman eating a meal can be heard bouncing off the walls.
Wednesday at 7 p.m., a group of roughly 20 University of Oregon students milled about in Knight 101, informally coalescing into groups and then scattering with heated but friendly discussions abound.
With the flick of a wrist, the room was bathed in the reverberations of Outkast’s “Hey Ya!” and two students began a vigorous dance-off as they played “Just Dance 2.” But this gathering wasn’t just for socializing and playing video games. As the night marched on, the folks in Room 101 got down to business.
This is Think.Play, a group of video game enthusiasts that meets every Wednesday to do exactly what the name implies.
Its members first think about games and then they play them — the separating period is crucial.
“If you want to learn about games, understand why they’re relevant, why they’re an art form, Think.Play is the place to do it,” said Jon Paull, one of the group’s founders.
Every other Wednesday, they gather and listen as guest speakers — ranging from speeches by UO faculty members to presentations from Pipeworks, a local game studio — stand before the group and lecture about the technology, culture and aesthetics behind video games.
They talk about how games are structured, how they are translated into different languages for different parts of the world, how the newly released Xbox One console will affect used game sales and how race is represented in the medium. They disagree about things and launch counterattacks.
The last few discussions have surrounded Microsoft’s Kinect — an infrared motion sensing device used in tandem with the Xbox 360 and Xbox One that lets users control the console by simply waving their hands in the air.
The following Wednesday, the group meets again, this time to play the games associated with the subjects of the previous week’s discussion.
For Think.Play’s members, video games are much more than a mindless pursuit — they’re something that should be analyzed and discussed.
“I feel like something like this needs to exist,” Paull said. “It’s a push to legitimize games as an art form and a medium.”
According to Iris Bull, another one of the group’s founders, several campus groups get together and play video games regularly. Unlike them, Think.Play isn’t just about playing the games.
“If this was a group about just getting together to play games, how is that any different than just getting together and playing games?” Bull said. “That’s not interesting. I’m not going to take time out of my Wednesday for two hours to do that. We’re interdisciplinary, academically motivated. That’s the biggest distinction between what we do and what most game-oriented groups across the United States do.”
The idea for the group stemmed from an Introduction to Game Studies class that several of its founders took together in 2011. During the class labs, students would apply their studies in the form of thorough video game playing sessions.
Once the class was over, David Baker, one of the class’s co-teachers, realized that he missed the community and discourse the class provided. So, Baker, Bull, Paull and one other student began meeting at Café Roma to continue the discussions.
Think.Play was born through coffee and conversation.
Since then, the group has blossomed. And now — depending on the week — Think.Play regularly has 30 people interacting at meetings.
“There’s a very limited availability of formal, structured academic settings to discuss this type of stuff,” member Jennifer Appleby said. “It’s really nice to know there’s a group here that gets together and does this.”
But even with increased attendance, awareness and a regular meeting time, Bull says the group isn’t defined by people, but by the substance of their passion.
“We’re so fluid, we’re not tied to space and we’re not tied to people,” Bull said. “The ethos that skirts all of this is that this is legitimate because we say it’s legitimate.”
And even though they’re not tied to place or people, they have forged a hearty community of game devotees, and their weekly meetings serve as a two-hour escape from all the stresses of daily life.
Meetings allow people to play games or consoles they wouldn’t normally have access to in a laid back atmosphere where you won’t be ostracized if you drive your virtual car off a cliff. And when you do drive your car off a cliff, the group sits down and discusses whether it was the psychological language of how controllers are laid out that caused the wreck.
“Being here as a new freshman, it was so overwhelming — you’re just a person in the crowd. Think.Play is just a breath of fresh air,” steering committee member Tessa Freeland said.
The group mainly relies on word of mouth to recruit new members, but its members also hold one major event each term to help create awareness.
“It’s a great way to take a break from school. It’s a great group, and we get to talk and play games. It’s a great escape,” environmental science major Avante Grady said.
Think.Play may still be young, but its members have had to deal with tragedy — Baker died in May of this year. A memorial service two days after he passed away replaced the group’s meeting for that week. Despite the loss, they are steadily growing, and its current members believe the group will survive once they move on.
“The goal is for this to persist,” Paull said. “There’s this push to legitimize games, and it needs groups like this. Anything can be art, and that means games, too.”
Because of Think.Play and its members, there’s a place for people who like playing games but also want to understand them and meet with other like-minded individuals to do so. And it’s not exclusive. It’s open to anyone, from any major, any background and any skill level.
Think.Play is a community of people who love video games but who also want to discuss their role in our society — and according to them this makes them different.
“It’s not like I just want to get together and play ‘Mario Kart’ every week. Think.Play is something deeper than that,” sophomore Chris Berg said. ““Thinking about the future of games and having a group like this on campus is a great way for people to come together and share ideas and figure out the questions behind games.”