Overview
There is nothing like drenching yourself in (fake) blood, stalking your friends (and people you have never met before) and yelling whilst confidently charging your gun-wielding prey. That is why Zedtown, the University of Sydney Verge Arts Festival's version of a live-action game commonly known as Humans vs. Zombies, has grown from 80 players to 300 in just a single year. It is more than just a game; Zedtown is an arena for performance, a realm where fans can enact their favourite zombie fantasies.
Under Zedtown's rules, humans must survive a zombie epidemic using only Nerf guns and balled-up socks as weapons. If tagged by a zombie, they must hunt their former kind either until all are undead or a human somehow survives. At the game on Saturday, October 12, 2013, almost 300 human survivors staked out quarantine in the hope of defeating three original zombies (OZs) and containing the virus.
Like all epidemics though, this number snowballed despite the arsenal of balled-up socks and foamy ammunition fired by a group of adults holding toy guns. More precisely, a group of proud adult nerds holding toy guns.
You see, whilst the game began with only a few hand-selected undead, the OZs did not have to reveal themselves immediately. Humans and zombies are generally differentiated by their respective orange and green headbands and regular zombies are not permitted weapons. However, at the beginning of play OZs are dressed and armed the same as survivors, waiting for their moment to tag survivors and infect them. Yours truly was zombified this very way, declaring that my friend was "too nice to betray us" before she infected my team and ran away. We were forced to yield our childlike artillery and begin hunting for brains. That was when the real fun began.
"I think everybody has watched a zombie film at some point and wondered 'how would I do in that world?'", says event curator David Harmon. "Zedtown is a chance for people to live out all the tropes and cliches of zombie horror films. You form a ragtag group of survivors. You ration food and ammunition. You keep watch, you trust no-one. You build a movie story with you and your friends as the stars and you watch as the world goes to hell around you."
Looking around the quarantined sandstone structures you can see these storyboards unfold. Survivors dressed in full army fatigues, cowboys sacrificing themselves to save their friends, an unstoppable zombie witch leaving terror in her wake and even a gun-wielding bride. People are performing, taking on characters, which is what the game is for. Renegades run rampant, heroes emerge and legends are born.
"Zedtown is about storytelling", Harmon says. "It's about immersive multiplayer collaborative world building. We give players a very simple set of rules that govern how people can live, die and become zombies. After that it's up to them to take that framework and help us build a world out of it."
The framework provided is incredibly immersive and significantly aids this construction. From survivor radio to ammo drops to missions to mad scientists, you cannot help but get lost in the world, survivor or zombie. You are pulled in — fear is genuine and you will find yourself peering around corners, back to the wall up to 28 days later.
People love this game due to the oldest cliche in the book; it is not about winning, it is about taking part. Through participation, players create narratives they will discuss for years, narratives usually borrowed from films but this time lived. Thankfully we will not have to wait too long for the chance to do it all again.
"We've just announced a game we'll be running at Secret Garden Festival 2014 — our first game outside of Sydney University," Harmon says. "That's in February ... and it's going to be a lot of fun."
In the meantime, Harmon says that games are "all dependant on finding exactly the right location for zombie horror — so if you happen to own a deserted industrial park, run-down carnival or abandoned hospital please let us know!"
Just remember rule number one: cardio. You need it.
Words by Matthew Watson. Images by Lindsay Smith. Look out for the next game of Zedtown at the Secret Garden Festival in 2014.