Monash’s first few weeks operating the new semester means a flurry of mingle events hosted by student departments and clubs to aid the acclimatisation of constant networking and dreary study sessions. Monash University International Student Association (MUISS) developed a concept. A concept that is now one of their flagship events. 

Game Wars had an objective of amalgamating a conceptual idea with networking. We’re now caged by the hand of Zeon- a somewhat omnipotent being- who’s thrusted us into an artificially made simulation. Zeon is the architect of this domain and in order to relinquish freedom and liberty, we’re subjected to challenges.

“I’ve noticed the current rise of interest in artificial intelligence and naturally, I imagined that capitalising on this exact concept would be interesting to make into an actual event”, expressed Saad Haroon, the engagement representative of MUISS and the main organiser of Game Wars. 

With the concept of this event being central to technology, artificial intelligence, and data, the groups had names aligned with the concept as well and their very own personalised flags which were created and designed collaboratively by themselves. This was the very first challenge at which flags with the most creative design, along with a slogan, were awarded generously with points. Naturally, Game Wars revolved around groups attempting to acquire as many points as possible at various game points stationed at different parts of the campus. 

The badminton court was where we started and the most notable game was the virtual grid escape. Many of these games had really creative names attached to them that not only served as a gimmick but it was also descriptive. Virtual grid escape was exactly what it means. Participants were required to pass through a grid outlined on the floor from start to finish. There were certain boxes that were genuine and some that weren’t. Meaning that, participants had to guess which boxes on the grid were real and which were fake. If stepped on a fake box, participants had to repeat their attempt. The best parallel that can be drawn would be the glass panels used in Squid Game. 

Participants now made their way to the other locations that served as game points. The student lounge hosted the measure of agility. MUISS has transformed the student lounge into a loose interpretation of an obstacle course. Ten minutes were all that was given to complete this portion of the games. The futsal court hosted another set of games. It was now the test of balance and collaboration. Participants had to balance a ping pong ball with a spoon while walking through a simple path. The ping pong ball will then be placed into pipes assembled by the team itself, positioning it strategically to ensure that the ping pong ball ends up in a box, at the end of the finish line. 

Game Wars was made into fruition due to the immense amount of collaboration from MUISS. It holds value to the international community and especially international students navigating university life for the first time in a foreign country. “It’s especially important that we organise events like this- events that deconstructs the conventions of mingle events- to appropriately aid in providing support to international students that need it”, said Saad. 

Written by Yashven Jayabalan

Photos by Daven and Dinya