October 7

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dn the

dailynebraskan.com

monday, october 7, 2013 volume 113, issue 031

Inside Coverage

Pay the players

Music men

Student athletes should get paid for work

Choir festival brings in groups young and old

4

The Amnesiac

5

Femme Fatale

Abdullah runs NU past Illinois The Space Marine

Junior running back Ameer Abdullah celebrates his first quarter touchdown run, one of his two scores Saturday. He ran for a career-high 225 yards, the most by a Husker since Roy Helu Jr.’s 307 in 2010.

The Woman in the Refrigerator

The Damsel in Distress

10

The Rogue/Anti-Hero

The Eye Candy

The Chosen One

gameon

story by zach fulciniti | art by inga johannsen

as n e w c o n s o l e s a p p r o ach , n e b ras k a g am e rs say t h e ar t i s r e d e f i n i n g t ra d i t i o n a l m e d i a

F

ive crew members are seated before identical Hewlett-Packard monitors as the spaceship Artemis cascades through blackness, crossing nebulas and skirting space monsters. The members of its crew talk among each other to maintain the ship along its travels, as the bird-like vessel cruises past a series of flashing dots on the projector screen ahead, leaving a blue trail in its wake. “Boys and girls, we get to fight. I love fighting.” “We could use some energy, Captain!” “Get up to that red, spiny thing there. That’s what you’re aiming for. That’s the bad guy.” The setting is a boardroom at the Ramada Inn in Omaha. Dozens of gamers have turned up for the NukeCon Gaming Convention, and six are now seated in Boardroom Three playing “Artemis Spaceship Bridge

Simulator.” Richard Norton, a systems administrator for an insurance company, watches the simulation with his wife Tammy. She says the game is the realization of a lifelong dream. “It’s like exactly what they were doing when they were filming the original Star Trek,” she says. “I’m sitting in Mr. Sulu’s place!” For many gamers, the opportunity to lose themselves in fantasy worlds is often the draw. Console and PC-game fanatics in Nebraska and elsewhere say the games offer a chance to live through characters in alternate worlds and achieve feats unattainable in the more mundane digs of, say, Selleck Quadrangle. Gaming is increasingly fusing all types of media: Mobile gaming is more popular than ever on platforms such as Android and iOS. Next-generation consoles like the PS4 and Xbox

One, which seek to bring all forms of entertainment under one umbrella, will release next month. And PC’s capabilities continue to expand through platforms such as Valve’s Steam. No longer is gaming limited to a single age group or type of person. The Nortons, both in their 50s, are avid gamers. Richard plays single-player games including “Assassin’s Creed” and some first-person shooters. But he doesn’t like to play those games with other people. “I’m not into hiding out in a rock and shooting people as soon as they come into the game,” he said. The games he does play with others are Massive Multiplayer Online games, including “EverQuest” and “EVE Online.” But those interactions pale in comparison with the cooperation required by Artemis. “Even in online MMOs, you see some coordination,”

he said. “But not to this level. People have to talk and communicate if they want to complete the simulation.” Despite being a prominent member of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Game Developers Club, sophomore computer science major Sam Adams doesn’t consider himself a hardcore gamer. That doesn’t mean he won’t pull up “The Legend of Zelda” or “Super Mario Bros.” every now and then. “When I first started programming, I thought it was cool to have control over what the computer was doing,” Adams said. “I wanted my code to come to life. I’ve never been a really big gamer, which is a bit ironic. But it’s fun to see what you can push yourself to make.” Adams’ favorite games usually feature puzzle-based environments, like the ones in “Portal” and the “Myst” series. He likes games that are immersive and favor ex-

STORY AND ARCHETYPES CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Fraternity pledge charged with destroying float Police said the Phi Gamma Delta freshman was responsible for destruction Colleen Fell DN Phi Gamma Delta fraternity was disqualified from judging for the Homecoming Parade floats Friday after police arrested a freshman pledge on charges that he destroyed Phi Kappa Psi fraternity’s float. Douglas Tsoka, a freshman business administration major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, was cited for destruction of property after he pushed over and damaged an Eiffel Tower float belonging to Phi Kappa Psi, according to police reports. The float was valued at approximately $50. Tsoka was later released. UNL police tracked down Tsoka early Friday morning at a philanthropy event sponsored by

Alpha Xi Delta sorority. Sgt. Casey Delta to help build a float, were Ricketts of UNL police was work- also disqualified from the float ing security at the event when she competition. Phi Gamma Delta spotted someone who matched was disqualified from all Homecoming competitions. Tsoka’s description. A witness The theme for this year ’s confirmed Tsoka’s identity, and he Homecoming was “Huskers was cited. UNL police said although Around the World” with results for all competitions anthere were other people The fraternity nounced during the halftime of Saturday’s who were had to football game against with Tsoka Illinois. The parade when he was put up a sign in took place Friday at 6 given a citatheir front yard p.m, beginning at 14th tion, he is the and Vine streets and only person describing what ending at 13th and R being held restreets. Judging of floats sponsible for had happened.” took place at 16th and S the vandalstreets. ism. Michael belford Student lawn disMichael homecoming chair plays were completed Belford, a juby 10:30 a.m. Friday nior construction manager at UNL and Home- and judged at noon. Delta Upsilon fraternity won coming chair, said Phi Gamma the lawn display competition, and Delta faced other repercussions in addition to being disqualified Gamma Phi Beta sorority won the parade float competition. from the competition. news@ “The fraternity had to put up a dailynebraskan.com sign in their front yard describing what had happened and that they were disqualified,” Belford said. Alpha Xi Delta sorority and more homecoming Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity, coverage on page 3 which worked with Phi Gamma

MORGAN SPIEHS | DN

Grant Kobes, freshman finance major, shows a sign on Saturday in front of the Phi Kappa Psi house that a member made after their homecoming float was destroyed.

@dailyneb | facebook.com/dailynebraskan


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