Online game crosses over from Ivy League to ACC

(Click here to see the screenshot at full size.)

Beginning Oct. 20, UNC and other Atlantic Coast Conference students can fight to conquer the east coast.

A company based out of New Haven, Conn., known as GoCrossCampus brought a virtual game of territory domination similar to the board game Risk to the conference.

The game has proven successful among Ivy League universities and has expanded to more than 100 schools.

Online recruitment opened for ACC students Monday. Students at conference schools now are able to join at GoCrossCampus.com and assemble teams.

Four Yale University undergraduate students and a Columbia University undergraduate student made the game in September 2007.

“We are a group of students that create giant competitions between schools,” said Brad Hargreaves, the game’s chief executive and one of the creators.

Students play for their respective schools and compete to control maps of real college campuses in their regions, which have been divided into smaller territories.

In the game, each team member can log in and move around the map, attack other teams or defend territory.

The objective of the game is to conquer a campus and eliminate opposing teams.

The game is intended to run as a team-building event with a strong connecting component. Hargreaves said the game primarily helps unite and increase communication between students at individual schools.

The game is distinct from social networking sites such as Facebook because it forces players to meet new people, Hargreaves said.

Tournaments were popular among Ivy League students last year. Hargreaves said 11,000 students, about a quarter of all Ivy League students, played the game.

Yale senior Gerardo Giacoman commanded a 2,700-player team in the 2007 Ivy League Championship.

“It’s a competitive event for school pride in which everybody at the school can participate and contribute as more than mere spectators,” Giacoman said in an e-mail.

He said he enjoyed the social atmosphere the game provides.

“I’ve heard many stories of people meeting alums, getting job offers and even starting to date someone they met through GoCrossCampus,” he said.

The company brought the game to the ACC after it received many requests from students, Hargreaves said.

The ACC tournament will begin Oct. 20. About 450 ACC students have joined the site since the game opened Monday, which Hargreaves said is a great number.

While the game is proving to be a popular idea around the conference, only seven UNC students have joined the game as of Tuesday, while 86 Duke University students have joined.



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.