Toting plastic water guns, 288 members of the Class of 2010 lurk around campus, attempting to claim their next victims.
These "killers" are fighting for a humanitarian cause, however. They are playing a game of Assassins for a prize of $1,000, which will be donated to the charity of the winner's choice. So, the freshmen watch their backs and lock their doors, hoping to be the last one standing in a competition that started last Thursday.
"I just think that this is a great opportunity for people to play a game for something that they are really passionate about," Class of 2010 president Connor Dieman-Yauman said in an email. "I would also like this activity to serve as a precedent for future class and school wide events, showing that even the most popular and fun games can accomplish something for the greater good."
In Assassins, each player is assigned a target person to "kill" by squirting him or her with a water gun. After a successful assassination, the player then seeks to kill the victim's target while trying to avoid being "killed."
Class of 2010 treasurer Aditya Panda said the philosophy of the freshman student government is to "do more than previous class governments have done to reach out to people who don't have as much as we do." Panda organized the Assassins sign-ups and assigned players their initial targets.
Diemand-Yauman incorporated the "Who are you fighting for?" theme into the game by requiring each participant to "fight" for a charity. Each participant was provided with a list of diverse charities, and the donation will be made in the name of the Assassins winner. Students had to choose their preferred charity before wielding their water guns.
"I think it's an incredibly cool idea," Doug Sprankling '10, a participant who was assassinated Saturday afternoon, said about the charity donation prize. "It inspires people to play and makes them feel really good about playing, and the final reward is definitely better than the usual prizes."
Diemand-Yauman will send out weekly emails to the participants about how many players are still "alive" in the game. As of last night, 222 players were still alive.
The email includes a description of the most popular charity among the "living" players — currently International Medical Corps — and educates players about new charities or charities that have been worked on or initiated by members of the freshman class.
The most recent email featured Camp Pals, a nonprofit sleep-away camp for teenagers with Down Syndrome, which was founded by Jenni Newbury '10.
Participant Steve Liss '10 raised some concerns, however, about how the humanitarian award adds a different angle to assassinating his opponents.
"I think it's nice," Liss said, adding that "it does seem strange that every time you shoot someone, you're denying their charity that money."
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