Former BU student Ron Janik (left) and freshman Chad Stevens participate
in the B-CON III Tournament which took place in February. Scout file
photo.
It's a Thursday night. You've done your homework, you've cleaned your room, and your TV reception is on the blink. What's a person to do?
Try boldly going where no student has gone before.
If the task sounds a bit daunting, never fear: the Medieval College Society and the Psi Phi club are here to lead the way.
Despite their possibly misleading names, the MCS does not hold Renaissance fairs, and Psi Phi has no Greek connections, these two organizations share a link to the worlds approached in science fiction and fantasy, offering students a chance to explore new worlds and situations.
Role-playing, for those still unclear on the subject, uses live action, allowing players to act out social situations with characters and alternate personas. "Strategic situations" refers more generally to board or live-action games requiring participants to put themselves into imaginary situations, then come up with a survival strategy.
Many MCS members already know these basics of gaming when they join the organization. "I got involved because a friend dragged me here," said Brandon Morrison, the society's acting secretary and treasurer. "I'd been involved with gaming since I was way too young. I keep doing it because it's fun," he said.
Jim Cook also came in with previous role-playing experience. When he joined two years ago, Cook hadn't even heard of MCS. "I checked it out mainly because of previous interest," he said.
After joining the organization, however, Cook became dissatisfied with the club. A few troublemakers had earned the MCS a bad reputation with outsiders. Cook said he "got fed up after last year's [gaming] convention," prompting him and other disgruntled members to rearrange the organization, rewrite the constitution, and take over the leadership.
In the process of restructuring, the club lost some of the problem members. "It helped change our status as an unliked organization," said Morrison.
MCS, which now includes 35 members, is becoming more visible on campus through events such as the B-Con III convention held last month. During the convention, several gaming events ran concurrently in the classrooms of Bradley Hall. Gamers from Illinois State University and Illinois Central College attended, as well as competitors from as far away as Plattville, OH. The gaming festival drew a crowd of more than 100, compared to last year's dozen or so participants.
The convention proved to be a major fund-raiser for the MCS. Although this year's conference was the third annual event sponsored by the organization, this was the first convention to produce a profit.
"It rocked hard," said Cook.
Planning for the B-Con III convention consumed most of the group's weekly meetings during the fall semester, as well as the first month or two of this semester. With the tournament over, the group can now turn its attentions to other activities.
"We're trying to be more involved on campus," Cook said. The foremost project in the works is a trip to Chicago's North Pier to explore the new virtual reality center. The MCS also hopes to begin a lecture series, including presentations from faculty members, gaming company representatives, and members of the Society for Creative Anachronism, an organization whose members act out medieval scenes.
It is from their association with the SCA that the Medieval College Society derives its name. Once closely linked, the two organizations split following a disagreement, and many of the SCA members then active in the MCS dropped out.
The campus MCS considered changing its name, but decided the change was not worth the trouble involved.
Instead, Society members concentrate on their role-playing and strategies. "We do it for the love of gaming," said Jim Cook. "It's experiencing creativity in its pure form."
Psi Phi, an organization for the promotion of science fiction, was organized just last semester when a couple of science fiction fans met over the computer. A group of similarly interested students began meeting informally to watch science fiction television shows, and the seeds of a new organization were sown.
Club members now gather formally to watch a variety of weekly TV series, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Babylon 5, Sliders, VR5 and the X-Files.
In addition to the weekly TV viewings, the organization has sponsored several Movies of the Week. The movie series began with the Star Wars trilogy, and Psi Phi has also shown six of the Star Trek movies in preparation for the ACBU showing of "Star Trek: Generations."
"We are the embodiment of science fiction," Joe Grabowski said.
The club has about 12 active members, along with several prospective members. Television and movie viewings are not limited to club members, however. "We'll draw anywhere from five to ten members and half a dozen non-members to any movie event," said Psi Phi President Bob Schmanski.
"For some movies, like Voyager, we may get more," added Joe Grabowski, who chairs the movie committee. "We did get 20 at one point."
The club draws a variety of members, though Grabowski admits the majority of members tend to be male. "We're hoping next year, if we get a booth at the activity fair, to draw a wider range of people than we have now," said Schmanski.
Funding for the activities and promotions is generated privately. "In order to become an official member, you have to pay $5 in dues each semester, and that basically goes for renting movies, or for correspondence, publicity, posters," said Schmanski.
Following the showings of the Star Trek series, Psi Phi plans to show William Shatner's Tek War series. Their upcoming activities are not limited to the TV lounge, however. "We do have planned to sponsor a possible speaker next semester. We're going to continue the movies. And we'd like to begin a science fiction discussion group," Schmanski said.
Psi Phi has also recently set up an Internet chat group with the name "psi phi" through IRC, which they hope will link them to similar organizations and interested individuals on other campuses.
With Schmanski as president (or Captain, as club members refer to him), the organization is led by Senior Officers Bobby Ray (vice president) and Peter C. Jones (secretary). Chuck Henderson advises the organization.
"Our purpose is to promote science fiction on campus, by providing exposure to a wide variety of science fiction, movies, literature and TV series," said Schmanski.
"We want to show people that science fiction isn't all just geeks. There is some legitimate medium for expression."
Both Psi Phi and the Medieval College Society stress that the point of their activities is entertainment as well as intellectualism. "We're here to have fun, and that's what we're doing," Cook said.
Psi Phi posts schedules of events both on paper and on computer newsgroups. All activities are free and open to non-members. They meet at 10 p.m. Wednesdays in the Harper/Wyckoff TV lounge.
The Medieval College Society meets 8:30 p.m. Thursdays in Meeting Room 6 of the Student Center. New members are welcome.