Written by: C. Mathäus Schwarzen, staff writer
Bryan College members of the Retro Gaming Club made enough noise playing video games in their meeting that I could hear them as I entered Long Hall.
In Dayton, Tennessee, on the college campus, the Club’s four members get together in the men’s dorm to huddle around screens and compete. Sometimes they compete against each other and sometimes against the computer.
They use retro consoles from the members’ own collections.
For club president, Colby Scott, it’s a dream come true. He wants to give people an opportunity to slow down and unwind from their busy lives— even their modern gaming lives.
“They don’t make games like this anymore. They all take too much invested time,” he told me as I tried my hand at the helm of a Nintendo SNES Classic. In Colby’s opinion, modern games take too long to unwrap sophisticated storylines. The taxing gameplay is a complicated art that the player has to relearn with every new game.
For Colby, older video games are a simpler way to connect with friends. Playing retro classics in the age of online games makes the experience more personal. Every member of the club was present in the room and engaging in their mutual pastime.
That camaraderie was evident as people cheered their support and donated lives to keep less talented players in the game. Video games are a common language for the club members, and they aren’t quiet about it. People passing by in the hall outside stuck their heads in the door to see what was going on.
“Is that Sonic?” a basketball player asked, spotting Colby’s Sega Genesis. His face lit up, but he didn’t come inside. It wasn’t for lack of an invite.
“It doesn’t matter how good you are at video games. We can all play things like this,” club Vice President Seth Hill said.
The Retro Gaming Club plans to meet every Friday, provided it fits everyone’s schedule. Provide contact information here.
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Mathäus Schwarzen is a die-hard Seattleite and a communication major at Bryan College. He enjoys movies, science and very deep conversations, and is very proud of his German heritage. If you’re looking for him, he’ll most likely be in his room, surrounded by the wreckage of his latest assignment and pounding his head on the wall.
