From their keyboards, commanders conquer
Sophia Li
Issue date: 11/9/07 Section: Features
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After a little more than a week, the game involved about 15 percent of Ivy League undergraduates, according to Yale senior Brad Hargreaves, one of the game's founders. Nearly 1000 Brunonians are registered, and more than half regularly participated before the site went down, according to J.P. Eberenz-Rosero '10, one of the four commanders of Brown's team.
Eberenz-Rosero compared GoCrossCampus to the game Risk. He said the similarities, like the strategy and chance involved, were what initially attracted him to GoCrossCampus. "The map, instead of the whole world, is the northeast part of the U.S.A., and it covers all of the regions that are around the Ivy League schools," Eberenz-Rosero said.
To organize players, commanders issue battle plans about attacking other armies, defending territory and placing armies. Registered users then place their armies onto the map and await the battle.
John Cucco '09, another of Brown's commanders, said two differences between Risk and GoCrossCampus are the levels of participation and cooperation required to succeed.
"Each person controls their own armies," Cucco said. "To succeed at the game you need to have not only a lot of armies but a lot of discipline in that you have to get people to sign on to the site and follow the orders that have been decided."
Players agreed that the time commitment required by the game was minimal.
"One turn is usually one day, so you only have to go on for say, five minutes a day, and then you don't have to go on again until the next day," said Ben Xiong '11, a regular participant.