Recreation Room Sits Empty - Unused, Unloved
By Andrew Kelly
IV Leader Staff
Down the stairs and though the cafeteria of IVCC sits an
empty and dormant area of the school unknown by the majority of students at
IVCC. This room is a fantasy land for all who enjoy the entertainment of a
joystick in their hand, whether it be to slay evil doers, or slam down a monster
jam with Kevin Garnett. It’s a great place to burn calories and gain muscles for
all the ladies to oogle at. Sadly, this room sits empty. Gone are the days of
fights breaking out over who gets the next game of NBA Showtime. Gone are the
days of high fives all around for birdiing hole three on Golden Tee 2004. And
sadly, gone are the days when people would come from miles around to see certain
legends take on the video air hockey table without a care for bodily injury. The
glorious room I am referring to is none other than the Recreation Room of
Illinois Valley Community College.
So why does a room with this much action packed adventure sit
unused and unloved? There is a handful of reasons why.
When asked what his reasons were for not indulging in the
rec. room, IVCC student Joe Landers replied with a frown, “I just don’t have
enough quarters play.” A common response from many students. Who’s to blame for
students not having enough quarters to play arcade games? President Bush. While
he’s busy dealing with things as unimportant as the national debt, students all
over the campus sit quarter less in the cafeteria. A national foundation is in
the works for just this dilemma. The Quarters For Students To Play Really
Awesome Video Games Foundation, or QFSTPRAVGF for short, is an idea being tossed
around by senators from all states.
But a loss of quarters is just the beginning of the problem.
Just last year, the rec. room was an electric place to hang
out, but at the start of the spring semester, the rec. room was a virtual
reality wasteland. Why is this? “It’s just become to commercial, big name
companies have come in trying to advertise and sponsor students, and it’s just
taken all the fun out of the game.” says student Tim “The Main Event” Gatza (Tim
informed me that “The Main Event” was his nick name during the heyday of the
rec. room). So not only is their a quarter shortage on the campus, but fortune
500 companies were trying to use their corporate muscle to start a recreation
room league. It’s a sad sad moment in time when corporate sponsorships get in
the way of video game nirvana. When asked about exact situation, “The Legend”
Pat Cullinan did nothing but shake his head in disgust.
Now with all the corporations gone and everything back to normal, why is their
no fun being had in the rec. room again? “Recreation room? We have a recreation
room? What is in this recreation room?” seems to be the sentiment shared by most
at IVCC. The fact is, their just isn’t any knowledge that the rec. room even
exists. We, the students, need to spread the word. Tell a friend, tell a
teacher, tell a parent about the rec. room. We need to get those pinball
flippers flipping again. Go to the recreation room and return to the great
American past time of arcade games.
It’s time to exercise the right to play video games at school
that our grand fathers and great grandfathers fought so hard to preserve.