Plants VS. Zombies VS. Our SanityAleah Honeycutt, Ian Wiesenberg, Lizzie Ruprecht, Shanna Welch, and Wanda Eaddy

Plants vs. Zombies is a game, typically played on a cell phone, adorned with brain eating zombies and a selection of militarized plants. It is categorized as a “sandbox game” because the landscape stays consistent throughout the game, with the player choosing which plants to use and where to plant them. Our group of five, Aleah, Ian, Lizzie, Shanna, and Wanda, were tasked with three days of intense days of zombie slaying madness. The first day began with high motivations and energy as everyone flew through the first level. Day one was solely an individual binge and mostly consisted of everyone making sure that the proper app was downloaded so that we would know what to do come the group binge the following day. Some people got a lot farther into the game than others.There was some interest in the game, but no one seemed enthralled, and this could be due to learning how to play or getting use to playing video games. After the first level people seemed to stray apart in opinions. Some of the group stayed positive on winning streaks and others were stuck in certain levels.

The second day, our group binge began and there were varying levels of interest among us. Lizzie really got into the game. She was on a role. She loved everything and did not mind playing. She even had helpful advice for the others. Shanna was the same way. She seemed to like it and easily flew through the levels. She reached the night time zombie attacks and emphasized the importance of certain plants in aid of defense. Wanda seemed to be doing pretty well and did not mind the game. Ian seemed content with the game but mentioned that he did not see the enjoyment of it in such a long binge. The game itself did not have much of a real storyline which may be a part in why different people had different levels of investment. The only storyline we could pick up on is that zombies are attacking and eating our brains, and plants are our only hope. As the story progresses (by the progression of levels) the zombies leave us notes and the game slightly become more interesting. One note said, “Meet us for a midnight snack -the zombies.” When zombies learned how to spell remains a storyline mystery. Later that evening, some of the group members checked in and the consensus was that five hours of bingeing alone was not necessarily a fun task. In fact, some members hated it. The plot was not interesting enough to truly enjoy bingeing. The group as a whole would pretty much agree that the game would be more fun if it was not being binged as the story line would not seem to drag near as long.

However, we managed to push on into the third day, starting out slowly and spread across different levels. In the groupchat we all talked about who liked what type of zombie. Lizzie had a fine affinity for the disco zombies because they made her laugh. Ian was a fan of the zamboni zombies, and Shanna talked about the baby zombies! Aleah hated the pole vaulting zombies, and Wanda thought the flying zombies (with balloons tied to their backs) were a nice zombie edition. Characterization and setting were the main focus in the game as plot lagged. We believe this is why everyone either liked or did not like certain zombies.  The setting also changed when one was advanced in the game. The character and setting change were what kept any interest in the game.  One of the members felt like there were times that she was dreading the thought of continuing the game, and other times when she loved it and barely noticed large lapses of time. This type of game seems less likely to be addictive because of the simplistic nature of sandbox games, but even so addictive qualities can be seen in the previous statement. Luckily, the majority of our group came out dreading the game (mostly because of how long we had to play), and we don’t think any of us will be suffering from a zombie addiction.