The Games Society is DCU's gaming society and as such is dedicated to the idea of getting all the gamers in DCU together so that they can meet, socialise, and game, and all without getting fined by the college authorities. We play every kind of games and we're always open to new suggestions from our members.
The history of Games Soc is long, complicated and not without controversy:
The Games Society was founded way back in 2001 by a group of final year Computer Applications students who had the crazy idea of getting all the gamers in DCU together so that they could meet, socialise, and game, and all without getting fined by the college authorities. Since then the society has flourished and is now one of the largest and most active on campus!
STOCS, also known as "The NIHED Gaming Society", was DCU's oldest society, dedicated to all forms of non electronic gaming, such as board games, card games, RPGs, LARPs and war gaming. They also ran the annual Sillicon games convention up until 2007. As the oldest society in DCU, STOCS had survived for some 20+ years with wildly varying levels of membership and activity, in that time amassing a wealth of history, traditions and incomprehensible in-jokes. The old STOCS website can still be found here.
By 2008, the contrasting fortunes of the two societies could be seen as Games Soc's membership continued to increase exponentially while STOCS was in decline. Though in the past there had been some conflicts between the societies, these had long since been forgotten. There was much overlap in the membership of the two societies and it was decided by the two committees that it would be in the interests of both sets of members if the societies were to join forces. At the end of the academic year for 2007/2008, Games Soc and STOCS officially merged, becoming one all powerful society (much like how Megazord formed in Power Rangers).
The new Games Soc now caters for the interests of every kind of gamer, with both computer games and tabletop and traditional gaming accounted for, and the society reigns supreme over the college.
Here's what we have planned for the year:
Every Thursday from 6-10pm in C204 upstairs in the Henry Grattan building, Games Soc take over the place with our own brand of PC Lab Gaming. Games played range from the venerable Counter-Strike to Starcraft with some Day Of Defeat, Call Of Duty, Age Of Empires II and Quake 3 thrown in for good measure. Come early though as places are limited and always fill up fast!
Every Wednesday from 1-5pm we take over either the Seminar Room or The Hub itself with our wide selection of consoles and games for the benefit of all to sit down, relax and game to while away the afternoon. Members are also encouraged to bring their own games if they want something different.
Every Monday and Wednesday night from 6pm in either the Seminar Room or somewhere in the Henry Grattan, we get together to play board games, card games, RPGS, war games and other non electronic games.
The Bring Your Own PC LANs were introduced over three years ago and we.ve since run three per year with each getting bigger and better. This year however we.ve taken things to a whole new level with the introduction of InterLAN, Irelands first Intervarsity LAN series. These events are 24 hours of solid gaming, tournaments, prizes and not to mention fun! Check the forums and event pages for all the latest info on it.
Every time there's a big gaming convention on, we'll be offering discounted tickets, accommmodation and travel for any Games Soc member who wants to attend. From tabletop gaming cons like Gaelcon and Warpcon, to PC events like Midlans, we'll be there.
For all you Computer Application students out there or indeed anyone with basic Java skills we run a series of basic game programming workshops throughout the year. Again these have proved extremely popular so if you plan on attending make sure and get there as early as possible.
Over the last few years we have invited of games industry professionals to come out to DCU to give talks on topics from the "Games Industry in Ireland" to "How to Get Into the Games Industry". These talks are usually run during Tech Week here on campus. More info will be made available closer to the week in question which is usually the end of February.
