By: Alex Jenkins
Before COVID hit, students were allowed to freely play games on the desktop computers in tech teacher Sonja Coble’s classroom. Here is how it worked: A student (usually junior/senior HS student) would host the game server on their computer. Then that student would shout out the server’s ip address for the other students to connect to that server and play. (And sometimes Coble would join in as well!) The games normally played were Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Team Fortress 2, and very rarely Counter-Strike: Source.
“I was glad we started these clubs as they give students another place to connect with the school and other students,” says Principal Mr. Bonner.
This was known as the 3DI Club. These gaming sessions were held during the 2nd half of lunch. Students would need to sign a waiver to be allowed to play, just so their parents could know what games they were playing at lunch, and to check if their parents were okay with it.
The 3DI Club started around 2004/2005. The students at the time really wanted a gaming club, so they created a petition (following the handbook’s rules at the time) and the student trustees approved the petition. The club was named 3 Dimensional Interactive (3DI). The creators of the club named it that instead of “gaming club” so it wouldn’t be confused for a board game club.
The club was really popular at the time because many students had either no internet or bad internet at home, so they couldn’t really play multiplayer games at home. The only way they could play multiplayer games was at a LAN party.
“Being able to do it at school was like a really special thing. So many people wanted to play that students were divided into groups and certain groups played on certain days. As people got more internet there were less people that signed up,” says Tech teacher Sonja Coble.
Government teacher Nicholas Warmke also enjoyed playing in 3DI occasionally.
“I think it’s cool. I think it’s great. I like video games. I liked it when they could play at lunch. I thought it was great. I had a nice time subbing for Coble and playing 3DI once in a while. I don’t care for Counter Strike for the record,” says Warmke.
However, 3DI did not last forever. When the school came back after COVID lockdown, 3DI and Esports were shut down. The school’s IT department was working on all the computers and the network in Coble’s room. As for Coble, she decided to stay virtual for most of the 2020-2021 school year, so 3DI and Esports couldn’t come back.
Cole Barker from the IT department just came here a couple years ago. So he has not ever had to deal with 3DI or Esports here. There were problems from the previous school he worked at and had issues with communication between the students when gaming. Barker talks about some of the challenges at his previous school with gaming:
“The problem with the gaming we had before was Discord. Discord is something that we will not have in this school. I don’t have a problem with gaming. I have a problem with the way Discord was being used. The last school I came from had Halo during weekends. I was a gamer for a while. I enjoyed that. I enjoyed gaming. It just has to be done in a way it’s safe for the students. Southeastern gaming uses a different type of format for communication which actually types out every conversation in text. That way you know there is no bullying in the communication stuff.” Barker explains.
Perhaps 3DI could come back to Federal Hocking if unmonitored online communication would not be used, such as Discord. However there is no record of Discord being used in the 3DI Club. The Esports Team used Discord, but only because it was required by the Esports League we were under. But the main issue that prevents 3DI’s revival are the computers in Coble’s room. The desktops have been replaced with laptops. It is unknown if those computers are gone for good, but it is known that they will most likely have to have their hard drives completely wiped.
This is the current state of 3DI today. The club started as a haven for people without reliable internet at home to play multiplayer games against each other for fun. Over the years less people were in the club as they got better internet at home, but still a lot of people went to 3DI during the 2nd lunch. After Federal Hocking shut down from COVID, a lot of things in Coble’s room were changed, most importantly her network and her computers. This presented a major roadblock in having 3DI, thus 3DI had to be shut down. It is now only a distant memory for those who frequented there.
Students really want 3DI back in lunch. Perhaps an organizational meeting can be set up to discuss this.
