MSUM Planetarium shoots for the stars with gaming event
A glowing blanket of stars stretched across the domed ceiling of the planetarium at Minnesota State University Moorhead Tuesday night, which is not at all out of the ordinary.
But then, a spaceship took aim at a space whale and blew it up.
That last part might be a bit out of the ordinary for the planetarium, which traded in its usual display of the night sky for an evening-long demonstration of the game “Artemis: Spaceship Bridge Simulator.”
The standing room-only event was sponsored by the planetarium and 702 Communications, a frequent organizer of gaming meetups in the Fargo-Moorhead area. It was also a way to encourage new audiences to visit the planetarium space and use its unique features, especially its big projection surface and a recently purchased digital projector.
“We can go into space, we can do gaming, we can do biology, we can do lots of kinds of stuff,” said Sara Schultz, director of the planetarium. “So we’re just trying to figure out what else we can use the planetarium for and how we can market it to more of an audience and get people in here for more than just astronomy. And, of course, get them in for astronomy, too.”
Schultz points to the planetarium’s recent laser light shows as another example of this effort.
The night of gaming worked for Evan Balko, 25. He said he hadn’t been to the planetarium since elementary school.
“The novelty of this being at a planetarium is kind of hard to resist,” Balko said. He was also excited to try “Artemis,” which puts a team of players each at their own laptop computers and with their own duties flying a ship. One player manages communications while another manages the weapons, for instance, while a captain gives orders.
Balko, who described himself as a moderate gamer (on a scale of one to 10, “about a six”), played for a while as the science officer. Using an impossible-to-resist comparison to “Star Trek,” that’s Spock’s job.
Schultz said she got to play “Artemis” earlier in the day and enjoyed being in charge of weapons.
“It was a lot of fun to blow stuff up,” she said, laughing.
To keep track of special events at the MSUM Planetarium, follow them on Facebook at facebook.com/msumplanetarium.