OAKWOOD Survival online games already have thousands of fans, but for one of the co-founders, it’s taken eight years of hard work to build a business.
OAKWOOD Survival started as a hobby in 2011. With the inspiration of the “Mad Max” film and George Miller’s screenplay, the game has turned into an online survival game set in an apocalyptic environment where players earn survival tools and weapons to fight off the merciless hordes of enemies.
Players gather food and build shelters, weapons, toys and more for a variety of virtual challenges. For co-creator Jeff Gerber, a 27-year-old master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, the online survival game has grown into a profitable business where he still serves as the online brand manager.
He knows that survival is not about teaching people how to survive, but what people need to survive. And to survive, people need to be mentally prepared. OAKWOOD Online games are set in a dark fantasy universe of medieval knights, wizards and queens. And to survive, people need to be trained to survive long, harsh winters.
“There’s a hunger out there for it,” Gerber said. “I think the people that go online are hungry to experience something that can’t happen in the real world. They want to see something that looks better than reality.”
GRADUATE STUDENTS, OCCURRENTS
OAKWOOD Survival games have grown to reach millions of players around the world, including through online social gaming and augmented reality games. The gaming company has expanded into over a dozen other digital titles. Gerber said he believes a lot of those players are also regular gamers.
One of those players is Drew Donner, a 2016 graduate of Illinois State University. He now works as an accountant for OAKWOOD Survival Games and is a part of the gaming community.
