Monday, November 29, 2004

Words of wisdom

Hey, this comment was left on two posts down. It was good enough that I felt it needed to be put right up front. Learn from your elders kids.

"Unfortunately, the fun of running around (notice I mention that first, running around instead of plopping one's butt on the ground somewhere and calling themselves a "sniper") and enjoying the aspects of unmodified Nerf weapons, has been somewhat diffused by what I observe are two factors, of which I'll probably rant about in my own blog (my Xanga or here);

1) Online Nerf forum boards. It seems that some decide to use the boards not to disseminate Nerf information and advice, but to boast about how powerful, how big, or how many guns are stuck on to one weapon. This kind of dick-waving turns the tide toward the new users to obsess on making only powerful weapons, generally too strong to really enjoy at close range. I like my weapons relatively powerful only because the people I used to nerf with needed some kind of positive feedback when they get hit, so they KNOW they got hit. There was honor there also, so the pain was primarily an incentive NOT to get hit.

Now I primarily play with kids, so my emphasis shifted primarily back to an element of safety, combined with somewhat extended range (and the ability to use cheap ammo). My nephew shot me in the hand with a modified Expand-a-Blast (that I modded) at about 25 feet, and I really FELT it. Yeah, reduction in effective range may mean more moving around, but I think that's the spirit of old-school nerfing anyway.

2) This obsession with video gaming, and trying to vicariously live it out in their Nerf wars, is absolutely ridiculous. All I hear is how one blaster does or doesn't look like the HALO gun, or wanting their Titans to shoot 200 feet, like a HALO sniper rifle, it just peeves me to death.

I really believe that a lot of the posters on the forum boards spend more time in front of their TV's and XBoxes than they do out in the yard shooting it up. The claims they make on the forum boards are retarded at best, irritating at worst. Nerf blasters are not meant to shoot 200 feet straight line, 300 rounds per minute, or blow craters into the ground and kill everything in sight. All that military crap just irritates the hell out of me, especially at a time when young men and women are going out and experiencing the real thing, and real death.

Nerf is a game. A game to be enjoyed, like you've said numerous times, like tag with a twist. Anything more is just butt wipeage."

-Pineapple

I agree with almost this entire thing, other then one point made about video games. Yes, video games are a big killer of nerf. Slowly kids are playing outside less and less. We had games back in the day, in fact our big nerf saturdays where spent switching between it and SNES to eventually Golden Eye. But as far as Halo influencing Nerf I'm not sure that there is much to worry about. Notice in Halo 2, it's really an up close and personal game. If you can get a relaxed group of dudes together and just do some CTF or other fun rounds like pistols with no shields, it can feel alot like Nerfing.

What drives me nuts about every war game is the long distance factor of it. Anything closer then 60 feet is over in seconds. What you need is a really good gun fight. Gun fights are done at point blank range. Kinda like that lobby scene in the Maxtrix or the first Ill Duce fight in Boondocks Saints. It's just cool and fun. Where's the fun in shooting someone 200 feet away? Just go join the damn military. In the mean time, I'll watch bad action flicks and play Halo and Unreal, because those games aren't trying to be realistic. So yes I do agree video games are killing nerf, I also think that they can get you excited about it if you play the right ones. Pinney, if you want to write a counter to this point, feel free to email me - alhurst@gmail.com.

Talio.

Thursday, November 25, 2004

New topic, venting....The worse nerfer alive!

I should go ahead and apologize about this, but really I'm just so upset about this dude, that I have to say something. Normally I'd just bash him on NHQ untill he leaves, but it seems that my place in the community as the resident idiot executioner has gone the way of drive in movies and disciplining your children. So Nerf Special Forces, we pour one out for you hommie. You are what I consider to be the biggest fucktard in the entire community.

Justification lies solely in the fact that he contacted a seller on Ebay, who was originally offering a wealth of NIB Crossbows at 25 bucks, that her price was too low and she doubled the price. I considered banning him from NHQ for this, and urging CX to do it as well. If there is one act that deserves banishment from everything foam, it's what he's done to the community. Do you realize that the Crossbow stands as the best spring weapon ever made? Do you also realize that most new players die for a chance to own one, and rightfully so. I truely believe that this is the weapon that brings a nerfers skills to their prime. What makes a crossbow great for nerfers is that fact that it's so easily modable and fixable. We run these guns into the ground, but no matter how much you screw up your bow, everything is fixable...everything. I've seen crossbows with extra screws all over the place, and it still works. Damn thing still shoots, and well. Not to mention it takes alot of care...you really need to keep up with it's maintence or it will go to shit, that is untill you fix it. It teaches such responsibilty.

So new nerfers, who don't have the 50 - 150 bucks to shell out for one of these things are given the chance to pick one up at 25 bucks. Do you know what that means? Every dude who gets their hands on one of those things and mods it, wants to use it. Trust me, when I got my first and modded it, I wanted to get on the field asap. That means that allowing the gun to almost be an unofficial re-release, had the potential to completely revitalize the community and create a new Renosaunce in the game. There could have been tons of new players, all being able to compete with a solid primary to fall back on. Thats the number one complaint I hear from new guys, they just don't have anything to use. Yeah there are alot of good guns out, but every nerfer really needs a realiable gun, even more so if your a new player, to go back to if your other projects turn to shit. NSF robbed alot of kids of that. Flat out robbed.

30 bows, 25 a pop. Thats 30 players given an opportunity no one else was given, and this douche bag robbed it from them. Let me ask you a question on a more personal scale. What the fuck where you thinking? Now I'm not going to turn this blog into a bash fest where I rant about people I don't like on the boards. I save that for the privacy of my own mail box. This case however is completely different. NSF backstabbed the community, and robbed a bunch of dudes of a great opportunity.

So I charge the leaders of the community (although I will not do so myself, so see the irony) lets just cut this guys hands off, ban him perminently from both major sites and wash our hands of him. Or at least lets let everyone know that this guy is a complete moron. I apologize to you NSF. It's unfair for me to be saying all of this, and I'm a complete douche for doing so. Unfortunetly, I'm just saying what many others have said to me, only I've created the forum to say it. I hope someday you can really clean up your act...untill then, just stop talking.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Ugh....need to clarify.

I want to make sure somethings clear cause I realize after reading this again that my style is somewhat belligerent. To the guys that made these comments, I'm not saying anything your doing is right or wrong. This isn't meant to be an inquisition and my goal is not to "convert" the community into my own state of mind. Remember that I'm one dude, and this is my point of view. Everything here is based off of thoughts I have at one time had, or conversations that I feel should be brought into the public light. The old school thing is here for the moment because it's my goal for next week and something I'm currently working on and thinking about. I also think by explaining and writing more about it, I can hopefully show a community that while we do have advancements in our modding capabilities, there will come a point when Nerf resembles nothing of the former game. I'm trying to protect that and hopefully inspire some people to lighten up.

On a personal note, after reading it, I realize that I may have been particially rough of Groove. To clarify, I'm not saying he shouldn't have cut his bow, or that he shouldn't have made Guru. I liked Guru and was sad that I never got a chance to play against it. I was merely addressing every question, comment and discussion I had about my former articles. I hope that no one who was quoted, or who took place in these discussions will be upset because I was merely bringing my point of view and yours to the public.

Understand that I don't expect anyone else to try this out, but I would hope that maybe it would be a side thing people would give a try one round and maybe find some new skills they never knew they had. That and it's a big part of reliving my childhood.

Talio.

Spelling sucked...don't feel like proof reading.

Part three....Backlash to comments made.

A few comments have been made (not to my surprise) about the idea of old school Nerf. I hope now that I can possibly give a reply to those publicly, and give my thoughts. While all points made are valid, I remind you that this is my definition of "old school" and being the idea is not tested, should be consider as nothing more then a drafted outline that will no doubt be modified in the future.

First comment.

Camo. One individual pointed out that he wears camo because he sees the satire in it. He's holding a bright yellow gun and wearing full camo. Ok, I get it, it's funny, but the point remains that no matter what your holding, be it dildo, red blaster or .45 caliber automatic pistol, people get nervous when they see camo patterns. Think of it this way. Camo is used in war and hunting, which both require shooting. Shooting is done with guns. Guns kill people. Killing is violent. People don't like violence...It's bad. The mind is able to make that connection in a split second. For normal people (not soldiers or weekend warriors), in most cases, camo is automatically going to produce a negative image of you. While yes, it is satirical, it could also potentially be the cause of getting you booted from a park. The rule remains...Use camo wisely.

Second Comment.

Blasters. Again, I got met with the idea that a tricked out pistol is the same thing as old school. This is false. Entirely. First of all, any tricked out blaster that you've made fire more then twice it's capacity and ridiculous velocities, no matter how low they might be in the comparison to other guns, does not give it the feel and characteristics of old school. Using all pistols is a pistol round, using a hornet with the pegs pulled and pump plugged is old school. If you want to use an old school pistol, go mod a nitefinder, shave down the raised lines in the barrel, make fatter darts and kick it. I've said this before, using a modded blaster that has the equal performance of another unmodded blaster does not make the modded blaster viable.

Third Comment.

New players. The comment was this playing style is bad for new players because they would not be able to compete with my crossbow. Well first off, no matter how good you are with a modded blaster, if you have your roots or more hours banked in unmodded play, you will be a better player. In unmodded Nerf, to land any hits, any hits at all, you had to use teamwork. If you did one on one, you'd end up dodging every shot and dancing outside your opponents firing radius. You had to use teamwork to take down one member at a time and then find away to overwhelm the last player. In modded Nerf, you can land a hit with a super weapon going lone wolf. The person who made this comment also told me that they play with bunkers and super weapons. Well I've done that on a paintball field, and trust me, if this is the style play your going for, you'll be much more satiated with paintball itself. He also said that his guys are so good that they have to use teamwork. I'm sure this is the case, but I will tell him that if he were using unmodded blasters, the case would be that much more. He also said the big draw to him was making his own weapons. I guess again I have to accept that this mind frame exists and there are some I will never get out of it. I remain to think that the people who play like this are missing out on a lot more fun. Back the topic at hand. His point also begs the idea that I'm trying to push this as a game type rather then a single player mind set. I assure you, I'm not looking to have old school wars or rounds, merely trying to push some players over to a more noble and challenging style of play. Lastly, to say that a new player would not be able to compete with a unmodified blaster is missing the point entirely. I can barely compete with it. It's not trying to be competitive. It's challenging the new player to gain skills otherwise neglected by using a powerful gun. Nerf is not a hard game to master and this is merely adding another challenge to make the new player that much better, that much quicker. I can almost guarantee, that within three wars, team a guy up that's been using a combination of uber blaster and old school blaster, and a dude that's used a super 2k, put equal powered guns in their hands, and the old schooler will mop the floor with him. Now to the point that they won't be able to compete with me. Well, it's a possibility, probably more, that I would beat a new player if we were both using these rules. I will give you this because I have spent over a year working on crossbows and have been playing the game for about 10. Yeah, I'd hope that in that time I would be able to gain skill enough to take down a player. Putting a uber weapon that will make it harder for me to get close to him or handicapping myself is not the answer. He'll soon learn, and all that much quicker. I've seen players start out with crap guns (Rambo) and guys start out with uber guns (Philly kids), and I've been far more impressed with the dude using crap guns. Rambo has been standing out to me lately as the beginnings of a solid player. He's starting to drop the bag a bit, but in all honesty, there's nothing wrong with it. He's having a good time, he makes us laugh. He's a funny guy, and I'm glad that he comes around. The Philly kids have yet to win a round where they play as a team, mostly because all their skill comes from shooting guns that are better or equal to ours and then running away. Had they been using a little more weaker powered weapons, maybe they would look to some of the more veteran players on tips to how to play successfully and as a team, then find out that most of the time, we're just dicking around cracking jokes and trying to get the adrenaline rushing, while simultaneously realizing that, hey, I can't win a round on my own, and if I could, I wouldn't have half as much fun as I do dicking around with these guys. Rambo has gained a few good skills. His aim is improving...He nailed me twice last war. He's gained stealth, seeing as both of those hits were without me ever seeing him. Most importantly, he's looking to better players for help and advice. Many times when I was covering him, he'd ask me what I thought he should do. I wish more players would do this more often, and I wish the experienced players would give more help. Then again, I wish most of the experienced players had done what he is doing. All and all, at this point I can't find a better example of a player who people should try to emulate in attitude and character as a player more then Rambo. He's not a juggernaught on the field (perhaps in size once he straps all those damn guns to himself), but he has his uses. I know I can always go to him and he's got a crap load of darts he's picked up and willing to hand out. I know many times I've used him as my cover fired to reload and move. Is he at Vaccs level yet? No. But I truly believe if he keeps playing and trying, he can someday have the skills to be at that level.

Fourth Comment.

Sorry Groove, I'm actually going to have to give your name on this one. Groove and I are good friends. We've nerfed together a few times and have mastered each others skills in our teamwork. I know how he plays, what he can and can't do, just as he knows what I can and can't do. We were talking about the rules the other day, primarily the part about his Guru integration, and that integrating a gun, even cutting it is no different then strapping a LnL to the side. Now let me stress one point to everyone again. This is a draft, based on my personal feelings about guns and what I would have and have not done. Let me explain why his gun came into mind and my reasoning behind the cutting rule. I don't want people integrating primary's on primary's. Vacc at one point said that him integrating the two LnLs on the side of Binky was for conveyance. To take that further I will say that adding pistols and side arms to guns is for convenience, while taping primaries to them is for advantage. I made this rule to point out that in no way is a 1500 on a crossbow old school. Not even remotely, and I didn't want to see guys cut the bottom off the crossbow, wire tie a fully intact 1500 or 2k to it and say it was old school. First off, you cut a crossbow, not cool. If you saw some of the LCM guns after a few years, you'd be sobbing like an Indian on a river bank. I actually own one, and it's in terrible shape. So cutting crossbows to start with is just not old school. In unmodded, you didn't alter the gun to feel or accommodate anything, you used it for what it was, or you didn't use it at all. Cutting a big hunk off the front of a gun to fit a splitfire on it is definitely a 100% modded gesture. Not to mention I haven't decided on whether or not to consider the splitfire a primary or not. Integrations in general should be avoided unless it's pistols taped onto primaries and done so for convince of not having anywhere else to put it. Probably best still to get a holster or stick it in your pocket. I haven't really made up my mind on this. Groove and I basically agreed to disagree.

Fifth comment.

Ammo. Comment was that PVC should be ok to keep all your guns firing one type of ammo. Well that's fine, I understand completely, but it's not old school. If you want your guns to shoot the same kind of ammo, pick two guns that shoot the same type of ammo. One of the big characteristics of unmodded was making sure you conserved ammo for when you needed it, which prevented mass shooting and was more promoting team maneuvers. Sure every once in a while you'd have a stand off, but when it ended, it was a pretty cool battle of epic proportions. The reason why modded Nerfers hate standoffs so much is because they don't use proper team work. If you can get the other team to sit still long enough for you to accumulate a plan and catch your breath, more power to them. In fact I always find it a relief when a standoff breaks out. So while I understand that it would be nice to shoot the same type of ammo, a big part of unmodded is having ammo that works well in a certain gun, and making sure you had enough if the shit hit the fan. Part of this is to modify your darts so you can use the original barrel, and that's not just for the old school feel, but also a challenge to see if you can mod the gun to shoot well without just bitching out and slapping a new barrel on it.

So there you have it. As you see, I am meeting a little resistance to this as I would expect. Some rules are more controversial then others, while some should become modern practice in every aspect of the game. Either way, I'm not making any changes to the rules yet, but I also doubt that anyone will ever follow them dead on.

Talio.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Kick it old school part 2

Well, expect to hear more of this throughout the week. It's on my mind because of the war on Saturday and I'll be sure to give you some post damage reports. To get some insight on the inspiration of this article, hit up the comments made at the bottom of my last article. The idea was posed that I could use a PVC modded Nitefinder instead of the crossbow and wield similar results. While I will not comment on the validity of this accusation, I'm glad it came up, because it's another step in the "Old School" philosophy. I'm sure a PVC Nitefinder could outgun the crossbow if modded properly, but the point is not to use modded guns that are similar in firing strength, but simply to use guns with certain attributes that make them feel more like unmodded guns.

I was talking to OMC last night for a while, expecting my good friend to tell me how much of a fag I am for having this brilliant idea, but surprisingly, he was behind it. Most of the motivation behind this will come in more detail later (perhaps today, depending on how much real work there is to be done here), but most of it can be attributed to brass weapons finally showing up on the NJ scene. I know the Cali guys embraced micro firing weapons, because the ammo and modifications used for micros are clearly superior. From what I've seen of the place they used to play at, I'd probably have done the same thing. Their school area is similar to the place we play in DC and I don't think I'd ever be able to get away with old school there, sadly. As I was talking to The Fish, he mentioned that he's been talking up a similar idea, and that he plans on never using brass. We didn't dive into that much, but I knew exactly why and I'm going to take the liberty to explain the comment.

Uber firing weapons seem to kill, or slowly are killing the a few of the key aspects which makes Nerf unique over other mock war games ( although I hate having to class Nerf as a war game ). A few things that guys who play Nerf seriously (with unmodded weapons) and stuck with it were once easily defined. First off, you can dodge. This is even cooler after seeing movies like The Matrix. I'm not saying we do Jon Woo moves (other then Death), or anything of that nature, but I've literally seen guys (Evil Angel) go into rounds with two LnL's and on dodging alone, never get hit and making loads of kills (Reckoning 2k4, otherwise known as Halo lan party). This is a forte of the Horsemen. It's really hard to hit them, and can dominate a round with pistols. And if anyone is responsible for sparking the "old school" idea, it's them. All of them use the original barrel on their crossbows, in one way or another, and LnL's with the original barrels, and tend to rarely lose rounds. Brassed weapons and other hunting powered Nerf guns are becoming harder and harder to dodge. It's still Nerf-like, being that it's not like paintball where your squeezing off a huge number of shots in a small amount of time. But you can't dodge a paintball, and the closer we get to guns shooting like this, the harder it becomes to dodge. The human body, even at it's peak performance level, is only able to accomplish so much. The uber-blasters are sucking the dodging aspect out of Nerf very slowly.

The second thing that made Nerf unique is that you had to get into the other persons grill. In paintball or airsoft, if you've seen the person whose shot you, they probably could have done a little bit better of a job, but Nerf, there's no hiding, every kill is personal. Again, Reckoning 2k4, Wee Man takes his PVC modded Maxshot, arcs it into the air, pulls the trigger and gets at least 75 foot head shot. That's the farthest away I've ever seen a shot land, and the guy who got hit knew who did it, and realized that it was a hell of a shot. What was even cooler is that he reloaded and did it again. I was thoroughly impressed with him. While yes it cool to be able to nail someone from that far off, it wouldn't have been impressive had he done it with a heavier modified gun. To get back on topic, Nerf almost has a hand to hand combat feel to it. The fact that I could at any point deal a melee shot Halo style to anyone, just makes the game more exciting. With uber weapons, this is starting to be lost. I will never understand the fun that goes along with hiding behind hard stuff and shooting people. It's far superior to be fighting at close range where you can practically punch your opponent. Good luck with that happening in paintball, someone will be on the ground.

So this brings me to the comment made by Langley. "I'm saying with the 'Level 2' crossbow mod, you may as well use a PVC Nitefinder for your primary." I felt it was important to address this in a new article, because my response is long and is important enough that I think everyone should read it. First off, to break down this comment, a level 2 (I can't believe that caught on....gay!) crossbow mod is a weaker weapon and a PVC Nitefinder is a well modded weapon that may shoot similar. So to rephrase this in broader terms, what's being said is literally, 'I'm saying with a weaker weapon, you may as well use a well modded weapon that may shoot similar.' I will acknowledge that he may also be alluding to the fact that the Nitefinder is more compact, easier to acquire and a cheaper weapon. I'm not telling everyone to run out and buy a crossbow, but I understand his point that if your going to spend that much on a gun, you might as well trick it out, and use something else with a similar shot. This is a good point, but it's still missing the point.

I guess it's time to point out somethings I've personally defined as "Old School Nerf".

Old School Nerf is an attempt to make the competitive and hobby side of the game feel more like a unmodified game, while still requiring you to engineer your weapons and maintain their performance, which are important characteristics of the hobby, at the same time promoting an attitude that may be more characteristic of unmodified game.

1. Modifications

- Any modification can be done to the gun as long as it resembles it's original state in some way or form. No casing modification can be made that will in some way ruin the original intent it was used for (no hacking up a crossbow to remove the stock or putting other guns into the shell, such as with Groove's original Guru). Removing, moving or modifying parts is perfectly acceptable such as with the removing of the cocking slide from the LnL or barrel relocation on the crossbow.

- Banding, spring modification/replacement, re-enforcement or anything that may aid the performance of the gun is acceptable. For pump guns, it's perfectly ok to do a pump plug to enhance the air volume.

- Barrel replacement is not acceptable. The barrel must house the dart or have the dart actually pass through the barrel at some point. This means jamming brass down the stock barrel of the LnL is not old school. Barrel extentions, or other modifications to improve the stock barrel, including taping holes and things of that nature, are acceptable. However, barrel replacements will be aloud if a gun is not able to fire homemade ammunition. Most airguns, such as the 1500 may use replaced barrels, but they must use the turret, and preferably be at least close to the size of the original barrels. As a side note, any use of an Airtech is not old school, ever, unless you plan on not plugging the pump or can somehow make it fire like a reasonable weapon. I've had ideas to make a pistolized AT2k, that would actually fire like a pistol, but still keep the rate of fire, making it a simple upgrade of the original design. The 3k, well I'm not sure what you could do with this, because I've never seen one. If you can somehow find a way to increase it's stock performance without just flat out modding it, I guess it would be ok, but it would be a challenge.

2. Integrations

- Integrations are fine, but they are not to violate any of the above rules. Therefore if you want to integrate a 1500 onto your crossbow, you better find a way for me to look at the gun and see a full 1500. However, slapping pistols on the side, or making holsters on your guns (Such as OMC's bow, or many of the Horsemens guns) to fit other guns in are fine.

3. Ammo
- Homemade ammo is perfectly legal. Part of Old School is making darts that will fire well out of your guns. This may mean that if your using a crossbow and a Nitefinder, that you have to make two types of darts. You must engineer and test the darts to perform well in your gun.

- You want your gun to fire the size it intended. So no making the crossbow fire micro's. The only exception I'll make to this is the arrowstorm. Firing Mega homemade darts out of the arrowstorm is perfectly acceptable.

4. Weapon Types
- In general, the less modifications you do to the gun the better. Barrels are key here. Even if you choose to use an air gun such as the 1500 and replace the barrel, make sure you can get the dart in properly without having your finger encompassed, or having to use a ramrod. I won't completely ban airguns because if someone were to use a 5k with the stock barrel and did some mods to make it shoot better, that would be ok. In general, if a gun needs to have it's barrels removed to fire homemade darts, it's better to avoid using the weapon or just use the stock darts.

- New guns are more then ok, in fact I encourage their use. The N strike is one of the big proponents to my recent desire to define old school Nerf. Fully auto and semi auto weapons are really cool guns. I like them a lot, and hate that they don't have a better use in modified Nerf. They take a lot to have to compensate against other weapons, when it should be vice versa. Those auto and semi auto guns ought to be controlling the field. And the N strike...well it's such a cool gun. If I had had that back in the day, it would have dominated the field, unmercifully. Hands down the best unmodded weapon ever made.

- The Titan. This is important. This gun and other large air output, missile firing weapons must shoot missiles. No making it shoot mega's. Doing so violates one of the ammo rules anyway, but I wanted to make sure this was crystal clear. In unmodded, this would have been a sniper rifle believe it or not.

5. Clothing
- No camo. It's not old school and your taking yourself too seriously. Black is good, but I would shy away from military style dress. If your playing in the woods, I'll give on the fact BDU's are very durable and will protect you from brush, so in this case I'll give a little on the use of BDU's, but make sure only one part is military style and preferably not in a camouflaged pattern. So if your wearing a pair of military BDU pants, wear a normal shirt. If you must wear camo patterns, and this is only to be done if nothing else is available, make sure you'll be playing in a non-public area. This isn't milsim, your just playing a game. I used to have a pair of camo BDU's I wore when we went into the woods, but I know if your playing and people see you wearing camo while shooting your buddy in the mouth, they'll be a little more frightened then if you were wearing a pair jeans or cargo pants.

- Shoes. Boots are fine. I say this because I know for a fact that people like me who have the ankles of a ten year old girl have to wear boots to protect us from injury. It's important to wear what's comfortable and safe for your style of play. Yes, this is just a game, and shouldn't be taken super seriously, but your going to be active and it's important to make sure you treat your body the same way an athlete would before a big game, or a long day of activity. If you like to run, and don't have special problems with your feet like me, sneakers are great. If your playing in the woods, boots are a better idea. It's important to dress to suit the environment.

6. Sportsmanship
- The golden rule and the honor system. This is important. If you don't plan to follow this section of rules to the T, close the window, give up on the idea, sell your guns, and then go kill yourself. Treat others the way you want to be treated. If you like to trash talk, make sure you keep it good natured. I like getting trashed talked almost more then participating myself, but some guys aren't funny in the slightest and just come off mean. Use your best judgment. If someone is obviously starting to feel shitty because you just said their mothers vagina tastes good with a little whipped cream on top, you probably want to reel it in a bit. Also, treat other peoples calls the way you would expect them to.

- Shooter calls hit. This is hard for new players to grasp, and is impossible to enforce. If you get shot, call yourself out. If someone says they hit you, take the hit, unless you specifically saw the dart land ten feet away from you, take it. If you ever use the words "I didn't feel anything", or "That was just my shirt", leave the field and never come back. This is the honor system. It's a game and part of being a good sportsman is acknowledging when you've been defeated. Also, be honest about your hits. I know sometimes it's hard. There are times when I could swear I saw something land that after a little investigation, clearly didn't. Avoid arguments, and remember, your still in the game. There is no time out. If you want to argue a hit, your going to have to compensate for that and the fact that the shooter may be still firing at you. Don't be a whinny prick and expect for everyone to stop because you have a problem with another player. Honesty is so important, it hurts. This is just a game, and the reason it stays together and remains fun is not because you were super successful or only took this number of hits. It's because you had a good time playing a game you love. Nerf wars suck when people cheat.

- Have fun. Remember, this is just a game, and not one that is sanctioned. Sometimes doing retarded stuff is funny, but don't be stupid about it. Good example is the story of Evil Angel, jumping in the creek at Millcreek park with the Horsemen flag, and wading back to his side. Yeah, sure he was out of bounds, but it's funny, so it's ok in this case. Lunges and backsprings and goofy stuff makes Nerf unique and are perfectly ok, just don't be an idiot about it. Have a good time, make everyone laugh, make sure you laugh at least 40 times the entire day, and have done at least one or two completely stupid things that were funny. If no one is laughing, stop, because that means your not funny, and in that case, just enjoy what the other people are doing. Either way, make sure you are having a good time, and what your doing is not hindering other people from having a good time. Winning is not what Nerf is about.

So there you have it, the impromptu guide to Old School Nerf. Hopefully this addresses Langleys comments. Yes I could use a PVC modded Nitefinder, but PVC just doesn't feel like Nerf. Stock barrels are what Nerf is about, and making darts that will fire well out of the guns you plan on using is a proponent to that. It's not about making your guns super powerful, it's making you guns shoot a little better and keeping the same feel of them. Using a PVC modded Nitefinder would feel to me like going with a pistol in a modified Nerf war, rather then playing with lesser weapons that would have more characteristics and skills needed of unmodified guns. Yes, you are right, I could use a Nitefinder and get similar results, but that's missing the point entirely. Perhaps if you don't understand, you never will.

Talio.


Saturday, November 20, 2004

First Article (I have to much time): Kicking it old school.

Goofy article to be my first thought provoking rants, but it's been on my mind recently and I haven't had a chance really to sit down and put all my thoughts together. Lately, I've been doing a little bit of yearning for the old days. I used to nerf completely unmodified, and then stopped for a couple of years, only to come back and find Nerfonline.com (already dead) and then Nerfhaven.com. It really was amazing to see that people actually enjoyed this game, and the fact that guns could be modified to shoot even better was so exciting, that I could hardly contain myself (or my bladder). I then found that only 2 hours away was going to be a major nerfing event, Apoc 2k3. I was onboard and showed up with my newly modified Eagle Eye, and spent the entire day kicking back with OMC's 1500. I love modified nerf, but more and more, I really wish I could go back to unmodified weapons, because I feel it's greatly important to the skill and development of a player, as well as a hell of a lot of fun.

With the release of fully auto and semi auto weapons (which I returned to), I imagine that modified nerf has changed significantly. The closest thing we had was the ballzooka, which at that time was the juggernaught of the game. It wasn't an easy weapon to wield, but it was fruitfully if you could actually get your team to cover you and get the guys with the long range lamari guns to take out a few key players and certain gun toaters. A sound strategy was to get as many single firing long shooters as you could (such weapons we had included the SM500, or the version we had was the supertech, SharpShooter, dollar store guns that shot those little rubber bullets and the BnA), and then use your ballzooka carrier (or heavy weapons as we called him) and constantly be doing what we called, shoot and swipe. What we would do when attacking the enemy is literally run in a staggered line. The first person would run in, take a shot and jump or slide out of the way as fast as he could dodging enemy fire, the next guy doing the same thing and so forth. Mostly we had 4 man teams, so you had three guys with single shots (or double shots as in the case of the SS1, which would allow for a second shot from the players dodged position) and charging up the rear (homoerotically enough, my favorite position) was your ballzooka carrier. You'd get off three good shots, maybe a snuck shot from the side, and then a dude with rapid fire laying the bitch smacking final blow to the team. Your attackee's would almost always scatter for cover, or at least have taken a few shots and be reloading, give you more then proper surprise time to take the enemy out. What you don't get, your teammates should then be able to mop up with their by now reloaded weapons.

what's the difference between unmodded and modded nerf? The requirement of teamwork and tactics. Too often we make hell cannons that we use as crutches to make up for our poor aim or communication skills. Also, with unmodded, if you got a group of guys that really liked to play together and were close by, you could strike up a game at any given point. The downfall of course was weak weapons and expensive ammo, which always seemed to linger on the heads of players.

I think when we nerf, we should find a balance between these things. I mean, if you like to mod, so be it. I guess I have to accept some nerfers only tag that name onto themselves because they make a nerf gun able to kill a small animal. What would be nice if we could use some kind of common sense to keep that "old school" mentality, but also be able to use homemade ammo and be able to sustain a shot from a reasonable distance.

I've got so far off on a tangent with this it's not even funny, but I'll quickly get to the point. What I've decided to do is literally, kick it old school. Next Saturday, a week from today is the LCM Thanksgiving war. I have recently acquired a new crossbow for outrageously cheap on Ebay, like a lot of people (even though it would be cheaper if it weren't for my new arch enemy and eternal fag Nerf Special Forces (man it feels good to say that...I'm not on NHQ, do something)), and instead of pimping it out beyond belief, I've decided to not replace the barrel. I've relocated it to the front of the gun, re-enforced the plunger and will be doing some spring work, perhaps a barrel extention, but I will not replace it. I will be also toating two (hopefully. I've seemed to have misplaced one) LnL's with the same deal. Banding, spring stretch, stock barrel. This means I have to use mega's, which I don't mind, but I'm sure some of you newer distance/velocity monkeys are having a field day laughing about how much I'm going to suck.

Actually your right, I'm going to get owned. I mean, absolutely 9wn3D. The idea here is not that I'll have a superior weapon, or that I think this variant of the crossbow is any more powerful or will be any more successful then another mod, it's simply because I want to take the attention off of shooting. I want to interact with my team, maneuver and try to find a delicate balance of my game. It's also to get back the feeling I used to have. Breach loading is a drag, and brass is to small to jam a dart down, and as much as I like ballpoint ramrods, it doesn't feel like nerf to me. Jam a dart in, pull back the plunger, squeeze off a round and do it all over. At one point I was so quick at this, that in unmodded I could get a second shot off before some of the newer players got off their first. Breach loading takes forever. It may shoot better, but if you miss, your screwed. Now you could go with the A2k (which I have been recently), but that is, in all senses of the word, a cheap, bitchy weapon. I don't doubt it's potency in a battle, but lord almighty, there's nothing really impressive about getting hit by a dude toating a Airtech.

It's the same idea behind playing pump paintball. Sure, there are better guns out there that shoot like crazy, but the pump guys play to improve skill and be able to shut up the loud mouth with the auto cocker. That's what I want to do. How embarrassing or impressive would it be for a dude to be able to silence the idiot with the A2k, with a stock barreled crossbow? How bout being able to properly lead and land a 45 foot head shot? This all requires skill and patients. Now I know I'm going to get shot and be outgunned 90% of the time, but that's not the point. This is a game, and I want to learn how to be a good sportsmen. I plan on taking my hits like a man, not arguing hits, and not getting upset if I get eliminated in the first 5 minutes of battle. I won't try to justify why I got taken out in the first five minutes of battle, or listen to the trash being talked by those who have uber firing weapons. Wow, you took down a dude with a barely modified crossbow with your brassed single barreled 1500, congratulations!

So what's the satisfaction I'm looking for? Getting a solid couple hits off, and maybe learning some new maneuvering techniques, and brushing up my game, while getting the satisfaction of doing so with a "obsolete" weapon. Call me crazy, because I am. I extend my hand to all of you out there who play regular to give the same thing a try. It can only improve you game. Join me in the revolution and kick it old school.

Talio.

First post to the first blog

I can't believe this was never done before. I had this idea sitting at my desk on a cloudy, grey Saturday morning, in a dark office in which I have been stuck for the past 4 hours and will continue for another 8. The idea was one I had a while ago. I thought, wouldn't it be cool if I could make up a site where I could just drop articles or posts about Nerf, but the plan fell through for the fact that I hate making websites. I did it in high school, I hope to never do it ever again. Though as I sat here, I was thinking how much I hate seeing peoples queer, touchy feely bullshit xanga's and livejournals, where they pour their soul out about ridiculous nonscene (that is if you can actually read it, due to the font size, colors, and backgrounds that tend to perfectly camo themselves into a mass mind fuck of stupid) and how much they hate their parents. Not to mention they never have anything interesting to say.

So at first I thought, what if I make a blog with just my random bullshit as a complete joke. Well, I decided that was a little to "metro sexual" for my taste. Then I remembered my nerf article site idea. Bingo bitches! Nerfblog!

The reason I've gone out of my way to do this is because as stands, I'm probably one of the most outspoken about how I feel about Nerf, tactics, modifications and other mindless nonscene that comes along with pelting teenagers with finely tuned instruments of death. Soft, safe, fun my ass! Alas, I am an administrator at NerfHQ.com and if I were to say exactly what was on my mind on those boards, it wouldn't be pretty.

So this is what you can expect. First off, updates, I have a job, go to school, take care of a house (poorly), and am forced to deal with a member of the opposite sex that demands my attention be that above a squeaks and whistles. I also own Halo 2. So I'll update when I feel like it. Second, content, you can expect any thoughts I might have. I thought for a while to post these on NHQ from time to time, but the site isn't my personal blog (paradox), and I would never treat it as such (cough, Rags, cough). I hope you check back, I may post when I update in a thread on NHQ, because I'd really like for people to read what I have to say on this thing.

There you have it, another contribution via your friendly neighborhood Viking Terrorist.

Talio.