17 replies to this topic

[Ubermensch]

A while ago, jwasko posted a thread about a nerf grassroots movement on Foam Universe, but it was locked. It involved hanging up Nerf posters.

After seeing that Cmdrmack was able to make his clan a recognized group at his college, I believe that we could take jwasko's idea farther. If you go to a middle school, high school, or college, you could make a nerf club or association, therefore actually making nerf a recognized sport.

I have to go to school now but I'll update later with more ideas.

[Kenpachi Taicho]

You have the right idea here Uber. The more people that create recognized clubs at their educational facility, tha better the chance nerf will become a recognized sport.

[TED]

I do not want nerf to become a recognized sport. So you like all the pricks at the paintball fields? I don't and that's half the reason why I do not play paintball anymore.

[penguin807]

High schools and middle schools would be much harder than collages or universities. There would be too much controversy on bringing "guns" into school property, and I'm sure some kid would be stupid enough to attempt to host a nerf war during the lunch hour or recess. This community (for the most part) is very mature and they know when and when not to whip out their BBBB. I say we keep our Nerf clubs to the Universities and Collages, having more ear-pierced twelve year olds at Nerf wars is the last thing on my "if I see you I'm not going to freaking blow your head up" list

Edited by penguin807, 30 November 2007 - 10:50 AM.

[precisionnerfer]

In my opinion there is a big problem with this idea. If we attempt to make NERF an organized sport, and Hasbro hears about it, [which they obviously would] then wouldn't they do something about it? What I mean is, we use modified guns, and they put clear disclaimers on their guns telling us not to mod them. If we use modified guns in the possible sport, and we really aren't technicially supposed to, and we are trying to make it recognized as a sport, then before long we might be getting bad rap from Hasbro or the law or something. Just an opinion, and not a very experienced one, but it seems to me something like that will likely happen if we continue.

[Kenpachi Taicho]

Maybe "recognized sport" was the wrong choice of words on my part. I'm thinking more of "Spreading the NERF", rather than turning something I like into something I hate. Making Nerf bigger, doesn't mean turning it into paintball. I don't like "all the pricks at the paintball fields", please don't assume things.

I think the "do no modify" disclaimers are more for Hasbro's legal benefit, rather than a strick rule. If Hasbro didn't say "do no modify", and someone got seriously injured from a modded gun, Hasbro would most likely be facing a rather large legal issue.

Edited by Kenpachi_Taicho, 30 November 2007 - 11:00 AM.

[One Man Clan]

This idea spring up from time to time in the community. I have to agree 100% with Dark Shrimp on this one. Growing our activity to THAT level would only be detrimental to it. I don't have time to go into the extreme detail right now, but perhaps after work I can shed some light on this topic.

[jwasko]

That topic was locked for a reason, and that reason was because of the problems that many here are bringing up. They include:

1. Noobs clogging up the forums.

2. Crazy political activists deciding that Nerf is the worst thing to promote violence since video games (see: Jack Thompson)

3. As the sport spreads, some idiot shoots a kid in the eye with a singled Titan at point blank range. The parents blame Hasbro. Hasbro is probably protected from lawsuits by their warnings (that's why they're there), but increasing political (or even economic) pressure could ultimately lead Hasbro to do something detrimental to our hobby. This could include ending the Nerf brand completely (unlikely, considering how much money it's worth these days), or the use of more permanent power restriction (imagine if everything had a setup as small and inefficient as the Scout).

So, yeah, there are the problems we came up with.

I don't see any huge problems with Nerf becoming an organized sport (besides, perhaps, those effects I already mentioned)...I mean, we can still play in our traditional manner and don't have to have anything to do with the "professionals." But, I look forward to OMC's elaboration on that topic.

[keef]

Get real, they're fucking kids toys.

[Thomas]

So? Teachers and officials won't care, they still see it as a weapon. If I walked into school with a sspb I'd get kicked out. I don't like the idea of making Nerf huge, I like the idea of Nerf being a thing where you play at a park and people look at you funny.

[CAPS]

Get real, they're fucking kids toys.

Not when you mod them smart guy.
Like Jwasko mensioned, I'm sure some dumb ass is gonna do something like this with a Crossbow or a modded Titan to themselves or someone else without the eyeprotection.

I know it may not look like much but you never know what kind of dare kids these days would do with something so similar to airsoft gets in their hands.

Edited by CAPS, 30 November 2007 - 03:46 PM.

[VACC]

Now maybe I'm missing something, but I think people are getting a little too worked up over absolutely nothing. Anyone who wants to "grow nerf" in his or her educational facility should be encouraged to do it in a responsible and representative way. The fear that nerf will "get too big" is so ridiculous that I can't even begin to dispute it. It's not gonna "catch on" or "go global" anytime soon, so just get whoever you can to nerf with you and enjoy our passtime. If putting up flyers will get you the user base you desire and you don't mind being the butt of a lot of jokes, knock yourself out.

Does anyone else like to use quotes that no one's actually said?

VACC
~who's gonna stop me~

[jwasko]

Get real, they're fucking kids toys.

And video games are just games, but people still call them "murder simulators" and the like.

Edit, after seeing what Vacc wrote:

We may very well be getting "too worked up over absolutely nothing." But, the thing is, that people do get too worked up over nothing.

It's true that Nerf can cause injuries, especially in the case I mentioned. And that's why most wars ban singled Titans and SM5000s. But does it (normally) cause horrible injuries and violence in youth? No.

Unfortunately, not everyone sees it that way. I remember reading that some faculty at Goucher were complaining about the Humans vs Zombies game because it "promotes violence."

Now, does all this mean that advertising Nerf to your community is bad? No. It just means that you have to be careful. In you use advertisements, don't compare Nerf to video games. Don't put up pictures of Boltsniper's FAR and SCAR-N because, as cool as they are, they look very realistic. Heck, even the Longshot may be pushing it. Also, don't use "war;" try "Nerf battle" or even (I think the Presbyterian College nerfers use this) "Nerf Out."

Believe me, I hate thinking about all this "politically correct" shit, but the fact of the matter is that you have to in America these days.

PS: I, too, like to use quotes that no one has said.

Edited by jwasko, 30 November 2007 - 04:13 PM.

[Cmdrmack]

I'm also a little wary of Nerf taking on "sport" qualities. Part of it is hardwired, I've been in band for almost ten years now and have developed a healty mistrust for anything connected to an athletic department.

Sure it's good to be competitive, but the point that objective of a Nerf War becomes winning, rather than to have fun, Nerf as we know it, and as I love it, will have died.

That's strong language, but I'll stand by it. Every time I organize a war, my main objective is for all the participants to have fun, not for my team to win, not to get the most people out there, and not to only invite the people who I know will be really good.

I think it's great to have wars like DEAL, where the elite nerfers go to push the boundaries of what our hobby is about, and you can't do that with anything less than the best of the best. But we've also got to have Apoc's where a huge number of people show up, even if not all of them are great at nerf, they still have a lot of fun.

I wasn't here when this happened, but I think Project Nerf was a movement designed to increase our numbers and get more people involved in nerf across the country and the world. It seems like the Nerf Grassroots Movement would be more successful if it were not tied to schools, although that's where most of us spend a majority of our time, but rather to our communities.

Rather than rushing to start clubs at your schools, or pushing to have wars as Church Youth Group Activities, just go out an Nerf, invite the guy busing tables at the family restaurant, or the girl bagging your groceries at Food Lion. Get people to come war with you, do what you can to make the war balanced and fun, even if it means standing across a dorm room from a friend and shooting each other with a stock NF or Maverick. That's how the Foam Warriors of Presbyterian College (FWPC) got its start.

My clan sought recognition primarily for reasons of funding and safety. I'm fairly sure we're not the first Nerf Club to be officially recognized by a school, and it wasn't for the intention of eventually starting a Nerf League. I'd love to challenge other clans to a clan vs. clan war. I'd love to see other schools in the Southeast start nerfing club, but I don't think our community is to the point where we can really push for "sporthood."

Hasbro calls it an elaborate game of tag. That's what it seems to be to me. The lack of standardization makes for an almost infinite number of possibilities. Zaxby's might be a better shot than I am, but I might be better at movement than he is, as a result, he'll be better at elimination/deathmatch games, I'll probably be better at CTF games. If we go for sporthood, would we include one event or both?

Nerf Clubs are a lot of fun, and are a great resource, but one has to have the numbers to properly support it. The only way to do that is to recruit everyone you can. That's what a Grassroots Movement means to me. It means getting involved in actively pursueing the growth of our hobby. For us, the next step in our growth was to organize into a Registered Student Organization. For Groove that means travelling the country nerfing with everyone he can find. It might be something entirely different for you, but find that niche, and stick to it. It takes all kinds of people to make this kind of thing work.

[Tofu]

Nerf clubs are great for colleges, but high schools simply wouldn't allow it. If you go to high school and get caught drawing a nerf gun in class. The teachers freak because of the word "gun". If you saw that thread about the kid who got caught making a mod in class and the teachers would freak. They're are also to many immature idoits out there in high school that will do something stupid, like shoot each other in the eye purposely. Overall, the administration wouldn't allow it. To many idiot kids out there.

Hasbro made disclaimers for their nerf guns saying "do not modify". If some idiot shoots himself thats his fault.

If we made NERF a recognized sport, Hasbro might not be against it. What does Hasbro put they're guns on the shelves of target? Because they want to make money so they can feed their kids. If we make NERF an organised sport, we might have to have permission from Hasbro, but Hasbro would love that. Theyed sell more of their guns to people who are going to NERF clubs and going to get their friends to buy more nerf guns. Hasbro would be happy.

But still that would increase the number of retards who shoot themselves for a hobby. Retards. That would be the biggest problem for Hasbro. If it's not modifyed, they can sue. If it is, they can. But Hasbro puts disclaimers saying "do not modify" for legal reasons. If some stupid kid hurts himself with a modded gun, then NERF would easily have the upperhand on that case.

[jwasko]

If some stupid kid hurts himself with a modded gun, then NERF would easily have the upperhand on that case.

Just because Hasbro is able to win a lawsuit doesn't mean it won't catch flak for selling toys that can (potentially) harm someone when modified.

Take Manhunt 2, for instance. Once again, Rockstar left questionable content in the code of their game even after it was "removed" (see also: GTA: San Andreas). However, this time -- for some strange reason -- the ESRB was okay with that and did not re-rate the game as Adults Only. When that happened to GTA, if I remember correctly, the game was pulled from store shelves until new copies (without the offending code) were made.

Despite the lack of official repercussions from the ESRB, however, Target won't sell Manhunt 2.

If the metaphorical shit hits the fan, don't think that stores like Target won't stop selling Nerf.

As a side note: Happy birthday, Cmdrmack. This seems to be your week.

Edited by jwasko, 01 December 2007 - 01:04 PM.

[Ubermensch]

I'm sorry. Some of you misunderstood. When I said "recognized sport", I did not mean something like paintball where there are official tournaments and the like. I meant that at least a majority of people would know about our hobby.

[BustaNinja]

I would love to make it recongnized sport in my school. Also because you menton grassroots, can we make uniforms with loincloths? that would be bitchin'.