5 replies to this topic

[Jef]

Ive heard people say they play nerf because they didn't like paintball/airsoft. How is nerf played as a sport? Is it jsut modding the guns and playing around with them or is there sport side to it?

[J cobbers]

There is some quasi organised events as I understand it. Some in the So.Cal. area, where Spoon, Cxwq and the like dwell and hold nerfing events they call Lanos or Yanos. The other large group of players are in NJ, Vacc, Ash, ect. hold events too.

If you want to see what it's like look in the Gallery section. There are plenty of pictures of a nerf war.

Personally, I used to belong to a Student organization in College that had played a RPG using nerf as weapons, and often had nerf battles late at night in large lecture halls.

Basically some people veiw nerf as a sport like paintball or airsoft, others just to monky around with some friends, and I think most of us like to tool around with the guns as a hobby, trying to get the most out of the plastic toys as we can.

[Blaster]

I suppose there's a sport side to it. There are nerf wars. In the wars that i host (normally very small ones) the rules are that if you get shot you're out. There are also big wars like armageddon. i'm not sure but i think in some wars there's a certain amount of times that you can get shot until you're out. And i guess you could make up games with your own rules. But since i have no official say in it im just taking stabs in the dark.

[Zero Talent]

Ive heard people say they play nerf because they didn't like paintball/airsoft.

Odd, I've never heard anybody say that myself. I mean, maybe if they were cheap, but that isn't a dislike of paintball, just work.

From these forums, and the NHQ forums, you'd guess it's just modding and dicking around in a basement or something, but most people either organize small games with friends, or as mentioned, go so far as to arrange very large-scale wars, though more rarely.

Most of my wars have just been arbitrary gatherings, rather than any kind of large plan.

[Talio]

Edit: Posted this at the same time as zero, his post was relevant, and basically what I said, sorry for repeating.

Ok, now for a real answer, not just guessing. We don't have quasi organized wars, we have organized wars. We plan months in ahead to meet, people whip out their best weapons, and we nerf all day. The way Nj clans do it, is we have three hits each, after you get hit, you count to fifteen, move away from battle and yell clear. Your third hit, your out. Team alive at the end wins.

Now I play with a much smaller crowd. If we have 4 or more, we do teams. If we have 3, we do free for all, and we have different feilds for each. Now what you get is about the same type of game play as airsoft or paintball will offer, at a much cheaper price. Games are quick and where I think Nerf exceeds them is you get a real up close battle, with players right in each others faces. As well as for us, you have to place your shots at the right moment. We play in the woods, so we mainly use single barrel guns. What you get is slightly better range and with a low rate of fire. But it's still cool, cause you really have to think.

I have to give TIS credit for this comparison, but the difference between Nerf and say Paintball is that Nerf, if you shoot and miss, your screwed, you have to turn and run, or do something to reload or prime your weapon. Some have this mastered, and are quite deadly, but you still have to think of where your shot is going to land and what your going to do if you miss. Now paintball, you miss, and you have 6 shots behind it, no biggy. Not only that, but if you stand or try to do a berserker run, it's not going to work. Nerf you can go Rambo style and just run in and make your shot. Paintball, well, you've got to hide or, for you paintballers that just got your nutsack twisted over that word, you have to use cover. Which all in all, sounds pretty gay to me. I don't want to hide...or uh...cover myself. I want to play.

So that ends my rant, if you have any more questions, just ask, but for the most part, all three sports share the same common characteristics.

Talio.

Edited by Talio, 01 January 2004 - 06:34 PM.

[Spoon]

Yea it varies according to your group. Out here we play in organized wars with specific sport-like rules regarding hits, counting, boundaries, etc. Other groups use different rules though usually they're just slight variations. The "standard" rule-set (also called West Coast rules) is that when you get hit you are momentarily out (usually counting to 20 seconds or so) and then back in, after a set number of lives you are dead for the round. The other major rule-set is East Coast style where there is no stopping between hits, and every single dart (rather than just the first dart as in West Coast) counts as a hit, so if someone hits you with a 4 shot Powerclip spray, you're down 4 hit points. After you lose all your hit points you're dead for the round. West Coast style tends to be slower and more strategic with occasional intense firefights, whereas East Coast is...well....not for the faint of heart.

There are other wars such as Capture the Flag (CTF), last man standing etc, but those kinds of wars vary much more in rules between groups than the standart "team deathmatch" type wars.

Groups who just kind of show up and shoot each other randomly are pretty lame.

When it comes to paintball and airsoft, most nerfers like paintball and/or airsoft, but few paintall/airsofters like nerf. Most of us like those sports, but just can't afford to play it very often or, such as in my case, suck really badly at it. That and it's just fun to be able to modify and completely customize your arsenal to your play style.