Here's something I need to clear up, I'll put it into an easier to understand analogy instead of trying to explain why I hate electrical tape so much:
I come from an engineering university. In the dorms, EVERYONE modded their computers. EVERYONE put bigger hard drives in by themselves, everyone added more memory themselves, everyone overclocked the processors themselves.
So say a freshman comes to the dorms, reads some tutorials online and mods his computer. He then proceeds to brag about it and show off how awesome he is. At home, yeah maybe gramma couldn't do that, or the neighbors, but guess what? It's been done here before. By everyone else. We've seen it and heard it 100 times.
Now say that freshman modded his computer and maxxed it out, but put the whole thing in a 1985 Kenner Barbie convertible, with working headlights and tail lights. Now that takes some creativity and originality! Nobody gives a damn if you can follow a tutorial with pictures and copy of someone elses work. Bragging rights are earned by being original and creative or hardworking at the university. You don't earn them by showing up at a lan party with an ugly box.
So I look at the nerf websites, and the first thing I see are how to tutorials with step-by-step pics on how to add various barrels and whatnot. Okay, fine. But then I get to the forums and I see people all excited that they just made a gun with a petg barrel, and improved airflow like the tutorial said, and painted it like someone else did, but since there's not tutorial on how to make the gun look better, they leave it looking sloppy.
Should I be impressed that this person can follow directions? Definately not. Should I be impressed with something original like Groove's Buddha gun, or Pin up Xbow? Hell yeah. The Buddha gun was such a simple idea, but it was executed just right. Not like "look! it's a pic of the Terminator, cuz I terminate" or something lame. Dan Wask's General Bitch was another good example of simple deisgn, but high in the originality department. The General Lee was a cool ass Charger, and applying the paint and details to a large enough nerf gun was perfect.
In fact, so far, every TT and NF in that paintjob contest has been creative. Yeah some of them didn't look the greatest, but at least people are trying.
So for me, seeing rubber bands or electrical tape on the outside of a gun is like a freshman building the best computer, but holding the stock case together with rubber bands and electrical tape instead of screws. There's 100 better ways to go about it. But it seems here like the opposite is true. Rubber bands and electrical tape are the norm, and there's maybe 6 or 7 creative people here. And even less contributing to tutorials or new WORKING designs.
Maybe I am asking too much. Maybe there really is such a huge gap in skill levels. But at least I'm in a position to narrow that gap and teach you all some tricks.
The other thing is, in the games I play, guns that shoot 100+ feet are not allowed. Stefans are also not allowed. We play on campus or in city limits in public areas, and having anything reomotely dangerous attracts attention from campus or local police. We've come close to getting shut down because of over powered guns and custom darts with hard tips. . Plus, 80% of the time we play indoors, so anything over 40 feet is overkill. When your target is 15 feet away, a gun that shoots 20 feet is just as effective as a gun that shoots 40 feet. Most of us know how to make them shoot farther, but we dont' bother since there's no real point or advantage to it indoors.
So when everyone basically has a gun that fires about the same range, what do you to? You turn to case mods and custom shells for guns. Make sense?
"If I want something pretty, Ill paint a picuture. Courtesy of Shortshit" -THIRST
