I only had one true water gun fight this year, but it was large enough and fun enough to guarantee, in some isolated and mysterious part of my mind, the sanctity of this activity which I had begun to disregard as some relic of my youth. The battle, which took place at a friend’s graduation party involved around eight people , all of which were using CPS-grade weaponry. It was an epic soaker-fest, and while a part of me missed the structural and tactical organization of a 1HK Capture the Flag or Elimination style game, the epic chaos and watery fun that ensued more than made up for it.
I realize that I have not posted much in the past year or so. In fact, my activity in the online community has slowly declined over the past three years. I think it began with the fall of SoakerMedia, or maybe it ended as soon as SoakerMedia began. I was extremely active in SoakerMedia, and as I’m sure Duxburian can attest to, the small community over there hosted some of the best discussion in the field of water warfare that I have ever witnessed. SoakerMedia stood as a microcosm within Soakerdom. I immensely enjoyed participating in the development of that site, and was saddened when it fell apart. Of course, the quiet death of SoakerMedia was nothing like the slow decomposition of Aquatica, or the thunderous and abrupt demise of WWn. I was never a member of Aquatica, but I remember WWn, and it still brings a smile to my face.
I guess what I’m trying to accomplish with this nostalgia-trip is to illustrate that while the online community has gone through tremendous change in the past six years that I have been a part of it, it has stood resolute throughout. A large part of this may be the continued efforts of Ben and iSoaker. These guys have operated behind the scenes to create virtually everything that exists online today. They operate the only two sites that, to my knowledge, have served the needs of water warfare enthusiasts worldwide since the earl 2000s. Both of these sites host a seemingly inexhaustible amount of knowledge and data, and are solidly and consistently updated. Furthermore, the communities supported by these two individuals, and the sites they have constructed, stand as a strong backbone in Soakerdom, constantly ensuring that no matter how tedious or inane the question is, someone who is curious about anything related to water warfare has a way of finding the answers.
However, these guys haven’t done it alone. Surrounding and supporting these two information sources is an immediate periphery of enthusiastic contributors. It is this periphery that tends to motivate and contribute the most activity and content in the online community, through their sheer size and energy. I think it is interesting to note that, in comparison to other online communities in which lurkers or silent non-contributing members are in the majority of the total member-population, the members of Soakerdom are, for the majority, very active in the discussion boards. I think this is a testament to the excitement that water warfare creates, and why it is destined to stick around longer than we all think it might.
This is not to signify my retirement from the world of water warfare. I think its important to make that very clear because a lot of my contemporaries, members that joined around the same time I did, have since left the community, often with eloquent and lengthy posts detailing their reasons why and sometimes giving a shoutout to the people they are going to miss. I realize this post seemed that way, but it is not. While it is true that I have not been very active for the past year, and this post does not and will not indicate a dramatic revival of my activity in any of the forums (due to constraints of work, school, and personal life) I have a strong feeling that I will be the organizer of at least several water wars during the next season, the accounts of which I will be more than happy to share with all of you here, in the online community.
Regards,
wetmonkey442
P.S. All of those who were hoping that my collection was up for sale will be sadly disappointed. : P
