Ok, it has gotten kind of ridiculous over the past few years how much the "war" part of "water wars" has been declining. Belisaurius used to complain about how all those mighty teams of the past were dying out, but now I really see wars as a whole fading into oblivion. You wonder why Belisaurius stopped posting? Not for lack of interest. He's still into water wars, I talk about them with him on a daily basis. He stopped posting due to lack of interest in wars on the part of other people. A few reasons for this shift:
Slump in site-building: The amazing level of activity in 2004 stimulated a huge wave of new sites. However, things started to slide in 2005 and continuing to the present day. I used to post on 8-12 active water war-related forums. Now I post on like only 3-4. The number of active websites has fallen to a dangerous low, while an unusually high amount of veterans have vanished. This is just how trends work, but this also means that organized war has taken a major hit. Great sites such as GnG and Hydrowar are fading away, with nothing other than SM left to continue the tradition of highly-organized military-style wars with the integration of tech and tactics. The vacuum is serious.
More Talk, Less Fight:
I've observed how things go for since late 2003, and have concluded that people generally like talking about stock guns up to 6 times more than about wars. AKA, stock gun discussion takes precedence over actually going out and soaking. That is certainly disheartening, how much companies have managed to enslave an entire hobby to their every announcement and new line, to the point where people would rather talk about new guns than new battles. Water guns were made for doing something with. Collecting is different, since not everyone wants to fight with their guns/wants to fight with high-value guns. But seriously, praising the Flash Flood, or complaining about how a certain gun doesn't have a backpack connection, or debating the best retail gun in x category doesn't do much. It entertains and gives users something to talk about. But it doesn't do too much for the community, which depends on actually fighting to keep things going.
You may say that the community would function just fine without too much of an emphasis on wars. I mean, they are not as important is you think and aren't linked to the general health of the community. Ok, fine, let's test that with this scenario:
Suppose we let organized war go totally extinct. Ridgewood fades from the map, M4 fades from the map, Wetmonkey is gone, the future SM never happens. All of the old wars sites' hosting expires and they all disappear completely. Others with organized teams disappear forever. Future wars sites never get made. [All of the below assumes little intervention by individuals]
Some time goes by. Tactics start slowly dying out, all but the most basic 1HK gametype die out completely due to lack of players. The fallout hits fortification, supply, then ideas about team organization.
More time goes by. Soon ranks revert back to positions, mobile manuvering reverts back to bases, tap/pump reverts back to full shots.
More time goes by. The lack of organized war then will create a lack of the need for tech in battle. Mobile water balloon launchers disappear, followed by water cannon/launchers, followed by certain mods. Integrations are history, forget about cheap, battle practical homemades. We are left with only homemades designed for sheer performance. The homemade image reverts back to something dangerous, expensive, and hard to build. Homemade enthusiasm therefore drops sharply. Modding reverts to the plain-old, 50ft shooting k-mod due to the lack of the need for more. When people complain about bad stock guns, now there are less DIY options to answer with.
More time goes by. Now the fallout consumes the rest of the team-related items. Regional war ideas are history, team armories drop in caliber, teams drop in caliber. The destruction of all but the most basic tactics is complete. Water warfare ceases to be a psychological game and new users don't learn about fun unconventional tactics.
All this just because of the lack of organized war. Something you thought affected nothing. Without it, advances we've made in the past few years revert back/are lost. We are back in early 2004, folks, the same level of tech and war philosophy that existed when I first came to the community. We are back to the plain k-mod, the expensive homemades, the lack of variety in mod and homemade choices, the lack of advanced tactics from veteran commanders.
The only difference is back then there were still plenty of hardcore teams working to move soaking forward. Then, we were working toward what we have now. Without wars, there would be fewer tech advances, no tactics advances, a dimished push for more power. If this scenario were to play out, we would be back in the past, but without those vital teams and the individuals they bring to soaking. But also, the loss of war would mean the loss of the people who love it. Belisaurius left because of the loss of teams he used to keep in touch with. More like him would leave, if they haven't already. Wars even impact Soakerdom's membership levels! We would continue sliding backwards, destroying the fabric of the community itself from the inside. And as you know, internal bleeding kills. Again, all this is assuming that no new teams or new hardcore enthusiasts intervene to stop the slide. This is the worst case scenario, a total loss of what has been accomplished in areas whose health is not always thought of as to be linked in any way to fighting organized wars. The end of the community as we know it today.
You take for granted all the choices in modding, all the different homemade designs, those tactics I post now and then. You take for granted the simple k-mod and the simple flank. You take for granted the input and advice of those who could not go on without organized war. You take for granted the $30 homemade and the mods that allow you to nail an enemy from double their range. What you guys don't realize is how easily all of this information, philosphy, innovation, and will to keep grinding on could be lost forever.
If you bothered to read all the way up to here, I applaud your effort. I know I scare people away with long posts, especially on topics like this. But I had to get these feelings out. We're down to 3 hardcore teams, folks, 3. And it will be 1 come 2007. And if M4's team goes, that's it for hardcore war. We're done. What we have accomplished will be lost forever or gradually fade into the past. Those better guns you always talk about may be too late to save this wing of soaking.
I'm out to save the last pieces of organized war and put new vitality into fighting them. Kind of like a revolution in the way water wars are fought tactics-wise, and the way we think about mods and homemades. Imagine new advanced teams with homemades in their arsenals, water launchers, water balloon launchers, all the new ways to fight. Teams which know how to fight and use counters. Hopefully, others will help carry the torch onward. If so, we will continue to advance rapidly in Tech and create new tactics as we create improved "water weapons of mass destruction." If not, well then just hope that soaking armageddon is swift and painless.
-Join the Revolution and Soak On!
Edited By Duxburian on 1148096188
