The best way to have water wars as far as I'm concerned is to go out there and have them as you see them. Invite people, show them what they're about, make it a good time, and expect them to return. They invite people, and the cycle continues. That's the basic theory at least. I plan to organize at least one event this summer.
We can get a lot of people from the internet, but given the lack of reach here and the lack of geographical proximity, this hasn't worked too well.
Some sort of discussion of the advantages of water guns with others would be helpful. Water wars are NOT paintball, airsoft, laser tag, Nerf, or whatever you want to compare them to. Water wars are completely different. What I said in my
introduction to water guns sums my thoughts up well.
And while I know there are some who are bound to disagree with me, homemade water guns are our best chance for acceptance overall. Like it or not, current manufactured water guns ARE childish. They reinforce the message that water guns are for kids. If manufactured guns were more serious like they were in the late 90s, this would not be a problem, but trying to explain to someone that water guns aren't for children is hard when children are pictured on the boxes. We need to promote what our best is, not what the manufacturer's best is, which is unlikely to interest many people. If water guns started to leave the toy aisles and go into sporting goods shops, this trend might reverse. Showing off my homemade water guns at some Boy Scout events has interested a lot of people, especially older people. This I see as our best chance for increased acceptance.
A lot of people go river rafting or in assassins games and don't consider water guns childish. It's also about context I suppose. Those games seem different than random soakfest blasting each other in your backyard, which is what most people assume water guns are about.