Post
by DX » Wed Aug 15, 2007 12:29 am
Your situation is interesting, for I was between freshman and sophomore years in high school when the CFM/RM was created. I started out small, with one co-founder. Since Waterbridge's two founder system worked so well, we used it ourselves.
The structure of the team was critical. I only asked 11 of my best friends, making sure that the connection to me was very well entrenched early on. Now what attracted them was our style of warfare. The CFM inherited the same fighting conditions as Waterbridge, serious OHS woodland combat. Friends stayed because our wars were anything but casual or childish. By the time the fledging CFM became the stronger RM, membership had doubled with minimal effort. As Forestfighter 7 said, friends tend to talk with other friends about wars.
With the advent of the Douchenator, then Douchenators, powerful modded guns, and new tactics, each war contained events that were worth re-telling again and again. By this year, both teams exploded in membership. People made taunts in the halls, drew up strategy during lunch, and talked about the intensity of past wars, especially the huge RM night battle. Membership continued to rise even after we stopped active recruiting. I'd purposely talk about water wars during classes and track practice, enticing people to inquire about what all this was. Hooked like a fish! They'd then ask more about the guns, tactics, etc. and some would ask to come to a battle. Those who came to one battle tended to show up for the next one, and the next one, and the next.
The wars here developed some kind of aura that made them "cool" even to people who ordinarily wouldn't play with plastic guns. Since this was high school, the modded and painted guns, launchers, and huge forested battlefields must have made a difference in the cool factor. That, and our ranked game type that requires immense teamwork and a wide variety of skills to excel at. No war has ever been easy, even with steep odds in favor of one side.
Basically, do whatever you feel is best for your particular friends. However, do not be afraid of more organized warfare if that seems cool. Almost no one would suggest what we have done here in Ridgewood for the past 3 years, but our style has involved more than 62 people in wars, has kept them yearning for the next war. There is still considerable bias against serious water wars, whether admitted or not, in the general community. Always remember that the casual route is not the only way to play/fight.
marauder wrote:You have to explain things in terms that kids will understand, like videogames^ That's how I got Sam to stop using piston pumpers
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