What year is it?!

It's been a hot minute since I've done anything Nerf related and there's a lot of dust on these blasters. Below is an assorted brain dump of thoughts and an account of what's been going on in my absence. Writing a thesis means that writing long form hasn't been appealing but I'm slowly easing back into it now I've submitted it and getting my life back.

The state of the UK scene:

I've not been to a game in over a year. I think in the 13 years I've been playing, that's the longest I've been off the field for any given time (excluding COVID) and that's a bit scary. I'm not used to things moving so far ahead of me and not at least being abreast of it. Uni got in the way but I'm pretty much qualified now so I can start getting back to one of my favourite past times: flinging foam. It's been a long two years and recovery post COVID has been difficult and slow for the hobby. Venues are hard to come by because operating costs are rising and discretionary income is dropping. We've got a solid core of Game Organisers in the UK who are holding through which is probably our greatest asset. I'm looking forward to Foam Fest next year with tenative dates being announced this past week. The tempo of games hasn't returned to pre-COVID levels and I expect that recovery will take much longer as we continue to struggle with venue accessiblity.

BritNerf took the decision to open up the Discord server a little bit more and we've seen a small influx of new regular users which is nice. That decision will probably be reviewed in the coming months to see if there's more ways to encourage people to get to games. I've remained active as a forum moderator over there and we've taken on more staff in anticpation of growth. We do need to do more to grow BritNerf, particularly the social side of things but that's a discussion for over there. I'd encourage you to jump in if you're a UK Nerfer and want to chat.

Product development:

I've not been to a game in a while so I'm not sure what needs developing. I'm always open to new suggestions of course. However, play has always been the key driver of equipment development because arms races are natural drivers for innovation. I think once I'm back in the field we'll see more things coming to life in that direction.

Etsy Store:

The Etsy Store will be making a come back in a few weeks or maybe after Christmas. I'm not long finished with my Master's degree and I'm taking a little time to get back into the groove of things. Being chained to the machine for days at a time isn't something I want to think about when I've just spent the better part of 6 months in front of a computer doing my dissertation between the day job. My supply chain is in tact but I might have to revise some prices before I re-open. That and I want to spend some time working over my own kit before I commit to making stuff for others. 

Well, to be honest, the time frame will likely be dictated by the pace of UK games. Historically, the money I've made with the store has funded my travel, ammo and game sundries so bug your local GO to start running UK games that I can travel to and I'll start selling gear faster. ;)

PCB Files:

This is something I really want to get back to. While through hole boards feel a little archaic in the context of the Dart Zone Mk3 and other mass produced electronic blasters being a thing, I think being able to produce resilient parts that are easy to use is worthwhile. There's still a hobby/STEM education element to modding and I think providing that platform is critical. I'd just like to be able to find a reliable UK based supplier in order to be able to shorten the development loop.

Embroidery:

This is really something I'm working hard to make a reality. When I was with BSUK, we did a lot with our machine but I know I can do more and there's plenty of scope for it. There's so much value to add to the community by having an integrated, dedicated embroidery service for tactical equipment. The machine I've got my eye can go further than the BSUK specification (albeit at a higher cost to me!). However, like any good CNC machine it'll be a hobby in of itself so will take time to onboard. The time frame for this kind of project is probably 2025 at the earliest due to the sheer amount of capital needed to outlay the project.And to be clear: I won't ever be a bulk patches supplier. I have a couple of places that will be better placed to do that that I can hook you up for. Orders up to 10-20 will be fine, I suspect but more than that, you'll need to go elsewhere.

Green Cloaks:

Sadly, Green Cloaks fell on its arse this year being unable to run events. A combination of high site costs and declining player numbers resulted in a perfect post COVID storm. The rule set they developed just before the pandemic was a significant upgrade and I'm sad it didn't get the full run it deserved. The system was the largest organised regular Nerf war in the country at its height. I had a draft post about the Green Cloaks paradigm written earlier in the year that mapped the system's influence on the UK hobby and my own gear design choices such was its influence. Honestly, I always had a bit of a love/hate relationship with the system. However, I can't deny that I made life long long friends charging across glades at Broadstone Warren. Indeed, the battlefield environment was the gold standard test for equipment reliability and durability and it will be missed. I might bring that post out of draft status at some point when I've had more time to think about it. The cobwebs are clearing and writing about things is getting easier even as I scribble down things now.

Other future plans:

Obviously, I'll be starting a new job in 2024 and attending wars according to my shift pattern as needed. Career will be the priority but Nerf is a hobby close to my heart (though career gives money for Nerf so I guess it's a win-win). I want to get back into the research and development side of things blaster wise. There are a lot of unanswered research questions that need digging into. I've paid a lot of money for a Master's level education and it'd be nice to use those skills for something that I enjoy outside of work. I'm pretty sure I'm the first person to have meta-analysed chronograph data in the hobby! I'll get some more work on that done and get it published here or on BritNerf soon. I've got a few ideas of how we can put to bed some of the open questions in the hobby particularly around SCARs and porting. 

Elsewhere, I want to keep championing the open source side of things with The Index where I publish my patterns and designs. Ideally, I'd like to start filming tutorials on how to make some of this stuff but it's low on the priority list on account of it being a lot of work for not a lot of reward. I'd love to create a community of sewists in the hobby but realisitically, tactical gear will always be Cinderella to the shiny new blaster that everyone wants. I'm also working on some open source SKADIS compatible blaster mounts because the ones I want don't exist in an open source fashion so I'll make them, I guess.

This has been an open brain dump of my thoughts as I procrastinate opening these suitcases and starting to review my gear. Hopefully I can actually bring some of these projects to fruition in the coming months. That's the joy of blogs, it's public so people can back link you and remind you you said you'd do the thing.