Sunday, October 4, 2015

Thanks everyone!

Hello, world! I'm Bazookafied (go by "Zook" for short most of the time) and one of my big hobbies is modifying Nerf and Laser Tag blasters for recreational use around town with friends and colleagues. These games have been great social outlets and are safe and convienent enough to play just about anywhere and I am, at heart, a tinkerer. So messing with these blasters has been a fun hobby of mine for quite some time.

After four-and-a-half years of writing articles for Tactical Tag, I'm hanging up the mantle of blog-ness.  I'm still messing around with Nerf and Laser Tag, still hosting games, still following my favorites, but I just don't see much of a point to continuing the blog any longer.  I would rather leave it as-is as a resource than drag it out and scrounge for content.  There are smarter, more active, better equipped fans out there for these hobbies and, should I do anything earth-shatteringly awesome, I can just post it up on YouBook or FaceTube without feeling obligated to fill the time between projects with needless posts and queries.  

I used to think all the "great Nerf blogs" were dying because the writers were growing out of these admittedly kid-oriented hobbies.  However, in the time that I've been doing this, there's been an obvious shift in focus online from blogs and websites to social media outlets.  Much like MySpace, Geocities, and Message Boards, the blogs are slipping away as Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Facebook, and YouTube come to the forefront.  I can't fight it, and I won't drive this blog into the ground just to keep a steady trickle of content going for it.



I can't avoid these hobbies that have been such a big part of my life.  Friends and relatives simply expect me to host Laser Tag games in the back yard or to come across a dart in my house from an impromptu battle.  That's just me.  So don't think I've "outgrown Nerf" or "graduated from Laser Tag".  I'm still a big kid driving fast cars to get to my 9-5 job to come home to my wife and puppy in a house full of grown-up things and a garage full of kid things.  It's just time to quit pretending that it's important to keep the blog going.  This page will always be here.  My Facebook page will stay up.  My YouTube channel will continue to have n00bs claiming all sorts of things about Elite Longshots.

For those who have followed this, whether it was recent or from ages ago, thank you for your support.  I have made and hope to continue friendships forged through the connections of this blog.  Following their projects and games keeps me going and helps fuel this hobby with helpful insight and encouraging results.  

For those who missed this train, I hope the information between April 15th 2011 and October 4th 2015 is useful for you!  That'll be all for Tactical Tag on the blog side of things.  It's been a lot of fun!