I may not have
mentioned it yet (in the mix of so many other things that have happened
recently), but I will be playing on a laser tag team participating in the
Philadelphia Invitationals in a couple of months, which I am really looking
forward to as it is a tournament playing Zone. We will be using the most
unusual looking Helios Pro phasers, so I will want to check these out in
advance on my next trip to the Philly area, but I am really looking forward to
it. I'm also happy to report that our final teammate joining us is Joe (aka
Bhodi) from my local Zone center, so it's very cool that I will have someone to
practice with locally as the entire rest of our team is all out of state. This
news came together the next day following our average Saturday night of Zone
where we were both there battling it out in the arena until right before the
last hour. At that point the majority of the players who had been part of the
evening decided to leave. However, I stayed and the arena took on a very
different dynamic.
In the final
hour I played the last two games with an unusual mix. Two young adults showed
up with a VERY young child. These were not the young boy's parents (the parents
were waiting out front...I'm thinking they might have been relatives or older
siblings). In any case, the boy was much younger than I would expect to see in
the arena that late (it was most certainly past a reasonable bedtime for this
child), but he was excited to follow around the young guy while the girl was
fiercely independent and ready to win this game on her own. We all went in and
took different color vests (although the little one picked the same color as
his older mentor) and we went into the arena and this is where I faced an
unusual new challenge...consciously trying NOT to hit a moving target.
To be honest,
sometimes slightly older kids in the arena are aggressive enough players that
you just roll with it and play out the game. Hey, in some cases they may even
get in more time in the arena than me! This was not the case here. This child was
too tiny and just enjoying being with his "big bro" (or whatever the
relationship was) and I did NOT want to zap him. However, throughout those two
games it became increasingly difficult for a couple of reasons.
The first
reason is he stuck like glue to the older guy and since there were only two
bigger targets, occasionally I would aim for the adult and the kid would jump
right in the way. And in the dark from a distance it was not always easy to
tell how high up those lights were. So I joked that whatever the young boy's
pack name was, we should just change his codename to be "Collateral Damage"
because if I tagged him it was generally not deliberate...just in the wrong
place while I was trying to get the other guy. So...oops for the times that
happened.
The other
reason not tagging him was a challenge was because there were times he and his
buddy would come up towards me together. When that happened I would only aim
for the older one, but the little one had an irritating tendency all through
the game. He would aim his phaser at me and yell "DIE!" Now most of
the time I'd let him at least get a shot off (because it really doesn't matter
in a game like this and why not let the kid have fun...and he didn't get the
shot every time anyway). However, something really bugged me about a person of
any age wishing me to "die". Of course I know that's just how little
boys play, but he said it so frequently during these games that I felt
compelled to impart some words of wisdom (that went totally over his head and
unheard) as I made a half-hearted effort to let him know we aren't actually
killing people, so "die" is not the best thing to shout at an
opponent of any size. Maybe "I got you" or "zapped" would
be more appropriate.
I pondered why
"die" struck a chord tonight (as I'm certain this is not the first
time kids have been like that around me in the arena and I probably didn't
think much of it before). I think after having recently interviewed George Carter
and hearing firsthand about how even thirty years ago they took steps with
terminology, etc. to diffuse the "war-like" perception of laser tag
and be clear with people that it is NOT a violent sport, that this night I just
had a need to keep that education going. Now, as I say, I know that my words
did not register with this child. He was just having fun getting into the game
as he saw it. But thirty years ago this message was being reinforced by the
laser tag players of the day, so for anyone who has any misconceptions about
laser tag being in any way "violent" (which it is not) I would encourage
you to watch this feature from around 1984...at the very least check it out
starting at around the 8:00 minute mark...
Let's keep it
positive...and no matter what John Stossel says, laser tag beats volleyball
hands down! :)
Comments or questions?
Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com
Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com
Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and
www.photonforever.com
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