The Great Divide… (or if you prefer) The Rift

This is not going to be a debate over which is inherently better, Rift or Nexus…anyone who plays Zone already understands the advantages one has over the other. Instead it’s going to be a talk about not ticking people off when you no longer have an alternative option.

In my area, up until a few months ago, there were two locations (same ownership) where you could play using Zone equipment. One had a much weaker map (the Mickey design) and used Nexus while the other with a far superior arena uses (and still continues to use) Rift. The location using Nexus closed and bye-bye went the Nexus equipment. I have wondered many times why they didn’t just switch out the Nexus for the Rift at the better arena, but they didn’t and the reason really isn’t any of my business. The bottom line is that now we have only one arena where Zone is an option, the place I play most weekends, and we play with Rift. Now, here comes the point of my story…

Last night some of our normal group was there playing, but there were a lot of new faces too. It was actually an incredibly competitive night and these other players gave us a really good run. Frankly, I LOVE to have good competition! And one new face looked somewhat familiar to me. I asked if he had played at the other location and when he said yes and told me his name I remembered him well. He was one of the top players over there and a weekend regular in the same way that Joe and Tommy and I are like that in our arena. And he played pretty well. But all night I kept overhearing him making snide comments about how much better Nexus is than Rift. And I get it, I’ve heard it before…but I was getting really kind of sick of hearing about it here. It’s like walking into someone else’s home to have dinner and telling them how much better the food was where you ate last week. Just irritated the hell out of me because this is our home arena and, yes, it’s different, but we love it. We respect the other options out there and have our own opinions about what makes for good laser tag. But you know what…this is your current dinner. Nexus is no longer an option around here right now. Maybe that will change in the future, maybe not. But at this moment, in this area you have three options…play a different system (there’s a Force arena just down the road and they would love to have some new players walk in any time), play Rift without complaint because it’s what we’ve got and we are lucky to be playing in a nice arena (because let’s face it, the mall that houses this center may not be around forever either, so we have to appreciate what we’ve got now) or don’t play because your first choice is no longer an option. Or the unspoken fourth option…there’s always Runner in the other mall! J OK, I won’t dig on Runner while I’m making this particular point. But I’m just saying, if you’re going to play have some respect because we choose to be here and are very fortunate to have what we do in this arena. Although I live close enough to Albany to make a couple more Zone options feasible, most of my crew do not have that option. So if you love laser tag please come out and play and continue to bring some good competition. Just don’t rip on the Rift. Thank you, that is all.

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Contact: tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

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