BROTHERS IN ARMS

STEWBACCA RECENTLY “SAT DOWN” WITH ANOTHER OF THE INCREASINGLY PROMINENT FACES WITHIN THE COMMUNITY, IVO BRIDGES FROM THE NETHERLANDS, WHO IS THE MAN BEHIND ‘HEAVY RECOIL CLUB’ AND ITS RELATED DISCORD SERVER, A HAVEN FOR ALL THINGS GAS-BLOWBACK RELATED AND A FOUNTAIN OF KNOWLEDGE AND POSITIVE SUPPORT AND INTERACTION BETWEEN END-USERS AND EVEN SOME MANUFACTURERS GIVING AND GETTING DIRECT FEEDBACK OR SOLUTIONS!

As Bill and I are all too aware after yet another month-long ban each for daring to talk publicly about airsoft, the climate on mainstream social media is becoming increasingly hostile toward airsoft and other shooting-related hobbies whether the guns are real or not!

The lizard overlords running the show clearly have political leanings that have a dim view of what we do, regardless of the good will, great communities and experiences that we all know and love as a part of our daily “airsoft lives”, and indeed, that aspect in itself is largely why we do what we do after all.

Ivo, or just “Bridges” in the online world, not only plays airsoft in various forms, but created and runs the Heavy recoil Club (HRC) Discord server, giving a community space for us to share ideas and knowledge free from the typical anti-gun/anti-fun politicised social media streams of the mainstream providers which many of our industry friends have also fallen foul of in the recent past.

Simply sharing pictures of guns has gotten myself and Bill, among many others we know, into trouble with the thought police, and our good friends at Landwarrior Airsoft had their entire legitimate business-related page just arbitrarily binned overnight after years of work and community interaction and building, making it much harder to advertise their various business wings and ventures, and bring new people into the fold.

Similarly, our friends at LCT Airsoft have had their page removed, and their original Instagram page throttled causing them to diversify into regional and language variations to try and spread their message.

Whilst our main focus of effort at AA goes through the monthly digital magazine and our website news updates, the fact that we are unable to speak freely and clearly to our fellow players more regularly is somewhat angering. So, with this in mind we thought it was time to speak in more depth to someone who is, and has been for some considerable time, doing things differently, and I managed to catch up with Ivo to ask him exactly how he does things, and of course where he sees things heading!

AA: How and when did you get into airsoft originally?

HRC: Airsoft was formally legalised in the Netherlands back in 2013, back when I was around 20, and I was eventually introduced to the hobby by a friend already involved in it (editor’s note, that seems to be an increasingly common aspect of many shooter’s origin stories!)

AA: How do your family, friends and day job feel about the activity?

HRC: Sometimes the work/life balance requires greater consideration, but my colleagues know what I am involved in and understand my need to take time for it in some circumstances, and some have even expressed a positive interest in it or getting involved themselves. As for my family they have been very supportive of my endeavours and take an interest in them; on a personal level it’s been a very positive influence in terms of better forming and maintaining friendships, even longer distance ones, for me as I can sometimes become more insulated or lack the drive to meet new people in daily life.

AA: How have you seen the game change in your part of the world over the years?

HRC: For games, more regular skirmishes, started MilSim after two or so years, a French storyline,36 hour games in Europe. As HRC definitely a shift towards enjoying meeting manufacturers and doing content for the channel instead. I started play in 2015 when it was 8000 players in the Netherlands, and now it’s 28,000!

AA:What was your first gas blowback gun, and how did that affect your gameplay and experience?

HRC: In terms of pistols it was a WE G17 that I still maintain, rifle-wise my first purchase almost made me go broke, snapping up the last in stock of a Hephaestus Tavor GBBR which I loved using.

More recently I’ve taken to building my own GBBR creations from AR pattern components to make entirely original platforms through iteration of various furniture or accessories to make truly unique systems to suit me and my gameplay style perfectly, rather than replicating any real steel equivalents as such; a lot of these make use of real firearm components.

The firearms laws in the Netherlands are rather odd in that only fully-assembled systems with the functional action and supporting components are considered ‘firearms’ and require legal controls; you can readily purchase lone components (aside from magazines or bolt carriers) and sometimes more easily do so than sourcing airsoft counterparts!

AA: What made you decide to set up Heavy Recoil Club on Discord and when did you go about doing so?

HRC: I had taken a bit of a break from playing a few years back; I used to play two or three times a week and was very involved in many aspects of the games and events. However I had fatigued a little from that level of activity and gotten a little bored; during the COVID times I wanted to get involved again and also became aware of the issues with running communities on Facebook or elsewhere, so I started the “Heavy Hitters Club” as a sales workspace and moderated that group which was aimed particularly at 308/DMR style platforms, hence the name.

“Heavy Recoil Club” began as an organic extension of that community and its feedback and growth, as well as the desire to escape the usual censorship nonsense we encountered.

AA: How has the community responded and the server grown since then?

HRC: Initially we had around 1-2,000 early adopters within the first year, many of whom came over from earlier aforementioned efforts, and many others taking the recommendation about us from personal friends; thus we accumulated a further 3-4,000 members over the space of half a year, and now after five years in operation we have 13,000 members, so on average around 2,500 members a year joining our ranks annually, and more recently manufacturers (especially less established newcomers) are getting more directly involved seeking ideas or feedback, as well as many referencing our materials or those of our contributors.

AA: What benefits have you seen from the community interaction?

HRC: Of course a much better interaction directly within the community in terms of connecting people all over the world through common interests and topics, especially when it comes to maintenance, new upcoming products and experiences of new releases etc.

Many more users are switching over to using GBBRs as a result of increased access to such information and a ‘demystifying’ of gas guns that many would previously be reluctant to try their using. Obviously the quality and prevalence of gas guns available has increased as well. The limited magazine capacity and increased realism have also driven better gameplay to my mind. (Stewbacca’s note; this is definitely something I’ve seen happening in the last 7 years in Taiwan, with many users favouring the realism of function and gameplay as a result of using GBBR systems, and gameplay has improved with less overshooting as a result too.)

AA: How do you fund the operation?

HRC: From the outset I invested my own money and time into the web hosting and server setup, as well as paying for server boosting fees to better establish the Discord and share it further and wider, of course I’ve also brought merchandise to the community in the form of PVC patches, TekMats for maintenance, flags etc to help fund operations as well as pay for travel to participate in events or cover them from a media perspective.

Now I operate it as a registered business just for the sake of improving the tax situation and handling of funds, as well as allow for purchasing of new equipment for content creation without having to pay more out of pocket as I can acquire things at trade price.

AA: What are your hopes for the future of HRC?

HRC: That’s a tough question; at present I’m not sure whether I really want to go full time, perhaps it all needs to remain a hobby for me, and I also really enjoy my actual job so I can’t see myself wanting to give that up just to focus on HRC.

I do want to spend more time on it where I can, but I’m unsure as to whether time will permit, and growth at this point is organic and continuous. Hopefully more manufacturers will recognise and appreciate the usefulness of the resource; Social Media is shrinking the ground as an alternative resource, so perhaps having our own website or even more permissive social media platform to avoid all the nonsense we have to put up with elsewhere, but again both time and funding have to permit that endeavour.

AA: Do you get directly involved with existing industry events or organise your own?

HRC: Again due to time and life constraints, I don’t necessarily help run other events directly, but I have provided feedback and advice in a consultative manner for organisers in terms of tailoring certain events to better aim them at GBBR only users, although in 2021 we started hosting HRC community days as part of other event attendance, or just get-ogethers on our own to hold workshops on maintenance as well as opportunities for members to showcase their personal guns or custom creations within a community that will best understand and appreciate them.

AA: Who else do you have helping out with the day to day operations?

HRC: At present the moderator team really helps me with the running of day to day operations and admin, I concentrate on background operations and content creation.

Currently we have 8 moderators spread around the world; 5 in the US, 3 others in the Netherlands, and we are potentially looking for Asian-based moderators to join the team and help cover off the major time zones and regions, working to better maintain and grow the community. Sometimes these moderators are appointed or approached, or others are suggested by existing moderators or vice versa, however the final decision has to go through me rather than allowing others to run rampant with things.

AA: What’s the most rewarding part of doing what you do within the community?

HRC: The community itself is the most rewarding aspect of it, access to a wealth of knowledge, behind the scenes ideas and information, and the FAMAS release and sneak peeks which helped to build the hype of the product not only helped buoy the product and the community reaction and reception to it, but also saw some people return to airsoft just due to such high profile and exciting - and sometimes long awaited - gas guns versions of everyone’s favourite real steel firearms coming to the fore. representative cross-section of the global market given our wide distribution but common interests in gas powered replicas.

Also seeing people, as I have also done, making long-term friends through this community and interaction over the Discord, and seeing people wearing the HRC patches at events and taking part in the community.

Finally for myself I’m personally getting recognised more at events even though I may not play as much, but it’s definitely increasing in terms of being recognised at IWA and the like; people want to take pictures with me, which feels strange, I don’t do it for the fame or anything, and tend to keep a lower profile in general, so I find myself wondering what to do at times when that happens!

AA: Have you encountered any issues while dealing with end users or manufacturers?

HRC: Not particularly; some brands are less willing to invest and cooperate; more established brands seem to think they don’t need the community or end-user base they effectively rely on to buy their products as much as some of the smaller independent or upcoming brands, some are still unconvinced.

AA: How can people help to get the word out and grow the hobby in this climate?

HRC: Keep on sharing, especially directly with friends; airsoft is a place for everyone, and despite the GBBR focus, Heavy Recoil Club is a welcoming place for all, despite the different mindsets and the banter about ‘NO AEG’ that prevails!

They appreciate the content but don’t necessarily see the bigger picture, whereas newer brands seek a more direct involvement and want to be proactive on product development based on end user feedback or direct market research using our community as a good

Hopefully we will see continued growth of the player base, products available to us all, as well as more direct information flow from contributors and manufacturers. It’s difficult to know what will happen in the world from a geopolitical angle as well as player bases; local, national or even continental legislation changes or other such things can easily shift our community’s capabilities and permitted activities in short order if they aren’t in our favour. Many thanks to Ivo for his continued support of our own efforts at AA, friendship and all the work he does to benefit our wider community, as well as for sparing the time after work for our couple of hours sit down at opposite ends of the internet to video call and get this interview done” We’ve been happy to see his efforts and the fact they’ve been recognised by the community with HRC joining AA as a winner and a literal “Brother in Arms” by acquiring the Popular Airsoft Player’s Choice Award for ‘Best Airsoft Community/Forum”!

I look forward to seeing more of what he has planned in terms of future content and events!. AA