Cheating / Training / Profesionalizm

[RobAGD]

http://www.p8ntballer.com/classroomcontents/ustyle.shtml

I think this speaks VOLUMES about this sport and what its going to take to get to the top.

-Robert

[Arturus]

Enjoyed the article, and hopefully more than just a handful of players will take notice.

Edit: uh... I clicked on 'view new posts' and this one came up. Without looking twice, I viewed the thread and responded after following the link. I realized only after posting it was posted in Deep Blue.

And last I checked, I wasn't a part of the club... and nor do I wish to be. Still a newbie and proud of it. :)

So... at least the mods and webbie know there's a glitch in the system, allowing me to post? :p

Another Edit: This is hilarious... on the topic of cheating and crossing lines. *grins* The opportunity arises, and look how many people jump in. Just a thought.

[Ground_zer0]

Humans are naturally lazy, thus quite often we choose the easy way out. The thing I can't figure out is that if were going to put out enough effort to go out and play paintball, then we might as we keep our morals and play fairly. Not only does cheating hurt the sport, but it hurts your own abilities. If you just take the time to practice minimizing hits (as stated in the article) you would be much better off. I may not be the best player, but I am at least respected for not cheating, and I wouldn't give that up for anything (not even a intelliframe ;) ).

I also am not officially in Deep Blue, but I'm going to use my luck to post my thoughts. Also here is an idea (if you haven't already done this). Make it so only official DB members can post topics, but anyone can reply.

-Matt

[Skyssx]

But the quality of Deep Blue is not in the questions posed but the discussion that ensues.

[ben_JD]

Mostly cheating orbits the image of appearing better. There is very little worth in others' eyes in actually being good at what one does (not in any ego-gratifying way), the true edification for the self-absorbed comes from others thinking you are good.

I know that this is an amorphously thin line, but I think the analogy carries well. I don't cheat, because appearing good to others (through trophies, sponsorships, etc.) doesn't mean a lot to me. I think I play the sport well and continue to improve my game every time I play. The impetus for my involvement in the sport is self-gratification and entertainment, not the awe and wonderment of others. If my SOLE intention were to gain notoriety or win tournaments, then cheating would be an option that may cross my mind. It is the mindset of the cheater that is the problem, not anything inherent in the sport.

The fact that our sport has no seriously effective method of policing only adds to the problem, it doesn't create the problem. Referees do their best in most cases and aide and abet rarely (in my observation). In the end, as it has been said before, the answer lies with us to hold our fellow players accountable. This is not easy when you consider the mindset of the cheater. Who is most likely to erupt in anger on or off the playing field? The cheater, in my mind, has cheated to elevate the cheater's status in the minds of peers and other players. What could be worse for this persons's attitude than being caught and "called on" the cheat? This is the most difficult part of the game...whether to draw attention to a player's unethical behavior and possibly attract that player's (or his buddies) ire the next game.

Does any of the above indicate that I feel the best players cheat or that the best teams have cheaters amongst them? No. I have played on a very limited scale at the higher levels of this sport (way back in the pump days) and noticed cheating, but it was the exception and never neared being a rule. I think that this country's ability to field quality teams like the Warriors of Jacksonville (to mention an AGD team) has more to do with the pool of players from which to choose (as mentioned in the article) than with any perpensity to play above (or below) the rules. (How's that for a world-record on parenthetic clauses in one paragraph?)

Ramblings of bored mind posting on a forum he's not really supposed to :) ....

[Stompy]

I found the article rather insightful and feel it would do every serious player, tournament, recreational, or otherwise, good to read it.

I, as I'm sure many others, have witnessed numerous acts of cheating that have not only affected myself personally but my team on those occasions as well. I will admit that I cheated once, during a field game with about thirty guys per team. It was likely a stray shot and it happened not ten minutes into the game. I didn't think it fair that that happen as out of stupidity, I had to quit the previous game. I had gone on the field with only about thirty paintballs having forgot to reload my hopper or guppies. So in this game, I wiped the shot. Perfectly, no one could tell I had done it. I had plenty of paint this time and I advanced upon the opposing team. I fired three shots into the front of a wooden bunker and then my co2 ran out. Great. Then someone popped out from that bunker and I met an AutomagRT for the first time. I had at least 14 break on me, one right in the crotch, and a couple on my gun requiring complete dissasembly to get the paint out of the cracks. Admittedly not the most upright reason never to cheat again, but all those welts worked for me.

I am friends with a man who used to be competitive in tournament paintball and I looked up to his methods of mapping out a field prior to playing and studying the terrain and timing running distances from key points. Once in speaking with him he mentioned it is, albiet on rare occasion, complementing to play to wipe/etc., as long as you don't get caught and don't make a habbit of it. You can imagine the debasement of my level of respect for his prefessional playing standards from what he said.

It's a sad fact that even "white lie" level cheating happens on all to frequent occasion, especially even in recreational play, perhaps where bad habits start. There especially, there is all to little being done. I have had a ref tell me he's seen guys call themselves out when he comes around, ie:keep on playing until someone important notices you're covered in paint. Fields need money, but they owe it to everyone else to tell any cheater to pack up their stuff and have a nice day, period.

This won't make me out to be a nice person, but let's say you're playing in a walk-on game with 30-40 guys a side and you know little to none of the people, though you may have seen them around in the past. You're playing and you notice a teammate of yours catch a couple of balls, say even one on his boot and another on his leg. He wipes, laughs with you, insecurely, and probably feels it hurt so bad he deserves to continue playing. This is what I do: tell the person, hey man, you're out. If this isn't recepted and a ref peruses by whenever during that game, I would call foul and tell the judge to take that person out of the game. You might say that's one hell of a team spirit, and I'd agree with you, but we're all in the same great game no matter what team we're on. I owe it as much to the other team as I do to help teach a teammate of mine how to play right.

Play honest for the good of the sport, and don't just look away from happenings that would mar the spirit of the game.

[KAPP667]

In the next few years i see paintball becoming a greater spectator sport, and probably televised on television.
If paintball is to make this jump, and/or make professional paintball a better thing these are some issues that need to be resolved...

1.Ref's trained by NPPL, no more intimidated/inexperienced ref's. I've seen AM team ref's getting intimidated harshly by pro players. They need to be more like aftershock when they ref and take crap from no one...just say "your outta here !"

2.A big step was taken with the ban of guns armed with modes other than semi and turbo.
I've gotten hit about 6 times at close range a number of times, and it really doesn't hurt, but full auto and burst is very uneccesary.


3. rec and tourney players need to stop fighting, who cares who is better. I've stopped reading APG because there were too many kids in there whining about how tourney players have no talent and we should stay in the woods.

4. cheating is a problem in every sport, it will happen no matter what. Maybe once the sport gets more reconized, players will cut down.
I think tourney paint should be just white, some paint colors blend in with jerseys and other equipment causing arguments.

5. lets not forget why we all started playing paintball...to have fun. I used to love basketball, baseball those sports when i was like 10. Now i am 16 and think they got so stupid after little league when it got too serious wasn't fun anymore. I'm a member of a commited NEPL team, but we make sure to still have as much fun as possible.

[liigod]

LOL that dude just totally tryed to justify saying europeans are superiour to the residents of the united states. Gotta love europe. Thats why i like asia, and ireland. Never say a bad word about any country unless they REALLY can back it up. Cept china, socialism requires pointing fingers LOL.

[Kneedragger]

The ironic thing about the article is I've seen the author bring cheating to a new level. You know the old saying, you need a thief to catch a thief....