dre1919
08-11-2004, 11:27 AM
Ok, I was thinking about this topic after reading an excellent post by Blennidae located here:
http://www.automags.org/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=1546121
That got me thinking about paintball, where it is now and where it was when I started and I wanted to weigh in on some issues and see what AO thought about them. I've been playing the sport for eleven years now, and I am 28, just for reference sake. I started out playing in 1993 with Splatmaster Rapide pistols in the park (which is illegal) and went on to college. From there, I got into playing rec ball in the woods...renting my Tippmann pump rifle and wearing my camoflauge. Those were some great days back then because we could go down to our local field and play this wonderful sport for around $25 a day. That was it. 500 rounds lasted a long time then because the emphasis of the sport was on stalking, using cover and terrain, and tactics. It was truly an action pursuit sport at that time. Somewhere along the way the semi-auto was introduced and those who wielded it garnered a large share of the power present on the field of play. If you're looking for an example, think about entering a modern battle where your enemy has an AK-47 and you have a twleve gauge shotgun and there you go. Regardless, this was fun as hell.
Around this time was also the heyday of the Automag and Autococker fueds. It seemed like you either went one way or the other, but regardless of which you chose, you were rolling with "the" marker to have at the time. Tournament paintball started to come along as it was no longer good enough to just play the action pursuit portion of the sport, there had to be a proving ground to determine who the best was. I think as humans, this is one of our natural ingrained processes of function...competition to determine number one. Tournament paintball ushered in a whole new era of equipment and rules, as well as styles of play. I remember first playing speedball and thinking how much I hated that game. It was fastpaced, seemingly relying only on firepower and no skill, and a joke. Ironically, years later after playing the tournament scene, I went back and played a scenario game in the woods. I thought it was too slow, too far away from my equiupment and vehicle, and lacking structure! What had happened? I had made the transition into a tournament player from a rec player, but was it for the best? I naturally followed the "bigger, better, faster, stronger" mentality to my game and my equipment, but am I better for it?
As I said before, it used to be we could go out and have an entire day of fun on $25. We didn't care so much about wins and losses, or who the top guy was. You knew, especially when you trudged back to the deadbox and he wasn't there much, but you didn't really need trophies to show it. You just understood as young men. I got into playing tournament ball and formed a team with my buddies. Soon, paintball began to consume our lives even more, which is ok because I love the sport. We went to tournaments and did ok, even winning one, and we had fun. Did we have as much fun as playing in the woods? Hard to say really. I liked the speed and the colors of the new game, and things became more fancy and cool gadgets came along to mess with. I didn't mind the phasing out of the all black markers and the camo. It seemed like a natural progression to becoming a sport, which was something I really wanted to see. However, I didn't like the fact the day's play became less about having fun and more about winning. At any cost, winning. Get hit? Wipe it. Can't wipe it? Argue with the ref. Need better players? Sandbag it. What's the deal with all of this?
Is it really that important to win the little plastic trophy showing how cool you are and a few dollars (which is really all you'll have left over after buying cases of paint)? What about fair play and having fun playing a truly unique sport? I call myself a tournament paintball player and when anybody asks I point to this as the sport I play, even considering myself an "athlete" for doing it, but how accurate is that? Whereas I used to play every other weekend, I now play every few months if I'm lucky. Life intrudes, expenses come up, and to top it off I'm artist so you know I'm not rich. :) But that I think is what disturbs me about this game...more and more it seems to be morphing into a sport of the elitist. Only young, parent supported kids or older, established men can seem to afford this game these days. The twenty something crowd has a tough time affording all the upgrades and cases of paint all the newest and fanciest markers seem to chew through. Have people's accuracy and skill sets really become bad enough that we need markers that shoot 30 plus balls a second? I mean, c'mon...I understand cover fire and appreciate it being a front player, but 30 a second? Nobody even fires that fast to begin with...but one group loves the fact they're that fast...the paint manufacturer. They get to sell immense amounts of paint because you can't keep it in your gun these days.
I go out when I can now and can't play two hours without going through a case of paint, and I'm currently using a Classic Mag! The mentality is just different these days. We used to throw our stuff together and head to the field, now we have so much extra gear it's almost a major trip with planning just to get out there for a couple hours. I've contemplated getting out of the sport altogether at times when I've sat back and thought about how much money I would need to spend to get the marker back I would like to have (I used to have an ir3, had to sell it to pay bills) and what I'd spend on paint. I would look at it and think, is it worth it? The game is great, but the players have begun to get more and more annoying. When you go to the field and a 14 year old kid walks in with a brand new $1500 gun and $200 for paint, doesn't it make you stop and wonder? I suppose this is more of a rant than anything else, but I just wanted to discuss where this sport is heading. I think the technology has exceeded the game and that at some point everyone who loves playing will just throw up their hands and say "That's it! I'm not paying $1300 for a new gun or $68 for a case of paint anymore. I just won't." And why should they? It's only a game afterall.
The easiest solution for someone like me is to go back to playing rec if the prices and environment of the tourney game don't interest me anymore, but that's the thing. I love tourney ball and have found myself feeling limited and "playing below my level" when I go back and play rec. What's up with that? It's all the same game at it's core right? So why do I feel that way then? I think the solution is a simplification of the sport as a whole and ditching a lot of what we think is so important, like outrageous BPS's and laser sensors in chambers. Balls break, players get hit, teams lose...get over it and have some fun for a change. It would be nice to have those days back in a sport like this.
http://www.automags.org/forums/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=1546121
That got me thinking about paintball, where it is now and where it was when I started and I wanted to weigh in on some issues and see what AO thought about them. I've been playing the sport for eleven years now, and I am 28, just for reference sake. I started out playing in 1993 with Splatmaster Rapide pistols in the park (which is illegal) and went on to college. From there, I got into playing rec ball in the woods...renting my Tippmann pump rifle and wearing my camoflauge. Those were some great days back then because we could go down to our local field and play this wonderful sport for around $25 a day. That was it. 500 rounds lasted a long time then because the emphasis of the sport was on stalking, using cover and terrain, and tactics. It was truly an action pursuit sport at that time. Somewhere along the way the semi-auto was introduced and those who wielded it garnered a large share of the power present on the field of play. If you're looking for an example, think about entering a modern battle where your enemy has an AK-47 and you have a twleve gauge shotgun and there you go. Regardless, this was fun as hell.
Around this time was also the heyday of the Automag and Autococker fueds. It seemed like you either went one way or the other, but regardless of which you chose, you were rolling with "the" marker to have at the time. Tournament paintball started to come along as it was no longer good enough to just play the action pursuit portion of the sport, there had to be a proving ground to determine who the best was. I think as humans, this is one of our natural ingrained processes of function...competition to determine number one. Tournament paintball ushered in a whole new era of equipment and rules, as well as styles of play. I remember first playing speedball and thinking how much I hated that game. It was fastpaced, seemingly relying only on firepower and no skill, and a joke. Ironically, years later after playing the tournament scene, I went back and played a scenario game in the woods. I thought it was too slow, too far away from my equiupment and vehicle, and lacking structure! What had happened? I had made the transition into a tournament player from a rec player, but was it for the best? I naturally followed the "bigger, better, faster, stronger" mentality to my game and my equipment, but am I better for it?
As I said before, it used to be we could go out and have an entire day of fun on $25. We didn't care so much about wins and losses, or who the top guy was. You knew, especially when you trudged back to the deadbox and he wasn't there much, but you didn't really need trophies to show it. You just understood as young men. I got into playing tournament ball and formed a team with my buddies. Soon, paintball began to consume our lives even more, which is ok because I love the sport. We went to tournaments and did ok, even winning one, and we had fun. Did we have as much fun as playing in the woods? Hard to say really. I liked the speed and the colors of the new game, and things became more fancy and cool gadgets came along to mess with. I didn't mind the phasing out of the all black markers and the camo. It seemed like a natural progression to becoming a sport, which was something I really wanted to see. However, I didn't like the fact the day's play became less about having fun and more about winning. At any cost, winning. Get hit? Wipe it. Can't wipe it? Argue with the ref. Need better players? Sandbag it. What's the deal with all of this?
Is it really that important to win the little plastic trophy showing how cool you are and a few dollars (which is really all you'll have left over after buying cases of paint)? What about fair play and having fun playing a truly unique sport? I call myself a tournament paintball player and when anybody asks I point to this as the sport I play, even considering myself an "athlete" for doing it, but how accurate is that? Whereas I used to play every other weekend, I now play every few months if I'm lucky. Life intrudes, expenses come up, and to top it off I'm artist so you know I'm not rich. :) But that I think is what disturbs me about this game...more and more it seems to be morphing into a sport of the elitist. Only young, parent supported kids or older, established men can seem to afford this game these days. The twenty something crowd has a tough time affording all the upgrades and cases of paint all the newest and fanciest markers seem to chew through. Have people's accuracy and skill sets really become bad enough that we need markers that shoot 30 plus balls a second? I mean, c'mon...I understand cover fire and appreciate it being a front player, but 30 a second? Nobody even fires that fast to begin with...but one group loves the fact they're that fast...the paint manufacturer. They get to sell immense amounts of paint because you can't keep it in your gun these days.
I go out when I can now and can't play two hours without going through a case of paint, and I'm currently using a Classic Mag! The mentality is just different these days. We used to throw our stuff together and head to the field, now we have so much extra gear it's almost a major trip with planning just to get out there for a couple hours. I've contemplated getting out of the sport altogether at times when I've sat back and thought about how much money I would need to spend to get the marker back I would like to have (I used to have an ir3, had to sell it to pay bills) and what I'd spend on paint. I would look at it and think, is it worth it? The game is great, but the players have begun to get more and more annoying. When you go to the field and a 14 year old kid walks in with a brand new $1500 gun and $200 for paint, doesn't it make you stop and wonder? I suppose this is more of a rant than anything else, but I just wanted to discuss where this sport is heading. I think the technology has exceeded the game and that at some point everyone who loves playing will just throw up their hands and say "That's it! I'm not paying $1300 for a new gun or $68 for a case of paint anymore. I just won't." And why should they? It's only a game afterall.
The easiest solution for someone like me is to go back to playing rec if the prices and environment of the tourney game don't interest me anymore, but that's the thing. I love tourney ball and have found myself feeling limited and "playing below my level" when I go back and play rec. What's up with that? It's all the same game at it's core right? So why do I feel that way then? I think the solution is a simplification of the sport as a whole and ditching a lot of what we think is so important, like outrageous BPS's and laser sensors in chambers. Balls break, players get hit, teams lose...get over it and have some fun for a change. It would be nice to have those days back in a sport like this.