SeeK
08-30-2004, 11:57 PM
I saw this article at work and it got me to thinking that the same analysis could be applied to paintball.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.09/kingpin.html?tw=wn_tophead_6
In summary 3 guys buy the PBA and are trying to resurrect it. (Ok, they aren't your typical 3 guys)
Some of the deficiencies are the same that face paintball.
In Tyger's thread Shives makes a similar point.
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1588293#post1588293
Everybody thinks they can just port paintball as it is to TV. Ad money comes in and all is well.
We all know paintball in it's current form is boring to watch and we currently don't have the technology to do high speed HDTV so we can see the paint flying towards the target in slo-mo (One of the biggest problems for TV). If you are watching from the fields it's fine because you can see the near misses and appreciate it. Golf would be really boring if you could see the ball take off and just land somewhere.
The anticipation and uncertanty of seeing that bowling ball is what TV captures you attention just like seeing that golf ball glide towards the hole.
Even the Olympic Archery and target shooting seemed to be more interesting if you package it right.
Does paintball still have spokespeople that are eloquent and knowledgeable enough to be commentators? You'd really need 2 people, a player that can see what's about to happen or tell you the possible moves and a 'normal' person that is interesting but will be the non-player proxy just like the World Series of Poker. You still get the introduction by just tuning in but as you keep watching it's also informative and you can still learn what not to do.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.09/kingpin.html?tw=wn_tophead_6
In summary 3 guys buy the PBA and are trying to resurrect it. (Ok, they aren't your typical 3 guys)
Some of the deficiencies are the same that face paintball.
In Tyger's thread Shives makes a similar point.
http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?p=1588293#post1588293
Everybody thinks they can just port paintball as it is to TV. Ad money comes in and all is well.
We all know paintball in it's current form is boring to watch and we currently don't have the technology to do high speed HDTV so we can see the paint flying towards the target in slo-mo (One of the biggest problems for TV). If you are watching from the fields it's fine because you can see the near misses and appreciate it. Golf would be really boring if you could see the ball take off and just land somewhere.
The anticipation and uncertanty of seeing that bowling ball is what TV captures you attention just like seeing that golf ball glide towards the hole.
Even the Olympic Archery and target shooting seemed to be more interesting if you package it right.
Does paintball still have spokespeople that are eloquent and knowledgeable enough to be commentators? You'd really need 2 people, a player that can see what's about to happen or tell you the possible moves and a 'normal' person that is interesting but will be the non-player proxy just like the World Series of Poker. You still get the introduction by just tuning in but as you keep watching it's also informative and you can still learn what not to do.