What's next? PBall future.

[Shaft]

So what's next for the realm of paintball? The gear has reached some interesting highs. Reliable electronic triggered guns that can outshoot the loaders that feed them. We're no longer forced to run around with a big "target" hopper on top of the gun.

The first thing to see will be more cheap alternatives using high end features. The $200 electro.

I'd like to see cost cutting become the next wave of PBall technology.

Make paint cost less!! If quality has to go down, make these markers able to fire lousy paint cleanly and accurately. (Breaking on the target would be a different issue.) Do both!

[CoFFeY[NiTrO]]

yeah that would be nice. only like $30 to go paintballing.
15 - to play all day at my field
15 - for 2000 balls


. - . I WisH . - .

[Shaft]

I don't know too much about boltless. I think another thread there was talk that there ROF is much lower.
It's very possible for this to change. How would the boltless handle cheap paint over bolt guns?

[davisdawg123]

i shoot at least my hopper out a game, if not more, it would be nice to see paint prices go down.....a lot

[rightsidefight]

if comapanies decreased the grade of the paint by say adding thinner paint or watering the paint down there would be more paint to fill the balls.with the company saving the extra paint,the could make more hopefully decreasing the paint cost.also why doesnt anyone try a ew type of gas system?i would like to see something like an oxygen tank wch as a byproduct fills a co2 compartment with you will get paid to epty fo co2 fills.that would be quit interesting

[MagNumPI]

The paint in the balls are made to leave a clear mark.. if the player is hit with a watered down ball then the mark will be way less visable. No to get the lower prices we need to find a good fill, good shell that is cheap and then just go from there. ............ I don't know what the heck my point was...


Future of paintball Electros are the furture but is it realy a good thing.. What is so great about the electro guns?

ROF is higher. Sure thats good.. no wait you spend twice as much. And If the guy behind the bunker is not comming out for 1-4 shots i can bet cash money that he is not comming out for 10-15 of em. I have and always will be a semiauto guy, this way you get some feel for the game. Pumps, remeber them.. the ones we had to cock manualy befor we shot.. not alot of them left.. they are out gunned by the Semis and now by the electro's. Wish they had more pump games..

In conclusion, Tournements are gonna be a big part of the game, they will attract the ppl to play(which is why i think they should use them strictly for advertising , cause there is not a whole lot of strategy that can go on in 3 mins) Recballers are gonna be the meat and potatoe of the sport, companies should look into spending more money of helping the local fields and recplayer. It started in the bush , by god it's gonna always stay in the bush.

[Vegeta]

I would like to see more concepts developed by the player. And more companies taking opinions like AGD and Tom do here at the forum. And also, i think htere sould be some sort of marker development contest. I got thios idea from hearing about the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint Strike Fighter Project and the NASA Space challenge competition. A ordinary player (cannot be working at a gun-making facility) must design the body, internals, all parts of a gun and it must be original and the best gun that actually works after 1 year wins production by a company. Problem is it has to work and be original. I think many people would participate, for if I had machining tools and lathes I would.

Electro guns will make things cheaper eventually. think about it. 25 years ago you couldnt get as much computing power as there is in a Angel in a 1975 computer. Aftetr a while, companies will find cheaper ways to produce the electro-pnematic parts. THats the expensive part. The actually electronics probably only costs the company less than 5% of the gun. Its a printed curcuit- it can be mass produced.. thousands a day. cheap.

[Shaft]

Electros can result in ROF's that exceed the ability of the shooter's finger (full auto modes). Barrels are quite accurate since barrel to paint matching was figured out. Many models are quite reliable.

Does fill and shell make a paintball more expensive? I have a feeling that the manufacturing dictates majority of the cost. Being able to produce the ball consistently can not be easy with the ancient method provided.

If anything, new formulations of shell and fill would probably allow for consistancy in the manufacturing process thus eliminating defects, bad batches etc. This would transcend into cheaper paint prices. Originally I thought that making guns that can handle inconsistant paint would be useful. Now I realize the benefit of paint formulation to provide cheaper to manufacture paint.

[Vegeta]

It is much like the 1800's. Here we are, with these guns, shooting pellets with black powder charges. Now this takes too much time to relead. SO instead of separatly loading your powder then your pellet down a barrel, they developed a cartridged bullet. This allows for the breach to be opened, and a new shell put in every time, with the old one taken out. The bullet is self contained, so now powder.

now paintball needs something like that. (im not saying we sould make cased pb's, bare with me) we need to balls rounder, with cheaper, better fill. harder paint would allow for wicked barrel systems (more extreme flatline anyone?) but would make the balls bruise/break skin easier.

So take it from there.

[AdrenalineMag]

Originally posted by rightsidefight
also why doesnt anyone try a ew type of gas system?i would like to see something like an oxygen tank wch as a byproduct fills a co2 compartment with you will get paid to epty fo co2 fills.that would be quit interesting

a little bit of 10th grade biology here, how would the oxygen just magically turn into co2? i think you forgot that in order for oxygen to change forms into co2 it has to undergo respiration, and last time i checked my mag wasnt breathing. so im not sure how your plan was gonna work, and im not trying to make you look bad, thats a good idea though... a gas tank the preforms respiration that would never end, just put a rat & a daisy in your tank... hmmm... just the problem of the pressure though, heh.
anyways, next for the future of the sport, you notice that wgp & wdp have the same gun every year, just a new model, its been a while since they came out with a new gun, yah theres dark angels & about 50 million other cocker versions etc. but agd just keeps on rolling out the innovations, hey tom, next on the drawboard for agd i'd like to see a low profile-fast feeding hopper like a warp feed hopper-without the warp feed. that would be pretty cool. i guess since we cant predict the future, cause my tarot cards havent said anything about paintball yet, well just have to sit back and enjoy the ride and see whats next for the paintball industry in major innovations!

[Vegeta]

A guy over at the Tippmann forums had an idea. He took a Shop-Vac and help it under a revvy. it emptied 180 rounds in 5 seconds. he worked that out to I belive 36 BPS. Now i dont know about mags, but Model 98's have a leftover blowback gas after a ball is fired. it normally just exits the gun. in a case of the RT Trigger being installed, it goes to a piston behind hte trigger which give it the reativeness. No what if this gas was used to blow balls DOWN the elbow? or what about a vacuum system that pulls hte balls into the chamber onto a screen. the air sucks the balls down the the screen, but they stop, then get fired.

[Muzikman]

As I mentioned to someone at the class/tour Friday night. I think paintball will eventually regress in technology. I raced R/C cards at the national level for about 8 years. When I started the cars where cheap and the electronics where crude (manual speed controls). As the technology progressed, the products got more expensive and people just starting out found it harder to keep up. Even racing at the nation level (kinda at the level of Am A in paintball) I had sponsors and I still found it hard to keep up, so I quit. I threw all my cars and junk into a few boxes and forgot about them. A couple years ago, I had thoughts about starting to race again. I picked up a few issues of R/C Car Action and followed the products for a few months. What I noticed was that the equipment that I had (about 5 or 6 years old) was just as advanced as the high end equipment on the market.
Was this because the stuff got so expensive and people realized that for the cost it wasn't worth it? Seeing what happened to R/C cars, I can see the same happening to Paintball.
There will be a day when we look at an Emag or Angel and say, danm, this gun has been around for 15 years and is still great or better than what is currently being produced.
I think ROF is the industies down fall, and I hope that paint prices do not go down. If they do, that will just make people want to shoot even more. If you can't hit somthing at 12bps, then you will want 20 bps, if you still can't hit it... where does it stop?

[rhetor22]

paintballs also need a good weight. If there is more mass it will have more momentum and therefore more range. I think if you "water down" the liquid in a paintball it will be harder to get that weight. I agree that ROF is taking a large portion of the time that a pb company would put towards other things. I think that Brass Eagle was thinking ahead with the rainmaker, don't use microchips to make the marker full auto, but incorporate it into other things so that the gun is better in other aspects. I play rec ball in the woods. When one of the guys that plays with me got a booyah, things changed. It sucks having a full auto gun, you can tell its just not the same. I shot it and it seems so fake. When you pull the trigger its like clicking a mouse, you don't feel the sear lift off the hammer (in the case of the stacked blowbacks) and you can't get a real feel for the gun. Electros are incredible in that they can fire at that speed, but you lose something by going electronic...

[Vegeta]

In my opinion.. a M98 with RT trigger is the most fun shootign a gun you will ever have. Its not like electro frames. you actually control it.. you still get that oldtime sear/trigger clcik n feel... yet our firing at tremedous speeds... And with the m98- you got a half pound blot slamming against that valve pin 14 times a second or more.. well it almost feels liek a real gun...

[joeyjoe367]

Originally posted by rhetor22
paintballs also need a good weight. If there is more mass it will have more momentum and therefore more range. I think if you "water down" the liquid in a paintball it will be harder to get that weight.

If you didn't notice, Water is pretty damn heavy. That's why Oil and a lot of other things will float in it. I doubt that the fill of the paintball is heavier than 8lb/gallon. Mabe it's a bit less viscous, but I highly doubt that it's heavier.

Anyway You don't want to be messing with the weight or dimentions of the paintball. If you don't know the story of how ol' school paintballers came up with the 300 fps limit here it is:

Budd Orr finds out that people are having their fingers broken from paintballs. He talks to a doctor and finds out how much pressure/energy it takes to break a finger, and computes it with the mass of a paintball (approx 1 gram). He does some math, and voila, he comes up with 300 fps.

Yeah, yeah, it's a bit vague, but you get the idea.

As far as the future of paintball? i don't see much except paintballs getting cheaper and higher quality 'guns being made more publicly available (ex: walmart, etc)

[mr_cool2588]

some way i think that if paint companies came up with a cheaper way to make paint they would make them cheaper but then they might forget to tell the customers that they have done this and the balls would then cost them half the price but they would still cost us the same. its this thing some guy came up with called buisness, where you try to make as much money as you can with as little work as possible. do you guys really think any thing in paintball is worth what it costs

[Vegeta]

Everything in paintball (except rarities like Trigonimics custom works and such) is mass produced. This makes it cheap. Do you think it costs the company 150$ to make a spyder? hell no. Maybe 70 - 80$. Its like a quote i saw on the Company Motto mocking topic-

"Dye Barrels - $40 Barrel, $60 laser engraving"

The actual product doesnt cost anything. And most companies always think of something new that they can make cheap that they can charge alot more for to make hteir product more popular. Like Kingman Java. Do you think a Spyder Compact JAVA Edition is any different in performance than a regular Spyder Compact (im using spyders becuase Kingman is a company thta takes advantage of the consumer waaaay to much, unlike Tom, who, if you sweet talk him enough, will prctically give you a gun, and stickers! woohoo!)

Well my point is no. They paint it purple, stamp "JAVA" on the vert, and charge 30$ more. pathetic. We need more consumer-honest companies like AGD. They maek their guns good enough to where all teh stock parts are actually better than most of the aftermarket parts. Most companies slap in a blot and sear and trigger jsut good enough to make it shoot. Where as upgrading the mag bolt to an aftermarket non - AGD bolt could actually be bad. lol.

Well, you cant say that about many companies.
My compliments to AGD.

[Vegeta]

And the average paitnball weighs about 6 grams I belive.

Somebody weight one.

[hardr0ck68]

hmm i think we are gonna see a rise and fall of the sport in the pop culture, i also think were gonna see prices bottom out real soon (look at it now people cant unload there bushies and defiants on pbc) and paint has been slowly going down, when i stared playin 3 or 4 years ago the cheapest paint i could get was 50 a case, and the decent stuff that dident break every 3rd shot was 65-80. now you can get cheap stuff for 30 a case and really good stuff for 50 or so. hehe it probably cost them like 5-6 bucks a case to make... i mean look at cigeretts they sell for what 3-5 a pack, it costs the companys .05 for a carton (im serious about that to...) if i smoked i would feel riped off ;)

[Mwmathes]

The future of paintball as i see it, is a rapid expansion of electronics into almost everything the sport does. Even look at our beloved Mag... we now have an E-Mag. (not that im bashing the e-mag, because i want one anyway...;o) Gone were the days that a player only had mechanical systems to use at his disposal.

And why are we moving towards this electrified player? A person cant hardly play anymore with out having to check and make sure if all their battery's are fresh. We are moving towards having that paintball machine gun, simply because its cool to shoot. Im reminded of a test that the US Army did during vietnam, where a gunner stepped up to a firing line with a New M-16, and proceded to shoot at three evenly spaced targets, using full auto. Well he didn't even hit one of them. Now this same man swiched to S/F and put 1 shot through each bullseye. Full auto & high rates of fire do not bring anything meaningfull to our sport. (aside from the fact that its fun to shoot, and as long as people go out there just to shoot, then, well: someone is going to be on the recieving end of that 20bps string.)

And what can we do about the future of paintball? If you ask me, you can embrace change, or not. I remember alot of people who stopped playing Pball back in the day when the first Semi-Automatic came out, because it changed the way things were done. Do i like the fact that electronics have infltrated almost every aspect of the game? No i do not, but then again, i run around most of the time with a Phantom Stockgun, but i do own a 68PFD, and i will use that from time to time.

So while everyone is worried about the future of the game, you just have to remember what you play for. If your going out there to shoot your paintball gun as many times as you can, well thats your buisness. If your going out there to sneak around and phantom someone in the back, then thats your buisness. To each his own, my father once said; just play your own game of paintball.

And i will see you on the field.

Mwmathes
Team Praetorian Guard, IL

[Vegeta]

Eventually there will ahve to be a limit.. either a phisics-related boundry, or a legal one. you cant have people shooting at 25bps. thats crossing the line of fun and almost real combot. You are battling not to get railed by 16 balls at once. Not for fun. I can't see us crossing the 20 bps line. I know guns of the future will be able to shoot more than that, but I dont see feilds/manufacturers allowing it.

[Low Down]

The future of paintball is right here. it's us. paintball as a sport will rise or fall based on it's players and field owners.

Will it be faster markers? well ask youself this, do we want faster markers? because as long as we want it there will be companies striving to sell it to us.

Will it be cheaper paint? As long as the demand for paint keeps increasing the price will go down. That's what's brought it down to where it is now and that is what will keep it going down.

i think the next thing to come along in paintball is going to be a greater number of high quality fields. I really think that support for the local fields has to increase. That means buying things from your field owner instead of off the internet. I used to hear people at my local field complaining about the fact that there were no local paintball stores to buy from and they had to buy off the internet. Well now there's two local paintball stores and those same people are still buying off of the internet.

[Low Down]

I understand where you're coming from. Most paintball stores can't afford to have a lot of items in stock. I personally think that they should stick to selling accessories mainly. The big thing is that a paintball store should be able to order whatever they need from the manufacturers. The store i go to (it's actually the field i play at) carries all of the everyday items that you might need for a day of paintball and will order anything special that you may want including nitro tanks and markers.

Sometimes it's a little more expensive, sometimes it's a little cheaper, but i always have someone right there who will stand behind the product. The owner will do installation of whatever you bought and will troubleshoot any problems that you may be having with the gun. I feel very lucky to have this kind of support and if a store doesn't provide this level of service i would dare to say that it won't last long.

That's why i say that the future of paintball lies with the players AND the field owners. As much as i believe in supporting your local field stores, I don't expect anyone to allow themselves to be cheated just for the sake of supporting their local field. Never forget that the field owners have a responsibility to the players as well.

[Vegeta]

I got extremely POed at a local sotre yesterday. It is hte olny store that stocks reletivly good gear in the area. HTey had done some re-stockign of the PB section (its a sporting good store, mainly hunting) and so I thought I'd check it out. I walk to the PB section, and I was immediatly disgusted.
I saw the following on the racks:
-Green Rebel
-Blue Rebel
-Silver Rebel
-Red Rebel
-Rebel w/ Ex. Chamber
-M98 Custom
-Squeegies
-Butt Plates
-Minimag, top, left hand corner.. no price, very dusty.

I was tempted to ask the price of the mini, but there was no one around and I was hungry. I'm going back next week to see.

I really wish there were more paintball stores, nto just sporting goodsstors that sell PB equip. From what I hear, there are many peole at this forum who have access to atleast 1 paintball store in the area that stocks mags/cockers and so forth. That is one reason why I still own a stock M98. the only thing I have changed i the past 2 years I have had it is the paintjob.
No feilds, no stores, no intrest.

[Stompy]

I'd like to see other calibers of paint employed. I shoot a Bob Long Defiant with nitro and all that good stuff, but only because it can help to compete with all those crazies out there laying down clouds of paint. However, technology can only REALLY help if you're a good player.

Something that has always disgusted me with paintball is the unrealistic short distance that a paintball fires, with significant drop near the end. There could be a real market for .50cal paintballs with 400fps speed restrictions. Sure, goggle manufacturers would have to get their act together instead of just trying to make their masks as strong as they HAVE to be, and there would have to be new markers designed for that caliber. Come on, anyone putting a bipod on the barrel of their .68 caliber paintgun calling themselves a sniper and wobbling huge .68 rounds through the air is just full of it.

High Quality 12g. and 4-7oz. co2 operated AUTHENTIC firearm patterned weapons could also have quite a market. I'm talking bolt actions, pumps, etc., a real return of the old marketed more towards players who have actually heard of the 007 and the Splatmaster. How about a return of the revolver? Who wouldn't be tempted to buy a couple to just stick in their pants pocket and go out in the woods for a short game?

We have to realize that as guns get more and more sophisticated we shoot more and more paint! Period. And there needs to be products geared towards PURELY recreational players who just get tired of keeping up with all the paint throwing.

[Rob @ DNR]

The cost of paint will not be going down anytime soon. (I remember paying $140 a case for Pro Ball...) Nor will they manufacture it any cheaper. Cheaper production costs equal cheaper quality. You get what you pay for. It has been tried by a couple of companies. It failed, and they are either nonexistant, or back to the original formula.
Markers will be introduced in the future with heads up displays, and built in feed systems. Sure the rate of fire issue will be fought for years to come. Everyone has an opinion. Mine is this, if you can shoot that fast, I hope your on my team! It's like NASCAR. The cars were going 200+ MPH and going out of control hurting the drivers. So they made rules to restrict the speeds. Paintball markers are getting to that "200 MPH" zone. You will see an industry "cap" on ROF and mode's of fire. Personally I think "Enhanced modes" are a joke. It is a crutch that people use to hide their lack of skill in the game. Sure shooting 16 BPS is appreciated by my front players in a tourney, but that is in semi auto mode. In tournament play, evey little edge you have on your compettition is needed. A marker that eats paint like Angel's and E-Mags do are just part of that edge.

The last couple of replies about pro shops and fields not having a good supply of stuff hits me very personally. I am the co-owner of DNR Paintball in Dover, DE. I am the "R" in "DNR." (Check the listings in Paintball 2 Xtremes magazine...) Our biggest problem is the internet. We cannot come close to some of the prices I have found online. I have seen products on the internet that are for sale cheaper than I buy them from the manufacturer! That burns me the most!!! How can I compete with that? Here is how we do it... What we offer is personal customer support. You buy a product from me, I back it up. You have a question or problem, you come see me, a person not an opperator that doesn't have a clue. Sure you pay a little more, but you get that much more out of it. We try and make friends out of our customers. Without them, we would not be here. Support your local pro shop. Without them around, you might not have a place to play next time... So spend that extra $5.00 on that item and get it from someone who will appreciate it. I know I will... I could go on for a long, long time, but I don't want to bore you all to death. See ya at the field...

[Vegeta]

Well, I wish the shop here carried good merchendise, thats all. Need more vareity.

[Rob B]

I can tell you from experience that a show room full of $1,000.00+ guns may look pretty, but the truth is that if we sell 1 angel a month, we are doing good. The biggest sellers are 98 customs and Spyders. Our theroy is this, have a couple of "eye candy" guns like Angel LCD's and E-Mags. Then have a full stock of Tippmanns and Spyders. The customer see's that we have big stuff on the wall, but it is for then to dream about.
Example, we have a Shocker 4+4 on the wall. It is a beautiful gun with the anodize job. I wish I owned it. It has sat on our wall for 7 months... That is 0ver $600.00 that is sitting around doing us absolutely no good. The little shops just can't afford to have $600+ wrapped up in a gun that may never sell. You have to be able to turn your inventory over very quickly to stay alive in retail. Your local shops are doing just that. They keep stuff in stock that sells, not much more. They are keeping the overhead as low as possible. If you ask your local pro shop, I bet they can get anything you would ever need, in a resonable amount of time. Just ask them. I can't think of a single pro shop thas has every item ever made in stock. That is just asking for the impossible.

[MagJedi]

what i would like to see in the future of paint ball dosnt have anything to do with the equipment. i would love to see more thought put into the fields.i think chalenge park has the right idea (i want to go there verry soon) but most of the fields arround me are just a bunch of pallets, barrels,and logs. isnt there more that the owners can do i know sup air and hyperball are expinsive. i would love to see more fields where you do more than run crouch shoot. i have a fiew ideas but i wont take up more of anyones time. i just want to see some more thought put into the fields

[ciaran.mooney]

Actually Sup'air fields cost about as much as a high end angel. About £1,500. Though i might be mistaken and that could be the cost of one inflatable :D

[laysomepaint]

around here theres 3 paintball stores:

South 94 Bait and Tackle- a sporting goods store that has a paintball department. They keep most major blowbacks in stock, paint, parts kits, tank valves, co2 tanks, even some nitro tanks. a few barrels, remotes, etc. Not many actual upgrades though(id bet money they have nothing for a cocker...even with all the upgrades avaliable). They also have an automag RT on the wall by an RT Pro...both been there a while. i saw a few classics the other day too. And i think my friend saw an impulse there. Obviously they make their money from the blowbacks, fills, and paint

Paintball Outfitters- A paintball store that relocated to a sporting goods store that had a small paintball department. Nice deal actually. Imagine the above w/ cockers, an angel or 2, etc. Throw in some good techs and a couple cocker upgrades, and you pretty much have this store. Theyre also partners with my local field(which only had crap paint, have to drive farther then the field...much farther...to get good paint. net beats that most of the time)

Gateway Paintball- probably the best paintball store in missouri. Also has a field(including sup'air) down the road a bit where they have basics at, parts kits, paint, squeegees, etc. The actual store has 2 walls of guns, 1 for used(they have some nice ones) and 1 for new. They stock mainely blowbacks, but have a large selection of cockers, and used to have every mag in production(until they sold theyre one e-mag). Great customer service and techs, they have most paint, any barrel in most threads(cept impulse) and give a discount for buying paint in bulk. They have some upgrades, most for cockers, they might have the intelliframe...havent been there in a while. Order anything you want there also, and theyll send off guns for annodizing and milling. Biggest problem is that once we add gas into the cost of anything i do get there, its usually not worth it.

the first 2 are ~1 hour away, while gateway is ~1 1/2-2. (if anyone knows where Troy, MO is, and is looking for a place to build a paintball store/field, great place, lotsa people play...closest field is 40 min away, store is 1 hour)

its not worth it most of the time to drive that far to get something. Little stuf like parts kits i get offline, but when i got my gun(and when i FINALLY get nitro then a 'mag) I got it from a store(gateway). Gotta support them, and customer service is nice. But paint, its about 50/50. If im in the area, i stop by and get a case, and maybe some tank o-rings, if im low. If im not, net wins.

the biggest innovation in paintball would be a way to have stores and fields all over, without them going out of business. Maybe a main store in the city, and branches out in places like troy. Order what you want in troy, and the big store in the city will send it to you. If something like this isnt in paintball's future, then stores and fields just might die out altogether.

[oldman]

I've got no experience in the paintball of today. I'll agree my idea's are out of touch. My playing goes back to when I might shoot 40 times (and get 15 hits if extremely lucky) in four hours on a heavily wooded field. If my 13 year old son hadn't bought a minimag, I wouldn't have even seen this wonderful site. So feel free to take your shots. (pun?)

I think *some* paintballs should cost more. And be lighter in weight, not heavier. And not be filled with paint. Now how crazy is this?

Well, I'm surprised at the obsession over how fast a marker can shoot...you know, the line of reasoning that if 10 bps are good, 20 bps are twice as good, 30 bps are four times as good, etc. Taken to the extreme, a firehose setup would be the ultimate, right? Folks could start converting CO2 fire extinguishers, attaching long range nozzles, and teams can spray each other down? Might be hard to chrono, but you can't beat that kind of "saturation" shooting.

I looked at my son's paint ball magazine. It had little reviews on about 50 markers. I'll omit the part about most of the high end markers looking really cumbersome and heavy once the CA ($450 for a TANK? Yikes) tank and hopper and stainless steel brackets were all in place - suffice it to say maybe fire extinguishers ARE more mobile. But what really amazed me was noticing the words "accuracy" or "range" were hardly ever mentioned. What's up with this? (Yes, I did read and enjoy the Tech Tips from AGD that touched upon this area).

Is marksmanship a part of the sport? Are running fast, pulling a trigger fast, and being able to afford ammo THE prominent paintball skills?

Here's my thought for the future. I think the paintball manufacturer's will come up with a sticky "dry" powder formula for the filling the "paintball", perhaps in conjunction with a form more streamlined than a sphere, or dimpling the projectile. A more "solid" filling could be lighter and more accepting of spin from a rifled barrel. Aerodynamic improvements will offset the loss of weight and result in less impact forces (lesser mass) making being hit a little safer. Accuracy and range will be dramatically increased. Once a player can consistently hit something more than 50 yards away, rather than counting on the law of averages and bps, then less ammo needs to be purchased. This allows higher manufacturing cost on the ammo without increasing overall playing cost.

In field play the run and gun front guys with today's paintball equipment wouldn't necessarily be eliminated, because somebody always needs to take tactical control of field position. But the back guys would have to be good marksmen, quick and accurate.

Hmmm...think about being able to shoot 150 yards in the woods with a quiet barrel, a good sight, and single shot average accuracy of around four inches...well, that might offer some interesting new tactics.

Perhaps it ain't possible. I remember my first hand held calculator cost $225. It could do square roots, so I figured it was worth it. (pun?) Who knew WalMart would eventually sell them for four dollars.

[oldman]

Stompy, I've got a feeling you and I said roughly the same things. At least, after re-reading your post, I find a lot of common ground. But what's AGO? (really)

[Stompy]

Lol, sorry I lied, I'm not really the "president of AGO (really)". But that's as close as I could come to what the real president of AGD uses for his identification thingy. Thought it was funny :D, at least unless he complains. Makes me sound almost important too, doesn't it? lol

[PBpunk]

what about paint disks? you might be able to get better range and accuracy within a reasonable velocity. of course you would have to design a whole new marker, but you might be able to clip feed disks so you dont have a hopper poking up (like warp).

[media]

Someone could try making paintballs with two gelatin circles (thickness about same as shell) that cross at 90 angle inside the shell. Could stop fill from flowing, then when someone uses them in a tippmann flatline they backspin longer and have better range.
Or some type of fill that doesn't flow but still leaves an acceptable paint mark when it hits. Not sure what would work for that.
If a paintball could be made that could hold angular momentum like a golf ball off a Tiger Woods tee shot, then I think I'd go buy a model 98 and a flatline for woods play.
Just as long as it doesn't hit like a golf ball..duh!

[SkElL~ObIsSiS]

People the arguments about buying from your local field shop vs. buying from the net is a good idea BUT, I could have gotten a 2000 cocker for $360 online instead I bought one from my local pro shop for $500. I thought the extra price was for the "liftime waranty on all new markers" that they advertised in massive red letters above the wall of guns. my cocker had massive problems and they gave me a hard time about fixing it, in the end it was never fixed so I traded them straight up for my mag wich was priced at $410 for just the marker and barrel quite the rip off in my oppinion beacause I got to play once in the 3 monthes I had the thing without any problems.

Just my 2 cents about the pro shop bs

Ps. Now I order everthing online or from a local "out of basement" dealer that I trust personaly

[Kneedragger]

I've been playing paintball for 16 years. In that time this same type of discussion has come up time and time again. It started by putting pump handles on bolt action Nelspots, next was direct feed. Then we went to quick changers, and auto triggers. The next step was constant air. At this point there was a big argument throughout the industry as well as amoungst the players. Tom Kaye himself is probably solely responsible for ending the argument when he came out with the 6-pack changer. (Thanks Tom!!) Next of course was the semi. At this point people started the soon to be abused addage, "There's no skill involved, it's just spray and pray" (I'll go into that a little further down). Of course, this led to the first motorized hopper. The next step was compressed air/nitrogen. And then came the electro. Some will argue that we have reached the zenith in regards to the technological ceiling, but I disagree, I think you're going to see a lot of new high tech gadgets that aren't necesarily related to ROF, but will lead to more efficiency. I expect you'll see a all inclusive gun/loader/air system combo (one that people will actually buy that is) before too long.

Through out the whole time I've been playing, as each major advancement came out, it seems there is a group of people that just failed to adapt or pick up the transformed game. These are the people that usually start complaining that the game takes no skill. This is far from the truth. At each progression, the required skill changed is all. The fact that some of the top players in the NPPL are still around is proof of that. The same teams wouldn't be winning time and time again if there was no skill involved. I will say that what the technological advancement does do is bring up the level of bad and mediocre players. The good part about that is these players don't get frustrated as easily and quit playing, which is good for paintball as a whole. Of course the obvious down side to the technological advancement is that the potential for abuse is much greater.

[gmag]

I would like to see paintball mass publicized. Possibly through advertisements on TV or in magazines. I would like to see something similar to those "truth" commercials. People need to see the truth about paintball. Maybe the Discovery channel could do a one hour special on the sport of paintball or something along those lines. Paintball emits a negative image in the eyes of so many people and that needs to be changed. Through information can come acceptance.

[AngelBoy]

Well, I buy almost everything online. I know the sayings about support your local field/store, but what if there is no local field/store? Maybe places like 888paintball, paintballgear, and modifiedpaintball should start making branches of local stores in places where there are no local stores. I garuntee you they would make a lot more money, I mean, whos gonna be there competition? The closest field is 3 hours away, and the closest store is 1hour away but only open on weekends. If I could start my own field/store, believe me, I would, but theres not a whole lot that a 14-year-old can do is there?

As far as guns go... One thing that pulls me away from buying WGP/WDP products is that they rush things to come out. They put out a gun every year, and are they much different, no? Now take a look at AGD, they have put out 5-6 guns, and look at how much different each one is, and how much they care because u can go from one type of gun to the next type (E-mag conversions, retro-valve, Extreme Upgrades). And also, they were the first to put out a grip that was actually confortable.

[apache]

The next big thing is not going to be any technological thing. It's the game that evolves!!!

Now the normal way to play a game is this: team walks the field and decides everybodys first bunkers and roughly where everyone is going to go at some point.

New to this would be more organization during the game. I think the best pro teams have this already but it's spreading down from the top. Pete Robinson wrote about this in PGI a few issues back: Set plays. Rather than the front guy shouting "cover me, I'll go", the back guy/coordinator shouts "MOVE 7!" and everybody knows what happens.

Now, this is just one area of evolvement. I am sure there are others, maybe even the basic format of the game can change. We don't play 30 minute crawling games any more do we?

[MikeCouves]

We still play 30 minute crawl games every once in a while. It's defiantely as fun as speedball. It feels way better when you get an elimanation and you actually worked for it, not payed for it with paint. But then again, my mag does quite the bit of paint slingin' :D.

[Jimmi9999]

i was wondering why they don't make dimpled paintballs. if it works in golf why wouldn't it work. is it too exspensive or is it hard to make. there are the ballistic paint balls made for the army but i imagine it would hurt alot more than regular paint.

[ShooterJM]

Hate to say it, but I think paintball will grow or stagnate based on the public perception and TV. How do we as a community bolster growth? Personally, I think the future the prolification of next gen indoor fields. Specifically, catering to new players and spectators. Imagine being able to go to an indoor field and have a true, mask free, enviroment controlled, sound dampened, spectator area? That alone would help propell our sport into a more TV viable sport.

Also, our sport is based on truth and honesty of players. Truth be known, I think this counts against us with the public. With the advent of cheap electronics impact vests and trigger transmitters could be used as a sort of "instant replay" for controversial calls. Again catering to a TV audiance.

Just my two bits.

[ciaran.mooney]

Originally posted by ShooterJM

Also, our sport is based on truth and honesty of players. Truth be known, I think this counts against us with the public. With the advent of cheap electronics impact vests and trigger transmitters could be used as a sort of "instant replay" for controversial calls. Again catering to a TV audiance.

Just my two bits.

For that pressure pad vest to be possible it would have to be built into every piece of clothing that they have - at the moment that is almost impossible, and very expensive.

[ShooterJM]

Originally posted by ciaran.mooney


For that pressure pad vest to be possible it would have to be built into every piece of clothing that they have - at the moment that is almost impossible, and very expensive.

For a rec player, yes. For a pro team, with sponsors facing the increasing reality of National or Worldwide television exposure, no. Figure a one time expense of around $50k for a 12 man team. That's peanuts. Try and buy a national 30 second spot on TV for that much.

Also it depends on what you mean by expensive. Figure that I could probably have one made, custom for me, for about $2000 out the door. Now, say a league requires for professional level championships. Suddenly you have a larger market and theoretically cheaper product. Heck, have the league own the equipment.

[ciaran.mooney]

What i mean is having the jerseys or trousers sensing the ball hitting because the cloth is "intelligent". This almost haveing a computer woven into the cloths. These kind of intelligent cloths cost millions - now you cant say thats not expensive!

Current pressure pads would be too cumbersone for players to wear - god knows i wouldnt wear one. So unfortunatly we'll have to rely on judges to catch the cheats for the next few decades.

[davej946]

Originally posted by Rob @ DNR
\Our biggest problem is the internet. We cannot come close to some of the prices I have found online. I have seen products on the internet that are for sale cheaper than I buy them from the manufacturer! That burns me the most!!! How can I compete with that? Here is how we do it... What we offer is personal customer support. You buy a product from me, I back it up. You have a question or problem, you come see me, a person not an opperator that doesn't have a clue. Sure you pay a little more, but you get that much more out of it. We try and make friends out of our customers. Without them, we would not be here. Support your local pro shop. Without them around, you might not have a place to play next time... So spend that extra $5.00 on that item and get it from someone who will appreciate it. I know I will... I could go on for a long, long time, but I don't want to bore you all to death. See ya at the field...

Hey Rob,
I understand. I have taken my local store for granted. I bought a Flatline off eBay, and I was having some issues with it just last night. I headed up to my local shop to buy an RT parts kit, and give it a good cleaning, then have them fill it.

Not only did the guy tell me not to buy the kit, that it needed a good cleaning, he took the thing a part, cleaned it, reassembled it and filled it for me! That's service. I will buy almost all of my stuff from them from now on. (However, my product research will remain Internet-based.)

The future of paintball is the field. We have to weed out the crappy, rude, cheap and lazy field owners from the good ones. When EVERYONE (refs, players, owners) is supportive of the newbies, like I like to think I am, then our sport will grow into whatever we want it to...
Later ~

[ShooterJM]

Originally posted by ciaran.mooney
What i mean is having the jerseys or trousers sensing the ball hitting because the cloth is "intelligent". This almost haveing a computer woven into the cloths. These kind of intelligent cloths cost millions - now you cant say thats not expensive!

Current pressure pads would be too cumbersone for players to wear - god knows i wouldnt wear one. So unfortunatly we'll have to rely on judges to catch the cheats for the next few decades.

Interwoven computers would be, at this stage, out of the question. However, pressure pads not neccessarily. Depending on the type, it wouldn't be much more cumbersome then an extra layer or two in a jersey. For instance, on my car alarm I have a seprate pressure sensors in my car seats. It's flexible material, weighs next to nothing, and cost me 25 bucks per seat. Place a layer of those in jerseys and pants and voila. Couple extra pounds over all, but nothing really.

[Aranarth]

You going to have pressure sensors on your feet also? How about your knees? And your hands? I don't think this is viable. You don't just get shot on your body. You get shot everywhere. Heck, you'd even need these on your gun. And then what happens if you touch something?
-AranarthX

[ShooterJM]

Originally posted by Aranarth
I don't think this is viable. You don't just get shot on your body. You get shot everywhere. Heck, you'd even need these on your gun. And then what happens if you touch something?
-AranarthX

Good points, it may not be. And it's extremely probable that even if it is, it won't ever be implemented in paintball. In my experiance, and it may be very far off from reality, hopper and marker hits are fairly rarely wiped. it's leg and arm hits that I see smeared most often. As to what happens when you touch something it's fairly simple. While an actual force measurement isn't needed a simple force level filter could be implemented that could filter out most false-positives. And like I said, this would merely be a backup to live reffing.

[nastymag]

i guess im lucky ....... my local store is the famous KAPP store! pretty big , full of good stuff and markers. they are pretty nice and know a whole lot abotu fixing markers.

i think we will stop at a certain time ... look i own an angel , the rate of fire is nice , the fact that its a lot lighter then my autocker is nice to. but what i like the most is the stablity with the rate of fire. i can fire real fast but believe me , i was taking 2-4 shot burst all the gamres except for the start ( then its time for the 40 shot strings) people will know that you cant use that to its full potantiol because all you do it snap shot.

hell right now i have the biggest urge to but a phantom and go play in my back yard.

people will realize.

as for paintball prices.... they arent going down any more :(

[Minimag4me]

If we use censors we have no reason to use paintballs which are an essential element to paintball. IT would detect bounces so the paintball wouldnt even have to break. We could then have foamish balls or plastic or something that wouldnt chop or break in the gun and they would be perfectly consistant. We could call it shootball or airsoft(haha) or something. It would defeat the purpose actual paintballs but would reap its own benefits...

[splat11756]

Vegata- thyat thing about the shop vac....the angel has it, it calleg air asist, its not stock though.

I was thinking of faster loaders, and maybe we could forget about the paint-barrel thing. We should find a way to make a standard sized paintball, so we can all use the same size barrel no matter what kind of paint.

[nastymag]

please guys dont say speedball takes no skill .

it takes a lot of skill to make the snake then snap shot your mirror then run up the tape and backdoor them. when people say that its all ROF .... not true . the people who play like that will only get newbs and never get better.
the front men in the action dont even get off that many long strings. I have played those one hour woods ball games .... the tension was so high it was crazy. i hate walking then getting hit by some old guy in a ghelli suit thats hiding in a bush. its just not that fun for me.

TV wouldnt help very much at first ... all the fields would get tons of new players who if they got hurt could sue. many of the companys who would be on TV would be kingman and brass eagle becasue they cater to the new player.
We have to think what we the player would get out of it ???
no longer would know a bunch of the regulers and the such.
we wouldnt see much coming out of it. Would you guys want to lose all the nice local run stores and see paintball get really commercialized ?
This would help the really good teams but the little teams would find it harder to compete.
just to state the facts im not some old guy against companys , im a 16 year old tourny player ( welli try to play tournys) .. i play with an angel and jersey .. new gear .. but i know how hard it is to play tourny now and it would just get harder with rich companys like pepsi and nikes sponsering teams and making the tournys more expensive. these companys would not really like to sponser the little teams .

we have to fix our proplems now before we make more.
We have to have newbs playing the nebs if possible not the good guys.

instead of all this about rocket football shaped paintballs for more range ... and sniper like play . that would worse for the sport becasue it would give even a more militeristic look to people outside. and i dont know about you guys but i like being close to the opponent. looking thru a scope and hitting somthing far off seems no where as fun as hitting some thing 40 feet away and knowing that it was your skill that got your there. playing with super long ranges would turn more games into stalemates with people just unloading at far ranges. another thing is that while bounces do suck ... they are part of the game . hell if you runn up a bunker and you get hit at range and it bounces .. you are happy. it adds more to the game knowing you may be able to make that bunker becasue they may bounce on you. pressure vest would take that chance away.

we need to make an organization to help the media understand our sport.

and lastly ever one remember that cheating is wrong .... and that poor newb who just spilled all his paint , may just deserve that extra pod you brought , becasue some day later he just may return the favor to some other newb.

[rx2]

>and lastly ever one remember that cheating is wrong .... >and that poor newb who just spilled all his paint , may >just deserve that extra pod you brought , becasue some day >later he just may return the favor to some other newb.

Sound advice if I have ever heard any.

It seems that it is unlikely that paintball will really be able to progress technologically much further than where it is at now due to the constraints of the physics of a fluid-filled sphere. That is, unless radical changes are made to the current standards, and that is unlikely any time soon. This type of R&D takes a lot of money and time, and this means that companies need a lot of profit to make sure they stay afloat during these phases. I think that is where something like image and public perception factor in, and where being kind to the new guy is important.
Luckily my parents had no qualms when I started playing back in 92. The local shop owner was pretty friendly, and so were a lot of the people playing locally. However, there were a few egotists with brand-new fancy semis. I ignored them (although eliminating them was much more sweet), but many young players would be intimidated. I am sure that parents of these kids would not feel that their kids were in a good environment, and would opt that they stayed away from paintball. I know, many other sports are FAR worse, but people have a way of amplifying the negative aspects of "unusual" activities, especially paintball. For example, how many people are permanantly disabled from football or hockey each year? Despite this, many parents would rather have their kid get tackled or have them starving themselves to make weight for the wresteling team than participate in paintball, simply because in paintball you shoot things that leave people with welts. I think that the incidence of serious injury in something like paintball is probably much lower than conventional sports, and is usually due to clumsiness or something on the players part.
These things keep new players and revenue away from paintball, which makes it harder for companies to really push the limits, or redefine them. Sure, there are companies that can, and do. However, they are few, and the advances often are more hype than anything, and the lack of competition/profit keeps prices high (which further dissuades some potential players).
I think that if opinion sways away from the negative, there will be more players, more revenue, and better chance for advancement. However, this would also mean that the problem of hoards of inexperienced kids loading up the fields would have to be addressed.
I think that the most advancement will come in game design, and field set-up. Things will have to be be made more friendly towrads newer players in certain situations. Perhaps optional stratification will take place so as to keep new guys from being put in games where they get hosed the whole time. Whatever it may be, things have to be such that new players aren't always so dissuaded (be they old or young).
Technologically, I think the next step will have to deal with paint design, the reasons for which have been stated numerous times before. This will be costly and may not go over too well with those who don't want to give up thier brand new $2000 rig, so it would probably be a phasing in system.
In any case, I think that we have been in the midst of the tech boom, and things will begin to settle in the near future, at least for a short time. Perhaps prices will fall, and quality will increase in some of the lower-end stuff, but I doubt that there will be any changes forcing you to sell all of your gear for the next big advancement anytime soon.

Of course, maybe I'm just crazy.

[ShooterJM]

Originally posted by Minimag4me
If we use censors we have no reason to use paintballs which are an essential element to paintball. IT would detect bounces so the paintball wouldnt even have to break. It would defeat the purpose actual paintballs but would reap its own benefits...

True, it would definately change the game. But again, this would merely be a backup system to prevent wiping. Perhaps chemically reactive or different fill could be used.

[Croix71]

Just going through the posts I was curious as to what everyone felt about the future for accessories. I'm sure a good portion of the profits a Pro Shops makes is from customizing. For the guys that played in the early 90s I'm sure you all remember making your Mag pretty with unique items like a Whispering Death, SS remote line, or the Magic Box :eek: etc.. Today we have custom anodized markers, multicollered Warp Feeds, adjustable bores for barrels, etc. So what's next? Perhaps design your very own one of a kind barrel?

[Vegeta]

There are many people/companies we forget about that, without some of thier innovations, paintball wouldn't be what it is. Mainly, Tippmann, and Tom. Tippmann came out with the idea to make a adapter so you can use larger co2 "Tanks", now known as the ASA. And Tom was the first to use compressed air. Back thene there was a lot of confusion in magazies, becuase people called a screw in co2 Tank a "CA" tank, for "Constant Air".. and they also called air/n2 tanks "CA" for compressed air. hehe. See all we need is more things like that. Look at the Automag and the Cocker. Both came out in the early 90's (Mag = 1991). Both are still in use today. Cockers have changed a bit in design and cosmetics, but mags are still the same. I guarentee there are people on these boards that own and still use a Mag from the early 90's.

Thats innovation folks. And all you fellow mag owners that bust on cockers all the time, the truth is, they wouldn't have lasted and wouldn't be so popular is they were bad guns. Same with angels.

Any kid in a garage can put paintball comp[anies today out of business with one idea. I have had many of the years of my own. Some worked, some didn't. Many are just sitting in my desk or on my hard drive. There are thousands of unfinished paintball marker / ideas laying around all over the paintball community. Before long something new and big will come out of it.

[MagmanLee]

In my opinion, the future of pb should move away from paintballs. Now hold on, let me explain. I don't know what the biggest problems u face during a game but mine are: ball breakage and accuracy. This can be solved by completely resizing boresizes of guns and changing from paintballs to very small and light rubber or plastic pelts(which are shaped to reduce air friction and won't break in ur marker also increasing accuaracy) which can be produced fast and cheaply. I'll explain how u can get out in the next sec.
Electronics are the way to go but i'm not thinking that for guns. Computers which link to a Heads Up Display on ur mask and linked to ur gun just like the Army's Land Warrior Program, which allows u to see where ur team is, their stuation, ur condition. Also on getting ppl out, a jumpsuit fitted to ur specs is worn on u which is sensitive to touch, when u are hit the suit will tell u ur condition, injuried or dead instead of getting hit once in the hand and getting out u will just be "injuried". A similar "skin" will fit on ur gun and if it is hit ur marker might be disablied.
This gives more realism to the game plus the suit will elimentate players that wipe. Oh well that just my ****ed up brain thinking

[nastymag]

magmanlee ..... do you like video games ?
i think you do .

[ShooterJM]

Originally posted by Vegeta

Any kid in a garage can put paintball comp[anies today out of business with one idea. I have had many of the years of my own. Some worked, some didn't. Many are just sitting in my desk or on my hard drive. There are thousands of unfinished paintball marker / ideas laying around all over the paintball community. Before long something new and big will come out of it.

I heartily agree. And I can only hope it's me! :D Seriously though, someone, somewhere has an idea that will revolutionize the game. Again.

[topekoms]

i know what you people are looking for.

many people think of paintball as an extension of tag. this is wrong. those are the people you see sitting behind a bunker firing a million shots with their snazzy alectro whiz bang jobs.

paintball, in order to capture the true spirit of the game, needs to be thought of as a war simulation. most people are concerned solely on how many people they kill where as they should be concentrated on achieving the objective (the objective may include killing everyman on the other team)

now the entire concept of military training like the marines is to teach you how to operate as a group. they teach you to instinctively communicate with your group on what you see and what you want them to do. you are taught that you are a miserable piece of crap because all that matters is the team and the objective. just because youre scared doesnt mean you can go hide in a hole, that will jeoperdize the rest of the team.

now in paintball. how many people that you play with are constantly communicating and coordinating a plan of attack while continuously updating eachother on the situation (ie where the enemy is where the frendlies are or needed reinforcement and tactical manouvers)? how many.

well if you have played with any of the people that i have ive seen one other dude that understood that if you use proper strategy, tactics, communication, and execution of a battle plan that everyone understands then you will be unstoppable no matter what. you are a group. alone you are crap waiting to get picked off. if you dont update your entire team of everything you see that is of significance then that may lead the the loss of the game. one persons failure to use these tactics can lead to the entire loss of the game)

what people need to realize is that paintball isnt tag. not even close. you are shooting at eachother. not running after eachother and touching one another. you also have multiple people on each side. if you were to simply try to tag eachother youd be picking a single person to chase and each would do the same esentially making it a one on one dual between the chaser and the chasee.

but in paintball you have a great distance on your side. you can hit people without them knowing where you were. if you have a team that uses proper strategy and keeps a 'line' within the groups and advances not always by going forward but by getting a different angle on someone

x
.¯---------\x
.---------.
.-------.
_---.
o

ignore the '-----' pretent those are blank spaces ( regular spaces didnt register with it)

x is you and your team member you pin the opponent down whil your mate moves onto him gets an angle on him and takes him out.

imagine if you operated as a team a force that would employ this instinctively in battle.

the next revolution in paintball will be the employment of strategy as just a common and routine part of the game. then it will become really crazy when its up to you to strategically position your men and have a well deleoped plan that your teammates understand and execute it with communication and by using the team as a group as in the little scenario i sketched above. it will be up to you and your plan and your team mates understanding of strategy not rate of fire or any of that crap. if you have good cover it doesnt matter how many balls someone shoots at you. or how fast. i am a pump player because i like to supplement fire power for taking time to aim and employing strategy. i can stand up to any electro player any day and ill take them out with 4 shots at the MOST. otherwise ill cover fire while i have someone move up along the side as in the figure i sketched and then he will die. you see paintball is war simulation not tag.

you must think of it that way and employ strategy to your game then not only will you DRASTICALLY improve your game but it would truely revolutionize the game once again.

just my thoughts. id like to here responses to this so feel free to comment.

[Stargazer54]

Hi!

Couldn't agree more when someone said that paintball was really more about teamwork than spraying pellets. When the game was still using oil based paint, you only had one, or maybe two shots per confrontation. You either won or walked. The difference from the start was in how well you worked with your team, plus of course your ability to hit the target that first time you pulled the trigger.

I predict that the next revolution in the sport will be a return to its' roots, to the same sort of team building games we used to play. We already see the start of that movement with the growing number of sceanrios being played, as well as with the mega sceanrios such as DeWayne's D-Day game. Imagine playing on the same side, year after year, perfecting your side's team playing skills with the idea of turning the tables on the opposition. Does that come from being able to toss more paint, more quickly and accurately? Sure, but it also calls for teamwork, communications, planning, etc. That sort of thing is already happening, but what if we took that one step further and presented players with a challenge? A challenge determine who could put this whole package of speed, skill, accuracy and teamwork together better than anyone else? What if there was a way of bringing together a group of teams and players who had already passed a preliminary test, only to find themselves facing others who also passed that same test in another part of country. Now it's just the best of the best, one side against another in a final, large scale test of all those skills. Who wins, isn't then just a matter of the faster rate of fire, but who worked best as a team to achieve their objectives. That's where I see the sport headed and it's only a matter of time before someone puts that idea into play. I hope that someone is me, but if not, it's still going to happen, just watch and see.

Andy Van Der Plaats
aka 'Dorsai'
c/o ADorsai@aol.com
941/997-2221

[topekoms]

hey stargazar.

that was a good idea having somesort of test that would pry on the teams ability to work with eachother and communicate. if they fail the test then its better luck next time but the ones that pass and that have shown that they understand the concepts of tactics and teamwork then paintball would become a much more intellectual sport.

one day i hope to be able to experience playing on a team with people who where trained, at least by themselves, with skills similar to those taught in the military. then beyond that would be playing on this team while playing against another team that has similar skills and knowledge. and beyond that being the one incharge of creating the plan and reacting to the events that are taking place.

wow. that would be fun!!!

[einhander619]

I have compared paintball to golf time and time again. If you think about it, it's really similar! Same train of thought behind equipment, regulations, rec vs. tourney, etc. Even the prices of the games are comparable. So what is it separates us from the mob's opinion of paintball? (Besides the RUSH!:) )
Well, the last time I played, a bunch of drunken rednecks broke into the course, and thought it would be great to just cause a little havoc. Well, that was a media fiasco, the cops got involved, and pretty soon my little sister's friends won't play with her because their parents saw me chrony my gun in the back yard.(safely, I might add)
What seperates us from the image of golf, a sport held in the highest esteem? The integrity of the player. It is a shame that our sport attracts gun crazed white trash simply because it appears to approximate killing something. Our integrity is also the thing that holds us back. I recently read the article on WARPIG about the Beyond 2002 tournament. What a great idea! Like the Warped Tour but with paintball! Unfortunately, my spirits took a dive when the article turned to the player's behavior. Fist fights between players? How many people saw it? More importantly, how many parents will buy their kid a marker and turn them loose at the field after that display?
If soemone has aggression they need to get out of their system, do it behind a pair of boxing gloves, not a marker. That's a sports that makes no pretense as to what it is.

[einhander619]

One more thing, all the technological advances in the world are useless if paintball is made illegal. Just my $.02. Peace.