Another year,another X-games,and no paintball.

[magking1971]

I just hope that X-Ball can change things and make it in the games.

[SlipknotX556]

Yeah I really hope they get in, but we are gonna have to wait till next years X games to see it.

[RetroEclipseMan]

That's wierd, i was just about to post a thread on this exact same thing. I can't believe that after all these years that they haven't added paintball to the x-games either. It will be sick when they do.

[dropkick1]

i just went down to them today(since i live in the city and am a skateboarder) they were really cool, except for the temp outside today. and i think they will be in them soon, since National paintball supply was there with their trailer as was skirmish USA. oh well still fun time and a lot of free stuff, like skate company stickers and free stuff to eat.

ken

[than205]

I've been thinking about this today. Let's look at the events.

Skateboard Street
Downhill BMX
Wakeboarding
Aggressive In-Line Skate
Bicycle Stunt
Moto X
Skateboard
Speed Climb

Paintball is a team sport. None of the above is a team sport. It seems to me X-games is about individual athletic abilities. With the exception doubles and that still highlights athletic abilities and skill at thier craft. (I thought Tony was retired!)
The closest offering we have is X-ball, but that is closer to Football or Hockey. Otherwise, to the spectator Paintball is too slow. To us it isn't, but to them it is.

So, I wonder if it would be better to seek full legitamacy via a national X-ball league and have shows dedicated to X-ball games. I honestly don't think (anymore) that Paintball is a fit for the X-games.
IMHO

[subbeh]

Originally posted by than205
I've been thinking about this today. Let's look at the events.

Skateboard Street
Downhill BMX
Wakeboarding
Aggressive In-Line Skate
Bicycle Stunt
Moto X
Skateboard
Speed Climb

Paintball is a team sport. None of the above is a team sport. It seems to me X-games is about individual athletic abilities. With the exception doubles and that still highlights athletic abilities and skill at thier craft. (I thought Tony was retired!)
The closest offering we have is X-ball, but that is closer to Football or Hockey. Otherwise, to the spectator Paintball is too slow. To us it isn't, but to them it is.

So, I wonder if it would be better to seek full legitamacy via a national X-ball league and have shows dedicated to X-ball games. I honestly don't think (anymore) that Paintball is a fit for the X-games.
IMHO

My point exactly. Besides, how good of a spectator sport could they make paintball? It would take some serious expertise to be able to simplify such a complex game to the level that the average joe could follow gameplay. There is just too much going on in a paintball game to be able to follow it from a TV screen, IMHO.

Ever watch pigtv? Sure, it's fun as heck to watch, especially being a player, but how well can you track player movements throughout the field watching the program? Sure, overhead camera angles and such would make it easier, but don't you think just watching people snap shoot from a bunker and get elimmed and come back in, or whatever, would get boring to the average X-Games adreniline junky?

If I were the head producer of the X-Games, it would take some major convincing to include X-Ball in my program.

I think this is a subject which needs more discussion. I would love to hear your input, guys...

[jah871]

actually i thought Xball was very viewer friendly. it was very well organized and wasnt like most tourny games. you could easily tell what was going on and it was easy to follow. i think it has a very good chance of being in the x games next year.

[subbeh]

Wish I could have seen it :P

[RetroEclipseMan]

I think the big question that comes into play is about the average viewer. I don't think the average person that doesn't know anything about paintball would really understand what was going on. Sports like freestyle moto-x that the average viewer doesn't know much about are still exciting to watch.I remember I showed my friend an episode of pig-tv and he's never played before and he wasn't all that impressed just because he couldn't comprehend what was going on because a television can't capture every aspect of the game. Sure I wanna see paintball on tv just so that our sport can finally get the recognition it deserves and to get rid of that "every player is some rambo wannabe hiding in the woods ready to shoot his friend" image but I also know that this won't be possible till a way to accurately capture paintball on camera is developed to keep the attention of the average viewer.

[Bulldog]

I'll probably get shunned and flamed for this, but paintball isn't really an "extreme sport". People don't really ever get hurt. I mean you get some nasty welts and stuff, but you never see compound fractures, guys in comas from head injuries, etc. Don't get me wrong I love pball, but it just doesn't seem to qualify as an extreme sport to me, and I think you guys were onto something when you were talking about how there aren't really any team sports in the x games. I think people kinda watch for the crashes and to see those guys pull off some amazing stunts. You just don't have those same kind of things in pball. Not better or worse, just different. Just my take on it.

[speedyejl]

you know what would make paintball more friendly to watch a little box in the corner of the screen. In the box would be an overhead view of the feild with the ground in green, bunkers in yellow, players being blips with colors for each team ie: red and blue blips. Then people could see what was going on much faster. Other ideas are games of simple elmination might be simpler for ppl to follow on tv, and cool cameras placed around ie: gog camera, bunker camera, overhead boom, paintball view , what ever seems cool! Dont ask me how you get the blips mabey every player could where somesorta device which gives off some infared radiation or something. I dont know how you do it but splatter factor had a paintball view lol.

[rudy]

well there are a couple o problems here. one is paintball is actueally really exciting to watch if the play is right. also the warpig videos are not very good for camera angles. filming is an art of its own and so far paitnball hasnt had anyone good doing it much for tourneys. you need to get in on the angles and see what a person is shootign at you need an overview of the field so you can take in the whole picture. you need many cameras going at one and they need them on the field in the action. there is quite a bit more too it. but take a paintball video in to someone who studies it and they will probably tell you just how bad it is.

anothering thing is the fields are usually set up so that back players can hang back and get a good view of the field. well the problem with that is it takes much of the unknown out of the game. paintball fields are often sparce on bunkers in the mid field as well. the problem with this is it makes the game predictable and the eliminations that happen eiter can be seen happening way ahead of time or are mostly boring snap shooting contest or lucky long balls. How fun is that to watch? not very now get people moving around and sometimes surprising each other plus make the field complicated enough that different games teams can use different tactics and push resources around and the spectator will start to get into the game more. it wont look like the same game happenign over and over and over.

the xball format isnt that great imho, its still just a bunch of 5 v 5 games. I have been looking at what paintball players like and what spectators like and they are both wanting the same thing but the paintball players are takign the wrong method of acheiving it. I think people in general want games to last longer. spectators so they can follow it easier and players so they can have fun longer. Now what the players did was spread the field out. moved to bunkers and play styles that resulted in less eliminations. sup air you can press yourself into bunkers making a smaller target and hyperball you can use the corugation grooves in the same manner. back players can view most of the field so people are slowed down. its become a very technical game. where winning is about putting out lots of paint in order to be able to move. ita about increasing your odds mostly. makeing your self a smaller target and such. well to spectators this is not very exciting. imho its not as exciting to play as it could be either.

why cant we make an ongoing game. one where you try to gain ground by making eliminations. but eliminations wont be the end of the game. I think spectators and players would enjoy a game where the field is much longer. and in order to grab the flag you have too mush the entire field but it wont all happen at once. it will have 10 players on the field at once. and when they get eliminated they exit the field load up and wait a delay period then reenter. this way making eliminations is to gain ground but the game keeps going. you could have 15 players 10 on and 5 in reserve and for grace period at the start of a round. as soon as a player is eliminated someone can enter then after the grace period a player must wait 30 seconds or a minute or however long works best befor they can replace an eliminated player. that way there is still a advantage to capitalize on but it wont last long so yuo have to make it count. also players will be more aggressive and the game will be more exciting if its not a total loss to be eliminated they will take more risks. the game could have a center flag or 2 flags. if it had 2 then flags could be set about 4/5 the way accross the field. ok im tired of writing there is much more to this game though.

[the jackal]

I think it is possible that paintball could enter into the x-games at some point. The real problem in my mind is that the events in the x-games are all very different and each one attracts its own viewers. If I went to the x-games I would pay attention to skateboarding and probably ignore everything else because that's all I'm interested in. Chances are that most the people who would watch the paintball segment would have a basic understanding of the game, so if they tried it and the ratings were high enough they would probably keep it on (it's all about the money). There will likely be people who watch it that don't understand it and I'm sure that happens at the x-games already; I doubt everyone in the audience notices the difference between a bs kickflip indy and a bs nollieflip mute, that's why the announcers are there.

[shartley]

I have to admit this year’s discussion about X-Games and Paintball is the best so far (over the past years).

Great points are being made, and none that I have not said in past years or by other members thus far in this thread. With that said, I need not comment more than to say that I don’t think Paintball is an “X-Game” either. I DO think it deserves a spotlight for general viewership, but many things must be overcome and thought out first (but not in an X-Game format).

[Bulldog]

Yep, you just don't have the same potential for disaster in pball that you do in the x games. I mean if one of us busts a macro hose on our new C&C we'd be horrified, but we'd fix and that'd be the end of it. If Tony Hawk doesn't complete a 720 correctly he could die.

[the jackal]

I just want to say that skateboarding isn't what I'd call an extreme sport(skysurfing, now that is a little extreme). In competitions skaters usually only attempt stuff that they feel very confident with and know they can land. If they don't make they trick they know how to fall and not get hurt(usually). Usually the only times pros really put themselves in danger is to land that one trick on video that raises the bar a little. I've been skating for 2 years and have never had an injury worse than a sprained ankle. I know that the announcers at the x games like to make it sound like the skaters are putting it all out there but they have been landing the tricks they do for years (Tony's been throwing down 720's since the late eighties or early nineties). Just thought I'd share my views since I'm sure everyone here can appreciate how a sport can be falsly interpreted.

[Iceman8446]

I've been to the x games for the past 4 days and I have asked myself the same question of why isn't paintball in the x games. I came up with the same answers you guys have been posting. Also I think that paintball isn't exactly spitactular like when the dirt bike guys jump 34 feet into the air or when skateborders do crazy spins and stuff like that. All of us here would love to watch paintball in the x games because we play and we know whats goin on. Well when ya guys are watchin the best trick compition look for me in the crowd. I was the guy with the blue penn ac rowing visor juping up and down waving his hands like a goof ball.

[RetroEclipseMan]

I totally agree with ya jackel. I mean you see a lot of pros that will throw a trick in a competition that they haven't landed many times to try and up their score but for the most part like you said the tricks they throw are ones that they can land time after time otherwise they wouldn't pull them cause they would lose the competition.