I.O.N. PA What Happpend?

[Tassel Mask]

OK, the Germans lost to the Allies, and the French, and...any other team out there I guess.

I just want to know, how the hell were we supposed to win? I had no idea what was going on or how to score points. The menu was worthless czz the insertion time rules were not enforced by the refs. We got lit up by players inside the different fields before they were officially supposed to be in there.

Anyway, I would like to hear from other players what went wrong for them.

Uh...

T.M.

[mostpeople]

Yay big scenario paintball!

The ref's make or break the game, sounds like you got screwed. Sorry to hear that bro - such is the way of paintball these days.

[Dewok82]

I would have been there......but I didn't feel like paying $100 a case for paint.

[wetwrks]

I would have been there......but I didn't feel like paying $100 a case for paint.

$100.00 a case? I have paid as much as $135.00 and considered it a steal. And that was not at a megagame or tournament. Guess I have been out of things for a while.

[MedicDVG]

I just read the 23 or so pages of reviews of the eveny on PBN... most posts were sadly saying the event didn't live up to expectations and that there were huge safety concerns.

Apparently there were people shooting marbles, reballs, and at excessive fps, reffing staff were overwhelmed and cheating, wiping, and physical assaults were reported.

Not a very pretty picture for an event that pulled in over a million bucks for the promoters.

[Sumthinwicked]

i was there at the french insert for well from 2 pm sat - 4 am the next morning and i didnt start until noon on sunday meaning i had about 6 hours of play bad day i wont explain but the reffing staff did their best for over 4000 people there will always be all the listed above when that many drunk fools are [laying in the field but thats half the fun.... it wasnt great there was cheating and stupidity but i had fun in the time i was on the field :P 3 years in a row i have gone gets bigger and better everytime!

[Tassel Mask]

Top 10 Safety Concerns

1. Safety Flairs landing on tents from powerful flare guns fired inside campsites.

2. The absolute lack of police security: only about 5 on 1 golf cart.

3. Unfettered access to alcohol and encouragement to use in excess i.e. beer bong challenge at pavilion during the NJ Titans gun giveaway! (NJ Titans had nothing to do with the challenge)

4. Almost no chrono checking on the field

5. Not defining the rules for so many noobish players; nor enforcing them (only saw people
get kicked for fireworks and fighting).

6. Not strictly reffing the over firing rule!

7. Not having enough refs (duhh...)

8. Not maintaining proper restroom facilities, I mean the last day there was a dead pig's head in the thing by the gun rental building! (shoulda had the porters cleaned daily)

9. No designated dead zones on the field where players could rest or store water,; take mask off for some air.

10. Not being hospitable to our concerns!

I'm sure everyone could say the same things about every big game, but this last one was so bad, I must state they must be taken with full concern. I don't think I will ever go back there unless I see improvements .

[Sumthinwicked]

no dead pig that i saw or heard about in anything i was at those a few times that day and porto potties are good for 10 poeple per week if you read em so yea there will always be a shortage hense why i use the REAL bathrooms by the air fill station

any netted spot near a base was a mask off zone and i know of many there the french side had one 50 ft from our base!

besides that i didnt see any of that other stuff so i cant comment

bring these concerns to the staff posting here does nothing fyi

[punkncat]

It may do nothing to complain about a bad event here, but simply venting can help...
ALL organized paintball events are plagued with those same problems and more. The larger the game the more out of hand it gets.

A great deal (not all) of the scenario events I have made in the past few years have been studies in bad organization and execution. Poor reffing seems to have become par for the course everywhere. Suppose it really has a lot to do with how long I have been around the sport. It was much easier to ignore problems when you were ignorant to them.

Still in spite of all that, I enjoy those kind of events more than most anything in paintball. Heck just being there generally accounts for more of the "good time" than the play does. Hanging with all your paintball buds, up to no good and worse, always in the middle of something...ah, great stuff!!!

[Sumthinwicked]

there was a problem with some american player using non field paint and ref yelled at him asked him to toss the paint on the deck and the guy is like theres 20 mins left why bother???? mind u i have reffed for 12 years herm things like that arnt the reffing guys fault so i had a discussion with the kid he agreed after 10 mins that he was wrong whoda thunk it LOL newbies yea know

[Tassel Mask]

I did send an e-mail, even stated I and my team had a great time. I just wanted to point out these issues.

I know how long a porter jon is good for, but for some reason when theres large groups of people, somtimes individials think its funny to mess em all up real bad for everyone. And ofcourse I know certain people read this forum too, so thats why I posted here...and love posting here. Yes, there was a baby pig head in the jon I think it was taken from the distributor when they were serving pork on Sat.

And yea, our team was into a lot of "stuff." 1 player took the main support pole from our tent and put another players bra on it and auctioned it off for 15 bx when she was on the field. But who would complain about that? Well, other than my teammate that is...

T.M.

[Ninjeff]

I cant imagine how hard it is to run a large game like this.

That being said, this isnt their first rodeo and it sounds like alot of the stuff is things they (the organizers) should have locked down by now. I wasnt there, so i dont know....

I can tell you that the last Wayne Dollack game i was at at CPX in Illinois was great. Very few issues all in all. The facilities were amazing, and the game went well as far as i could tell. The usual trouble makers were abound, over shooting, shooting hot etc, but the refs tried as hard as they could to stop these people ASAP. The reffing staff did a great job enforcing the rules as good as they could. The few issues that popped up were quickly squashed.
One ref there (coudlnt have been more than 17) showed an amazing amount of poise and proffesionalism during an on field fight between two opposing players.

The coolest thing? it was a 'Nam scenario game, and they had HUGE speakers in teh staging area blasting bands from the era like CCR and Hendrix and such. It totally set the awesome-est mood ever.

[Chrishew09]

This is why i dont like to play at skirmish, never mind the crazy price on paint.

[Tassel Mask]

just to know

I miss SPPLAT ATTACK, those were the best...well sort of. The first one was awesome. The second one was too one sided due to the fact Tom Kaye had no tanks, but Mobster mash was kik buns. That was good scenario...

Too bad ION lacked the magic of SPPLAT. I could have been really great.

T.M.

[Jeffy-CanCon]

Top 10 Safety Concerns

1. Safety Flairs landing on tents from powerful flare guns fired inside campsites.
2. The absolute lack of police security...
3. Unfettered access to alcohol and encouragement to use in excess ...
4. Almost no chrono checking on the field
5. Not defining the rules ... nor enforcing them ...
6. Not strictly reffing the over firing rule!
7. Not having enough refs (duhh...)
8. Not maintaining proper restroom facilities ...
9. No designated dead zones on the field ...
10. Not being hospitable to our concerns!

I'm sure everyone could say the same things about every big game, but this last one was so bad, I must state they must be taken with full concern. I don't think I will ever go back there unless I see improvements .

I've played a couple of dozen big games over the years, up to 2000 players in size. Some of those problems are common, especially at small-time operations. Some of the more serious concerns I have never seen before, and I would not go back to a field that operated like that. Wasn't ION at Skirmish? I would have expected a better show from them.

If you drive a little farther up the Interstate to EMR, you will see well-run big games, with lots of well-trained and active referees.