What has AO become

[wyn1370]

I am a long time member of AO, and even longer Mag owner and an even longer player of the game...I just got burnt out by the very things you speak of.

I use to play paintball for fun. When winning, wiping and whining became all that mattered even at the local rec field I got fed up with the sport.

I still own all my gear, but have not played in years. Maybe one day I'll pull out a pump and hit up the local field, see if it sparks something. My guess though, the attitudes of the players there will disappoint me and I'll put the gear away for a few more years.

I think my run with Paintball is over and because of that I do not visit here much any more. I met a lot of great people from this forum and had a lot of great times.

holly crap, muz is alive

maybe what this place needs is a big oldschool AOer reunion, but somebody else gets to host it.

[Riot[Z-Grip]]

I don't know the current state of these forums, but I felt them beginning to stagnate when I stopped posting back in 2004-2005. At that time I just wasn't feeling the same sense of community that I found when I joined in 2001. At that time the only thing keeping me around was the IRC channel and the interaction with most of that crew.

Like Muz, I don't play anymore. When I started college I was on a locally sponsored team but couldn't make the commute to our field for practice. I then found other hobbies and basically withdrew from the paintball community. I have thought of returning from time to time, but school, girlfriend, and other expenses are much more important at this time. If I do start to play again, I will likely browse these forums and contribute again because I still remember fondly the friends I made here. IAOs 2003 and 2004, the AONE meets, etc were all very enjoyable and memorable experiences that I was glad to be a part of.

For anyone who believes that the Automag's unpopularity is a main contributing factor to any stagnation of these forums, that is most likely not the case. The 'mag was stagnant when I bought my first in 2001 but I still found AO informative and lively at that time. What it takes is to have good forum members who enjoy the sport and each other. (I apologize if my assessment is incorrect, I will try to find the time I will browse a few more threads and see what is actually going on.)