Bye Bye NPPL....

[Cold Steel]

Bah...................We had that opportunity when we formed the NPPL. It started as a league for the players by the players and it was working until the money started talking. The PIE was big enough for all but not all saw it that way, they wanted more PIE.

Standards is a nine letter dirty word in PAINTBALL. We cant get that right in twenty five years, dont hold your breath now.

The pre-split NPPL and the post-split NPPL only had the name in common. Other than the the company title, everything else between those 2 organizations was a night & day difference. The pre-split NPPL was player driven and member owned. The post-split NPPL was an individually owned business. Many things changed.

AGD, NPPL (as originally formed), WGP (I can recall Bud going to New Jersey IIRC to testify in court cases), Palmers - there are many others out there that did not seek simply the most possible sales in the market that existed, they sought to improve and expand the game of paintball to more and more people, to make it better.

Thats not as true of the current companies, at least as they are run now. Most of them are run as rather short sighted companies seeking the most possible profit out of today, with little concern about the sport itself, or where it will be in the future.

It equates to the theory - rather than getting a bigger piece of the pie by taking some from you (my competitor) we are all going to get bigger pieces by making things better. Its the kind of attitude and cooperation that fueled the rapid growth and expansion that fueled the companies you see now fighting vehemently for there share of a retracting market.

Its not about the economy either - paintball in the time that these great companies rose was far more expensive (and exclusive) than it is now.

I agree with you, the business of paintball has caused a lot short-sightedness amongst the paintball industry, and the game has suffered for it. However, the most basic of business principles, teaches us that no one can run a business and stay in business for long if they're losing more money than they're making.

I believe good things will come from all of this. If nothing else, the off-season just got real interesting.

CS

[mixwell2]

Greed will bring down everything...players greed (am's wanting to get paid more and more)...sponsors greed (wanting more and more profit)...company greed (companies sueing everyone and eliminating any kind of competition) and tourney greed (just too many)...IMHO there should only be 1 National Professional Tournament. No matter what the format, for paintball to ever really succeed, there must be a uniform body overseeing all.

But who knows this could be a sign of something positive.

1. The AFL went bye bye and merged with the NFL and football got better and better.
2. The ABA went bye bye and merged with the NBA and basketball grew.

So maybe this is exactly what paintball needs.

A single National Professional League. I solid rule book, bylaws, and board of directors. With regional tournaments that qualify teams and/or players to draft. maybe even a Team and Manufactures champion at the end of the season......

hmmmmm.....oh well

[Looper]

NPPL is still around... they just virtualized the 2009 season...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39A0fyTy7js

[RavishingEddie]

Will this have a positive impact on prices in paintball markers for players?

So this affect the SPPL too?

[Lohman446]

The pre-split NPPL and the post-split NPPL only had the name in common. Other than the the company title, everything else between those 2 organizations was a night & day difference. The pre-split NPPL was player driven and member owned. The post-split NPPL was an individually owned business. Many things changed.



I agree with you, the business of paintball has caused a lot short-sightedness amongst the paintball industry, and the game has suffered for it. However, the most basic of business principles, teaches us that no one can run a business and stay in business for long if they're losing more money than they're making.

I believe good things will come from all of this. If nothing else, the off-season just got real interesting.

CS

Being profitable and working to better the game are not mutually exclusive.

[Lohman446]

Well thats like a ding, ding, ding right there. Then again all the smart folks saw that it wasnt going to work that way and left. Should we start that list now? Or how about the list on why paintball is so STUPID. Twenty five freaking years and no real Governing body, ya that is stupid. Not to mention that nine letter dirty word.

People left because it quit being fun.... At one point even the manufacturers had fun (remember the great "factory" teams that were really factory employee teams) and made profit. Now its all about profit. Its business first, paintball a distant last. It used to be about genuinely making the sport better, and the fact you could make a profit doing it was a great secondary thing. "Companies" were "precision porting" barrels in there garage and testing the results on the field the next day alongside every other player.

The game has quit being about fun, its become about winning.... the same as the business side of it. I don't see that working out well. Is it the demise of paintball? No. In ten years it might be back to being niche and exclusive enough that it is fun. You already see a lot of people going back to playing only with their friends under their terms, because the terms the "industry" has do not sit well with the people who play for fun.

[B-Pow]

Standards is a nine letter dirty word in PAINTBALL. We cant get that right in twenty five years, dont hold your breath now.

In college one of my professors had a saying, "Standards are great since there are so many to choose from." The truth of the matter is most things have so many sets of standards that any real standardization is impossible.

The game has quit being about fun, its become about winning.... the same as the business side of it. I don't see that working out well. Is it the demise of paintball? No. In ten years it might be back to being niche and exclusive enough that it is fun. You already see a lot of people going back to playing only with their friends under their terms, because the terms the "industry" has do not sit well with the people who play for fun.

The players facilitated this move to it being about winning. Watch the games, these "pros" are not doing it for the love of the game. You want love of the game go to your local field and find the new kid with the rental, or the spyder/spider clone wearing "non-paintball specific" clothes; Or look for the old player with a smile and beat up old gear. Those people are playing for the love of the game. The kids in the current year new gear and the shiney new hardware who yell before and after the game about whatever made them lose (that isn't them), I believe they are the a large part of the problem.

[Lohman446]

The players facilitated this move to it being about winning. Watch the games, these "pros" are not doing it for the love of the game. You want love of the game go to your local field and find the new kid with the rental, or the spyder/spider clone wearing "non-paintball specific" clothes; Or look for the old player with a smile and beat up old gear. Those people are playing for the love of the game. The kids in the current year new gear and the shiney new hardware who yell before and after the game about whatever made them lose (that isn't them), I believe they are the a large part of the problem.

No doubt the players helped, now find me a field where they are not mixed in with the tournament win at all costs crowd. More and more of these people are getting disgusted, walking away, and realizing the cost it takes to play the shadow of the game they once loved. Others are organizing "outlaw" events with the people they know and trust. Neither of these facilitate the new player.

When I run foot races its me against the clock. It doesn't matter that I am at least five minutes off the leaders pace in short races. It doesn't matter that some people double and triple the leaders time. Everyone is rooting for everyone to finish.

In paintball there is no "clock" to be the common opponent. Can you imagine the poor new player up against the firepower and tactics common today on commercial fields? How many do you think have fun and come back again? Far to few it seems, and to me it seems many of those coming back cannot support themselves playing long term financially.

[Hilltop Customs]

how about a pump league? or at least a pump division, with low scale/cost widespread tournaments.

Ive never even played pump, but I'd pick up a pump just to play in that tournament.




or how about just change the rules:
Call yourself out when your hit, or if you get caught wiping/playing on by another player you gone form the tounrament and you lose the paint youve purchased to the player who shot you. For repeat offenders, ban them from playing.

[Lohman446]

how about a pump league? or at least a pump division, with low scale/cost widespread tournaments.

Ive never even played pump, but I'd pick up a pump just to play in that tournament.




or how about just change the rules:
Call yourself out when your hit, or if you get caught wiping/playing on by another player you gone form the tounrament and you lose the paint youve purchased to the player who shot you. For repeat offenders, ban them from playing.

There are answers, however few facilities seem willing to implement them for fear of short term loss.... Being short-sighted is not good in business, it is not the exception in paintball today.

[B-Pow]

No doubt the players helped, now find me a field where they are not mixed in with the tournament win at all costs crowd. More and more of these people are getting disgusted, walking away, and realizing the cost it takes to play the shadow of the game they once loved. Others are organizing "outlaw" events with the people they know and trust. Neither of these facilitate the new player.

When I run foot races its me against the clock. It doesn't matter that I am at least five minutes off the leaders pace in short races. It doesn't matter that some people double and triple the leaders time. Everyone is rooting for everyone to finish.

In paintball there is no "clock" to be the common opponent. Can you imagine the poor new player up against the firepower and tactics common today on commercial fields? How many do you think have fun and come back again? Far to few it seems, and to me it seems many of those coming back cannot support themselves playing long term financially.

I'm not saying those few "for the love of the game" players are not dieing out. What I will say though is I've played a few days of pickup games at my local field where 75% of the players were those for the love of it players and the other 25% were NOT the play to win type. By the end of the day on those several occasions ALL the players were happy win or lose, and opponents were commenting on good moves and shots in the last round.

All I want to see is those players who are in it just to have a good time do their best to spread that mentaility when they do make it to the field.

[wetwrks]

Just sitting here watching COPS and there was an add for the NPPL video game. Couldn't help but laugh.

[Lohman446]

I'm not saying those few "for the love of the game" players are not dieing out. What I will say though is I've played a few days of pickup games at my local field where 75% of the players were those for the love of it players and the other 25% were NOT the play to win type. By the end of the day on those several occasions ALL the players were happy win or lose, and opponents were commenting on good moves and shots in the last round.

All I want to see is those players who are in it just to have a good time do their best to spread that mentaility when they do make it to the field.

I think we agree on what would be ideal to see. Maybe its just me but I got tired of the inevitable politics involved in playing... and those politics benefit me. I can't imagine being a new player stepping into what it is today. When I first started 90% of the players were honest and overly helpful. I can remember being handed at one point an autococker with wires going in and out from a tech who was involved from the earliest stages (Sandridge). Although some of these players still play today they are certainly not the majority, and some have left the category of honest and as helpful to new players as they can be.

To avoid the idiots of today we would have to play away from the "public" in general.

[Beemer]

To avoid the idiots of today we would have to play away from the "public" in general.

Sig...........




__________________________________________________ _______________________

"To avoid the idiots of today we would have to play away from the "public" in general."
Lohman446

[Texas Trigger]

Daaaammmn. I had no idea. So I guess PSP will be the main league now huh?