What's up with these rules?

[dre1919]

Ok, so I'm reading a few articles over the weekend and I see there is this popular opinion of adapting a set of rules like the PanAm circuits' for paintball nationally. After this, I went and read the rules from the PanAm and determined they must be trying to be the paintball nazis or something. They have it set up so you have to wear pants, a long sleeve shirt with the sleeves down at all times, no stickers on your equipment, no brightly colored jerseys that may inhibit the spotting of a hit, no customising your mask in any way, etc, etc. I think a standardized set of rules could be a good idea, and I certainly agree with their classification rules, but some of their rules are totally useless. Who cares if you want to wear a short sleeve shirt? That should be your business. Likewise with a mask...what difference is it what you do to it as long as it meets safety standards? I'm certain the PanAm is a fine tournament series, as is evidenced by their longevity, but I think this is waaaay too much assimilation of the players. What's next? Are we all going to be wearing black and white, shooting only white paint with a barcode on our backs? Just thought I'd see what you all thought about this.

[Cha0tic]

i think these rules are good, and helps the sport. one of the problems with paintball is that there is no one set of rules or regulations for paintball. certain fields have certain rules and regulations for play. if we adapt one set of rules for all play, paintball will look more like a mainstream sport.

[TheTramp]

While I don't really think you should have to wear long pants and long sleeve shirts, I do agree with no stickers on hoppers. They make it difficult to tell at a distence if your hopper has been hit. Having rings in you mask doesn't look like a hit so I think that should be fine.

[Major Ho]

It is in my experience that a hit on care skin, eg. your forearm can be cleaned/wiped off quite easily. At a local tourney they also had us roll down our sleeves or have long sleeves for insurance purposes. Something about risk of injury or some odd mumbo jumbo. Thats my only explanation for the long sleeve deal. They just want the players to be safe as possible?

[PsychoMag]

My thought about clothing is

First, it is VERY easy to wipe paint from your skin, just look at Bob Long getting shot in the hand

second, it is a safety precaution as well.

Third, about pants, my perception of the pants rule is that your legs must be covered, but even NPPL allows you to wear shorts as long as you have shin gaurds to protect the front of your legs...

[TheTramp]

I hadn't thought about the ease of wiping paint off skin. That's a good point.

[dre1919]

I totally agree safety comes first, and making hits easier to see is a good thing as well. I would just want to see a standardized set of rules come out for everyone that included relevant and important guidelines, not how "Billy" can't have blue stripes on his mask because the powers that be don't like blue stripes. That's idiotic. Good example: I have a black JT Spectra 260 with an assortment of 3/4" steel spikes on it for intimidation and flava. This doesn't harm anyone or anything, except making paint easier to break on my mask which is my problem anyway. However, if I played in the PanAm right now that wouldn't be acceptable. What difference does it make?

[hitech]

Originally posted by PsychoMag
First, it is VERY easy to wipe paint from your skin...

Yes it is. The rule about "full length" clothing goes way back, before Pam Am or NPPL.

[Paul La Rue]

If I remember correctly, back in the old days, there was a theam that played in short sleeves and shorts. They covered their skin in vaseline, for the express reason of wiping.

This lead to the full length clothing rule.

[shartley]

[Ultimator]

Although I for the most part agree with Shartley, I'll have to play on his Dennis Rodman example. Look at him, although he wears the uniforms, shoes, etc, he still finds a way to represent himself in his crazy hairstyles and piercings. Again, paintball is nothing like any other conventional sport. In Baseball, or anything else for example, how in heaven's name would it matter if you wore something completely different than everyone else? There is no paint to wipe either way.

I feel that you should be able to personalize your mask as long as nothing represents a hit. Heck, if someone wants to put rings in his mask and make him glitter and sparkle, good for me, it's that much easier to see him when he sticks his head out of a bunker.

One last thing ... all of these problems could be solved with more referees at big events like this. This means that player A shoots player B but player B has no time to wipe because the ref calls it as soon as he sees and checks for a splatter.

My $.02

[dre1919]

Ok, first of all, I would like to state that the team I captain has uniform rules. I set them forth in an attempt to put a professional appearance and a semblance of a uniformity on all my players. We wear long pants and long sleeve shirts underneath a short sleeve jersey for safety sake. We even have the same colored masks and for the most part, equipment. That's all well and good and goes right along with generalized rules such as those set forth by the PanAm. Hell, our team colors are even black and white so there shouldn't be any danger of losing a hit in the sea of bright colors were wearing. My point is, I think a universal set of rules to govern the way paintball is played everywhere would be great, but I would like to see them be relevant. You gave me the example of pro sports SHartley, and that's a good one, but if you look even they have relatively stupid rules in those as well. In the NFL this year, they passed a rule stating you cannot wear any color of head bandana but black. What difference does it make if the Cardinals punter wants to wear a burgandy colored one, since it is a team color and all? Oops! The league says you can't! No, most players aren't going to balk at playing in games or tourneys simply because they don't wanna play with a certain kind of equipment. However, this isn't the pros. Most of us don't get paid to play and so it's just for fun. I don't see the fun in going to play somewhere and when you get there, they tell you half your equipment won't pass "inspection" because they like black masks and you have a blue one. (This is a relative extreme example, but it could happen). My reasoning for posting my opinion about this is concern for the future. I don't want a sport with a lot of diversity to change into one "main" league and a bunch of disorganized "hobbists" playing in backyards because they don't like some unecissary rules. All I'm saying is, of course you should be professional when appearing at an event, sure, wear whatever when practicing or playing rec on the weekends, but do we need rules governing what color hopper you have or whether you mask has a sticker on it?

[dre1919]

Originally posted by Ultimator
Although I for the most part agree with Shartley, I'll have to play on his Dennis Rodman example. Look at him, although he wears the uniforms, shoes, etc, he still finds a way to represent himself in his crazy hairstyles and piercings. Again, paintball is nothing like any other conventional sport. In Baseball, or anything else for example, how in heaven's name would it matter if you wore something completely different than everyone else? There is no paint to wipe either way.

I feel that you should be able to personalize your mask as long as nothing represents a hit. Heck, if someone wants to put rings in his mask and make him glitter and sparkle, good for me, it's that much easier to see him when he sticks his head out of a bunker.

One last thing ... all of these problems could be solved with more referees at big events like this. This means that player A shoots player B but player B has no time to wipe because the ref calls it as soon as he sees and checks for a splatter.

My $.02

I agree. Of course, the rules nazis could still sweep in and say, "Well, Dennis, ya got rainbow hair today and that doesn't match the league mandate.." Good example of a useless rule.

[shartley]

Although I for the most part agree with Shartley, I'll gave to play on his Dennis Rodman example. Look at him, although he wears the uniforms, shoes, etc, he still finds a way to represent himself in his crazy hairstyles and piercings.

[Ultimator]

Glad to see my point didn't get too mangled.