will this sport ever not suck?

[rjvemt1]

Yes there are way more rec players, but you have to remember that tournament players account for more sales

i dont understand the logic behind this statement? maybe on an individual basis,yes. the guy who plays 15+ tournements a year is gonna spend a more than i do playing 3 or 4 times a month(i pay for field time with a yearly membership and only sling 1/4 to 1/2 case a day).but if you add up the amount of money that the couple thousand, at most, 'pros' spend, not including airfare and accomodations then compare that figure to the amount of money that the HUNDREDS of thousands of us rec players spend every year. obviously the money comes from the masses! maybe the corporate sponsorship dollar would be better spent sponsoring sportsmanship oriented scenerio and big game teams where the atmosphere lends itself to the inlusion of the everyday rec player instead of the exclusion of him! new and beginnig players have to be cultivated and incouraged in order to grow our beloved game and todays tourny ball does not do that! whew, i gotta go sit down

[raehl]

Well..

I don't think it's fair to say ALL of today's tournament ball doesn't do that. NCPA events are specifically geared towards participation of new players because we HAVE to cultivate new players to exist. If the new players come to our events and don't enjoy themselves, they're not coming back, and as soon as the people we have graduate, we're done. There are some local threemans out there that are pretty good if you can find them, and to go back to Polar Bear, since they exist in an area that didn't have teams previously, they have to cultivate new players to exist as well.

It's leagues that are out trying to woo existing tournament players by offering big prize packages and tolerating their piss-poor behavior that "ruin" tournament paintball for the new player.

Of course, in the long run, you have to ask: Which leagues are going to be more successful? The ones who cater only to existing players, or the ones who make sure to appeal to new players?

There's one more point to note: It's the NEW players who spend all the money on the equipment, because they don't have it yet.

- Chris