My opinion on "kills"

[Brak]

Today i went paintballing with a different group of friends that i usually dont go paintballing with. Heres what happened:
we start out, and the best kid (im the second best) sneaks around me, and im the last one left and i surrender. second game, i get killed, but on thing irks me about most people (yes i said "irks" it means annoys). After the game, everyone is running around everyone else asking "what color was the paint that hit you?" "did i hit you?" "how many times did you get hit?". I was kinda angry (it might have been because i got no kills. it was a 3v5 game, my team had a bit of a disadvantage), but i thought it was annoying, the people running around claiming their kills and comparing them to their teammates.
Third game, 3v5 again. myself and my 2 partners hide and wait to ambush because they have manpower. Long story short, we won. I nailed a kid in the head, and we talked for a bit (yes i was proud of my first gogg shot) about the game.
But after that, the kids are still bragging about how many kills they got. But the truth is, atleast i think, that kills dont matter. its about teamwork. I could have taken out a kid, but instead i laid down cover fire for my friend. I think that the only way a team can win is working together, and if everyone goes out and try to get kills, they will do jack squat.

-just my 2 cents about paintball

[AcemanPB]

I get that alot at my field if I ever get tagged out (I try to refrain from using the word "kill" to describe our sport)

A little kid or a newb will always ask me
"what color"
"how many times did you get hit"
"did i shoot you..etc, etc"
I usally just tell them "yeah you hit me, nice shot" so then they will be all happy, the field i play most of the time is really a true "rec" field, all the kids get excited when they tag some one with a paintball jersey on.

[Ov3rmind]

People who talk about how many "kills" they got after a game = newbies.

You didn't kill them for God's sake. You just marked them with a paintball marker (or gun, either one works).

[MinimagRockin']

People who say "kills" aren't newbies, I always call them that because for one thing we are "playing guns" so kill is naturally the thing to call it (at least for me). And secondly it sounds alot less lame than calling it "marked" which nobody in their right mind would ever say unless they had heard it somewhere (such as an overly politically correct magazine or field owner perhaps).

[FutureMagOwner]

i usually dont say "who killed me" or anything like that its more like "who the freaking heck shot me 23 times on my side!" half the time

[gibby]

Yeah, most of the time...I'll just say you "shot" me or you "got" me. Sometimes, talking about how you got someone out is part of the fun of playing the sport of paintball. Best thing to do is to keep a level head, realize that everyone is out playing for fun, and allow people to enjoy the thrill of hitting someone. If you got out, wait for the next game and play your best.

[845]

Originally posted by FutureMagOwner
i usually dont say "who killed me" or anything like that its more like "who the freaking heck shot me 23 times on my side!" half the time

LOL...so true, so true.

[thevilduk]

lol, at most fields its kinda hard to tell the difference in paint because they have one color... and i always refere to a "kill" as a hit. I don't know why. It sounds better.

[Ov3rmind]

I usually say elimination, out (like he's out of there!), or hit.

People who say "kills" aren't newbies, I always call them that because for one thing we are "playing guns" so kill is naturally the thing to call it (at least for me).

I guess that's where we differ. I usually don't think of it as "playing guns." However, I don't play woodball really. I do know that's what the sport was like when it started out, and is still played like that by a lot of people today, but in a speedball game, I don't really consider it "playing guns."

[aaron_mag]

I think that the original post was about team work and that is true. Even is speedball teammates are pinning somebody down while another teammate bunkers him. Not everyone can go for the "kill".

At the same time you shouldn't let it upset you. Personally I get a kick out of a kid with a rental marker who gets all pumped up because he shot me. In recball it is supposed to be fun. If I'm just lighting up the other team then it is an indication that I have to lay off the trigger finger.

[boomerfoxtrot]

... well... I can understand your view... but remember... it's all fun and games...

kinda like if your playing basketball with a bunch of kids, and one goes by another... he's going to talk about it...

now.... to me... a kill... well... a kill is bunker the bananas out of someone!!-)

If I come around your bunker and hit your six times in a matter of a second within 2 feet... that's a kill..... and for the most part it's not allowed in rec play... =]

[Paintchucker]

A win is a win...

Teamwork is what matters. If your team wins then it doesn't matter who hit who. The goal is normally the flag hang or eliminating the other team.

I would have to agree that using the term "Kill" and "Gun" is for Noobs. Once a player matures in the sport of paintball, they realize that we face a "worser" image from using the term gun instead of marker and kill instead of elimination, and stops doing it...

[Allen]

The terms "kill" and "gun" are not for new players (I think n00b is for gaming, not paintball). I always try to point out that the military image is bad for paintball, and I hate Tippmann for making a gun that imitates an MP5K. I even try to call the paintball GUNS markers, and eliminations tags, eliminations, or hits, but when I'm with a group of players, screw that. They know what I'm talking about, and some 10 year old kid's mommy won't be nervous about me taklking about guns and kills because she won't be there, and the 10 year old kid shouldn't be there. I gave up paintball because of the amount of young kids getting into the sport with no idea of what it's really about, having their parents buy them expensive guns, and not believeing me when I tell them there is no such thing as a sniper barrel. I just got sick of being worried about not hurting that kid too small to hold his gun right but is playing anyway, then swearing at me and talking smack after the game. I don't like having to be scared I might step on some litlle kid, or light him up.

Back to the topic- call them kills. At this point, paintball is popular enough that it can take an bad image, hopefully it will keep some of the moms from buying their kids a cocker and pushing them off to the field with mask in hand and sniper barrel on gun.

[gibby]

LOL!! Wow Allen...you sound a bit disgruntled?

[magman007]

allen, i have to dissagree. Do not call hits Kills, or markers Guns. Paintball is not popular enough to handle the bad image. Your justifying after all this time to get paintball to where it is, it is ok to re slander it? it most certainly isnt.

Paintball is not popular yet. It is not on television yet, or not in big standings. Once it comes on sunday afternoon, and a bunch of my friedns are crowding around a television, screaming at avalanche and Aftershock will i consider paintball popular. Hell it hasnt even made it into the X games.

Also, those newbies you are afraid of steping on are our future. So, by not supporting our future, you are condemming paintball. What if they want a sniper barrel? let them have it. They will learn soon enough what is right and what is wrong and they will wise up.

So what if their parents buy them an expensive marker? that is a good thing. The more sales, the more the industry can grow. Im sure you understand this.

I truely believe paintball needs to go Politically correct. I feel if you curse on the field, and are with in ear shot, you should be puled directly off the field. That is how it is in other sports. Il admit, i was pulled out of a lacrosse game because i droped the ball and said the f word. A ref was near me and threw me right into the penalty box. All other sports tryto keep the clean image, why cant we? MAybe if we clean up, we might get respected.

Back to popularity. You say paintball is popular enough to handle a slander, well do you know just how bad the Las vegas event, and the split of the PSP and NPPL was to paintball? What about the fall of the WPF???? These things were really bad. THese may have set paintball back a good ways.

Now you say, what about the NAtional league and the AMerican league in baseball, they were separated for ever and olny used to play at the end of the season. Well, that is fine, but baseball was more popular from the start. I can see paintball doing this down the road, but with the millenium and the nppl playing eachother, whith a little interleague play here and there. That would be good.

Another thing we need to do is standardize the rules. We need to revise all the nppl rules, make them easier to understand, and make them universal for tournament play. The mellenium and nppl should sit dowm and discuss what is needed and what isnt, and use those rules.

PAintbal needs its youth, it needs to become politically correct, and it needs to be well represented.