Scenario Players???? Poll

[synreal]

heather-
i know MXS (www.mxsportz.com) is throwing 2 games at EMR next year, you might be able to sneak out to one of those :)

http://www.scenariopaintballcalendar.com/

planned mxs games for next year:

[Load SM5]

Hey cool one of those looks to be right on top of me.

[synreal]

aw hell, thats supposed to be snellville, ga. all you southern states look the same from up here kinda squarish

fixed it. its still rather close though.

[Vendetta]

I've never played in one, but have always wanted to.


Right on Nippinout!

[digitard]

I am definitally interested in them ... I haven't played one yet due to my limited time able to play in the past few years, but now that I'm back into it with a vengence I want to get into it again... I'm glad that there's one in AZ coming soon, cause the WD one I missed sounded like fun.

Sincerely,
Dave K

[The Frymarker]

Thanks Synreal, I'll have to keep those in mind!

If there is going to be another Shatnerball next year I definitely want to go. At least spend a vacation there.

Thanks again

[Archangel Damien]

i would love to play scenario and big games but up here there are not many i was setup to play in the Wayne Dollock game at wasaga beach but missed it.

[hitech]

I voted for "in my area", but I have always wanted to play in a scenario game and "my area" would be fairly large. I would have gone to the "Tom Vs Bud" game in "LA" but I had a prior commitment. Right before Christmas is a BAD time for those of us with kids. I hope to have another chance. Tom, could you arrange one around my schedule?

[soaklord]

Scenarios--Gimme gimme gimme more!

I played in last blast, had to do some serious schedule tweaking to make it. Scenarios are going to be the future of paintball for recreational players. Tourneys are not always great fun to watch and don't really show the intensity of playing paintball. Maybe when we get cameras in the masks like they have in arena football, but until then...
Scenario games, however, are amazing. I was absolutely mesmerized watching General Tom play whack-a-mole with his X-mag in the trenches! That thing is amazing and you could see the teamwork take place because of a single player's efforts. At that point in the game, Worrmen were moving to within a hundred yards of our base and were starting to really make a push at us. With Tom laying down cover fire, our men were able to push the Worrmen out of the trenches and start setting up defensive areas. I learned a lot about teamwork thanks to great teams like Bad Karma and Evil Inc. that I never seem to get at rec games. Suddenly it isn't a matter of screaming at everyone to try and lay some cover fire as you bunker an opponent, it just happens.

As much as everyone is trying to shed the image of paintball as violent and necessarily bad, the game is very much linked to a warlike roleplaying heritage. Eliminate that heritage and the appeal leaves the game for probably 90% of players. Scenario games give the kid inside who played soldiers and cowboys and indians and even atari attack games, nintendo games, super nintendo, etc. a chance to re-capture their imagination and to do so without having to sit in front of a screen all day. I am all for scenario games, it brought some of the most interesting and friendly people I have met in paintball to the field.

[RamboPreacher]

I've played in many, many scenarios, and would play more if there were any that were more local to me. taking time off work is normaly saved for me for attending a tourny or two over the year, so time-off is a premium.

The local field http://www.actionjackspaintball.com has normaly had at least two scenaios a year (non this past year though - arghghhg!)

I have been in on all sides, from production, prop-building, player, actor and general. Scenarios can be fun, fair and exciting, but requires the producer to have prepared lots of coordinated missions, and having contingencies for just about every situation available.

Paintball is fun and playing a scenario is fun. a scenario played like a tourney is not fun (for me). THe bottom line in a scenario is (to me anyway), if it is run well enough, and planned well enough, the players should come off the field at the end, with little care for "who won or lost". It's nice if your team won, but having fun and playing to have a good time is formost important.

[BajaBoy]

havent really played in either.. if i had to pick then for fun ide do senario.. but deff 80% of the time im gunna be a turny player.. i have my own field and have been prac. synce June. and were gunna rip it up this winter

[soaklord]

Scenario played like a tourny

I have to agree with Rambo Preacher about the tourny part. At the start of the Warlords scenario, some of the players on the yellow side were playing very much like tourny players. Fortunately, the organizer spoke with the team that was doing it and convinced them that this isn't about "winning" it's about playing. Afterwards, the fun increased by an order of magnitude!

[Xerces]

i love big games. i got so many targets, and that persons got that many more people to think about shooting instead of me =)

[cledford]

I agree with EVERYTHING posted below. I'm looking forward to playing in scenarios and hope that they are where the future of paintball is - since I'm disgusted these days with the tourney scene. (Mass marketing, punk music, expense, cheating, poor sportsmanship, bad judging)

I've seen everything I care about paintball degraded by it's efforts to climb into position as an extreme game and (contrary to the "extreme" moniker) gain mainstream social acceptance. I don't care if your gun looks like an M-16, has a grenade launcher, shoots full-auto (or twice every pull) or if you if wear camo. The woods are where I came from and it's what I enjoy. I like speedball also and honestly play tourney style speedball more then anything - but am sick of the bad rap given the rec players and equipment. The crap I hear from the Europeans about camouflage (Is it my fault that they've banned such things from their countries?) and from all of the insurance and safety people about BPS, Full-auto, bursts, etc. drives me nuts. If paintball had stayed nitch - then we'd still be able to enjoy some on the more fun aspects of the sport. Now certain types of gun are labeled "bad" because they're to "aggressive" or "real" looking, people who wear camo are militant freaks, and you can't have full-auto modes (which are great for none-game fun and testing) because the sport has grown so big that the big insurance folks are worried about mass injuries. I remember when there were no chronos, EVERYONE wore BDUs, silencers were fun and "real" looking camo guns were prized. We wore shop goggle for eye protection and had no refs at all, even at a licensed/bonded field.

I know my feelings aren't appreciated by everyone - but I helped START paintball in my area (started playing around ~86-87) and feel it's gone down the toilet since then. To me the "golden age" was when pumps and a few semis (mostly Tippmann SMG-60s) played side by side. I remember when Glenn Palmer, Budd Orr, Tom Kaye and others became big names in the industry (from a business perspective) - and had been playing a couple of years before that.

I'm not saying we should go back to the days where shop goggle were the norm and chronos were optional and a "novelty' (that's how it was when I first saw one) but think that the more "extreme" it gets the less extreme it really is - compared to how it was. In short, I'd like to be able to play with auto-response (or modes, or at least have them on my gun for wasting paint before leaving the field), and wear camo without being labeled or pissing off some insurance industry eye doctor. I liked it when we were small and no one really cared. During that time semi auto, motorized loaders, constant air and N2, and electronic guns were still developed - so it's not like staying small would hurt innovation.

-Calvin

Originally posted by nippinout
(Originally typed this up to the scen. game review by Tom)

Tom, your comment on scen. games is very interesting.

You said that scenario may be the next big thing in paintball.

What I have always never understood is the gearing of the paintball industry for the 2% that play tournaments.

I have fun playing recball. So do the other 98% that play recball. Why aren't we catered to more?

The top magazines and sites place an emphasis on tournament play. Whether it be a tournament report, or playing tips, they are geared for that scene.

Is it because the 98% hold the 2% in such high regard?

I am willing to bet that a majority of players would find it more enjoyable to be playing in a weekend scenario game then they would in a tournament.

In a tournament, your entire reason for being there is to win.

In a scenario game, your only reason to be there is to have a good time. To have fun.

Why isn't scenario gaming or recball glorified as much as tourney ball?

What do I want paintball to be?

I don't want paintball to be in the Olympics. It isn't an Olympic sport. I don't want paintball to be an 'extreme' sport. Extreme sports (at least the popular ones) that get airtime are the ones requiring an artistic element. I don't care for paintball to go mainstream.

There are posts on every forum that pop up every now and then wishing for paintball to be in the Olympics, X-Games, or on TV. Why? How does it benefit YOU the player. Ask yourself, how does it benefit YOU.

Just 5 years ago, FIVE years ago you would not hear of guns being stolen from the staging area. Now, you have to keep an eye on your gun at all times.

I put the fault of these stolen guns on the
'mainstreaming' of paintball. It brings in more butt holes.

Mainstream has turned one of my passions, snowboarding, into a corporate whore of sorts. Since when is macaroni and cheese extreme? Mainstream is good for the greedy corporation. I love snowboarding. I love macaroni. I am confused by extreme macaroni.

Tom Kaye PLAYS paintball still. The bitter old men we know as Tom Kaye and Bud Orr and Glenn Palmer and Dennis Tippmann are still here today. They provide for the players what the players want.

My distaste for Brass Eagle stems from their lack of love. They are run by suits. Suits who do not play paintball. Remember the Viewloader fiasco with their nasty shells and lids? Don't forget the Shatnerball paint drama just this past summer.

Some may argue that BE brought many players in. Yes, but at what cost?

They have no love for us.

Mainstream isn't good for me. Mainstream isn't good for paintball.

Remember the articles a year ago looking for a paintball identity? I don't need a paintball identity. It is not a lifestyle. I recall the articles pushing punk music on me.

What if the biggest drama in paintball was not Jeremy Salm, but Tom Kaye and Bud Orr in a 2000+ player battle against Jon Rice and Dennis Tippmann?

I also recall an article just a few years ago calling the present time the golden age of paintball. It was deemed so because paintball had not yet become corporate or mainstream. Perhaps the golden age is still ahead of us.

I see scenario games as the future of paintball. You go to a scenario game for the sole reason of having fun. And the free gun giveaways. :)

Isn't that what paintball is all about? We play because it is fun.

I am not looking down on tournaments, but I am part of the 98% that loves going to the rickety old field with 1 port-a-potty and go in the woods to run around and shoot paint.

I don't have to worry about anything except what to eat at the end of the day. (and maybe keep an eye on my equipment)

What do you want paintball to be?

I want paintball to be fun.

[Scootyd]

Actually the reason I am building my micro e-mag is so that I can lay enough fire to move my squad in next years games. I like the positive, competitive atmosphere at scenarios. I like the easy going and friendly pace off the field and the large numbers of targets and options on the field. I only wish they had safe bases for air and paint setup in the playing area so I would never have to leave. The people are all there to have a good time and you see a very eclectic array of equipment.

As much respect as I have for Tom, This seems to be a question that I wouldn't expect.