Face Masks or not?

[Beemer]

you tell me

"Do you see it out there today? NO. Why?"


Sounds like pudding, I still need a rope

[Albinonewt]

1) Paintballs have become more round, fills are more consistant, the end result is that balls of today fly a little straighter then the ones we had 15 years ago.
2) Markers have become more consistant in shot to shot velocity making them more accurate.
3) Marker rates of fire have greatly improved since then.

I do want to mention one thing you left out that goes the other way.

We chrono now. Some of you might remember the OLD days when we didn't chrono our guns too often. My friends and I used to play the "mask" game. We'd each get three of those stupid plastix masks that only covered the front of your face. Then we'd crank our guns up to shoot as fast as possible, screwing with springs and everything else you could imagine. One of our guns was "good with tools" so he managed to really get our guns blazing.

Then we'd go out and play. Once all three of your face masks were broken you were out.


As I always tell the kids at the field. I played paintball before it was safe.

[Eskimo Paint Slinger]

I think it should stay mandatory. I personally dont wnat to get shot in the ear from 5 feet a way you know?

And dont want to damnage my beautiful face with welts .....I already had to explain to a teahcer the welts on my arm is not from my parents beating me.

EDIT: Yes I do know it's mandatory right now

[elpimpo]

yall do know it is manditory to wear full face masks right.



if someone already said it; woops

[banzaimf]

I was one of the kids emulating pros, until I got one in the face. The last night of a play. I had to pack the cut full of scar wax. That sucked!

[elpimpo]

when i ref rec ball all i wear is my gogs and nothing else on my face

[goat]

The whole facemask thing has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with 'image'; we don't want paintball to appear to be a violent sport, so we'll prevent visible welts from occurring.

Not trying to start anything, I also have played with just goggles...no way in heck I'll do it again......also it is my understanding is that the reason for facemasks being required is that given the correct angle of fire and contact with the face a ball can actually slip between the goggle frame and the soft tissue of the cheek and still damage the eye..

for future reference also...there are kids out there who dont get a chance to play in a supervised area and they read these boards....point is alot of them are impresionable and take what is read and percieved as "Cool" and apply it in real life (long barrels...need I say more?)........Myself I take that into account before I post.

$.04 spent....
Goat

[GoatBoy]

Hrm, poll and post asked two different questions.

I don't find it necessary for the rule to be mandatory. It will mess you up, but nothing like taking an eye hit. If you're foolish enough to not wear full face protection, then, like you said in one of your videos, "ain't nobody gonna take pity on you." Just let the newbies know what will happen to them if they get hit on the face; I'm sure all but the total morons would opt for the full face mask.




Sometimes, I'll look around at the people at the field around me... and wind up keeping my facemask on at all times, even in the staging area.

[Tyger]

Not trying to start anything, I also have played with just goggles...no way in heck I'll do it again......also it is my understanding is that the reason for facemasks being required is that given the correct angle of fire and contact with the face a ball can actually slip between the goggle frame and the soft tissue of the cheek and still damage the eye..

This is the one thing that bothered me. I never saw any data to prove or deny that "fact". Not syaing it's not true, just that I've never seen proof of it.

I also heard that paint grenades can lead to blinding a player too. If a paint grenade catches a player's visor as it falls, the goggles can be pulled away from the eyes, and a player can be blinded. Again, I only 'heard" this, I've never seen it, or met someone who directly HAD seen it.

We're safely enough in the thread I can post an opinion without coloring the results. I personally could care less if a player wears a face mask or not. I fail to see a problem with it. It's your face, do what you want. I have the same theory to face masks for paintball as I have for snowboard helmets and bike helmet laws. If you don't want to wear one, it's your head. I wear a helmet for snowboarding, I wear a full face mask when I play, I prefer not to wear a bike helmet. I like to know it's a choice.

I miss the JT "half mask", I have two somewhere, but I wouldn't play in them. But I personally think if someone wants to play without a face mask, hey, it's your melon. A friend of mine who's a colostrophobic starts to freak out when he wears a face mask, so he plays goggles only when he can. But I've seen people back in the day walk off the field with some interesting pock marks on their faces...

Like I said before, I'm just seeing where the tide is flowing lately. If I could pull down $250,000 a year playing paintball as a pro game, and they said masks optional, I'd think about it. But It'd be a lot of thinking.

(Come to think, $250,000 a year I'd drop the ears and tail too...)

Edit add : Goatboy : It wasn't meant to be misleading, I meant basically to ask 2 seperate questions. Should masks be manditory, and if they weren't would you play without a mask. And you're right, I've been to thise fields too...

-Tyger

[Beemer]

Rabid

Ya I didnt want to start anything eather. Rabid has no sense of self preservation, He's doing that marry thing aint he?[congrats dude]

"Paintball is a sport that, like all sports, has intrinsic hazards. These hazards include being hit by paintballs. Protective equipment cannot eliminate all injuries but will substantially reduce their severity and frequency. Participation in this sport by a player implies acceptance of injury risk. The goal of protective equipment is to minimize the risk of injury."

I wanna play full auto at 350fps I'll take all the protection I can get.

Tyger, where did you think this would go?
Data? there aint no Data, Thats the whole problem


I.A.D.S.P.B.P.

[Tyger]

Tyger, where did you think this would go?
Data? there aint no Data, Thats the whole problem

I wasn't sure. Every once in a while ya gotta throw stuff out there to test the waters.

I'd be happy with some... hmm... Naw, I won't do a webdog show about it. People are still sending me mail telling me that their gun has more range than mine do...

-Tyger

[xXHavokXx]

I was thinking about this thread tonight when I was playing. I play in a smaller mask (profiler) and know jow it feels to take one on the jaw due to the cuts of the mask. No way in hell I'd play without a mask though. Off the break today my DM4 went off and I got a good lane on a guy running for the 50. Ran into the stream and caught at least 4 where his teeth would be and 3 in the nose. If he wasn't wearing the mask he'd be on the next plane to Canada to train for the NHL, he would have fit right in.

[1stdeadeye]

I remember when we played in just goggles. As has been said before the rate of fire then was so much slower that your risk of being bonus balled in the face was low. It is impractical to think of doing it now. Also 10 years ago, the rudamentary masks available were so uncomfortable that the potential bruises/fat lips were worth it. Anyone who ever wore a woodstalker mask would remember that!

With the fit and comfort of Today's masks, they should be mandatory for safety reasons!

[rabidchihauhau]

hooray for REAL paintballers!

I'll never forget a conversation I had 'back in the day' with a well-known field owner.

This place was a multi-sport facility that featured white water rafting and paintball. One of the paintball players fell and ripped a fingernail off of his thumb while trying to get a flag. The guy comes back to the staging area and asks the field owner for a bandaid. The field owner gives him one and then says to me: 'that's the difference between rafters and paintballers; the paintballer wants a bandaid and goes back out to play. The rafter would be threatening lawsuits...'

I can appreciate the broken nose story - I once put a pine tree branch through my side doing the same thing. I thought I was the guy who invented the 'use the tree to stop the wild run' tactic - guess there were other smart, aggressive players out there with me, huh?

[rabidchihauhau]

Its only MANDATORY at fields that utilize insurance programs that adhere to the ASTM guidelines.

Little known fact - the guidelines are promulgated for commercial fields only - they do not discuss events and particularly competition.

I want to do a poll too:

A. I'm in favor of mandatory facemasks AND I support the Patriot Act
B. I'm in favor of mandatory face masks AND I do not support the Patriot Act
C. I'm not in favor of mandatory face masks AND I support the Patriot Act
D. I'm not in favor of mandatory facemasks AND I do not support the Patriot Act