Paintball's "Image" (or lack therin?)

[teufelhunden]

FooTemp's thread made me wonder, so I'll put it as it's own thread.

In YOUR OPINION :

1) What is the "image" of paintball? (For sake of argument, I'm talking about what "non-players" think paintball is.)

2) What SHOULD be the image of paintball?

3) Would a large corporation (Nike, Reebok, And1) help or hurt paintball's image by getting into it? Related, do you think a large company would try to change paintball's "image" to better suit sales results?

4) And finally, what large corporation, if any, would you like to see get into paintball?

Just testing the waters again...

-Tyger

1) A bunch of commandos running around in the woods sniping at eachother and carving kills into their guns.

2) A bunch of athletes running around on a concept field with a point system, rules, and refs.

3) It depends on the approach. I don't feel that bringing in large corporations would help expand paintball much, the initial costs are too high. I don't think a large company would try to change the image of paintball, provided it isn't sniping with camo face paint.

4) Um. Not sure. I'm a bit biased though, as I don't feel paintball needs any outside help.

[barrel break]

1) What is the "image" of paintball? (For sake of argument, I'm talking about what "non-players" think paintball is.) Wargame, nobody outside of paintball has ever heard of "speedball" or pro teams, and how public friendly they are

2) What SHOULD be the image of paintball? An accepted extreme sport, such as Skateboarding, or snowboarding

3) Would a large corporation (Nike, Reebok, And1) help or hurt paintball's image by getting into it? Related, do you think a large company would try to change paintball's "image" to better suit sales results? If done right, would help, and yes, if it would help sales, they would most definately change its "image"

4) And finally, what large corporation, if any, would you like to see get into paintball? I would like to see any motocross company, they already deal with mechanical parts, and definately have the same mentality (in their own press)

[RRfireblade]

IN MY OPINION

1) What is the "image" of paintball? (For sake of argument, I'm talking about what "non-players" think paintball is.)

War game based on 'hide and seek' and other military types scenerios using less-than-lethal projectiles.Often associated with other events such as malitious mischeif and basic vandalism.

2) What SHOULD be the image of paintball?

Fun for the whole Family and good natured competition and sportsmanship.

3) Would a large corporation (Nike, Reebok, And1) help or hurt paintball's image by getting into it? Related, do you think a large company would try to change paintball's "image" to better suit sales results?

No, whouldn't hurt it, and heck yeah......that's why they're in business.

4) And finally, what large corporation, if any, would you like to see get into paintball?

Any business already connected to team sports and with a good positive image currently.Having a strong promotional and global presence and the clout/finance to exercise more of the that for 'our' sport......also a bonus.

[mkmckinley]

I don't think it's the kind of thing that will ever become mainstream or widely known. It's already pretty accepted; they have gear at walmart and Gart Sports. As far as image goes my girlfriend thinks it's really dorky, my parents think I'm wasting money, and most of my friends just aren't very interested. For those of us that play it's really fun, but for the rest I just don't think they really get it.

[FooTemps]

FooTemp's thread made me wonder, so I'll put it as it's own thread.

In YOUR OPINION :

1) What is the "image" of paintball? (For sake of argument, I'm talking about what "non-players" think paintball is.)

2) What SHOULD be the image of paintball?

3) Would a large corporation (Nike, Reebok, And1) help or hurt paintball's image by getting into it? Related, do you think a large company would try to change paintball's "image" to better suit sales results?

4) And finally, what large corporation, if any, would you like to see get into paintball?

Just testing the waters again...

-Tyger

Wow, I never thought I could provoke thought like this... lol

1. The image of paintball is still old school paintball. Woodsball and old school gear and such. People look at it as a tactical little war simulation or a game where they can play the matrix in, nothing more. I've gotten a lot of people interested in paintball but the questions they ask are very stereotyped about paintball questions such as, "Does it hurt to get shot by the gun?", "What woods do you play in?", "How big are the clips you use?", "What are paintball guns like? Are they :insert comparison to real gun:?", etc. They don't know what airball is, they don't know about "agg" or "muppet mower" (thank god). It's an image I would like to get away from. It is still too much a war game and far too less a sport.

2. The image of paintball should be more sport-like... I think that the only way we can achieve this is through radically different technology that looks unlike any gun in the world, and a new playing system. When I say playing system, I'm not talking about a new league... I'm talking about changing the way we play. Centerflag CTF does not have a sport image and doesn't resembly a sport in any way. If you compare paintball to a mainstream sport, the scoring methods are extremely strange, the playing method is unorthodox and the organizers are completely incompetent. I don't know what we should go towards, but there needs to be more change in order for there to be new image.

3. Any large corporation could help right now, but that's only if they know what they're doing. If you build a mask without knowing what a paintballer needs, it's gonna be crap. If you build shoes that don't hold up to paintball, crap. That would hurt too badly, but it'd still be an annoyance to us players and newbies. I could see a nike, reebok, gatorade, etc commercial completely butchering the image of paintball into all out war int he woods too. If any corporation jumps into the paintball world, they could do massive damage if they do not study up on the sport.

4. I'd like to see gatorade/powerade or nike get into paintball... This is because they make some damn nice commercials and a nice paintball speedball commercial could start changing our image.

[Burphel]

Funny thing, everybody talks about 'war in the woods' like it's an entirely bad thing. You ever meet anybody who showed up for their first day of playing paintball saying they wanted to go play 'tag at 200mph'? I'd agree that public understanding is a good thing, but it's rediculous to think that paintball will ever come completely out of the woods. Wargaming is a large part of paintball's draw. If you want to ignore it, go ahead, but there's a lot of people out there who want to be 'weekend warriors.'

[minimag03]

FooTemp's thread made me wonder, so I'll put it as it's own thread.

In YOUR OPINION :

1) What is the "image" of paintball? (For sake of argument, I'm talking about what "non-players" think paintball is.)

2) What SHOULD be the image of paintball?

3) Would a large corporation (Nike, Reebok, And1) help or hurt paintball's image by getting into it? Related, do you think a large company would try to change paintball's "image" to better suit sales results?

4) And finally, what large corporation, if any, would you like to see get into paintball?

Just testing the waters again...

-Tyger

1) To most people that have never watched/played the sport, it is still a war game that strange people play.
2) I like the image that we, as players, have. All that people need to do is watch and listen to us.
3)A bigger company would help regardless. They might try to change it to look more sport like and less war like.
4)Adiadas, because they are awesome

minimag03

[GoatBoy]

Wow, the thread turns out pretty well when you number the questions... Maybe it helps people stay focused.



1. The image is still roughly something that's played out in the woods by nuts.

Stop and think about it. Where are the majority of our fields? They're out in the woods somewhere! You can have the most amazingly manicured airball field, but guess what? Chances are it's somewhere out in the woods. Gee, I wonder why people still associate paintball mainly with woods play? The push to get paintball out of the woods failed. What they did was just clear off a little place in the woods for themselves.

The other part of the image, the part where I think paintball really hits the mainstream... is actually all the equipment lining the shelves of your common stores. Any other contact with paintball has to be rather deliberate, but putting those items in common places get them the most visibility to people who never intended to be near paintball. So what do they see? Products which are apparently very deliberately targeted toward hormonally imbalanced 10-14 year olds...

This leads to, from the get-go, an inability for any reasonably mature, intelligent adult to take our "sport" seriously. Conversely, what kind of people then would our "sport" appeal to? I will leave this question for the reader to ponder.

My coworkers ping me about paintball quite often, probably as a result of all the gizmos and stuff that I get shipped to me. I can tell what their impression of the "sport" is... Oh, and out of all my coworkers, associates, and friends (not counting the ones I make from paintball), I am the only one who plays paintball.

Paintball's probably never going to be a spectator sport. This is the nature of fringe sports in America -- the fanbase is mostly ... 'practitioners', to use a commonly used term from another sport...


2. As a purely rec player myself, I personally would like to change to something like other recreational sports. Something stripped down of the stigma that you've gotta have special flashy equipment to play, and that you have to win-win-win and pretend to be some playa pimp bling PWNZ0RZ rippin Rasta A4. Just grab a gun and mask and head out to the field with your buddies for some good times. It should head in a direction completely opposite of "extreme sports". I don't see why walking out to the field to play paintball should feel any different from going to play raquetball or something.

I'm not saying try to push into mainstream so much as simply get away from trying to be an "extreme sport". That's so annoying. I find the whole concept of "extreme sports" somewhat childish.

I also think we need to get away from this mentality where we need to dress our guns up in little pink tutus so people get away from the terrible stigma of associating our "markers" with "guns". Hello, they're still guns. Stop pretending, and treat them for what they are, k thx.


3. They'd probably help by putting some business savvy into our business end. Paintball's sorely, sorely lacking in this department, across the board. They're the big corporations because they know how to make money. I don't think they would try to push paintball into something 'warlike'... They would push it into some sort of individual achievement left wing happy warm fuzzy advertising scheme.


4. I haven't given this much thought really. I think the beverage companies would be able to enter paintball without causing changes to it, so that would be a safe way to bring some... how should I say this... more interests into our "sport".




It's too bad I feel that I have to put "sport" in quotes every time I say it in reference to paintball.

[Empyreal Rogue]

1) Paintball is sadly viewed as a War Game. I don't like it any more than the next man but that's how the majority sees it. They see it that way because they know JACK about the sport. It's also common for the media to make up stories about "Terrorist Paintball Training Camps." Oh yeah, those BS stories are all too common.

2) I'd like to see Paintball displayed as what it really is, a sport. I agree with whoever (Sorry >_<) said a poll should be put on ESPN.com to see what the majority of avid sport fans think of Paintball.

3) I'm honored to be the first to mention this, yes! Remember when Budweiser had that paintballing commercial for the super bowl? They actually put a bad name on the sport with that commercial. First off no one had their masks actually on and several people were wearing goggles- which are illegal at most major fields. Secondly, and most importantly there was alcohol on the field. I'm not a stiff when it comes to drinking, but I don't know of any field that sells alcohol at all. It doesn't take a genius to realize that No masks + Alcohol = Danger. Danger within a sport leads to people turning away from it. Especially involving an activity that involves gun-like tools firing projectiles.

Kia also put out a paintball commercial. There were a mother and father hiding behind a log talking about the specs of the Kia Sedona and some other Van, a Chrysler I think. Anydangway, the camera goes, quickly, to what they're looking at and you can see people running then the guy sits up and says something regarding the price and gets gogged 3 times. It was a good commercial, showed how safe and friendly paintball is. So if the companies are willing to make a paintball commercial I'm all for it- just as long as they portray it correctly.

4) I'd like to see Gatorade, Adidas, Vans, and colleges get into paintball. Yes, colleges. Paintball is a growing sport, as mentioned many times, so how cool would it be to have your college sponsor a team? I'm not sure but on CSG they make PSU and OSU and Vandy jerseys and there are pictures of people wearing them as a team. Maybe it's already begun but obviously it's not very popular. I know when I get to college (One more year, oh yeah!) I'll at least get a Paintball CLUB started.

[Lohman446]

1)

Kia also put out a paintball commercial. There were a mother and father hiding behind a log talking about the specs of the Kia Sedona and some other Van, a Chrysler I think. Anydangway, the camera goes, quickly, to what they're looking at and you can see people running then the guy sits up and says something regarding the price and gets gogged 3 times. It was a good commercial, showed how safe and friendly paintball is. So if the companies are willing to make a paintball commercial I'm all for it- just as long as they portray it correctly.
.

So this log just happened to be on a speedball field? Interesting... this is my point in another thread, where I took the time to make a disclaimer to avoid getting flamed (I respect speedball, Im getting ready to go play a tournament now). As stated above by others, no matter what you do, that thing your holding shoots projectiles at people at a high rate of speed... Call it an automated dodgeball thrower for all I care... guess what it still is. Frankly under MI law it is legally defined as a firearm (whole nother discussion, and not enforced, but the technical law says it is).

New players and those that have nto played do associate it with war. Who cares? It has grown this big already with that associaton, it really does not hurt. "But mommy won't let Freddy play" Well I feel bad for Freddy but, oh well. Parents have let there children practice martial arts, and guess what - most kids jump at the chance because they see it as violent, and quit when they realize how tame most of them are. Why has Kenpo grown - because it is a violent martial art. Why did the United System become so popular around here - because it is violent, it is geared towards sparring. Frankly, having practiced both it and Tae Kwon Do for some time, I find the United system much more interesting. People like violence... lets make that work for us rather than looking like idiots and trying to make shooting at someone look less violent.

[Lee]

Tourney players tarnish pb's rep IMO. All the swearing, throwing equipment, fights, and cheating. But it also had a bad rep in the beginning. We were all considered gun nut survivalist wannabe boys playing army. When we first came out of the woods, we were gaining acceptance. Then sponsorships began, and it changed the game forever.
The only thing that can save the game now, is the NXL on tv. It's a game non players can understand.

amen brotha.

[shartley]

1) What is the "image" of paintball? (For sake of argument, I'm talking about what "non-players" think paintball is.)2) What SHOULD be the image of paintball?

I think it should be that the sport has MANY types of formats and many types of players. There is no one face to paintball, as there is no one face to auto racing, sailing, etc.

3) Would a large corporation (Nike, Reebok, And1) help or hurt paintball's image by getting into it? Related, do you think a large company would try to change paintball's "image" to better suit sales results?4) And finally, what large corporation, if any, would you like to see get into paintball?

[Lee]

1) 4) I'd like to see Gatorade, Adidas, Vans, and colleges get into paintball. Yes, colleges. Paintball is a growing sport, as mentioned many times, so how cool would it be to have your college sponsor a team? I'm not sure but on CSG they make PSU and OSU and Vandy jerseys and there are pictures of people wearing them as a team. Maybe it's already begun but obviously it's not very popular. I know when I get to college (One more year, oh yeah!) I'll at least get a Paintball CLUB started.

http://college-paintball.com/nationals/

[Empyreal Rogue]

So this log just happened to be on a speedball field? Interesting...

Whoa whoa chief, re-read my post- when and where did I say the Kia commercial was on a speedball field? Oh that's right, no where! I don't understand what the purpose of pointing that out was...

[Lohman446]

1) Paintball is sadly viewed as a War Game. I don't like it any more than the next man but that's how the majority sees it. They see it that way because they know JACK about the sport. It's also common for the media to make up stories about "Terrorist Paintball Training Camps." Oh yeah, those BS stories are all too common.

2) I'd like to see Paintball displayed as what it really is, a sport. I agree with whoever (Sorry >_<) said a poll should be put on ESPN.com to see what the majority of avid sport fans think of Paintball.



Kia also put out a paintball commercial. There were a mother and father hiding behind a log talking about the specs of the Kia Sedona and some other Van, a Chrysler I think. Anydangway, the camera goes, quickly, to what they're looking at and you can see people running then the guy sits up and says something regarding the price and gets gogged 3 times. It was a good commercial, showed how safe and friendly paintball is. So if the companies are willing to make a paintball commercial I'm all for it- just as long as they portray it correctly.

I was being a jerk when I pointed it out.. but well thsoe two and that just did nto seem to go together