Paintbal: Do you think the sport is growing "too fast"

[Carbon]

Granted it has been appx 10 or so years in the making. Now it is on TV and has reach a damn near pinnacle in the entertainment media. Although not as blindingy fast as the dotcom boom, i sometimes fear a similar collapse will occur where the sport will radically "level" its self off as rapidly as it swelled in the past 2- 2 1/2 years.

Paintball feilds are poping up everywhere round these parts as well as paintball stores.

I think of how legislation, DOT, OSHA and the gang can detrimentally effect the accesability of the game to the average joe or jane.

Anyway...


What is your opinion.

[LittlePaintballBoy]

I don't think it can grow "too fast." No matter what even if it ever does go down there will still be us like it was before the TV deals.

[SchoolU101]

Well, there are some downsides too it. With paintball guns in the hands of more people, there's a greater chance of some idiot screwing things up for all of us. I'm from this town called Orange, CT that borders Milford. Apparently some kid thought it would be fun to go on a shooting spree in some public place, and now paintball is illeagal in Milford. Scary thing is, there are people that retarted out there, and there are going to be more. Laws might start cracking down, especially if things get out of hand like that.

Also, let me take this opportunity to remind all you AO'ers out there, that if you know someone like this, let them know how much it could screw things up for everyone.

[$BoMoney$]

We need more people to get into the sport. I'm not talking about going in the woods and playing gi-joe, but I mean actually getting into airball and tournament style paintball. It's a bit early for the NXL to be on t.v. in my humble opinion, but there will come a time in the near future, when paintball is at the point where there are freshman, sophomore, junior varsity, and varsity teams in school; that's when paintball will be ready to be on t.v. and everywhere else.

[misenhei]

Well, there are some downsides too it. With paintball guns in the hands of more people, there's a greater chance of some idiot screwing things up for all of us.

I'm sure there are more assaults with bats then there ever will be from markers....and baseball's not illegal yet.

[MedicDVG]

Quite frankly a sport that requires you to dish out thousands of dollars a year in paint, equipemt etc will not get too huge, at least for the general public. Sure there will be an upsurge of spyder owners now that wally world sells them. However, I for one think that having the sport get more recognition is a good thing.

As the poster with the story on the banning of paintball in their area, if the word gets out that this is more of a sport then a bunch of milita rejects, I think you will see more tolerance to the idea in the long run.

All trends peak and ebb.. we are just now seeing the upswing in popularity -- there is tons of room for the sport to grow before it peaks.

[WARPED1]

Paintballs not a sport yet, it's a game. A great game, but a game.

[slade]

Paintballs not a sport yet, it's a game. A great game, but a game.

lets see here...

Noun: sport
1. An active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition
2. The occupation of athletes who compete for pay

nope, seems like a sport to me. paintball is a physical competition that is organized and has rules and regulations. and there are professional teams that get paid. i suppose you could argue that woodsball is a game and not a sport, but speedball is certainly a sport.

back to the origional question, i think that paintball will continue to grow and will eventually start to slow down, but wont crash all of a sudden... unless maybe something new is introduced.

and school - the more paintball grows, the more people will understand it, and the less of an impact it will have if some idiot kid runs around with a $50 spyder. Right now if someone that has heard almost nothing of the sport hears about the premise of it from another person rather uneducated - a "war game" where kids shoot "guns" at each other, and hears about some kid shooting a bunch of people, they will want it banned. if they first hear about the tournaments, teams, rules, regulations, safeness and other positive factors, and then hears about some kid abusing the equipment just like the kid who hits someone with a baseball bat, they will look down upon the kid who abused the equipment instead of the whole sport.

[WARPED1]

Sure, by definition it seems like a sport, but it's not. A sport has 1 unified set of rules that does not differ. Take the NFL. Even when you play it in the backyard for fun same rules. PeeWee leagues= same rules. High School= same rules. College= same rules. Back to the NFL. Paintball differs in every field and every backyard. Xball, PSP, IAO etc etc.
You probably think hokey is a sport, it isn't. No ball. Hockey is actually 3 activities tied together. Ics skating, playing with a puck(which you find in mens room urinals), and beating the crap out of someone. Same with swimming, swimming is not a sport, swimming is a way to keep from drowning.
So, when paintball unifies and gets one set of rules to be used universaly, then it'll be a sport. Oh, and it has a ball. Actually, thousands of them a day.

[xballfan780]

Your should be happy more people are playing , this means more poeple to get out and bunker

[hobbesTZ]

HS and college foorball have rules that are not in the NFL.

There are a set of rules that everyone follows in paintball, but they are modified from place to place. Pretty much anything active is considered a sport.

[deadbox101]

OMG OMG OMG!@!

does it really matter if paintball is a sport or not? NO its on t.v. already and they're inventing ways to film it so you can see more of the game. Even if it isnt a sport it gets live coverage and thousands of people from ALL parts of the world can play. It doesnt matter if they classify it as a sport or activity or hobby, As long as i can play i could give a **** about its classification

[Blazestorm]

Sure, by definition it seems like a sport, but it's not. A sport has 1 unified set of rules that does not differ. Take the NFL. Even when you play it in the backyard for fun same rules. PeeWee leagues= same rules. High School= same rules. College= same rules. Back to the NFL. Paintball differs in every field and every backyard. Xball, PSP, IAO etc etc.
You probably think hokey is a sport, it isn't. No ball. Hockey is actually 3 activities tied together. Ics skating, playing with a puck(which you find in mens room urinals), and beating the crap out of someone. Same with swimming, swimming is not a sport, swimming is a way to keep from drowning.
So, when paintball unifies and gets one set of rules to be used universaly, then it'll be a sport. Oh, and it has a ball. Actually, thousands of them a day.

There are general rules that go for EVERYONE.

There are much smaller rules that differ between the leagues.

The point is, it takes 5 minutes to learn the difference between PSP and NPPL, as well as NXL and such.

Football has rules that everyone basically knows, which is what the NFL uses, same goes for paintball. You must shoot under 300fps, You must have approved goggle protective systems, No taking a piss on the field, No Physical Contact, If you are hit and it breaks, you are out, if it does not break you are in. In tournaments, wiping is generally a 1+1 or 1+2, Talking whilst dead is a 1+1, Shooting a dead player while you are dead, 1+1 (Watch 300FPS, a Dead player shoots the guy who talked, and got him out of the game, they pulled another 1+1) Breaking early from the start is usually an elimination.

Things like this are STANDARDIZED through tournaments. If you look at almost every tournament series they say "Uses modified NPPL Rules", Since PSP follows NPPL, PSP has rules very similar to NPPL.

Paintball is a sport.

[50 cal]

Paintballs not a sport yet, it's a game. A great game, but a game.

And it won't be a sport till the way tournaments and promoters that allow the way tournaments they promote are brought under ONE governing independent roof.

[xballfan780]

Paintball is a sport.

Yes Painball is considered a Sport, Its played by what over 12 million people? and growing