The end of Paintball?

[SCpoloRicker]

Nope ... it comes from my friends father in law who was a member of the GM board ...

GM can make a gas engine that can get 30 to 40 mpg, maybe even more .... But the Gas Companies scratch their backs so GM will scratch theirs. It's common buisness practice that makes this country so "great" .... It's all about the buck, not the customer.

Giggle. Beware the automaker / oil producer conspiracy!

[LudavicoSoldier]

I guess I'm a bada$$ for using a pump on tha X-Ball field? I'll tell ya, playing 100% pump games on speedball fields is FUN! People should do it more often! Bunkering people is much more spectacular when you have to hit them with the first shot (or two).

Thats my new Woodland Camo VSC Phantom.

[Thordic]

GM can make a gas engine that can get 30 to 40 mpg, maybe even more ....

Hrm. GM = Saturn, my Saturn got 30 - 40 mpg. It must be a conspiracy.

[SlartyBartFast]

Hrm. GM = Saturn, my Saturn got 30 - 40 mpg. It must be a conspiracy.

30-40mpg is easy. The conspiracy is consumers wanting big SUVs. Simple as that. it IS all about the customer. And the Bucks. Give the customer what they want, customer will give you the bucks.

Funny how it's always a "friend's" friend (or in this case father). Care to substantiate your claim with proof? Give us the name of the "father" so we can check the list of GM board members.

Also, if you can point to any proof of payments being made. I'm sure that sareholders would be glad to sue for diverted profits if that money wastn't declaierd and "on-the-books".

People are too stupid to inflate their tires properly, remove roof racks when not in use, drive conservatively, or a dozen other methods (aside from buying a fuel efficient car in the first palce) to save fuel.

To believe in the conspiracy is plain STUPIDITY.

[Thordic]

I know its easy, I was mocking his claim :)

To believe in the conspiracy is plain STUPIDITY.

Or the need to look


I spent enough time driving a slow car that got 35mpg, so I got a faster one that gets 18mpg. Its not twice as fast though, no matter what you might be led to believe.

[SlartyBartFast]

If you want to talk about Electric Companies, lets look at Enron ...

And right there you prove you don't know what you're talking about.

Enron was a trading company.

Driving up the price due to low supply based on market manipulation helped their bottom line selling futures and marginally helped the producers. Of far more benefit to the producers would be a method to get cheaper electricity to sell.

[dre1919]

I agree with a few of the things Asian said at the beginning of this thread. I personally have been playing for eleven years and I started playing back in the woodsball days when that was all there was. Then came speedball and my freinds and I got into it, playing tournaments. As we have gone out to fields, we see all the time how the players with the best guns on the field (highest rate of fire and fattest wallet) walk away with the wins. Sure, some of them have good strategy and tactics, but most of the time it's sheer volume and experience. They know the noobies will cower behind the bunkers for a short while, getting their feet wet and expecting a slower paced game. They rely on this, and in certain cases, so have I as an experienced player. They know they have the ability to hang out further than they should, firing off countless rounds eliminating newbs on sheer firepower. The newbs after the match either find their way to two things: intimidation or hero worship. They either think the player who spanked their whole team with his super marker was really good, or they feel frustrated and humiliated they weren't any good at this sport.

Here's an example: I have a buddy whose 32, so no kid himself. I've been trying to talk him into playing for many years and he finally made the leap, buying a Tippmann even though I tried to tell him he'd outgrow the marker in a while. Well, he goes up to a local field we have and his eyes are literally opened by how much volume some people can shoot with certain guns. He thought paintball was more about tactics, stalking and finding other players to shoot out, and playable with 500-700 rounds for the day. Yeah, it was...in '96. So now he only wants to play on his land, with like minded Tippmann carrying players. That style of playing took him, and his money, away from that field. Now though, even if you go to a simple field for some rec play, you'd better come with lots of cash and a decent gun because even in common rec play the people who strive to make themselves feel better by beating up on newbies or rec players are lurking. They are lurking with their Karnivores and Shockers, their A4's and DM4's. They come out to play, knowing they spend most of their time in tournaments, and get lumped in with the church groups or the rec players just trying out the sport. The result most of the time is people come away feeling they are better served playing on their own land or not at all. They can't compete with that kind of firepower, and they can't afford to own it themselves, so they disregard paintball as fun, but not worth the hassle. That's several more new players that we lose.

It does no good to say "Well, the referees should sepearte the groups into new guys and experienced." The reffing at our fields, all our fields, sucks big time and the refs are lazy enough teenagers to see that this would not happen. Seriously...I have literally seen it first hand many, many times. I've seen refs do so little on a field they are as useful as a pallet wall. So that leads us to the conclusion that while speedball and faster markers are fun to shoot (I have an Angel LCD), it's not that good for the sport. Who it is good for is the paintball manufacturers who want you to buy more new markers and more paint. You can't make them rich shooting a gun with 5-7 bps capability, so they don't hype that style of play. Who really needs to be able to launch 20 balls per second anyway? If it only takes one to eliminate a player, are you really that bad of a shot? No, it's camoflauged under the term "suppressing fire to aid movement of your teammates". What it should be appropriately titled is "Let's generate more money for the paintball manufacturer and see if anyone notices."

Well...yeah, I did.

[Jaan]

30-40mpg is easy. The conspiracy is consumers wanting big SUVs. Simple as that. it IS all about the customer. And the Bucks. Give the customer what they want, customer will give you the bucks.

Funny how it's always a "friend's" friend (or in this case father). Care to substantiate your claim with proof? Give us the name of the "father" so we can check the list of GM board members.

Also, if you can point to any proof of payments being made. I'm sure that sareholders would be glad to sue for diverted profits if that money wastn't declaierd and "on-the-books".

People are too stupid to inflate their tires properly, remove roof racks when not in use, drive conservatively, or a dozen other methods (aside from buying a fuel efficient car in the first palce) to save fuel.

To believe in the conspiracy is plain STUPIDITY.

And to blindly trust big business and government is just plain naive.

Read up on history a little. General Motors, Firestone Tires, and Standard Oil of California were convicted of conspiracy in 1949 for buying up trolley lines and replacing them with buses. GM buses, using Firestone Tires and burning Gasoline provided by Standard Oil. They were fined $5000 each. They made millions.

Of course, humans no longer suffer from the same greedy frailties they did back in 1949 (c:

You know, if Smart Parts were really smart, they would do the same thing that the Singer sewing machine company did back in the old days when they offered to exchange the old cast iron machines for brand new electric machines. The cast iron machines were lasting too long (indeed, I have a treadle machine myself that's probably 80 years old) so they wanted people to get rid of them. They would give you a brand new machines for nothing then destroy the old machines. Imagine what would happen if Smart Parts decided to exchange Automags for Ions.

What's the difference between a conspiracy, which you beleive is as real as UFO's, and cooperation? We all need to cooperate in order for the world to function as it does, the only difference is a "conspiracy" involves underhanded, or illegal acts.

[Lohman446]

Nope ... it comes from my friends father in law who was a member of the GM board ...

GM can make a gas engine that can get 30 to 40 mpg, maybe even more .... But the Gas Companies scratch their backs so GM will scratch theirs. It's common buisness practice that makes this country so "great" .... It's all about the buck, not the customer.

Umm... GM/Ford/ Chrysler DO produce several gas engines that get over 30MPG. That mythical phantom executive... he didn't know this?

[SlartyBartFast]

And to blindly trust big business and government is just plain naive.

Who said anything about blind trust?

Blindly believing all industry and government to be involved in conspiracies is paranoid.

Can you come up with proof?

[slasherdan]

Umm... GM/Ford/ Chrysler DO produce several gas engines that get over 30MPG. That mythical phantom executive... he didn't know this?

Pardon me for getting my facts wrong ... I called them up last night and I was told that SUV's and Van's were the 30 to 40 MPG and in some cases better. They have a v-6 that can get mid 50's mpg.

Yeah Enron is a trading company. But they were pulling strings in California left and right. I wasn't trying to say they were a electric company. Sorry for not making myself clear on my point.

Either way .... I don't blame Smart Parts for what they've done. It's nothing new here in the U.S.

It sucks for every little man out there trying to get into the game. It's next to impossible to make something new without suffering a lawsuit now.

I'm just going to stick to my Phantom and have fun.

[slasherdan]

I guess I'm a bada$$ for using a pump on tha X-Ball field? I'll tell ya, playing 100% pump games on speedball fields is FUN! People should do it more often! Bunkering people is much more spectacular when you have to hit them with the first shot (or two).

Thats my new Woodland Camo VSC Phantom.

Wait till you're the only pump on the X-Ball field and STILL bunkering people ....

Double their pride, sweeter their fall.

[LudavicoSoldier]

Wait till you're the only pump on the X-Ball field and STILL bunkering people ....

Double their pride, sweeter their fall.

I might have to put my direct feed body on to rock out with the rampers.

[slasherdan]

I might have to put my direct feed body on to rock out with the rampers.

Do what I did once for fun ... Put a Warp Feed on it and then see how many people ask how much it cost to get my Mag customized to look like that ....

[BuyMyMag]

And here come the pump stories. Funny how I've yet to see someone use a pump in X-ball, scenario, or woodsball in like 2-3 years. There's no way you would stand a chance in a speedball match against ramping markers with a gun that you have to cock before firing. I can guarantee that there were no pumps on the field today.

The teams I watched may not have been "amateur" or maybe they were. They were sponsored. I know there was an Evil team out there...I think something like Draxxus and one other one, maybe Empire. They were young...some teams were teenaged, other players in their 20s and they had coaches with them. They were 7-man teams. They used so much paint that there were "piles" of it in each of the corners of the field where it had hit the netting. And each of the kids was decked out in major equipment...at least one of the teams, I think 2, actually had their trucks/vans painted with their team names or logos or sponsors or something.

Yes, they had to run and slide. That's why I said 15% physical. 5% equipment...mainly because everyone out there had virtually the same level so all it is is a matter of upkeep.

It's not the arrow, it's the indian behind it. You don't need a $100534534534 marker to play speedball... Anyone can play! I take my Was'd Impulse out to the speedball field, it's not as fast as many of the other guns, and surely didn't cost as much, but the only way you can get better at it is by playing against better people....