Screw the "good old days"

[Tao]

Screw the good old days -

I dont understand everyone's emotional attachment to them. Think about it;

-3 hour drives to get to a field.
-co2 @ $10 a fill
-20fps velocity swings
-gravity fed or tilt feed loaders
-hour long games of standing around "guarding the flag" (waiting)
-long walks to different fields
-$120.00/case paint
-8 bps!! (at best)
-very few pro-shops. (the internet was still in its infancy, so no online shops either)
-not too many players out there yet

We are in the "Good new days" IMO things are MUCH better for players now;
-$40/case paint
-HPA
-Fields all over
-lots of players to shoot
-good quality gear at any pricerange.
-Speedball and woodsball. Fields have also evolved where games are much quicker, better run, and with little down time between games.
-FIREPOWER + ACCURACY
-Pro-shops aplenty, both online, and local mom and pop stores

The only part of paintball I think that really took a dump is the manufaturing end. I dont know what is worst, the competition, the lawsuits, or the customer service. (In many cases). But even with all of the BS, SOMEONE is make a ton of money in paintball.

I gotta laugh at the emotional nostalgic haze that people look at the past in. I think we all tend to over exagerate just how 'good' the good old days really were. I guess we are all just getting old. We all miss the good times we had, but we cant forget that there are plenty of opportunities to make new good times.

Im 34 now, alot slower than I was, but I am enjoying paintball now much more than at any other time in the 15 years ive been playing. I am also playing alot more than I was, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it. I dont get that "Kid on Christmas morning" feeling anymore like I used to, but playing is still my all time favorite recreation. (And obsession)

Dont forget to list in the "Godd new days" fileds run by Joe and Shmoe with no refs....

[Tao]

That is one of the best lines I've ever seen on any message board.

lol true too!...

[BigEvil]

Dont forget to list in the "Godd new days" fileds run by Joe and Shmoe with no refs....

See, the good thing about crap like that, is that there are other fields that you can go to. You arent stuck with a place like that. Years ago, your choices were much more limited.

[phantomhitman]

eh, what do I know? I'm a "never was" with no game who should just drop dead. Just ask certain people on the forum.

My post was not sarcasm at all, it was %100 truth. Most people on here believe what they want to UNLESS the "old school guys" can change their minds. They do not read, understand, or even try to understand what the newer or younger members say. Oh well, maybe words from a more trusted member can budge them

[Z-man]

My post was not sarcasm at all, it was %100 truth. Most people on here believe what they want to UNLESS the "old school guys" can change their minds. They do not read, understand, or even try to understand what the newer or younger members say. Oh well, maybe words from a more trusted member can budge them

Not generally from what I have found. You want to change people's mind on what they think is true? You need to:

-Research the subject more than anyone else.
-Produce a movie backing up what you were claiming
-Backup that movie's credibility (otherwise you made it up)
-Produce a secondary movie to reestablish credibility because after a while the first one becomes "old" and old movies are last year. Everything we know about paintball was established in the current year we play.

Do ALL that and you have a 70% chance of success.

What do you do if you want to backup what people already believe?

-Just say you or your friend can do it.

Do that and you have a 100% chance of success.

[phantomhitman]

Not generally from what I have found. You want to change people's mind on what they think is true? You need to:

you need to get rid of that credibilty crap, you are on the int3tn3t5 now.

[Z-man]

you need to get rid of that credibilty crap, you are on the int3tn3t5 now.

Everyone likes to see those "one man vs the world" scenarios. Now while I cannot defeat the mountain of BS and hype that forms the cornerstone for all knowledge that is paintball, people do enjoy watching me try.

Take the speed test videos.

I am the ONLY one to have ever made a video of any marker shooting 30+bps with paintballs sustained over the full duration of 1 or more seconds. There IS NO ONE ELSE. NONE. And yet even with this evidence presented it is far easier to watch that video and then say:

ive seen the movies.

tippys will cycle faster.

I could make a video showing an Automag shooting 50 balls a second for 1 minute straight with no breaks and no stops and I have EVERY confidence that without fail you would see comments like "ya well a Spyder design can go faster"

That's faith brother. Amen.

[FiXeL]

You people talk alot about "the old days"

Well here in europe things are different, and maybe i am not the right guy to point this out (playing for almost a year now, so relatively n00b)

My first expierience to paintball was almost 10 years ago, when the game was new to our continent. It was a outing origanised by my boss at the time, and we taunted eachother weeks at work before the event, like: I am gonna paint you full! and: U better try or i'll get u!

Fact was we only got pumps, so it was not much spraying in those days. We played in an old converted milk factory, and it is still in buisness these years. The only backside is they really don't care about the paintball community and rather earn money from the non-paintball players that still want to pay 10 euros for 100 balls. I only got into paintball again after installing a washing machine in my oldest sister's house last year. She talked about playing ball on a rec basis, and i was interested since i played alot of FPS games online.

After she showed me her gear i was sold. That weekend after installing the washer, i searched the net and bought me a marker. I've had several different markers and i am hoping to finally get a mag that should be mine in a few weeks...

In the netherlands we do not see alot op wiping going on during walk-on games, but it could be partly because the game is not so big here and therefore you don't see too many lamers, or players over here have a bigger sence of what is right to do. Sure, there are some who will wipe over here, but i still have to catch one doing it.

In a way we are back a lot of years compared to the U.S. Maybe that is a good thing. :)

[CoolHand]

Everyone likes to see those "one man vs the world" scenarios. Now while I cannot defeat the mountain of BS and hype that forms the cornerstone for all knowledge that is paintball, people do enjoy watching me try.

Take the speed test videos.

I am the ONLY one to have ever made a video of any marker shooting 30+bps with paintballs sustained over the full duration of 1 or more seconds. There IS NO ONE ELSE. NONE. And yet even with this evidence presented it is far easier to watch that video and then say:



I could make a video showing an Automag shooting 50 balls a second for 1 minute straight with no breaks and no stops and I have EVERY confidence that without fail you would see comments like "ya well a Spyder design can go faster"

That's faith brother. Amen.

I knew there was a reason I liked you.

[hitech]

I am the ONLY one to have ever made a video of any marker shooting 30+bps with paintballs sustained over the full duration of 1 or more seconds.

Hey, didn't ButterFingers do that with the emagnum?

That might have been before your time.

[Zentish]

I am continually reminded of a cartoon I once saw in an old paintball magazine. It showed the stages of the paintball player.

Newbie: Sweats, basic mask, pump pistol and several 10 round sticks in his pockets.
Intermediate: Camo, nice marker, hopper, and tank.
Advanced: Full battlefield armor, scuba tank strapped to his back, a belt-feeder from a big bagpack.
Ultimate: Sweats, basic mask, pump pistol and several 10 round sticks in his pockets.

I think I've been playing since 1989 or 89. I started playing with rental pumps, PGP's and Pirhana's. Owned a 68 special (junk), F2 Illustrator (not F4), Phantom (I won that), PGP (still have), Pirahna Long Barrel (wish I still had), 68-Automag (still love it), and a brand-spanking new Emag.

My favorite game is still to go out with a pump in the woods. I might only get one elimination, but it is so very satisfying.

I respect the kids who play speedball, anyone who plays the sport actually, they're high strung and sometimes obnoxious. Sometimes I have to shoot their 'timmy-spraying butts with my 68automag to get their respect back. I suspect that I was that way back in '89 running around the woods.

It was harder to play in the old days, but I think that added to the character and comraderie.

[REDRT]

Reading a few posts back got me thinking. All and all the game really hasn't change all that much. Alot of things people complain about today happened back in the day also. Times have changed some, But I think most of the change is with in myself.

[Jaan]

I am continually reminded of a cartoon I once saw in an old paintball magazine. It showed the stages of the paintball player.

Newbie: Sweats, basic mask, pump pistol and several 10 round sticks in his pockets.
Intermediate: Camo, nice marker, hopper, and tank.
Advanced: Full battlefield armor, scuba tank strapped to his back, a belt-feeder from a big bagpack.
Ultimate: Sweats, basic mask, pump pistol and several 10 round sticks in his pockets.

Word.

I'm not saying I'm the ultimate player ... far from it ... but I did go through my ghillie phase and all that and eventually made it back to my roots. The last time I played I carried a Nelspot 007, and a bunch of 10 round tubes in my pocket. Thanks, that made my day (c:

I think what part of the problem is is that we're bombarded with advertising and are brainwashed into always finding the best ... the best of everything, all the time. An endless, and expensive, quest. People don't live in the moment anymore ... because no matter how much fun you had it would have been so much better if you had that new faster stronger better gew gah.

In the good ol' days it was new to all of us, and we were living in the moment with simple basic equipment because that's all there was. We still had fun though, and the playing field was a little more even. Of course, pump wasn't good enough, CO2 wasn't good enough, mechanical markers weren't good enough ...

As I'm sitting here writing this I'm watching my kitten playing with a paper ball. That's all ... just a peice of paper I bunched up into a ball and threw on the floor. She'll play with that for hours, and she'll even play fetch with me. She doesn't need balls with bells inside, or catnip, or a $15 laser ball ... all she wants to do is play.

Sometimes, we forget the joys of simply playing.

[hitech]

Sometimes, we forget the joys of simply playing.

[Tyger]

I am continually reminded of a cartoon I once saw in an old paintball magazine. It showed the stages of the paintball player.