What's next? PBall future.

[ShooterJM]

Originally posted by ciaran.mooney


For that pressure pad vest to be possible it would have to be built into every piece of clothing that they have - at the moment that is almost impossible, and very expensive.

For a rec player, yes. For a pro team, with sponsors facing the increasing reality of National or Worldwide television exposure, no. Figure a one time expense of around $50k for a 12 man team. That's peanuts. Try and buy a national 30 second spot on TV for that much.

Also it depends on what you mean by expensive. Figure that I could probably have one made, custom for me, for about $2000 out the door. Now, say a league requires for professional level championships. Suddenly you have a larger market and theoretically cheaper product. Heck, have the league own the equipment.

[ciaran.mooney]

What i mean is having the jerseys or trousers sensing the ball hitting because the cloth is "intelligent". This almost haveing a computer woven into the cloths. These kind of intelligent cloths cost millions - now you cant say thats not expensive!

Current pressure pads would be too cumbersone for players to wear - god knows i wouldnt wear one. So unfortunatly we'll have to rely on judges to catch the cheats for the next few decades.

[davej946]

Originally posted by Rob @ DNR
\Our biggest problem is the internet. We cannot come close to some of the prices I have found online. I have seen products on the internet that are for sale cheaper than I buy them from the manufacturer! That burns me the most!!! How can I compete with that? Here is how we do it... What we offer is personal customer support. You buy a product from me, I back it up. You have a question or problem, you come see me, a person not an opperator that doesn't have a clue. Sure you pay a little more, but you get that much more out of it. We try and make friends out of our customers. Without them, we would not be here. Support your local pro shop. Without them around, you might not have a place to play next time... So spend that extra $5.00 on that item and get it from someone who will appreciate it. I know I will... I could go on for a long, long time, but I don't want to bore you all to death. See ya at the field...

Hey Rob,
I understand. I have taken my local store for granted. I bought a Flatline off eBay, and I was having some issues with it just last night. I headed up to my local shop to buy an RT parts kit, and give it a good cleaning, then have them fill it.

Not only did the guy tell me not to buy the kit, that it needed a good cleaning, he took the thing a part, cleaned it, reassembled it and filled it for me! That's service. I will buy almost all of my stuff from them from now on. (However, my product research will remain Internet-based.)

[EDIT] The future of paintball is the field. We have to weed out the crappy, rude, cheap and lazy field owners from the good ones. When EVERYONE (refs, players, owners) is supportive of the newbies, like I like to think I am, then our sport will grow into whatever we want it to... [/EDIT]
Later ~

[ShooterJM]

Originally posted by ciaran.mooney
What i mean is having the jerseys or trousers sensing the ball hitting because the cloth is "intelligent". This almost haveing a computer woven into the cloths. These kind of intelligent cloths cost millions - now you cant say thats not expensive!

Current pressure pads would be too cumbersone for players to wear - god knows i wouldnt wear one. So unfortunatly we'll have to rely on judges to catch the cheats for the next few decades.

Interwoven computers would be, at this stage, out of the question. However, pressure pads not neccessarily. Depending on the type, it wouldn't be much more cumbersome then an extra layer or two in a jersey. For instance, on my car alarm I have a seprate pressure sensors in my car seats. It's flexible material, weighs next to nothing, and cost me 25 bucks per seat. Place a layer of those in jerseys and pants and voila. Couple extra pounds over all, but nothing really.

[Aranarth]

You going to have pressure sensors on your feet also? How about your knees? And your hands? I don't think this is viable. You don't just get shot on your body. You get shot everywhere. Heck, you'd even need these on your gun. And then what happens if you touch something?
-AranarthX

[ShooterJM]

Originally posted by Aranarth
I don't think this is viable. You don't just get shot on your body. You get shot everywhere. Heck, you'd even need these on your gun. And then what happens if you touch something?
-AranarthX

Good points, it may not be. And it's extremely probable that even if it is, it won't ever be implemented in paintball. In my experiance, and it may be very far off from reality, hopper and marker hits are fairly rarely wiped. it's leg and arm hits that I see smeared most often. As to what happens when you touch something it's fairly simple. While an actual force measurement isn't needed a simple force level filter could be implemented that could filter out most false-positives. And like I said, this would merely be a backup to live reffing.

[nastymag]

i guess im lucky ....... my local store is the famous KAPP store! pretty big , full of good stuff and markers. they are pretty nice and know a whole lot abotu fixing markers.

i think we will stop at a certain time ... look i own an angel , the rate of fire is nice , the fact that its a lot lighter then my autocker is nice to. but what i like the most is the stablity with the rate of fire. i can fire real fast but believe me , i was taking 2-4 shot burst all the gamres except for the start ( then its time for the 40 shot strings) people will know that you cant use that to its full potantiol because all you do it snap shot.

hell right now i have the biggest urge to but a phantom and go play in my back yard.

people will realize.

as for paintball prices.... they arent going down any more

[Minimag4me]

If we use censors we have no reason to use paintballs which are an essential element to paintball. IT would detect bounces so the paintball wouldnt even have to break. We could then have foamish balls or plastic or something that wouldnt chop or break in the gun and they would be perfectly consistant. We could call it shootball or airsoft(haha) or something. It would defeat the purpose actual paintballs but would reap its own benefits...

[splat11756]

Vegata- thyat thing about the shop vac....the angel has it, it calleg air asist, its not stock though.

I was thinking of faster loaders, and maybe we could forget about the paint-barrel thing. We should find a way to make a standard sized paintball, so we can all use the same size barrel no matter what kind of paint.

[nastymag]

please guys dont say speedball takes no skill .

it takes a lot of skill to make the snake then snap shot your mirror then run up the tape and backdoor them. when people say that its all ROF .... not true . the people who play like that will only get newbs and never get better.
the front men in the action dont even get off that many long strings. I have played those one hour woods ball games .... the tension was so high it was crazy. i hate walking then getting hit by some old guy in a ghelli suit thats hiding in a bush. its just not that fun for me.

TV wouldnt help very much at first ... all the fields would get tons of new players who if they got hurt could sue. many of the companys who would be on TV would be kingman and brass eagle becasue they cater to the new player.
We have to think what we the player would get out of it ???
no longer would know a bunch of the regulers and the such.
we wouldnt see much coming out of it. Would you guys want to lose all the nice local run stores and see paintball get really commercialized ?
This would help the really good teams but the little teams would find it harder to compete.
just to state the facts im not some old guy against companys , im a 16 year old tourny player ( welli try to play tournys) .. i play with an angel and jersey .. new gear .. but i know how hard it is to play tourny now and it would just get harder with rich companys like pepsi and nikes sponsering teams and making the tournys more expensive. these companys would not really like to sponser the little teams .

we have to fix our proplems now before we make more.
We have to have newbs playing the nebs if possible not the good guys.

instead of all this about rocket football shaped paintballs for more range ... and sniper like play . that would worse for the sport becasue it would give even a more militeristic look to people outside. and i dont know about you guys but i like being close to the opponent. looking thru a scope and hitting somthing far off seems no where as fun as hitting some thing 40 feet away and knowing that it was your skill that got your there. playing with super long ranges would turn more games into stalemates with people just unloading at far ranges. another thing is that while bounces do suck ... they are part of the game . hell if you runn up a bunker and you get hit at range and it bounces .. you are happy. it adds more to the game knowing you may be able to make that bunker becasue they may bounce on you. pressure vest would take that chance away.

we need to make an organization to help the media understand our sport.

and lastly ever one remember that cheating is wrong .... and that poor newb who just spilled all his paint , may just deserve that extra pod you brought , becasue some day later he just may return the favor to some other newb.

[rx2]

>and lastly ever one remember that cheating is wrong .... >and that poor newb who just spilled all his paint , may >just deserve that extra pod you brought , becasue some day >later he just may return the favor to some other newb.

Sound advice if I have ever heard any.

It seems that it is unlikely that paintball will really be able to progress technologically much further than where it is at now due to the constraints of the physics of a fluid-filled sphere. That is, unless radical changes are made to the current standards, and that is unlikely any time soon. This type of R&D takes a lot of money and time, and this means that companies need a lot of profit to make sure they stay afloat during these phases. I think that is where something like image and public perception factor in, and where being kind to the new guy is important.
Luckily my parents had no qualms when I started playing back in 92. The local shop owner was pretty friendly, and so were a lot of the people playing locally. However, there were a few egotists with brand-new fancy semis. I ignored them (although eliminating them was much more sweet), but many young players would be intimidated. I am sure that parents of these kids would not feel that their kids were in a good environment, and would opt that they stayed away from paintball. I know, many other sports are FAR worse, but people have a way of amplifying the negative aspects of "unusual" activities, especially paintball. For example, how many people are permanantly disabled from football or hockey each year? Despite this, many parents would rather have their kid get tackled or have them starving themselves to make weight for the wresteling team than participate in paintball, simply because in paintball you shoot things that leave people with welts. I think that the incidence of serious injury in something like paintball is probably much lower than conventional sports, and is usually due to clumsiness or something on the players part.
These things keep new players and revenue away from paintball, which makes it harder for companies to really push the limits, or redefine them. Sure, there are companies that can, and do. However, they are few, and the advances often are more hype than anything, and the lack of competition/profit keeps prices high (which further dissuades some potential players).
I think that if opinion sways away from the negative, there will be more players, more revenue, and better chance for advancement. However, this would also mean that the problem of hoards of inexperienced kids loading up the fields would have to be addressed.
I think that the most advancement will come in game design, and field set-up. Things will have to be be made more friendly towrads newer players in certain situations. Perhaps optional stratification will take place so as to keep new guys from being put in games where they get hosed the whole time. Whatever it may be, things have to be such that new players aren't always so dissuaded (be they old or young).
Technologically, I think the next step will have to deal with paint design, the reasons for which have been stated numerous times before. This will be costly and may not go over too well with those who don't want to give up thier brand new $2000 rig, so it would probably be a phasing in system.
In any case, I think that we have been in the midst of the tech boom, and things will begin to settle in the near future, at least for a short time. Perhaps prices will fall, and quality will increase in some of the lower-end stuff, but I doubt that there will be any changes forcing you to sell all of your gear for the next big advancement anytime soon.

Of course, maybe I'm just crazy.

[ShooterJM]

Originally posted by Minimag4me
If we use censors we have no reason to use paintballs which are an essential element to paintball. IT would detect bounces so the paintball wouldnt even have to break. It would defeat the purpose actual paintballs but would reap its own benefits...

True, it would definately change the game. But again, this would merely be a backup system to prevent wiping. Perhaps chemically reactive or different fill could be used.

[Croix71]

Just going through the posts I was curious as to what everyone felt about the future for accessories. I'm sure a good portion of the profits a Pro Shops makes is from customizing. For the guys that played in the early 90s I'm sure you all remember making your Mag pretty with unique items like a Whispering Death, SS remote line, or the Magic Box etc.. Today we have custom anodized markers, multicollered Warp Feeds, adjustable bores for barrels, etc. So what's next? Perhaps design your very own one of a kind barrel?

[Vegeta]

There are many people/companies we forget about that, without some of thier innovations, paintball wouldn't be what it is. Mainly, Tippmann, and Tom. Tippmann came out with the idea to make a adapter so you can use larger co2 "Tanks", now known as the ASA. And Tom was the first to use compressed air. Back thene there was a lot of confusion in magazies, becuase people called a screw in co2 Tank a "CA" tank, for "Constant Air".. and they also called air/n2 tanks "CA" for compressed air. hehe. See all we need is more things like that. Look at the Automag and the Cocker. Both came out in the early 90's (Mag = 1991). Both are still in use today. Cockers have changed a bit in design and cosmetics, but mags are still the same. I guarentee there are people on these boards that own and still use a Mag from the early 90's.

Thats innovation folks. And all you fellow mag owners that bust on cockers all the time, the truth is, they wouldn't have lasted and wouldn't be so popular is they were bad guns. Same with angels.

Any kid in a garage can put paintball comp[anies today out of business with one idea. I have had many of the years of my own. Some worked, some didn't. Many are just sitting in my desk or on my hard drive. There are thousands of unfinished paintball marker / ideas laying around all over the paintball community. Before long something new and big will come out of it.

[MagmanLee]

In my opinion, the future of pb should move away from paintballs. Now hold on, let me explain. I don't know what the biggest problems u face during a game but mine are: ball breakage and accuracy. This can be solved by completely resizing boresizes of guns and changing from paintballs to very small and light rubber or plastic pelts(which are shaped to reduce air friction and won't break in ur marker also increasing accuaracy) which can be produced fast and cheaply. I'll explain how u can get out in the next sec.
Electronics are the way to go but i'm not thinking that for guns. Computers which link to a Heads Up Display on ur mask and linked to ur gun just like the Army's Land Warrior Program, which allows u to see where ur team is, their stuation, ur condition. Also on getting ppl out, a jumpsuit fitted to ur specs is worn on u which is sensitive to touch, when u are hit the suit will tell u ur condition, injuried or dead instead of getting hit once in the hand and getting out u will just be "injuried". A similar "skin" will fit on ur gun and if it is hit ur marker might be disablied.
This gives more realism to the game plus the suit will elimentate players that wipe. Oh well that just my ****ed up brain thinking