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Deuce's View #2 February 1 2010 Deuce's View #2
Deuce’s View #2 Likes and dislikes of the paintball industry. What are we doing wrong? Well, I’m going to open up this blog in hopes of getting some serious responses from you, the paintball player. I’m a paintball player and a field owner so my perspective on things can sometime be skewed by the business side of sports and recreation. I try to implement what I like about paintball into our games, facility, etc at E.M.R. but sometimes that comes with the cost of doing business. So I want to make this a two part discussion where we discuss a wish list for paintball and then a reasonable solution to some of the issues we are facing today. I will try and address questions and answers posed in both parts. The more I write the more I’m thinking that this might be more than a two part blog. But we will start with some hot topic issues. I’ll put them out there and then I can respond to the responses I get. Sometimes I’ll be frank about why an idea might or might not work based on technology, cost, availability for resources, etc. Please don’t overreact, just listen to what I have to say, and I will give you the same respect. I’ve seen a lot of companies, fields, stores, and manufacturers come and go, and even though I don’t do anything perfectly, staying alive in the business side of this sport for 15 years shows that we are doing some things the right way. So, with that said, here we go… 1. What is the deal with all of the factions in our sport? We have Rec. ball, Scenario Ball, Tournament ball, Stock class/Pump, etc. Can’t we all just get along? Everyone has their reasons why “their” part of the sport is better. I understand that. I’ve played every one of these types of paintball and you know what? I love them all. Let’s support each part of paintball and bring this bad boy together, one big family. So my question to you the player is; why are we so divided in paintball? 2. Part two of this question; What can we do to bring everyone together? 3. What are the big events/scenario games missing? It seems that everyone has tried something new and yet the most players that we can draw at any single event seems to be stuck at around 4,000. 4. What are the tournament circuits missing? I remember going to a San Diego NPPL years ago and there were 10’s of thousands of people there all day, especially on Fridays and Saturdays, there were probably even more in attendance. The stands were packed and every game seemed to have meaning. These pro events have been dwindling over the years. Without spectators, there are no pro events, at least pro events that matter. Do we need to rethink the pro paintball format? 5. What could we do as an industry to make paintball more viewer friendly? Well, I think that is a good start for now. We could spend a lot of time talking about these 5 points. Trust me, I have more, but I don’t want to overload everyone on the first day. I would love to hear your feedback, or ideas, this sport needs to listen to the players. The manufacturers, the field owners, the event directors, the tournament circuits, the stores, the retailers, they all need to listen up. Here is a chance to give me some feedback on what you, the player thinks about these topics. Just remember to do it responsibly. Please do not attack anyone on here personally or professionally. This is about ideas and concepts, not blaming specific people, or manufacturers, or event coordinators. You get the idea. If you want to bring something to my attention but do not feel comfortable posting it on an open forum, please contact me at the email address below. I’ll be more than happy to answer you directly, or apply your thoughts to a post anonymously. Thanks for your time. I look forward to hearing what you have to say. Until next time, keep shooting faces…Deuce 
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Can only comment on one thing time permitting and that is how to make the game shown on TV more attractive. Have the put any helmet cams on the players to see what they see? Like have a instant replay from the shooting player when the opponent gets hit or something like that. Just food for thought. More to come but right now I've got to pack for a live fire exercise at Ft. Stewart, Ga. The joys of big guns that can hit a target 18 miles away.
1. No, we are not all going to get along. It’s human nature to think the choices you have made are superior to the choices others have made. Can we respect each other’s choices? Sure. Most of us do, but there are always some in every crowd that are less mature than others. This is in all things in life, not just paintball. Since paintball is made up of a fairly young demographic, we will never ALL be mature. Just isn’t going to happen, so stop hoping and wishing it will.
2. Very little can be done about it. Continue trying to get players to be mature, but there are limits to how much that will work. You can’t make people who are immature, be mature.
3. There are limits to how many people want to take part in these kinds of events. First of all, they are attended by mostly regular players, not occasional renters. Not everyone likes to play in environments where so much paint is shot. I certainly don’t and I know many other players that are not the least bit interested in such conditions.
Cheating is rampant at these large scenarios. That will not change and it’s impossible to have enough refereeing on hand, so you are limited to have most play by the honor system. Traveling long distances and spending a substantial amount of money just to keep walking off the field when players are hit, doesn’t seem to be a viable option for many who attend these games.
4. Tournament paintball is not exciting to watch and as the amount of paint shot has increased over the years, seems to be even less exciting to watch. The games seem to be very much alike game after game, especially to those not trained to see minor differences. The other thing is that paintball is not new anymore. Where years ago people were drawn to big tournaments out of curiosity, that no longer happens.
Choosing to playing tournament ball has become an interest for a fairly small part of an already relatively small demographic (paintball players) in general. Tournament paintball, the way it is played today with today’s technology, is a very extreme form of paintball. There are a very limited number of people on this planet who want to commit to relative poverty (cause unless you are independently wealthy, that is what you will be faced with), the time commitment needed, and the extreme playing conditions.
Can it be changed to a format that is popular to a wider player base and audience? Sure, somewhat. But I don’t think you are going to get too many people playing tournaments currently, wanting to “dumb down” the game and make it less extreme. Tournament ball will always be destined to be a fringe sport. It doesn’t matter how much people who are involved want it to become mainstream, it just will never happen. But that isn’t going to stop those involved from dreaming. Who wants to give up their dreams?
5. The thrill of the game comes from playing it, not watching it. Why are some people so obsessed with making the game viewer friendly. Concentrate on making the game “player friendly” and you will have a much larger healthier industry. Educate the field owners on how to create a product that a larger percentage of the population will want to take part in. Paintball is run by local field owners at the grass roots level. Those field owners are ultimately the ones that make or break the industry. Trying to “fix paintball” at the other end of the spectrum (like trying to get it on TV) is futile without fixing it at the grassroots level. Having a non-paintball playing person get excited by watching something on TV, only to be disappointed when he/she actually plays his/her first game at the local field is counter-productive. Fixing the paintball industry at the lowest level gives it a solid foundation to grow on.
I see it also; I am a computer geek by trade. Look at Pc vs. Mac, Xbox vs. PS3, HD vs. BluRay, Airsoft vs. Paintball etc… it comes down to the money and everyone wanting a cut. Look at all the person who went out and bought HD then bluRay becomes the standard. I had a couple of kids from the school I work at playing in the AXBL (now defunked) These kids put a lot of money and time in to trying to help this league out and now are left with a letter saying sorry. I get places like EMR, Dday, Splatter Park, charging a little more for their paint they are a destination but some of these fields want to charge the same rates for woods with little to no upkeep. It would like me putting a slide into my pound and saying welcome to Disneyland admittance 80 dollars. I guess what I am trying to say there has to be the big events but there has to be the places that make it affordable to play every weekend. That way it can build from the grassroots up. I could go on how I think the industry has missed the boat not tying into the video game kids. Look at the number of kids and adults that play just COD(Call of Duty) there has to be away to entice these gamers to want to take it to the next level and do it for real. So in paintball have all the fields run a global ranking system like in the games. Any way I digress for now.
I wanted to add in some feedback that was sent to me via email from a person without a user account.
From Colin in Ne Zealand:
I tried to comment on your blog "Deuce's View #2" but I haven't created a user account yet. Below is what I was trying to post:
Factions happen in everything. For example, how many different skiing-based sports can you think of? The us versus them attitude is pretty immature, but that's not a fault of the sport. I don't think any organization/re-organization of paintball will solve that one - it is up to the players themselves (especially those who attract more of the spotlight) to work on building a more welcoming community.
What are big scenarios missing? For the ones I've been to: space and reffing. Too many people on too small of a field results in paint-flinging match with little/no strategy. Not enough refs is dispiriting for both the refs and the players.
Why not more players at big games? I would think it's due to the number of ballers in the area, and the affordability for those coming from further away. When the number of people playing increases, I'm sure more will show up to well advertised games.
Pro tournaments? I do a lot of sports for fun and couldn't care less if they have a world cup / major tournament series. If the pro leagues are struggling, maybe look at other sports and see what they've done. For example, marathons are known for the cities they're in and certain ones have risen to the top (New York, Boston, etc.) and each has it's own route. Maybe fields could establish their own tournaments (and game formats). Innovate through numbers, rather than a top-down (league) approach. Certain fields will become known for their game format (like has happened with scenarios and woodsball: D-day, West Coast Pump Weekend, EMR castle, etc.) and become the major tournaments/events.
Finally, I was wondering why it's so important for paintball to rush to become more mainstream? If we (as a community) focus on being welcoming and having fun, we'll all have more fun and it will attract more people through word of mouth. Word of mouth is far more effective than any media exposure will ever be. Make it fun and keep it fun!
Just my $0.02
Colin
Paintballing in New Zealand.
Great responses to a great set of thoughts and questions.
Deuce, also as a Paintball Business Owner / the SplattRak Paintball Marker Stand). I think that the differences between pro tournament and woodsballl need different approaches. Let me leave the backyard woodsballer alone for a minute (yes I am one also) and speak directly about Professional Tournament Paintball, and I choose this Industry because I actually believe more money needs to be infused into this sport and since our industry is made up mostly of us Mom n Pops the money cant come from them/us, so it has to come from much bigger sources. Who and where are the bigger sponsors? Gatorade etc..? The one thing these bigger sponsors know is that Live Paintball is very difficult to view from a spectators stand point difficult to televise and get what Big Money expects, large viewing audiences. Okay, sell the Top Professionals as absolute "Rock Stars", put them on a pedestal, market their image(s), teach them how to act like a Sports Professional, sell the Image. Paintball has to be viewed on Television, I don't think this can be done live yet (well), but innovation should look more into that (i.e. overhead cameras, day-glow paintballs...something), so creating a Paintball 1/2 hour show with Video that explains whats going on. Side note; too many of our paintball youtube videos do NOT speak to a noobie, it assumes that everyone knows Ollie Lang, and that type of approach does not welcome the new player or spectator. Speak of Ollie, but let your viewers know who your talking about. Speak of DYE and PbNation or techPB, but explain who they are and what they contribute, etcetera. Slow the game down on Video and narrate whats going on, make it "new-viewer friendly" Attract new people to the sport. Professional Paintball is where most of the sponsorship moneys go to.
Players dont realize the business benefits of standardizing formats. By having the lower division pro teams play the same format as the "Rock Star" Pro teams they will know what to expect, and practice for. Unification shows structure and gives solid direction as what to expect at every field. Read the story about when the AFL (American Football League) and the NFL (National Football League) merged. They hated each other and wanted nothing to do with one another....when they finally merged they have become one of the most successful business models ever created. And, yes, paintballer the business side of paintball wins, but this is where the cash is coming from so the paintballer wins also. This allows for so much, High School, College, Minor League teams, Feeder Leagues all playing the same format paintball. You don't see Professional Baseball Teams with their minor league teams practicing t-ball. They practice at the same sport they are training to become part of and get paid for.
Great conversation.
My two cents,
SplattRak
well here\'s the think look at it like this players are like car guys and truck guys they like vehicles but you wont get a car guy to like a truck more then his car and vice versa. now we all know paintball is not spectator frendly unless you know the sport and a on the sidelines. i mean you cant even see players get hit or the paint balls in the air. and the games are to fast to get into how can you get exsited if you dont know what happened. maybe a merge between pro and rec ball is needed. limit rate of fire and ammo amounts and exspand the field. to create more stratagy. make a defined offence and deffence like football not a free for all. and i know there allreadly is that in the game but its like hockey not tv friendy if you not use to it . mybe a swat training like system were teams run a gamite of trials or an atack and deffened type game and they could alternate side. this mite unite players to go back to the car thing know matter you drive everyone like a car show . but hey mybe i wayoff but it is food for thought . www.boneheadspaintball.com
1) Yeah its like Woodsball and Xball players are not supposed to get along for some reason. My way is better...no mine is. Paintball is paintball just like music there is a lot of different styles but not one is better then the other. The goal is to have fun.
2)Its great when fields have different styles of play to offer all players but we should also encourage players to try something new.
3)This is a tough one. Advertisement plays a gaint role in this. Paintball as a whole has lost almost all of its steam and has kind of fallen if the map. We all need to pitch in and do our part to get it backm on their(cable access commercials,flyers,emails,newpaper add etc..)
Try to get more and more pball companies to giveaway some items and to sponsor these events. For instance most of my woodsball vids are almost ads themselves.(You can see I'm using Tippmann products as well as a well place Social Paintball sticker on my hopper that you can see in almost every action shot.) Ouside companies for example UnderArmour should really look into sponsering paintball players.
4) I think ties into question 3. That is also a tough one.
5) I think the Discovery Ch, Science Ch, Military Ch and yes get it back in their like it used to be on ESPN!!! These stations could have weekly specials or even dedicated shows about the sport hell put a special on the History Ch. I think the Budwizer commercial was okay but it did not show the sport to be serious nor did they use the right masks!!!. I bet not one of those guys involved in the making of that ad never even played.
I think we all(players,field owners,vendors etc..) need to all step up and kick this sport back into gear and put it back on the map as a serious sport. I'm sorry but I would much rather watch a Xball tourny then football. Also get some Woodsball and scenario games televised. You could outfit all with helmet cams,buncker cams and even dedicated video guys following players.
Oh yeah one more thought. To all you fields that rip off players by charging 90-110 dollars a case of paint because you are FPO that is BULLSH*!!.We understand it takes money to pay yhour refs and field up keep but 90-110 a case!!!! Thats just wrong. Oh and you know who you are so stop doing it. Thats why a lot of us won't play at your fields. This sport is not cheap. If you want us to come out and play your field over and over, work with us help us help you. NUFF SAID
32b over and out..