Is paintball dying ???

[Richard Merghani]

Well I haven't played for almost six years BUT that is how I and a lot of my friends ( who still play ) see it !! The demise of 7-man was the start ( I feel ) and now the with the VERY sad lose of the NSPL the paintball scene is on it's knees !! Paint is still just as expensive as it was when I quit and the standard of marshalling hasn't got any better !! ?? Yes the BIG tourneys are still going but at what cost to the sport ? It certainly hasn't projected the sport into the mainstream like so many people thought it would .5-man be it x-ball style or normal 5-man is so fast that it could and would never catch on to watch on t.v ! So please tell me what you think !!?? Paintball R.I.P ?? I think so but I pray NOT !!

 

[NitroBall]

if i stopped playing, im positive i would die

over the years, players have taken time out, some longer than other, some have stopped playing altogether due to various reasons, eg young family, more people working weekends etc
whilst some have stopped playing, you will always get new players taking interest in the sport/hobby, so i very much doubt i will out live paintball.

 

[Gee Tee]

Depends if you are talking about tournament scene specifically, or other aspects of the game such as rental, woodsball/Rec or scenario. I still think other areas of the game are doing pretty well despite the dire economic climate.

 

[Dusty]

Airsoft seems to be growing, I know a few ballers have left for it now. Not saying it's better, just pointing it out.

I know here in Ireland they've had to cancel more tourneys on the scenario and speedball side than I care to remember. It's really in trouble here.

Ordinary customer days seem busy enough though.

 

[David Jack UK Mercs]

i can honestly say in my experience the game has grown and grown over the last 12 years.

The site i work at has seen a large increase in interest from the rental quater and this in turn has fed into people wanting to play more games and become more involved in the sport.

Woodsball has had a big surge in popularity with Mil Sim teams and events like NvS raising the bar but on the tourney side too younger players are coming forward almost weekly.......CPPS seems to have spwned at least five new teams in Staffordshire and Cheshire alone!!

Long live the sport......in what ever format you prefer.

 

[Ali]

i noticed from starting in 2006 that at first to me it seemed like a very very busy and hectic game but i noticed towards 2007/2009 it started to die alittle but started to grow massively from about 2010/11 onwards with the cpps constantly growing, think the cpps had 65 odd teams on sunday? compared to 45 or so teams back in 2006/7 if i remember correctly at the masters

 

[Gadget]

I don't think paintball as a whole is dying, however the tournament scene is certainly shrinking back to a more sustainable size. Fewer, more centralised events (CPPS, Mills) with more traveling mean that only the most dedicated of distant teams make the journey, with more casual teams making do with smaller local events.

Conversely the scenario scene seems to be growing with a packed calendar of quality events throughout the year and the vast majority of players are willing to travel long distances and stay overnight in order to attend.

If airsoft (played in woodland wearing camo) is booming.....and scenario (played in woodland wearing camo) is booming, yet sup air is shrinking......maybe it's time to consider the possibility that paintball has strayed too far from it's roots and sup air isn't the golden future of the game that many had imagined?

 

[Ahdinko]

Gadget,

Its the whole Travelling:Fun ratio.

Alot of my guys travel an hour or slightly more to a supair tournament. They spend an hour travelling, get to site, and have 8-10, 5 minute long games. So we have great fun for 40-50 minutes.

Lets say it took an hour to drive to, and lets say I played for an hour. Thats a 1 travel : 1 fun ratio.

I go to the warped big game. Now they put that right in the middle of the country so its a longer drive, I drive for about 2.5 hours to get there.

But I get there on Friday, get pissed, have a barbeque, wake up saturday and have 30+ games on the mega arena, have another barbeque and get pissed, then I'll wake up Sunday, probably have another barbeque and a beer or two just to wash the last night down, and then play paintball for 6 hours straight.

Thats like a 1 travel : 10 fun ratio.

 

[David Jack UK Mercs]

Gadget,

Its the whole Travelling:Fun ratio.

Alot of my guys travel an hour or slightly more to a supair tournament. They spend an hour travelling, get to site, and have 8-10, 5 minute long games. So we have great fun for an 40-50 minutes.

Lets say it took an hour to drive to, and lets say I played for an hour. Thats a 1 travel : 1 fun ratio.

I go to the warped big game. Now they put that right in the middle of the country so its a longer drive, I drive for about 2.5 hours to get there.

But I get there on Friday, get pissed, have a barbeque, wake up sunday and have 30+ games on the mega arena, have another barbeque and get pissed, then I'll wake up Sunday, probably have another barbeque and a beer or two just to wash the last night down, and then play paintball for 6 hours straight.

Thats like a 1 travel : 10 fun ratio.

love it.....fun ratio.........i can think of a few games where its been in minus figures!!!! but not many!!!

 

[Ahdinko]

I mean it more as a "time spent playing" ratio than fun.. but lets go with fun

My point being, you drive for as long as you play at most supair tournaments. You drive for far less than you play at most scenario things.