This is my opinion; if you disagree please leave your constructive point below and I will be happy to respond.
Interesting points are in red, and generic points are in brown.
1) The community - To enjoy football you don't have to play it. The fans support there team and have fun without touching a ball. This however cannot be said for paintball. Anyone who likes paintball or enjoys it has to play it to do so. You don't have avid Nexus fans who have never touch a marker or people who can't stop thinking about the sport but don't play it/have never.
2) Price - This is a very basic point which people already know about, therefore I am not going to expand upon it.
3) Public connotations - If you start a conversation about paintball at work/school - who is inexperienced - the phrase "frozen paintballs" will appear. This is what is known as fear mongering, although on a small scale. Yes, it is all about education, but this is not possible if people are scared of the sport. They will have zero interest in something that they feel is dangerous, and will not research to find otherwise. This prevents new members enjoying the precious activity we have.
4) Technology - As we all know paintballing technology is huge. So big in fact that there is now a huge gap between rental kits and electronic markers.People new to the sport are going to want a electronic marker, as the normal mechanic rentals are simply not good enough (ROF and accuracy). This does two things: scares people off by making people think if they don't have a Geo 3 and a rotor they are at a disadvantage and shows them this is not going to be a cheap sport.
5) Availability - This is split into two sections, shopping and playing. We know that you can't play paintball anywhere apart from a paintball field. You can't play paintball as you could kick a football around. Although, I'm sure you know this. Also, shopping. This is once again a problem of exposure, you will not see, in the UK, a single paintball related item in almost all shops. However, other sports are labelled everywhere. Yes, this is because of popularity, but people don't know what we are.
6) What people think paintball is - Quoted from pandamonium "what i find is that whenever i mention that i play paintball to people i find that i usually have to explain that i dont run around in the woods playing scenario games (I do love them but i dont do it very often) and how supair is played. This has been a major part when works staff paintball day has popped up."
Overall:
I believe that we should not be looking to make our sport like football, rugby or tennis. I think that paintball should be treated like skateboarding in that it will remain relevant, maybe increase in popularity, but still have a close knitted and small community. This is because paintball's mechanics don't allow it to extremely popular.
Thanks for reading, if you agree or disagree leave it below.
Jamie
Interesting points are in red, and generic points are in brown.
1) The community - To enjoy football you don't have to play it. The fans support there team and have fun without touching a ball. This however cannot be said for paintball. Anyone who likes paintball or enjoys it has to play it to do so. You don't have avid Nexus fans who have never touch a marker or people who can't stop thinking about the sport but don't play it/have never.
2) Price - This is a very basic point which people already know about, therefore I am not going to expand upon it.
3) Public connotations - If you start a conversation about paintball at work/school - who is inexperienced - the phrase "frozen paintballs" will appear. This is what is known as fear mongering, although on a small scale. Yes, it is all about education, but this is not possible if people are scared of the sport. They will have zero interest in something that they feel is dangerous, and will not research to find otherwise. This prevents new members enjoying the precious activity we have.
4) Technology - As we all know paintballing technology is huge. So big in fact that there is now a huge gap between rental kits and electronic markers.People new to the sport are going to want a electronic marker, as the normal mechanic rentals are simply not good enough (ROF and accuracy). This does two things: scares people off by making people think if they don't have a Geo 3 and a rotor they are at a disadvantage and shows them this is not going to be a cheap sport.
5) Availability - This is split into two sections, shopping and playing. We know that you can't play paintball anywhere apart from a paintball field. You can't play paintball as you could kick a football around. Although, I'm sure you know this. Also, shopping. This is once again a problem of exposure, you will not see, in the UK, a single paintball related item in almost all shops. However, other sports are labelled everywhere. Yes, this is because of popularity, but people don't know what we are.
6) What people think paintball is - Quoted from pandamonium "what i find is that whenever i mention that i play paintball to people i find that i usually have to explain that i dont run around in the woods playing scenario games (I do love them but i dont do it very often) and how supair is played. This has been a major part when works staff paintball day has popped up."
Overall:
I believe that we should not be looking to make our sport like football, rugby or tennis. I think that paintball should be treated like skateboarding in that it will remain relevant, maybe increase in popularity, but still have a close knitted and small community. This is because paintball's mechanics don't allow it to extremely popular.
Thanks for reading, if you agree or disagree leave it below.
Jamie
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