Do people here care less about the major leagues these days?

[Ash - GI Sportz]

This one's been doing laps of my brain for a little while now, but having been on this site for about a decade, it seems there is much less chatter going on these days about the movers and the shakers in the Millennium and PSP Pro leagues.

I know the past few years have seen a high number of players get out of paintball altogether, and lots of those who stuck around cut back on playing millenniums too. So it's kinda obvious that with fewer players involved at that level, fewer will care, but equally we have seen a huge number of teams turn out at the CPPS and other events here in the UK this year, which would suggest that tournament paintball is far from dead.

I remember not being able to refresh the page here without someone giving their 2p on the latest Millennium or PSP shenanigans. Does it not matter as much to people anymore? Have the teams / players themselves become boring topics to consider?

I see the GFH propaganda guys are trying to create a bit of a buzz, but the momentum there doesn't seem to be building as quick as I would personally like to see...

Thoughts?

 

[Impulse raider]

I've noticed this Ash many many months ago after starting to use the forums again..

Topics used to raise many a quote , rumour or fact and be pages long before you could blink an eye..

Even sales these days are pretty slow compared to last year..

Agreed CPPS saw a lot of teams attend this year but as for many other series I don't think the same can be said..

I'm sure in what CPPS gained all the others lost ,,

It's a shame really as back in the day ,, tournaments used to be played around various sites a bit like UWL ..

This way it felt like home and away legs

Uk paintball had a great year this year of which is great to see and may it long continue..

 

[Dusty]

People are lazy and paintballing people are lazy AND tight.

Why go to the effort of training in the rain and paying all that money when you have it all beamed into your living room of a weekend??

Can't really comment too much on the UK leagues but I'd say with one or two exceptions most of the teams are within easy travelling distance of the CPPS??

 

[frobinson]

having only been involved with paintball for 2 years, my opinion is somewhat null in this discussion, but I do like to think I try to involve myself more with the "pro world" gossip than most regional players do. That being said, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of chat even with such accessible avenues as the PBA/millenium webcasts, the many blogs and paintball media outlets that currently exist.

Do you think it's just down to laziness? Do people not tend to watch the whole webcast weekends like I do? I don't believe the player/team rumours are boring, but then again, I have not been around long enough to compare to the past. The few threads I've seen started surrounding events (for people to chat in whilst watching) seem to have been so quiet and dead this year. There didn't even seem to be any hype for WC apart from the fantasy league.

It could alternatively just be the ratio of regional players to those that compete on the bigger circuits. Okay, maybe that was a bad way to put it, but to me there seems to be such a high number of players circulating this forum, that are very self-contained with what they know - CPPS, Masters, etc - and since I reckon (in my humble, uneducated and most likely wrong, opinion) it's probably fair to say that the majority of UK players most likely WON'T ever play a MS/PSP event, maybe people simply don't care...

Just an opinion, definitely not facts and I'm probably wrong anyway. But I do feel like there aren't enough people like me that have a genuine interest in the bigger events/rumours/gossip/general-useless-chitchat, despite not being personally involved with them.

That's my 2p anyway.

 

[Dusty]

having only been involved with paintball for 2 years, my opinion is somewhat null in this discussion, but I do like to think I try to involve myself more with the "pro world" gossip than most regional players do. That being said, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of chat even with such accessible avenues as the PBA/millenium webcasts, the many blogs and paintball media outlets that currently exist.

Do you think it's just down to laziness? Do people not tend to watch the whole webcast weekends like I do? I don't believe the player/team rumours are boring, but then again, I have not been around long enough to compare to the past. The few threads I've seen started surrounding events (for people to chat in whilst watching) seem to have been so quiet and dead this year. There didn't even seem to be any hype for WC apart from the fantasy league.

It could alternatively just be the ratio of regional players to those that compete on the bigger circuits. Okay, maybe that was a bad way to put it, but to me there seems to be such a high number of players circulating this forum, that are very self-contained with what they know - CPPS, Masters, etc - and since I reckon (in my humble, uneducated and most likely wrong, opinion) it's probably fair to say that the majority of UK players most likely WON'T ever play a MS/PSP event, maybe people simply don't care...

Just an opinion, definitely not facts and I'm probably wrong anyway. But I do feel like there aren't enough people like me that have a genuine interest in the bigger events/rumours/gossip/general-useless-chitchat, despite not being personally involved with them.

That's my 2p anyway.

Millennium events are expensive, especially when they're abroad. If you can get more game time, more level playing fields (skillwise) at a local tourney there isn't much incentive to pay hundreds of pounds to play abroad.

I think the time I went to Toulouse a few years back it set me back almost £700 by the time flights, accommodation, game fees and paint were taken into account. For 2 days playing paintball, that's too much money. Even playing in Basildon I still have to allow about £4-500 because of flights etc.

Not everyone views this as a sport either, for most people it's a hobby and a bit of craic once or twice a month and that's perfectly fine.

The increase in availability of good quality domestic events will always impact international ones, don't forget the resurgence also of the big games and maybe it's just me but there seems to be more talk of scenario type stuff and so on going on too. These players are maybe making the switch or dividing their time between tourney and rec??

 

[Ash - GI Sportz]

Thanks for all the replies guys, I'm well aware that Big Games and scenario events have seen quite an upturn in numbers, and also in the quality of those events, in the past few years. I also know how expensive a Millennium is compared to a national level tournament, and to which you really dont get any extra game time for the extra money.

But even taking all that into consideration, it seems the interest in the top level of competition has decreased exponentially by comparison. Even taking into consideration the number of players who play tournaments as a hobbyist, there were far more 'back in the day' as many players were bottle necked into tournaments as a result of no other events really being available.

I think the butt of my question is more along the lines of, why are fewer people interested in the elite level of paintball these days (whether its with a view to achieve that level personally, or just to follow with a keen interest) and is it possible to change that (and how)?

I'm sure some of these are contributing factors, but are there any other more significant things I am missing?
-Lack of a glossy monthly publication to package all the relevant info up and feed it to us in a way we like
-Lack of any real media prescence in the UK that focusses on elite paintball
-Current Millennium/PSP formats alienating the average player
-Lack of bang for your buck at international tournaments

Are the teams not interesting enough, or do people just not know who is who? I know the PSP / PBA do a great job of actually telling the stories behind the teams in the PSP Pro division and that definitely helps viewers identify with those teams and thus increase and retain interest.

 

[Dskize]

Your last comment is the one for me Ash.. Paintballer used to have the ultimate 'in' for Major League paintball through PGI , Robbo and Baca, there was also a fair few heavy hitters in the industry kicking about here and people that actually were in the know used to frequent these boards, nowadays they are no longer on this site for various reasons...hence MLT is dead.

No one to report ,no story to comment on...

 

[Dusty]

Gone are the days when there was actually something to talk about though, the characters like Lasoya and Nielson are no longer causing havoc, Dynasty aren't young and all killing any more with their revolutionary tactics. Remember when they were among the first to actively develop running and gunning and it was fun to watch? Now they're all the same in different jerseys, they're good players and technically superb but there doesn't seem to be the same flair as there was back in the day.

There will always be of course the odd exception but when was the last time you saw someone break a game wide open then destroy the opposing team with a single sweep borne of individual awareness and exceptional skill mixed with a little bit of luck? Coaching has it's place but it killed a lot of the freestyling we loved to see.

Most remarkable story/scandal this year was the TonTons, at least they're consistent, they got in trouble when shooting Shockers as well

 

[Ash - GI Sportz]

Dusty have you followed any of the Millennium or PSP webcasts this year? I think there are just as many talented players out there doing great things, but perhaps its harder to appreciate the nuances of that nowadays. Also with coaching now such a huge factor you very rarely get one of those magical run-thru's that see the the instigator take 4 players out and survive to hang the flag in glory, more often than not, now the initial move is to take one key body and break open the field and for the team to clean up and close out.

Its still there, I see it all the time.

Have you seen Malloy (Art Chaos/RL) play? He has to be the most creative player right now, even more so than K-Fed, in how he plays different spots, spots gaps, plays blind spots and closes points. Have you seen Axel Gaudin run and shoot to spots so far up the field your brain has a 'does not compute' moment, the whole time him only being about 2 feet tall as well just makes it even more baffling. Clint Moore shooting his man off the break above 75% for a whole tournament. Houston Heat always having 1 play in their playbook where go past the centre50 on the break and only using it once in a tournament when their backs are against the wall and regain enough momentum to go on and win a match. Some of the long drawn out points that Nexus had this year were fun to watch back on the webcast just to see the cogs turning and the communication flowing while we figured out the situation and edged out the point.

I think that this generations 'Dynasty running and gunning circa 2000' is the actual coach calling plays (not snake coaching) and that general step-up in professionalism in how teams are managed and approach the game. Its a lot less obvious to see, and probably less fun to witness when you do see it too, but it has changed the game just as significantly. In fairness it has been around on and off since 04 and the advent of Xball, but no one really saw the power of it (outside the RL camp) until 07/08 when Shane Pestana took the Ironmen to back to back world titles, and then after that its only been in the last 3 years that others have come in and perfected it to the level we see today. Guys like Jason Trosen, Todd Martinez, Rusty Glaze and Kevin Bredthauer deserve way more credit than they get. Just look what Ryan Brand and Paul Richards did for X-Factor this year.

(Didnt mean to aim all that at you Dusty, just your comment prompted that chain of thought)

 

[Dusty]

I absolutely agree, the paintball we knew as a game of years gone by has transformed completely. The run throughs are all but gone because play has become so technical, as in technique based.

There are of course great players out there, and with the greatest respect we as spectators and supporters don't want to see Clint shoot his target off the break 75% of the time, we want to see Clint storm down the tape and mug that guy while taking out the snake player who is shooting infield and the centre guy who never saw it coming

I never liked sideline coaching, team coaching is a different thing and you're dead right, the coaches don't get the credit they need.