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

[Missy-Q]

Robbo used to evoke responses ref. MLP because he was in the centre of it. When Robbo 'retired' that aspect of the forum went with him. That's the single largest reason for the drop in MLP interest. What you have a man who can write circles around people making intelligent discussion it will provoke responses. I lost interest in the MLP pages when Robbo retired. Nick was banned, quite a few of the other posters were also banned. Loco got his own blog and so we don't see him anymore. We no longer have an MLP player/coach posting and so what is there really to respond to? Remember when we used to have to put the top 4 in order for the NPPL events? That was fun.

Otherwise blame the lack of UK teams competing in the US. When our own boys aren't out there, our interest is diminished.

as for the CPPS, I think you are inflating the importance of this in relation to major league paintball. I'm sure the CPPS is great, but if you aint in it, you prolly aint interested in hearing about it. I know I'm not.

 

[Gadget]

I'm really interested in both the PSP and Millennium Pro divisions and always try to catch the webcasts when they're on. I don't post much about the games as the intricasies of pro sup air isn't a field I'm an authority on, but I try and keep up to date with squad changes and results. It does surprise me that there's not more discussion on here regarding events, but I think the previous comments are spot on - we're missing that insider knowledge in threads to make things really interesting - without it, discussions are all along the lines of "oooh cool, did you see that move?".

 

[Dskize]

Robbo used to evoke responses ref. MLP because he was in the centre of it. When Robbo 'retired' that aspect of the forum went with him. That's the single largest reason for the drop in MLP interest. What you have a man who can write circles around people making intelligent discussion it will provoke responses. I lost interest in the MLP pages when Robbo retired. Nick was banned, quite a few of the other posters were also banned. Loco got his own blog and so we don't see him anymore. We no longer have an MLP player/coach posting and so what is there really to respond to? Remember when we used to have to put the top 4 in order for the NPPL events? That was fun.

Otherwise blame the lack of UK teams competing in the US. When our own boys aren't out there, our interest is diminished.

as for the CPPS, I think you are inflating the importance of this in relation to major league paintball. I'm sure the CPPS is great, but if you aint in it, you prolly aint interested in hearing about it. I know I'm not.

I said pretty much exactly this at the start of this thread..I still don't know why this defining factor is being ignored.

 

[Andy Steele]

But focussing a bit more on the UK aspect, is the lack of desire to play the Millenniums the underlying cause of the lack of attention UK players are paying to it? Consequently is that why the Elite UK teams don't have the same level of following that similarly placed teams in France or Germany do?

What socially do the "elite" teams do to grab the attention of the potential followers? All I see them cherp up on forums and social media for is to sell gear?
There doesn't seem to be a buzz from the teams to generate a following?

Also. Paintball has become boring to watch! Stagnant plays, same breakouts. It's become so monotonous.......that's it's just not exciting.

I'm a strong believer that paintball is a hobby, and should be treated as such until the game has the valid credentials to be called a sport. So in tern I believe that most players are there to have fun, with their friends, in friendly environment, then that is it......back to life.

I just don't believe there is enough hype from teams to generate any following, or interest in the uk. I've not heard of an instance yet where any "elite" player has given up any time to help coach and support players at events.....is this not probably the easiest way to gain loyalty and the start of a following!?

 

[Ash - GI Sportz]

Fully agree with Missy and Dskize (wasnt ignoring you earlier btw)

But does that mean that how it was when those people were actively posting was disproportionally more involved than it should have been? What actually is the norm, because I feel like the current status is well below that...

Missy, I wasnt implying so much that CPPS deserves the same level of attention, more that there are a huge number of teams there who appear to not be that interested in the higher levels, an interest which would filter back down into the higher ranked teams in the UK if it were there.

Andy, thats a valid point and part of the question I posed at the start - what do the teams need to be doing? I'll be honest and admit Nexus actually reduced the number of clinics/pro schools we ran over the past few years because of the lack of interest from players - but what came first, unappealing pro teams or uninterested players? (However whenever we held tryouts it was always over subscribed, and many players who were continually not selected were never interested in coming to a pro school to perhaps improve their chances for the next time)

I agree that for most people it is a hobby and they probably do treat it as such, but even at the hobbyist level people still look up to those who are more experienced / have the bigger, better toys etc.

 

[PBWill]

You have contradicted yourself a little there Will by saying that you are a big fan of the PSP and not the UK scene (although they are not directly comparable anyway) but then saying that people dont care about overseas and they should bother with something closer to home...

:

im abit of an idiot when it comes to stuff like this, i tend to take interest where the top of the game is if you understand, so for paintball its biggest in america, so i follow PSP, gaming is big in america so i follow the MLG leauges, and the list goes on!

This is actually a really sick topic, quite interesting

 

[hipjaw]

When it comes to taking an interest in the local top tier teams I think a lot of it comes down to how accessible they are. As you said, there are no glossy articles where people can get to know a team and follow them and understand what they are going through in terms of their rosters and their travels. A lot of teams have a facebook page where they post results and thank their sponsors, but anyone can see that from the mills website or from the CPPS results at the end of the day anyway.

I am new to playing in the higher UK divisions but I notice that it's pretty tight knit and only the players from the surrounding elite teams know much about what is going on with them internally. It could just be that Brits are very personal in their normal lives and so don't air out their laundry - clean or dirty - in the public eye.

The media in the UK are some well produced flashy mid-game videos of events. What I as an aspiring player wants to see is the internal working of the team and how a TEAM gets through an event. I don't want to watch slo-mo videos of X-Factor to dubstep, it may look cool but it means very little to me, I want to watch The Roster and find out what qualities they look for in a player. I don't want to see XSV's scores posted up on facebook, I want to watch 'Heroes for a day' and see how that team got to where they are. Same when it comes to the UK Elite teams. HOW Nexus or Disruption placed at events interested me slightly as of course I wanted them to do well, but what I really want to know is WHY they are or are not performing as well as they should be. Give me the grit.

There are no honest representations of TEAMS available in the UK, just write ups and videos of EVENTS.

In the larger picture I feel that the problem I find connecting with the PSP or MS teams is that in their interviews they do not discuss any form of tactics or game plans with the public. I find only when trawling through VFTD blogs I get a shimmer of insight. You watch any game interview - before, during or after a game and all that will happen is a bunch of clichés 'Oh yeah they wanted it more than us' 'We wanted to play aggressive paintball, but keep it smart.'.
Those phrases mean nothing to me as a viewer. I want to hear 'Yeah our snake side wasn't playing so well - unfortunately 'player x' wasn't having a very good game and so got frustrated and pushed his luck getting us a penalty. So then we decided to put 'player y' out on that side to just lock it down and then push the Teabags harder to win a few quick points.'.

Commentators notice that particular players our put out over players that were playing amazing a few seconds ago and that's where the insight stops.

If you want people to care you have to give people something that they can care about. A team name and a bunch of scores means very little to anyone other than that team and their sponsors.

EDIT: I personally would love to be able to give people the inside scoop on what's going on in the Elite teams, what problems they face and overcome and what it really means and takes to play at that level - but as somebody who trains locally in Bristol I don't know much more than your average player in the UK.

If other people agree with me then I may look at starting an open and honest blog but I can only comment on my observations and the workings of my own team and speculate on what is going on with other teams.

 

[frobinson]

@hipjaw if you do decide to do a blog, it'd be great if you could keep it on p8ntballer. It's just the kind of thing that would spark up interest in people and encourage active discussion. I do agree though, that things like The Roster, or the series that CustomPB did on London Nexus, provide an incredible insight into the elite teams. I would love to see more things like that.

A lot of this thread has been surrounding 'what has changed'. Now I know that's inherently linked to the main topic of this thread, but it would be nice to see more suggestions about what could be done, if there's even an interest for it. My personal opinion is that more threads and talk around events and rumours and similar things, would be beneficial. I don't know if I'm alone in that opinion or not, but I'd like to try and generate more conversation around events if I can, even if it's just so I can join in heated arguments more frequently!

 

[hipjaw]

I may do, I started a personal blog in 2011-2012 about my own paintball experiences and what I was working on to get better but that was mainly an exercise for myself. I would like to write more so I think I'll explore the idea of blogging my experiences and opinions on the next season.

However if there were some kind of reporter or writer who could approach and interview UK teams for honest opinions, articles, game plans and insights then that would get more people paying attention to how these teams do across the UK and Europe. Alternatively teams could take it upon themselves to put that kind of stuff out there, but that boils down to whether or not they will want to / feel that it's worth doing.

 

[Captain bitchslap]

what came first, unappealing pro teams or uninterested players? .

What socially do the "elite" teams do to grab the attention of the potential followers? All I see them cherp up on forums and social media for is to sell gear?
There doesn't seem to be a buzz from the teams to generate a following?

I like these questions, tough to answer. I do believe without a doubt that both unappealing pro teams and uninterested players exist, and both groups are responsible in arguable measures. (Similar to my first post) the fix is not for teams to make themselves more appealing in the UK, Or for players to force themselves to take more interest, not much more can afforably be done there. It is upto to a middle man to tell the elite teams most interesting stories well, and enough to naturally command the uninterested players attention.

Also. Paintball has become boring to watch! Stagnant plays, same breakouts. It's become so monotonous.......that's it's just not exciting.

I have only been playing and watching paintball games for 5 or 6 years, I have to admit I loved watching games more back then. I dont think I have lost interest in watching the plays, breakouts etc. because they have become less interesting. I think it is because I'm not a new anymore. I feel watching games now vs then they are equal, or even more enjoyable now. There is still some awesome moments that makes me react like back when I was new. Like Dan Zakeski's jump shot in the Upton 187 vs Heat at World cup this year, or When J-Rab ran past Dynasty unnoticed with the flag and superman dived into their penalty box to draw the game back in 2011. To name a couple.

Is there new guys out there that maybe reading this and can say love watching the livestream?