How to get new players in to the sport?
- Thread starter tiffyman
- Start date
As someone getting back into the game after many years I have seen some changes but other things haven’t.
There are a couple issues that I can see.
The first being that a site makes its money off punter games, plain and simple. If it wasn’t for the punters, sites would close down and then we wouldn’t have anywhere to play.
Ideally, these sites should advertise their walk-ons better. But in doing so they have to advertise that “if you play on this day you will pay half the price you will any other day”.
In the current budget conscious society, if you want to play a game of paintball for a stag do, wouldn’t you just book the walk on day and ignore the other days?
Sites would need to change the pricing model.
The current model is, entry and kit hire is cheap, and paint is expensive. The better solution for the sport is to have entry and kit hire to be more expensive and cheaper paint. This should result in a site making the same money off a player.
The issue this leaves is that when you are faced with a choice of £10 entry or £30 entry, what would the average person choose? “I would rather pay £10 and just use less paint”.
The overall issue here is business vs betterment of the sport.
The second is that the sport of paintball is a hidden world, that only those who play really see.
One thing I thought was really good when I went to Bricket Wood is that the “Pro” fields are right next to the punter field. Meaning that the average punter sees what the sport looks like compared to what they are playing. Some people say PB is not a spectator sport, and I get that. But it was watching a tournament 13 or 14 years ago (In South Africa) that made me want to play paintball and get my own gear. I may be a minority but I think making the sport more visible gets people asking questions, and if they are directed to somewhere like P8 that they can ask questions and find out about how to get into the game.
I have never found any hostility in the forum or game, the complete opposite is the case. People are so helpful and friendly. It boggles the mind that someone will hand you a £1000 gun and let you shoot it when they have just met you. You can get overloaded with info, but it’s a sport with options. It’s not like football where shoes are shoes (If someone tells me the latest shoe is any different to last year’s then you are a muppet… shoes are shoes). I would rather be given all the info to make an informed decision than just go by what one person says.
The third and I think biggest issue (in my opinion) is a social one.
I think social is the right word, but “human nature” explains it better. When you see someone in paintball mask, holding a gun they look “aggressive” and closed off (sounds worse than I intend). But basically it’s a subconscious thing. If someone is wearing headphones you think “They are in their own world”. A mask over someone’s face makes them look like they don’t want to be bothered, holding a gun makes them look like they are angry. This puts people off talking to random strangers at paintball events. I think people are more shy than they used to be many moons ago. I know I am not the most social person in the world, I don’t like going up to people and saying “Hi I’m Chris, lets be super friends”. That’s something kids are capable of, but as we get older that skill goes away.
What this results in, is people going to walk-ons (when they find out about them ect) and go with a mate. And I have come to realise this time around in paintball it is the WORST thing you can do. I played for a year or 2 and don’t think I said more than 10 words to anyone other than my brother or the friends we went there with because I had people to talk to when I was in the staging area or on the field. This stops you from talking to the guys who play tournaments and are willing to help you experience the sport of paintball.
This time, I am on my own. I was invited down to a training day and met a load of really great people. People who can help me understand the inner workings of the tournament world which you can’t work out on your own. The other issue with going to play with a mate is that you end up only playing the style that your mate and you can agree on. In my previous playing time the crew I played with only wanted to play in the woods, none of them had an interest in Sup-Air. I really wanted to play, but never got into it because I didn’t know anyone who did it, or meet anyone who did it.
So in conclusion, the 3 issues I found where:
Finding sites is hard as its difficult for sites to advertise walk-ons without a potential impact on profits.
Paintball the sport is a mysterious world that needs to be promoted better, and become more visible.
Playing with mates stops people meeting new people and building new friendships.
These are my opinions, from my experience… some will disagree and you are entitled to your opinion.
There are a couple issues that I can see.
The first being that a site makes its money off punter games, plain and simple. If it wasn’t for the punters, sites would close down and then we wouldn’t have anywhere to play.
Ideally, these sites should advertise their walk-ons better. But in doing so they have to advertise that “if you play on this day you will pay half the price you will any other day”.
In the current budget conscious society, if you want to play a game of paintball for a stag do, wouldn’t you just book the walk on day and ignore the other days?
Sites would need to change the pricing model.
The current model is, entry and kit hire is cheap, and paint is expensive. The better solution for the sport is to have entry and kit hire to be more expensive and cheaper paint. This should result in a site making the same money off a player.
The issue this leaves is that when you are faced with a choice of £10 entry or £30 entry, what would the average person choose? “I would rather pay £10 and just use less paint”.
The overall issue here is business vs betterment of the sport.
The second is that the sport of paintball is a hidden world, that only those who play really see.
One thing I thought was really good when I went to Bricket Wood is that the “Pro” fields are right next to the punter field. Meaning that the average punter sees what the sport looks like compared to what they are playing. Some people say PB is not a spectator sport, and I get that. But it was watching a tournament 13 or 14 years ago (In South Africa) that made me want to play paintball and get my own gear. I may be a minority but I think making the sport more visible gets people asking questions, and if they are directed to somewhere like P8 that they can ask questions and find out about how to get into the game.
I have never found any hostility in the forum or game, the complete opposite is the case. People are so helpful and friendly. It boggles the mind that someone will hand you a £1000 gun and let you shoot it when they have just met you. You can get overloaded with info, but it’s a sport with options. It’s not like football where shoes are shoes (If someone tells me the latest shoe is any different to last year’s then you are a muppet… shoes are shoes). I would rather be given all the info to make an informed decision than just go by what one person says.
The third and I think biggest issue (in my opinion) is a social one.
I think social is the right word, but “human nature” explains it better. When you see someone in paintball mask, holding a gun they look “aggressive” and closed off (sounds worse than I intend). But basically it’s a subconscious thing. If someone is wearing headphones you think “They are in their own world”. A mask over someone’s face makes them look like they don’t want to be bothered, holding a gun makes them look like they are angry. This puts people off talking to random strangers at paintball events. I think people are more shy than they used to be many moons ago. I know I am not the most social person in the world, I don’t like going up to people and saying “Hi I’m Chris, lets be super friends”. That’s something kids are capable of, but as we get older that skill goes away.
What this results in, is people going to walk-ons (when they find out about them ect) and go with a mate. And I have come to realise this time around in paintball it is the WORST thing you can do. I played for a year or 2 and don’t think I said more than 10 words to anyone other than my brother or the friends we went there with because I had people to talk to when I was in the staging area or on the field. This stops you from talking to the guys who play tournaments and are willing to help you experience the sport of paintball.
This time, I am on my own. I was invited down to a training day and met a load of really great people. People who can help me understand the inner workings of the tournament world which you can’t work out on your own. The other issue with going to play with a mate is that you end up only playing the style that your mate and you can agree on. In my previous playing time the crew I played with only wanted to play in the woods, none of them had an interest in Sup-Air. I really wanted to play, but never got into it because I didn’t know anyone who did it, or meet anyone who did it.
So in conclusion, the 3 issues I found where:
Finding sites is hard as its difficult for sites to advertise walk-ons without a potential impact on profits.
Paintball the sport is a mysterious world that needs to be promoted better, and become more visible.
Playing with mates stops people meeting new people and building new friendships.
These are my opinions, from my experience… some will disagree and you are entitled to your opinion.
I have the perfect example for this, on the US Spec Ops paintball forum a lad put up a message commenting on how great paintball looked out there but in the uk it's only rental sites at great expense.
(Fairly similar to many people's experience, including mine, of trying out paintball and finding (or it appearing to be) all the good stuff is elsewhere)
I commented back, directing him to our equivalent of spec ops - ukscenario and flagged up flashpoint (a wild geese game) he sounded positive so I tried to keep an eye out
At that event we had a 'gear bus' or the option to walk from the carpark - this was jumping in the back of a van with your kit, and bouncing around
I didn't spot him all day, but at the end in the van on the way back noticed a lady beside me, and on the other side a kid. After giving glances which may have made her a bit uncomfortable whilst bumping into each otter bouncing around I took the risk and leaned round to the kid asking 'are you ____?', to which I got a positive response and introduced myself to both of them as the random bloke on the internet inviting a kid out to play in the woods - worded a little differently!
And asked him how he got on - initially he didn't sound too good, starting off that he bought a starter set (tip 98 or one of the similar alternates with co2) co2 was no good, but the geese gave him an air cylinder
But still no good as he had leaks etc (depending on which game it was it may also have been in bad wind & rain)
Not sounding so good so I felt we were heading for a bad experience, dragging his mother to sit in a safe zone all day and never to return ...... But then he added:
' so the bloke next to me gave me his ego for the day, it was AWESOME!'
There has already been videos on how to get players into the sport and it's generally down to getting kids into the game early but when punters days are so pricey and when walk ons are a scary subject for a kid with a tippy 98, sites should be offering a way to teach kids (or older) how to play the game, clubs should be opened up and then there will be a new influx of teams, it works for football, basketball and any other sport so why shouldn't it work for paintball?