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

[Ash - GI Sportz]

The Millennium webcast is improving, it just takes time for the crew to nail down a way of working that actually plays out well for the broadcast. Having Shelley on board for the last 2-3 events has really helped.

In my opinion there are two major factors where PBA/PSP are clearing up and the Millennium are lagging:
A- Stats; it gives the commentators cold hard facts to report and build a framework to report on. Over an event or season this can tell a story in itself.
B- 1 game at a time; how can you get involved in a game when there is another game going on in between? Its like a boxing match where there are two other fighters in the corners and when one fight has its timeout between rounds they jump in and fight to fill the gap. You either dont give a damn about the other match, or you cant properly get involved with either as you can get two polar opposite outcomes for the teams you are trying to follow. Watching any live sports match should be about following one story start to finish.

Now I dont know if the Millennium are planning to start counting kills, its a huge investment to gather even the most basic stats and I wouldn't blame them if they didn't. However point B is much easier to fix. I can see where it can be useful in processing divisional games, where there is not an audience to satisfy, but for pro paintball as a spectacle, I think its detrimental.

@f1nut2 I agree the simple things are best, but sometimes time does not allow it. You were lucky enough to have a pro player guest for your team and benefited hugely from his insight, but when those teams/players have their own tournament to worry about as well, the available time to help out everyone else goes down dramatically, and this is where the media aspect can fill some of that gap.

 

[f1nut2]

Ash I agree that the time aspect is a barrier to what I suggested. At the end of the day you guys of course have your own event to focus on. You have only achieved the level you play at by focusing on what you do. How you all connect to your fans is down to you and there are many ways you can do it.

I guess the point I was making was that accessibility to the top players helps maintain the interest in the top teams and leagues. We were very lucky that we had a top player guest for us. Also a bonus that he is a very approachable guy and down to earth and was happy to share a little of his knowledge.

As I mentioned in a previous post, don't under estimate how much some players look up to and respect you guys. In particular the younger players. The future of our game.

Cheers
Craig P - Team Kinetic

 

[Biscuit]

In answer to what would we like to see the tops teams 'give back '

There is a lot to be said for webcasts, magazines interviews etc. But I still firmly believe that the simple things work the best. The personal touch goes along way. In 2011 at an NSPL event at bricket wood just prior to the campaign cup Jason Wheeler guested for us on Team Kinetic. if I remember correctly it was one of the first opportunities to play the layout for campaign.

It was great to get his insight and play along side someone of his experience. Ever since I have taken more of an interest in the top level of the game and the big teams.

I challenge every one on Nexus or any other elite team at the next CPPS to simply go and start a conversation with 10 people they have never met before and have a chat. Talk paintball, talk tactics, share experiences, give advice. Pat someone on the back if you see them make a good move or let someone know if they could have done something different.

Connect with people on their level and I'm sure they would take more interest in the major leagues.

Oh and the best thing about this is it's completely free and requires very little effort.

Cheers

Craig P - Team Kinetic

totally agree with this Ash seen your post about time,here`s the but at the cpps they run a breakout div on the saturday,this is when the elite guys should get involved,these guys are your future fans.the silly thing is if the elite guys give tips at this level itpasses on through the divs and makes us all better

 

[pablo666]

It would seem the only answer is to increase time to solve all the issues @Ash - DYE Europe .

With your point on stats, I have said as well as many of the guys on my team that what would really improve the stream would be information, I mean all I hear on the stream is about how good friends Maurice is with everyone and to be honest that is good because we get to hear input on the CPL from some of the most talented players in the world but what we want is to hear about Axel Gaudin's average kills per game or how Nexus have faired in the last, say 4-5 matches against their next opposition as opposed to just "here goes Nexus, against (insert team)". However the paintball world when it comes to the Millennium stream are *******s, people are pretty darn rude and that doesn't help the situation because it is never constructive. Agreed, bringing Shelley in has helped with the stream as she added the Millennium Series version of Lauren Kelly minus the not quite understanding what's going on and that's good because we are able to follow everything she is saying.

With regard to your point B, it all comes back to time, they do 2 games at a time in order to fit everything in due to the length. It is 15 minutes max per game in CPL and some don't go quite that long but per group of 2 that is half an hour if they run the full course. There is no way all the games can be fitted in, plus the SPL final etc. all on that field doing 1 game at a time unfortunately. So I don't have a suggestion as to how this can be solved.

Interesting thread though, I certainly like to think I keep up with the major leagues, I guess sometimes people don't care because they see it as too far out of reach or that there is no point in caring because they will never get to voice opinion on it to those who matter. It is such a fast moving sport we play that it is easy to understand time constrictions when it comes to other players and teams, like in the other thread it's about new suggestions and trying new things until something clicks.

 

[PortoX]

I've floated over this thread mainly reading the Ash and Dusty and Dsyike (never know how to spell that).

The concept of the Mills having 2 games running point on point off, may as well kill the idea of a webcast, even as a player I loose the plot of the game easily. The joys of watching the PSP is watching teams gain and loose momentum point after point, it writes its own story.

Having played only a hand full of millenniums in the lower leagues I enjoyed them but did not rate the cash to play ratio. This may have changed I'm not sure but if it hasn't there is no wonder people pay less for more at the CPPS.

There is a lack of characters also. No one sparks a response anymore, no one lynches players on a field or goes ape at a ref (which I know is good for players and refs well being). But compare that to football, where you see them go nuts at bad calls on and off field. Everyones being too friendly in some respects, you have to remember that its technically a sport where you have to hunt your opposition to technically 'kill' your target, it ain't ballet.

A lack of a central focus in a paintball game is also hard there is 6 to 8 refs, 5 guys playing individual and as a team shooting 10 bps ultimately 100 stories and games happening at once and ending in 10 minutes. I'd like to watch CXBL being webcast. As that has insane amount of points in one game, and stand out players do have time to do that.

My 1.5p

Edit sidenote: Ash's post is a lot more articulate and around the same as mine so you could ignore this if you wished

 

[Ainsley]

Just picked this thread up...........great read.

It's an interesting one. Personally I think where the PSP do a slightly better job on the webcast is "presenting" it's players. Maybe it's more of a US mindset - where they revel in showing off their professionals, where over here (especially in the UK) we're a little more humble. What I mean by that exactly is how before and during games you're presented with mug shots of the players and their vital stats. This brings people closer to these pros......let's people know who they are, a face to a name so to speak. To add characters, you need to have these faces in your minds, otherwise some of these guys become nothing more than highly skilled robots.

These personalities are all here, I think Mills needs to take a look how to get that across.....get in the pits between points, delve into the gossip prior to events (which Shelly has started to do). I ate out one night in Orlando with Matt Marshall and he talked about the time spent on the phone to the pros during the season is what gave him the inside scoop on what's really happening out there. As Steely said, the games are quite "similar"......2 back centre, snake runner........we can all predict roughly what is going to happen, so the only way to elevate that is to dig a little deeper and inject some life into this with the back stories. Add the personalties and bring this into focus. Give people an aspiration and create heroes and villains.

With regards to domestic events such as the CPPS, we want to give that "taste" of what a big event offers. The excitement of making a final, the constant checking of the scoreboards to see who's on top.....to inject that desire to do better. I think 28 of our teams (something like that) made the journey to London Millennium this year and they all had a blast. There's something about playing against a foreign team that you just can't quite put into words, and as my team mate Thorpey mentioned, the sense of "community" between the UK's teams down there was awesome and it was great to be a part of that. If we can offer our teams a training ground to go on to play these big events, great. It's not for everyone, but everyone should experience it at least once. Take it slow, build your team up from the bottom......no need to rush things! One step at a time and when you think you're ready, go for it. Until then, let's create some stars to aspire to, not just masked names and numbers on a field. What makes this game great is the people involved in it, so let's showcase it more.

 

[Twisty]

It's not just about the game, it's about the story. Stories need characters and narrative.
It's just as true in paintball as we have in competitive video games at the moment. (Which are equally hugely growing in success and video traffic) Great stories need great characters.
Without going into too much detail, the TL: DR video that outlines this is here

There are a lot of similarities that can be shared, including the issue on point of focus.

 

[Twizz ECI]

I have only read parts of this (as I'm at work) but would like to be involved in doing something with the London Tigers, know that we are back pro, would be good to do some filming of how our season pans out!!!!!

Ash re Clinics, I have tried for a few years in the past offering to do free clinics, and had no real response!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right this has me thinking now about doing something on us for next season.............just need to think how we can do it, and who can do it lol

 

[PortoX]

@Ainsley - Just on a quick side note have you noticed teams existing longer since the CPPS was formed or the opposite? This I think holds a big reason as to why a team doesn't hold the big events with higher regard as they wouldn't be backed enough/feel confident enough to compete. I honestly believe the CPPS has brought me back to playing and others as I can see competitive play at a good value and grade A* service.

 

[Ainsley]

@PortoX

It's hard to say at the moment, and I think regardless of what kind of service a venue/series offers you'll always have a high turnover of teams due to the expensive nature of the sport.......only takes one person to leave a team for whatever reason and teams struggle to replace that player, so more often than not, those players merge into other teams or just fade away. I just hope that by offering a good series, then it's more of an incentive to keep on playing and enjoying playing ball.

I do think that teams are too eager to move up the ladder. I've lost count of the amount of people i've told this week to take it slowly, enjoy playing at a lower level and build your team up........enjoy some success and then take the next step. Often teams move up too quickly, find it difficult and then that's when the teams splits......certain players thinking they're better and that's why they didn't win. It's called a team sport for a reason, and it takes time to find that balance and to nurture it. When the time comes to step up, yes, take it.......that's how you evolve, but not at the price of having a rough time on the field week in, week out. If anyone ever has any questions about running a team, I know I'd be more than willing to help and I'm sure others in my situation as a team owner would as well