This is very true. The only companies that seem to be interested in introducing new players to the sport are brass eagle, and Kingman.
How to change tournament paintball for the better of us all !
- Thread starter Bunka Monky
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duffistuta
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Ahem...
PGI spent tens of thousands of dollars last year getting increased newsstand distribution...if we wanted to just hit existing players we'd stick with Paintball shops and on-line sales rather than the hugely expensive newsstand and bookstore route which we have chosen to take.
PGI spent tens of thousands of dollars last year getting increased newsstand distribution...if we wanted to just hit existing players we'd stick with Paintball shops and on-line sales rather than the hugely expensive newsstand and bookstore route which we have chosen to take.
On my oppinion about the future of our game, I don't see the answer in the format it is played in, but the players themselves.
Okay, what I mean here is that with every sport known to date there is one similarity in each of them. They all got superstars, people, whom by perfecting their skills rise above other athletes. Here you must not forget that we are talking about a teamsport, but still it is the thing which you prefer to watch whilst you look at other teams playing out there, are the stars. of course...
For example... Let's see the thing from the perspective of news coming to scandinavia from let's say Avalanche, though the situation has changed to date, but still it was always some wild move Chris Lasoya had made, or how mad Rocky got when a judge came and pull him out of the game etc. The normal "line" player isn't why you watch a sport... it's the individuals. Whilst the game has come to a situation where in the players on the field do not achieve as much as individuals as they used to, but people still like to relate more on peoples names than the team names.
There are of course other subjects that have been named already on this thread earlier and I think that a firm balance between mixing the game with other leisure events, as it has already been done makes the events more appealing for people to come and watch. Although the problem of course is that if you mix too big events with the main one aka. the tournament, then people might get distracted from learning about the game and going wild on the bumber car stand nearby... missing the point why they even are there the first place.
On the sponsor issue for the events, people should just be consistent on their goals and try as hard as they can. This of course isn't always a walk in the park, because from apart the big series (millenium, psp, nppl etc.) the sponsors are really hard to come by. Especially if we are talking about sponsors that aren't at all related to the sport, and think that the game we have all come to love, is just some whackheads going at it in the nearby forest, blasting everything that moves (even that nice granny who is trying to take his dog, usually named fifi, out for a walk)
Ok... enough for the mumbling... Oppinions people...
Okay, what I mean here is that with every sport known to date there is one similarity in each of them. They all got superstars, people, whom by perfecting their skills rise above other athletes. Here you must not forget that we are talking about a teamsport, but still it is the thing which you prefer to watch whilst you look at other teams playing out there, are the stars. of course...
For example... Let's see the thing from the perspective of news coming to scandinavia from let's say Avalanche, though the situation has changed to date, but still it was always some wild move Chris Lasoya had made, or how mad Rocky got when a judge came and pull him out of the game etc. The normal "line" player isn't why you watch a sport... it's the individuals. Whilst the game has come to a situation where in the players on the field do not achieve as much as individuals as they used to, but people still like to relate more on peoples names than the team names.
There are of course other subjects that have been named already on this thread earlier and I think that a firm balance between mixing the game with other leisure events, as it has already been done makes the events more appealing for people to come and watch. Although the problem of course is that if you mix too big events with the main one aka. the tournament, then people might get distracted from learning about the game and going wild on the bumber car stand nearby... missing the point why they even are there the first place.
On the sponsor issue for the events, people should just be consistent on their goals and try as hard as they can. This of course isn't always a walk in the park, because from apart the big series (millenium, psp, nppl etc.) the sponsors are really hard to come by. Especially if we are talking about sponsors that aren't at all related to the sport, and think that the game we have all come to love, is just some whackheads going at it in the nearby forest, blasting everything that moves (even that nice granny who is trying to take his dog, usually named fifi, out for a walk)
Ok... enough for the mumbling... Oppinions people...
And Hasse...
The mostly watched sport in Finland is hockey... not the horse "thing" you mentioned...
The mostly watched sport in Finland is hockey... not the horse "thing" you mentioned...
It may be, I only have the hard figures for Sweden. But horse racing is a big "sport" also in Finland. Just check http://www.hippos.fi/raviurheilu/index.html
But still.. the point.. it is really REALLY boring to watch and still it is on TV all the time. And i thought it was time for some radical thinking in paintball
But still.. the point.. it is really REALLY boring to watch and still it is on TV all the time. And i thought it was time for some radical thinking in paintball
When I say coalition
Secondly, the effective target of the marketing is often to those who can least afford it--$1000 to a kid who might mow lawns for half of it and have daddy pay for the rest, if he's in a good mood at that? The demographics aren't good--an even slight change of interest, income, stage of life, or all of the above wipes paintball from an alarming percentage of players' agendas. Nearly every other similarly expensive sport (and product for that matter) targets those who can pay for it and think little of it, continue to pay for it, and will always be able to pay for it. Golf, sailing, mountain climbing, scuba diving, fishing--ever see someone quit those? Didn't think so. If those sports had the attrition rate paintball has, not only would you see a lot of boats, scuba tanks, etc. sitting out in yard sales everywhere for miles and miles on end, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, AND YES YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO THIS PART, the companies would look at their situation, see they're getting decimated, and instantly upon such realization do their damndest to reverse the situation immediately so they don't run the risk of having to find some other way of making a living. Taking essentials for granted has ruined lives, bankrupted businesses, even had entire countries go down the crapper (ever heard of Russia, 1917 and 1989 and France 178_ whenever Louis XVI got a closer haircut than Robbo?).
Egos need to be trimmed, and 32 Degrees better start referring to Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Economics, Auditing, Psychology...
And virtually zero business sense at times. AT TIMES, BEFORE SOMEONE LOPS MY HEAD OFF! If you look at some of the various practices of fields towards getting new people into the sport and maintaining their loyalty, it's totally backwards. Free samples and promotional deals? Nope, higher prices at entry level, deliberate selling of inferior equipment to the purposefully uninformed and continous heaping on of costs which give more reason to leave before getting deeper in the hole than staying for more financial punishment. The parasitic price structure has got to go. NOW.
Secondly, the effective target of the marketing is often to those who can least afford it--$1000 to a kid who might mow lawns for half of it and have daddy pay for the rest, if he's in a good mood at that? The demographics aren't good--an even slight change of interest, income, stage of life, or all of the above wipes paintball from an alarming percentage of players' agendas. Nearly every other similarly expensive sport (and product for that matter) targets those who can pay for it and think little of it, continue to pay for it, and will always be able to pay for it. Golf, sailing, mountain climbing, scuba diving, fishing--ever see someone quit those? Didn't think so. If those sports had the attrition rate paintball has, not only would you see a lot of boats, scuba tanks, etc. sitting out in yard sales everywhere for miles and miles on end, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, AND YES YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO THIS PART, the companies would look at their situation, see they're getting decimated, and instantly upon such realization do their damndest to reverse the situation immediately so they don't run the risk of having to find some other way of making a living. Taking essentials for granted has ruined lives, bankrupted businesses, even had entire countries go down the crapper (ever heard of Russia, 1917 and 1989 and France 178_ whenever Louis XVI got a closer haircut than Robbo?).
Egos need to be trimmed, and 32 Degrees better start referring to Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Economics, Auditing, Psychology...
I thought the center flag idea was to get players to play more aggressively, less defensively. People who I've brought to watch my team compete always comment that games where players sit and shoot are boring, and games where players move fast and bunker each other are fun to watch.
I would say that keeping games on the aggressive side is important. That is one of X-ball's primary strengths.
My girlfriend, who has watched a lot of paintball and read plenty of PGI, Facefull, etc. complains that players all look the same. When teams are only on the field for a few minutes and are then replaced by a new pair of teams wearing the same two kinds of jerseys, it gets hard to even know who's playing, let alone get excited about which team you'll root for.
Identifiable teams are a must for building an emotional connection to fans. X-ball, with its long games and franchises associated with a particular city (in the XFL anyway), does a good job of creating a bond between team and fan.
Fan is short for fanatic. Fans will pay to watch, they will buy the Nikes that Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods or Chris Lasoya endorses. That means sponsors and professional (as in paid to play) atheletes.
We need fans. We need to build a connection between a spectator and the team he or she is watching. I don't even care if Aftershock or the SC Ironmen win a game I'm watching. I am attached to the game itself. I am not a fan. I watch for the education it provides me on how to whoop up on Intensity Black and SharpShooters Grey and Draco.
I can't afford X-ball and most teams can't. We can take some lessons from the experiment it represents, though.
I would say that keeping games on the aggressive side is important. That is one of X-ball's primary strengths.
My girlfriend, who has watched a lot of paintball and read plenty of PGI, Facefull, etc. complains that players all look the same. When teams are only on the field for a few minutes and are then replaced by a new pair of teams wearing the same two kinds of jerseys, it gets hard to even know who's playing, let alone get excited about which team you'll root for.
Identifiable teams are a must for building an emotional connection to fans. X-ball, with its long games and franchises associated with a particular city (in the XFL anyway), does a good job of creating a bond between team and fan.
Fan is short for fanatic. Fans will pay to watch, they will buy the Nikes that Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods or Chris Lasoya endorses. That means sponsors and professional (as in paid to play) atheletes.
We need fans. We need to build a connection between a spectator and the team he or she is watching. I don't even care if Aftershock or the SC Ironmen win a game I'm watching. I am attached to the game itself. I am not a fan. I watch for the education it provides me on how to whoop up on Intensity Black and SharpShooters Grey and Draco.
I can't afford X-ball and most teams can't. We can take some lessons from the experiment it represents, though.
Re: When I say coalition
Still... somehow I have gotten the feeling that most people who start playing tournament paintball don't just realize this fact and they get upset when their local MEGASLAYERS band doesn't beat Dynasty with 2 unorganized practises behind them. I played in a finnish band last year that made this mistake. After a few succesful tournaments the people in the team really thought that they could really go far, with just the talent (which they didn't even have that much) they had. The previous season went on and I can say that only three of us attended as much practise sessions as we could and the rest just stayed home with their visions of world conquest... and what happened... the season went wrong big time, and I think we only won something like 3 or 4 games during the whole season (and the games we played were something between 40 to 50) and this is when people just started dropping out... expect the three who attended the practise sessions and moved to a team where they could develop themselves even more.
To add this all up in a nutshell I'd say that if you get together a band of enthusiastic players, who are willing to give it a go (including a hard practise schedule) then the odds of people leaving the sport lower below one tenth of which they might be in a "dreaming of world conquest" team.
People should always remember that paintball should be 100% interesting, but if you want to succeed it can't 100% fun.
I think that the problem rounding circles around the quoted part of killeronions post is the real problem of people not realising that YES this is a sport and as such it must be practiced as hard as any other for example golf mentioned earlier.
Still... somehow I have gotten the feeling that most people who start playing tournament paintball don't just realize this fact and they get upset when their local MEGASLAYERS band doesn't beat Dynasty with 2 unorganized practises behind them. I played in a finnish band last year that made this mistake. After a few succesful tournaments the people in the team really thought that they could really go far, with just the talent (which they didn't even have that much) they had. The previous season went on and I can say that only three of us attended as much practise sessions as we could and the rest just stayed home with their visions of world conquest... and what happened... the season went wrong big time, and I think we only won something like 3 or 4 games during the whole season (and the games we played were something between 40 to 50) and this is when people just started dropping out... expect the three who attended the practise sessions and moved to a team where they could develop themselves even more.
To add this all up in a nutshell I'd say that if you get together a band of enthusiastic players, who are willing to give it a go (including a hard practise schedule) then the odds of people leaving the sport lower below one tenth of which they might be in a "dreaming of world conquest" team.
People should always remember that paintball should be 100% interesting, but if you want to succeed it can't 100% fun.