IAO changes format

[Baca Loco]

Not out of the Woods yet

Originally posted by Al Woods
at the end of the day each top level team would have 3 players each sitting out games (duh) which would make for unhappy players....perhaps. If the Ams can hack it and the format becomes a success then and only then will the pros be after a piece of the action

I don't think the idea is to undermine the or even cheapify the 7-man ideal because everyone knows throughout the world that the European Millennium series and the 7-man format is the most successful and exciting paintball game around.

Just a thought.

Al,
Check out X-Ball format for a sampler; the other guys on the roster won't be complaining of too little field time. This has nothing to do, in the long run, with amateur or tournament paintball.

As to current formats knowledgable observers see a better game watching 10-man and play a better game playing 10-man, IMHO

Moo

 

[Mark Toye-Nexus]

Moo

Time and again we see top ranked teams drawing games in the 10 man format (well according to the videos I have seen and various reports of the NPPL I have read) but recent clashes between the same teams at 7 man has lead to some great, but always conclusive, games.

Draws are quite rare in the Millennium Series in my experience (I have been to 11).

Also you say about the 10 man game "knowledgable observers see a better game watching 10-man".

What we have to do is make sure that those without knowledge (ie public at large) see a good game. 7 man acheives that I believe.

Dont get me wrong - I am still a massive fan of 10 man (was weened on it) but see the future of the sport at 7.

Mark

 

[Al Woods]

As to current formats knowledgable observers see a better game watching 10-man and play a better game playing 10-man, IMHO

See a better game in 10 man format???? Not sure I agree with you on that one chief.

One thing we need to do in order to make the game better to watch for non-ballers is to make it exciting, 10-man however can make for long, dull games that are difficult to follow unless you know the score. This is why X-Ball is a great idea, if it works. There will be more than just 20 guys trying to shoot eachother and take one flag back there will be multi in-game points for spectators to get excited about.

The 7-man format is much more exciting to watch AND play for that matter, spectators can easily relate to what is happening because the fields aren't too big and the gameplay is a lot more hectic.

 

[Beaker]

Al - my original post (about IAO being a trial) is my real "feeling" - the second one was just playing Fox Mulder and looking for all possible conspiricies (sp?)

I don't doubt that the powers that be behind paintball have been thinking for a while about the next step. Especially as the Euro events have left the US for dead in such a short space of time in terms of venues, organisation etc. I think there are many things that are currently happening that will play out as part of a larger, grander plan.

However, Baca - do you believe that these plans are already laid out in stone and that these changes are just being made with a clear ideal and goal already set? I persoanlly believe that the current industry position is such that anyone involved with any sense would have been looking towards the next step for at least the last 18 months. I think these things are being trialled now are ideas these visionaries have thought about over that period and so they are to try and prove/disporve their theories - and NOT just something that will happen regardless.

 

[Beaker]

10 vs 7

I believe 10 man can produce a better game than 7, for the simple reason that you have 20 players each able to do something exciting rather than 14.

However, the nature of 10 man means that it is also a lot easier to end up with average or dull games like Mark said.

tradintional 5 man is often exciting but is too fast and games are over too quick (hence X-ball). 7 man allows for exciting games without the propensity for draws/paint slinging matches of 10 man

 

[Baca Loco]

The only thing that's inevitable

is that the status quo will change.

My original points had nothing to do really with debating the virtues of 7-man vs. 10-man. I think it's ultimately a moot debate.

To Mark T.--most reports and videos for that matter focus on semi's and finals and in 10-man there is oftentimes a large dose of playing the points involved. Also, the flexibility and complexity of play is greater with 10 guys on a side and I, personally, can and do enjoy a tight, drawn out, back and forth game where every elimination is critical just as much as I do a game-breaking move and a coordinated push that rolls the opposition.
And yes of course fewer bodies on field is a more spectator friendly game. I don't disagree.

To Al-- I'm not in any way objecting to X-Ball or 7-man sides. I was merely offering a personal opinion rebutting your opinion: "--the 7-man ideal because everyone knows throughout the world that the European Millennium series and the 7-man format is the most successful and exciting paintball"
I thought it was clear I was of the opinion that 7 or 5 on a side was likely to be the future standard.

To Beaker--nothing is set in stone until it happens and I'm sure various forward thinking types have spent more than the past 18 months both speculating and calculating about the future of paintball.
However, I'm also quite sure that paintball as we presently know it is only a step on an evolutionary ladder--and not the top step, at that.

Moo

 

[Beaker]

The only thing that's inevitable

Originally posted by Baca Loco

However, I'm also quite sure that paintball as we presently know it is only a step on an evolutionary ladder--and not the top step, at that.

Moo

Now on that - I am in complete agreement

At risk of being rude - who are you? just nice to know someones background when chewing the fat on the future of our great game

If you want to keep it off the board please mail me.

See you in the next thread!

 

[markh]

>But what does the industry want???

Its down to the players to vote with their money. If people arent interested/cant afford it then they wont play.

Europeans play 7 man simply because it easier to get a 7 man team together, the recent 10 man in the UK showed that 10 man is fun, uses more paint (in my games anyway) and requires current teams to merge/borrow players to make up sides.

Hopefully X-Ball will generate a lot of interest in paintball that will feed into a larger player base, allowing X-Ball tournaments for the fit, current format tournaments for the less fit (maybe 10 man) and rec ball for fun and feed new players into tournaments.

Its a fragmented future, but all formats will coexist as people will choose their own level of competition/fun.

 

[Tyger]

A few notes.

X-Ball : By their own rules, it's a 5 man format, center flag.

As to the change over, I think it's so they can cram more teams into the event. Your average 5 man team already has 7 people in it, so it serves to their intrest to let all their guys play in a 7 man, rather than argue who sits on a 5. Plus it's easier for a 10 player team to hit up a 7 format as well. Hell, they can probably farm out two 7 player teams from their normal rosters.

It certainly makes life a little more intresting now, doesn't it? Few more things fall into place in the speed of the moment.

-Tyger