In your opinion, is paintball closer to Soccer or "war?"

[Eddepet]

I'm not to sure...........in paintball, I've never actually seen somebody kill another person (on purpose anyway) on the field (or off for that matter) before. We don't carry bajonets and stuff like that, do we?

Eddie

 

[Scotty D]

Some famous type person once said
"War is a series of mistakes that results in a victory" or something along those lines.

As much as I love paintball it is basically a mini warette But when you think about it any competitive sport is a form of war.

I still love paintball though.

 

[Alex Hicks.]

I showed some mates some paintball footage. One of them responded so it's more like a sport than that army stuff you do then. They all agreed it's nothing like rec ball and is definately a sport.

 

[Liz]

This thread started me thinking about the physical damage or potential damage caused in various sports. Worst injury I remember from paintball - Dave Stewart's broken knee. Injuries caused by other sports Rugby - death due to broken necks, choking etc, boxing - death due to brain damage, cricket - death due to being hit in the head, American football - permanent total paralysis.
So what sounds more like war to you purely on damage to the opposition?
I started to tot up my own injuries from team sports, but it got too, too depressing

 

[QuikSilver]

I think paintball in all forms is unrelated to war... Scenario - maybe. But still far from it. War itself is like a game, except people die in it. Therefore paintball scenario style is just a game, and nothing else.

Like TJ said war is hell. THere's a big difference between soap-like goop filled gelatin balls and bullets.

 

[Diggie]

The problem is also that we're a bunch of people runnin' around with "real working guns" in our hands. You can make 'em as shiny and flashy as you want, but that will not change the public's perception of our sport, or even transform that perception into something that will make the public understand that it IS a sport.

Rentals. It's still the number one market the industry thrives on. And until field owners get their acts together and push paintball as a sport instead of a re-enactment activity, the public will always perceve paintballers as "those crazies (fanatics) who shout a lot".

And that's where another problem lies: people who rent for the day want to be on an adventure, frickin' Disneyland. They want to Rambo on about how cool they were in those woods.

What if paintball simply made a bad start by having its roots in the woods? If Mr. Gurnsey had thought of Sup'air in his days, paintball would probably be so radically different from what it has become, even on the rental fields. We'd probably have nothing but arenas and the whole war issue would be non-existent.

But that's just my opinion.

 

[Robin Hood]

Originally posted by Diggie
What if paintball simply made a bad start by having its roots in the woods? If Mr. Gurnsey had thought of Sup'air in his days, paintball would probably be so radically different from what it has become, even on the rental fields. We'd probably have nothing but arenas and the whole war issue would be non-existent.

I disagree - if he started with concept fields then the sport would have very quickly developed into the woods. That what a lot of people enjoy, the 'Survival' aspect as such - which is what the whole thing was about to begin with, hence 'The Survival Game' or something along those lines.
The concept fields would have to be in the wide open to begin with anyway and it would only have been a matter of time before someone, (if not Gurnsey) started up their own game, based in the woods...then 20 years later we get all this contoversey over WWII scenario games....."Ohh it's far too warlike, so utterly disrespectful!! They must be mad! Couldn't possibly do that....in my day..."

 

[Robin Hood]

Sorry, quoted by accident (meant to edit) and couldn't delete

 

[FAMINE]

I would say its nearer sex than either

You gotta get all warmed up for it
You never stop thinking about the next/last time you do it
You get all sweaty doing it
You love telling your mates all about it
You get covered in all kinds of sticky substances
You always want more toys to liven it up


See

 

[Diggie]

Originally posted by AJermstad

I disagree - if he started with concept fields then the sport would have very quickly developed into the woods. That what a lot of people enjoy, the 'Survival' aspect as such - which is what the whole thing was about to begin with, hence 'The Survival Game' or something along those lines.

Of course my bad little sci-fi novella (which would have featured busty space heroines in skimpy raygun bikinis toting mean custom cockers) started out with the words "what if", but it was worth a try.

The concept fields would have to be in the wide open to begin with anyway and it would only have been a matter of time before someone, (if not Gurnsey) started up their own game, based in the woods...then 20 years later we get all this contoversey over WWII scenario games....."Ohh it's far too warlike, so utterly disrespectful!! They must be mad! Couldn't possibly do that....in my day..."

Think that would have happened now in my narrow kid mind's view of the future? In a time when the cold war was in full effect paintball was invented, so wouldn't it have caused way more controversy in that time? Paintball still has its naysayers and critics, and I'm not sure if this is accurate, but probably much less than in ye olden days.