Is Paintball Broke?

[Baca Loco]

And if so, how do we fix it? We just spent the '03 season with competing promotors and a million formats with what seems like a couple dozen "champs" of this that and the other. Is that a move forward? If so, where's it taking us?

Meanwhile, opinion amongst players seems to be split on X-Ball with some lovin' it and others hatin' it. How is X-Ball the future if all it does is drive another wedge between groups of players?

Lots of questions but few answers. What's it gonna take to get Paintball on the right track--what is the "right track"? While we're at it how 'bout suggesting improvements to the current game(s).
I'll start with a great idea suggested by PGi's very own Joe "Get" Carter: mike the Ultimate ref in X-Ball so he can announce the penalties to the spectators so everyone knows what happened insted of just having the times appear on the scoreboard.

And what about 10-man? Lots of love is still proclaimed for 10-man but looks like it's getting treated the same way the anorak-wearing guys carrying clubs treat baby seals up in the Great North.

 

[knobbs]

100% agree with the announcement of penalties. Wayyyyy too often watching X-Ball do I hear "what just happened?"

Also, announcing teams would really be a step up. I sat next to a guy all through the 10 man finals at Cup that kept asking me "Who is this?" When I'd tell him he'd go "If this was basketball, we sure as hell know who was playing." Then, when everyone got up and started walking away he asked "what, is that it? Who won?"

Getting a grassy surface and bleachers isn't the only thing needed to get mainstream recognition. This guy didn't know much about paintball, but was obviously very interested--he was just quickly becoming very agitated with the non-friendly presentation.

 

[Wadidiz]

I have to say that as regards letting the spectators know what the penalties were and who did what, most Nations Cup games in the Millennium series were much better than at the World Cup. I was surprised by the lack of commentating.

Steve

PS. We also kept our obstacles clean, which helped a WHOLE lot in judging.

SM

 

[DMZ Hasse]

Wadidiz speaks the truth!

We saw:

* Orange bunkers (they where originally red, but most teams shot Hellfire). Some back bunkers so covered in paint that, if looking from the "right direction" you COULD NOT determine the original color of the bunker. Tough job for the refs to determine if a big orange blotch is a hit or not unless they saw it break. When hitting a dirty bunker, paint would also splatter and (from a distance or the wrong angle) look like a hit on a player.

* No commentating whatsoever, and no cool music played between games like in Europe. They did not create the atmosphere that there was a potential for.

* Some really exciting games. I saw most of Dynastys games and some of the Russian Legion and Naughty Dogs games. Those games where more exciting to watch than NXL! (maybe I saw the wrong NXL games)

If I have to play X next year and never get to play 5-man or 7-man again, that would be fine with me.

 

[Mark790.06]

Originally posted by DMZ Hasse
* No commentating whatsoever, and no cool music played between games like in Europe.

Hey, I heard them play "We Are Family" by the Pointer Sisters, is that not cool? Sure it's a wedding reception standard, but that doesn't mean it can't make the X-Ball cross-over.

 

[DMZ Hasse]

Originally posted by Mark790.06
Hey, I heard them play "We Are Family" by the Pointer Sisters, is that not cool? Sure it's a wedding reception standard, but that doesn't mean it can't make the X-Ball cross-over.

OK OK, apart from "We are family" they didn't play any cool music in between games

 

[Kyle - Shock Unit 04]

i think that the xbal is fun to watch for the first 5-10 mins, however after that you start to see the same breaks being made followed by the same in game moves. in playing the game professionally obviously they have looked at the field and have determined the best way to play the field. this doesnt make for very good enjoyment from the spectator perspective. there were some points in the x ball which were great, when the russians sent to guys on a mugging mission off the break, which was great to watch.

i still wouldnt miss the opportunity to play it.

just my thoughts.

kyle

 

[duffistuta]

Burn the heretic

Pointer Sisters!!???!!! Mark, it was the almighty Sister Sledge...

 

[DMZ Hasse]

Originally posted by km16
i think that the xbal is fun to watch for the first 5-10 mins, however after that you start to see the same breaks being made followed by the same in game moves. in playing the game professionally obviously they have looked at the field and have determined the best way to play the field. this doesnt make for very good enjoyment from the spectator perspective. there were

kyle

I saw lots of different breaks now at the WC. The opposing team aren't stupider than that they will notice if you do the same move over and over again. For those teams that do use the same break many times in a row, it becomes interesting to watch as well: You want to see how many times they get away with it before the opponents apply countermeasures...

I would have watched the Dynasty and Dogs games even if they had played for 2 x 60 min.. it was simply good paintball!

 

[Mark790.06]

Burn the heretic

Originally posted by duffistuta
Pointer Sisters!!???!!! Mark, it was the almighty Sister Sledge...

Oh that's right. I was thinking of Blitzkrieg Bop which came on after We Are Family. Although performed by the Ramones, most punk aficionados don't know that Blitzkrieg Bop was actually a collaboration between Joey Ramone and Bonnie Pointer who left her sisters in 1976 for an ill-fated 2 week stint with the Ramones at HBGB's in New York, before singing back ground vocals on Bill Wyman's Stone Alone album.