There are two highly important [and already mentioned] qualities in our sport that ultimately determine the direction it takes.
I repeat them because nobody of yet has explained their interaction.
Although the fun factor and expense have already been made mention of, these two factors perform a dance around each other, both affecting the other, both hostage to the other .....
We all know paintball is expensive, and for the most part, the cost has decreased for the tournament player and I think also for the site player, and this obviously prompts the question, then why do we see a decline in the tournament area?
First off, site business isn't affected as much because people who tend to go to sites tend also to play a lot less than ballers like us, a lot less.
And also, for the most part, site paintball remains pretty much unchanged in terms of formats than when paintball first came over in the mid-eighties, and so it's fair to say, the fun element is still apparent in site paintball.
Tournament paintball however, has undergone many changes and the XBall format we now have is killing us ... XBall was only ever appropriate all the time sufficient support came from the industry and of course, we were also believing we were on the verge of TV uptake ... but now, the money's gone, the TV never materialised and..we still got XBall hanging like an anvil around our necks ... it's gotta go guys.
Secondly, the dance I referred to is being played out now and it goes something like this ...
Step 1. People will always indulge themselves. [the fun factor for want of a better descriptive]
Step 2. Sport / hobbies is a prime indulgence of people.
Step 3. Addictive pastimes will always push people to their financial limit.
Step 4. The more addictive the pastime, the greater that financial envelope is nudged.
Step 5. There is always a critical cut off point whereby any dance between fun and expense is finally ended when either the fun element decreases or the financial capability also decreases.
[This cut-off point is probably defined easily enough and I suppsoe can be better represented as some form of ratio derivative between expense and fun].
Step 6. The real problems for any indulgence [sport] are experienced when both the fun factor and ability to afford both decrease, and that is EXACTLY what we have now.
I was kinda hoping the Federation's main goal was to put the fun factor back in by implementing certain measures and allowing our sport to grow organically.
I don't like that word 'organically' when describing situations like this because it's a buzz word at the moment but it does describe an appropriate directive because if we now grow organically then we immediately have common rule books and standards of practice, locked leagues would die and there would be a complete overhaul of our tournament scene.
Organic in this sense, requires our sport to allow market forces and common sense to dictate the direction we evolve; at the moment, no such allowance is being made because certain people are more interested in protecting their income streams instead of doing the right thing.
Leave the sport well alone in terms of not imposing personal dictates and we will grow naturally; we do not greed providing manacles for our sport, we need a less intrusive strategy.
I repeat them because nobody of yet has explained their interaction.
Although the fun factor and expense have already been made mention of, these two factors perform a dance around each other, both affecting the other, both hostage to the other .....
We all know paintball is expensive, and for the most part, the cost has decreased for the tournament player and I think also for the site player, and this obviously prompts the question, then why do we see a decline in the tournament area?
First off, site business isn't affected as much because people who tend to go to sites tend also to play a lot less than ballers like us, a lot less.
And also, for the most part, site paintball remains pretty much unchanged in terms of formats than when paintball first came over in the mid-eighties, and so it's fair to say, the fun element is still apparent in site paintball.
Tournament paintball however, has undergone many changes and the XBall format we now have is killing us ... XBall was only ever appropriate all the time sufficient support came from the industry and of course, we were also believing we were on the verge of TV uptake ... but now, the money's gone, the TV never materialised and..we still got XBall hanging like an anvil around our necks ... it's gotta go guys.
Secondly, the dance I referred to is being played out now and it goes something like this ...
Step 1. People will always indulge themselves. [the fun factor for want of a better descriptive]
Step 2. Sport / hobbies is a prime indulgence of people.
Step 3. Addictive pastimes will always push people to their financial limit.
Step 4. The more addictive the pastime, the greater that financial envelope is nudged.
Step 5. There is always a critical cut off point whereby any dance between fun and expense is finally ended when either the fun element decreases or the financial capability also decreases.
[This cut-off point is probably defined easily enough and I suppsoe can be better represented as some form of ratio derivative between expense and fun].
Step 6. The real problems for any indulgence [sport] are experienced when both the fun factor and ability to afford both decrease, and that is EXACTLY what we have now.
I was kinda hoping the Federation's main goal was to put the fun factor back in by implementing certain measures and allowing our sport to grow organically.
I don't like that word 'organically' when describing situations like this because it's a buzz word at the moment but it does describe an appropriate directive because if we now grow organically then we immediately have common rule books and standards of practice, locked leagues would die and there would be a complete overhaul of our tournament scene.
Organic in this sense, requires our sport to allow market forces and common sense to dictate the direction we evolve; at the moment, no such allowance is being made because certain people are more interested in protecting their income streams instead of doing the right thing.
Leave the sport well alone in terms of not imposing personal dictates and we will grow naturally; we do not greed providing manacles for our sport, we need a less intrusive strategy.
