Nostalgia or Fact?

[Gadget]

I preferred playing back in the early 90s in woodland, for many of the same reasons as wolf13.

The tournament circuit seemed more mature than it is today - the average age of players was higher, there seemed to be more respect between teams and less posturing.

I still enjoy tournaments today, but there seems to be a far higher tosser-quota amongst tournament players.

I used to love picking up PGi each month, carefully scanning every tournament report and reading any equipment reviews. Then PGi went global - the UK focus disappeared, replaced with coverage of foreign events I've no real interest in and the internet came along and turned everyone into a know-it-all marker expert.

The only thing I don't miss from 15 years ago is CO2. Thank god for Tom Kaye and Air America!

 

[Robbo]

I used to love picking up PGi each month, carefully scanning every tournament report and reading any equipment reviews. Then PGi went global - the UK focus disappeared, replaced with coverage of foreign events I've no real interest in and the internet came along and turned everyone into a know-it-all marker expert.

!

Gadget, what a lot of people seem to misinterpret about PGi's change of coverage was, this was a symptom of a much bigger problem.
PGi begun as a UK based magazine and we would have probably stayed that way had the UK commercial scene stayed the same.

We had well over 20 different UK companies all supporting the magazine but during the nineties, the numbers begun to whither drastically.
What have we got now?
Planet, WDP......hmmmm..... you see the problem.
Both those companies have stayed faithful to PGi but I' am afraid their loyalty alone couldn't ever have kept us going.

PGi is part of a 25 magazine portfolio that our holding company owns and it has to make a profit just like any of the other titles we have.
We had to go international in terms of coverage and advertising or die, the choice was as easy as that.

All these idiots who bemoan the fact PGi doesn't have enough UK coverage in have zero idea as to what makes commercial sense.
It makes my blood boil when I read some people bitching about PGi not covering some obscure frikkin tourney somewhere in the middle of UK nowhere land.
We cover what we can but we are acutely aware of what our major demographic, both reader and industry, wants to see ...and that is the way we shall continue to run things.
Any other strategy is commercial suicide.

 

[Russell Smith]

also tim ran the succesful 5 man limited paint tourneys at activ8 good cheap paintball that many teams used as a training day
. a hopper of paint per man per game!!!!!!!!!!!! SKILL AND SPEED OVER CASES OF PAINT PER PLAYER!!!

It worked out at 114 balls per player per game and we never ran short.

 

[Russell Smith]

Robbo, what year was it when you popped your shoulder out as you dived into a bunker by the so called grandstand (woods ball), i think it was Mayhem down in Sussex, just one of those memories that i have that needs the loose end tieing up

Don't know who it was but I remember the grandstand, that was the first year it moved from the farm so I think that would have been 94/95


Russ

 

[Lucky]

Back in the day it was all about the fun!
We were just a bunch of mates out for an adrenalin crazed day without a care in the world. Starting with splats and then onto pumps they were the glory days.
When Semi's were introduced is probably when it all started to get serious.
Although we were having fun, the win started to mean a bit more and to matter more too, so as such that was the start of the decline of paintball.

Even todays modern punter days with the tippmans and inferno's etc. Do not have the same devilmaycare attitude that we had back then.
Honestly when was the last time that you saw 1 man charge 30yards towards 20 or so players, cap 3-4 players point blank and then run away without being shot? Why wasn't he shot? Splats and 12grams that's why!
Or The look on peoples faces when they'd just pulled off a killer move to find that they were out of paint or gas and suddenly stood in the middle of the oppo's territory was priceless.

Todays game is fun and i still enjoy it but it quite simply just isn't as much "FUN"!
Everybody's got so much attitude about something or other today where as back then we had nothing to prove, just the glory on the day

 

[fuel]

Just a bunch of random observations...

I've been around since the cocker and mag days. Every player I know that was around back then says the same thing: It was way more fun when there were only two tourney level guns to choose from and everybody shot at the same speed (SLOW). The ROF was much lower and I think you could move better. I hardly ever got shot off the break and I was a front guy and went to the 50 almost every game.

I loved the old woods games. I loved crawling. I still remember some tips from Eric Felix on crawling that was in PGI years ago. Hyperball was the ****, too. I loved Hyperball.

I played mostly regional and local tourneys (5 man), but 10 man was by far the best. I loved 10 man. It was chess with guns. I still remember making a move where I shot out 5 of the other team. Ahh, the glory days...

The guy that made the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels comment was right on. I don't know how many fights I broke up. There was a reason we used stainless steel DYE barrels back in the day... Great for clubbing baby seals and pissed off paintball players! Also, it was mostly old guys playing and it was just different. No 5'0" 15 year old "bad asses" with big mouths. Most of the kids nowadays would be scared ****less if 'Shock or some of the other old school teams showed up to a field as they were as likely to beat you off the field as on.

I played up until sometime in 2001 with my old right feed '94 evolution autococker. I still kept up with the angels and shockers. I loved that gun. It was still the best shooting gun I ever had.

We played really aggressive pb for those days mainly because our team was actually a bunch of front guys from other teams. Not having guys that were good backers cost us a lot of games, but when we did win (which was pretty often), we rolled fools. I remember bunkering dudes off the break. Nowadays, making it to the 30 is even risky. I can still make the 50 sometimes, but it really, really depends on the field and who I am facing.

Got out of pb sometime in 2001 and didn't play at all until late 2006. My, how times have changed.

I think cost is a big factor. I'm not talking about just paint either (I remember when a case of Marballizer was $120-$150. I was a Nelson Challenger guy myself!). You just shot A LOT less paint. Entry fees to tourneys were cheaper, there was less events so everyone showed up. The prizes sucked, (remember the ONE cocker that Lockout received for the NPPL series championship win?), but you didn't have to pay as much to play. Also, there are too many categories. It was just Pro, Am A, or Am B. Now there is Pro, Semi-Pro, Novice, Rookie, Beginner, Super Beginner, and Retard. Too many divisions and everybody plays down two levels!

Go back to mechanical cockers and mags, 10 man with woods, speedball, hyperball, and sup'air! That was where it was at.

 

[Cook$]

If somebody organised a "retro" tourney, would you lot go?

 

[Buddha 3]

If somebody organised a "retro" tourney, would you lot go?

Only if it's wheelchair accessible.

 

[Buddha 3]

The guy that made the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels comment was right on. I don't know how many fights I broke up. There was a reason we used stainless steel DYE barrels back in the day... Great for clubbing baby seals and pissed off paintball players!

*Raises hand*


What about those big, hefty, brass JJ barrels? handheld WMD's I tell ya...

 

[Bedlam]

If somebody organised a "retro" tourney, would you lot go?

I know several people have tried or are running pump tourneys, but I've not heard of anyone trying an old Skool Retro tourney, but yup, I'd go......

Oh yeah.....it wasn't the barrels that hurt when you hit people.....its the bloody 20oz CO2 bottles on the back.....you could really wind up and get a good swing with it..