My theory: "Relativity of Paintball to the Wider Universe"
Originally posted by jahlad
even if we are not an olympic sport....aint it about time we jumped on the x-games band wagon.....thats massive world wide
Paintball is currently an enigma. It's neither a sport as such (although to play at it's highest incarnation, fitness, skill and a touch of daring do are required to participate), nor is it "Extreme" enough to be realistically considered for inclusion in X-games (IMHO). X-Ball seems to be a step towards redressing this, and certainly the ethos and training techniques of "Pro" teams seem to now reflect those as employed by "athletic based sports", but I'm unconvinced it has evolved enough to warrant inclusion in either camp yet.
Like Jahlad, I'd sooner see Paintball in the X-camp, but that's my personal preference
The problem, that may preclude it's inclusion in any X Game, is that without doubt Paintball is a game of Skill (and I'm not knocking the work requirement to develop thus skill base), however the representation of said skill simply isn't as spectacular or manifest as those shown in X games (well until I see the inverted 360 degree treble mugging with Indy Monkfish 50 / 50'ing the Snake).
Furthermore, I kinda doubt we're "edgy", ghetto chic or cool enough to be given credible X Status. For all the faux-bling bling ghetto hood-rat posting style, 99 % of you are all nice middleclass chaps with an education, who think Emimen is great in a Guardian-esque sense. Nobodies out there Twoc'ing X5s to play, so the cash to play gotta be coming from somewhere (unless of course you are the "Ghetto-thang").
As to becoming a Mainstream sporting activity, well I think the route to that is via the X-route first (if ever). Paintball the sport is not the finished article and it would be like me selling a house without a roof on it. Primarily we have yet to develop or see a dominant format that will "blow people away". Games rarely tend to be fluid and thus non-engaging. I can also think of two other factors that blight current Paintballs acceptance to the mainstream audience (I shall try to explain this as a mathematical expression please don't shoot me if the symbols are wrong, but I'll take a Nobel Prize if I'm correct):
if
P= Paintball,
X = game (playing and enjoyment) time,
Y = Set-up, bitching, standing around waiting, chrono, walking to and from the fields, slagging off and threatening to burn cheating heretics
then the sum of P = X / (Y * a gazillion)
and if
W = Wow Factor
G = Good Fast Paced Movement and Game Breaking
C = Counterpunch style, constant pot downloading ne boring
S = Showing half an inch too much and getting tagged in a manner that is neither spectacular nor visible to anybody bar the nearest marshal
Then the Wow Factor of Paintball can be defined as:
W = G / (C x * quadrillion) * S
N.B.
/ = DIVIDE BY
* = MULTIPLY
I call it my theory on the Relativity of Paintball to the Wider Universe (and if may I say so, somewhat better thought out than the Americans are going to whip everyone, because they're errrrrr Americans)
