Its not about the money. To know how to fight, you have to know what you are up against. Counter Strike Source and Halo2 etc can very much be what paintball is... social, very entertaining and even going as far as getting your heart pounding. Argue all you want, but kids who grow up in todays world are so overwhelmed with cool tech that paintball can be somewhat stone age. Paintball will undoubtly have a place going forward, but what size will depend on how its nutured. The fields that have done well do not charge the cheapest price necessarily, they deliver the best product, the best entertainment. Does your local field make sure everyone has a good time? Does it have scenario type fields that people can immerse themselves in an alter ego? Or does it have snotty Sport reffs simply guiding herds to fields and making fun of those who do not play well? Where are the cheat codes? Where is the reset button? Where are the restrooms and quick tips. The protection form the elements and the friendly tutor? A HUGE part of selling an experiance is making sure everyone has at least one REALLY good game.
Are the site operators in the UK collecting addresses, forming data sheets and then sending out bits of mail enticing repeat customers?
The sport side may give paintball a PC image to tout, but is that what the first time user even cares about... not usually, the PC side is how they justify to their moms to let them play (they then often go play the 'scenario' side and love it.)
Kids shoot guns in so many video games, then they go out and try paintball only to find the markers wanting when it comes to either performance or feel. (do u guys have, like, a sniper rifle?)
Look, i am sure there are plenty of sites that are top notch, but if growing your base is the key to long term success, how do you go about doing that?
You have to really analyze what you are up against, even if i am wrong in some areas, and then formulate a plan to combat that foe. If you want more players to choose from for high quality sport teams, you have to grow from the bottom up. If you want more sponsorship dollars, justify this by figuring out a way to grow the sport in general, its a long hual plan but one that may put a chunk of change in some pockets along the way.
paintballs numbers should be double in the US, they fail to do the above as well. We just have more rednecks, thankfully. Regardless, there is not a doubt in any persons mind that this could be a long term attractive recreational industry, however, paintball was never really organized on the backs of good business and vision, more supply and demand. It hasnt changed, at the entry level, since i started 15 years ago. Well fellas, the consumer base sure has. Paintball needs to evolve as an industry. Problem is, eveyone will say it has blah blah electronic guns etc. And if you think that is evolving the industry, you are an idiot. Where is our governing bodies? Where are our federations? Where is our industry watch dogs? Our data collection? Go look at skiing, snowboarding even skateboarding. There are real backbones there. IF you have a real backbone you can really get good data and make more accurate decisions. When most ski resorts banned snowboarding, they did studies and figured out they were turing away millions, so they changed their tune didnt they. Their consumer base changed, they changed with it. We have old skool people doing old skool things worried about short term profits. Well, that has got to change, and someone is going to have to do it.
Yeah, i am idealistic, and alot of other things, but take from it what you will. There are short term things that can be picked out and executed that can make a lot of people more profitable. For the long term stuff. I have learned the hard way I am on my own for getting that done.
If they have the time of their lives doing something, they do not care what you charge them. Its the product that needs to be reworked, not the price point.
I will close with this. I have found the UK scene intriguing, i think that a small handfull of people could really changed things there. I just throw my babblings hoping that maybe you take some and run with it to a positive result. now back to work.
