I played paintball for the first time in about five years on Sunday. My mates dragged me out of bed for a birthday surprise and all I got were these lousy bruises.
This post is designed to answer a couple of questions in my head and to hopefully provoke a debate. It is not an attack on anyone, which is why i won't be using names etc.
So the site I went to, is owned by a well known company and falls under a well known branded network of sites. There were about 30 or so players id say, with two marshalls and two people working on the safe zone. First point - two marshalls for thirty players? In my experience, not enough. It was basically self marshalling, which on punter days doesn't really work. Second point, from the first game, guns weren't working, ran out of gas, had to be swapped out. Now it was a cold and damp day which would account for some of the issues, but not guns running out of gas. Third point, steamed up goggles. Are we still at a point where we provide players with steaming goggles? Here's an easy solve. Soap and water. But we weren't even provided that. Just tissue. This was the number one gripe for all groups and my mates who are the Target demographic, who have money to spend specifically said they wouldn't go back because of it. Surely this is bonkers? On the flip side of this, my friends said they felt like the entire day was a money making exercise and they got very little value from it.
To wrap up - is this experience indicative of many sites? Has cost cutting become the name of the game and every last penny is accounted for? Is infrastructure looked at as a waste of money in these difficult times? Have sites actually taken on board anything that players have said for a long time? In my particular case, Im sure these decisions come from higher up the food chain but what's it like elsewhere? Do sites want to retain a loyal playerbase that has money to spend or do they just want numbers through the door?
Ps. We all had a good day as a bunch of mates, but none of them would go again which I think is sad.
Thoughts? Am I asking too much for the money I spend?
This post is designed to answer a couple of questions in my head and to hopefully provoke a debate. It is not an attack on anyone, which is why i won't be using names etc.
So the site I went to, is owned by a well known company and falls under a well known branded network of sites. There were about 30 or so players id say, with two marshalls and two people working on the safe zone. First point - two marshalls for thirty players? In my experience, not enough. It was basically self marshalling, which on punter days doesn't really work. Second point, from the first game, guns weren't working, ran out of gas, had to be swapped out. Now it was a cold and damp day which would account for some of the issues, but not guns running out of gas. Third point, steamed up goggles. Are we still at a point where we provide players with steaming goggles? Here's an easy solve. Soap and water. But we weren't even provided that. Just tissue. This was the number one gripe for all groups and my mates who are the Target demographic, who have money to spend specifically said they wouldn't go back because of it. Surely this is bonkers? On the flip side of this, my friends said they felt like the entire day was a money making exercise and they got very little value from it.
To wrap up - is this experience indicative of many sites? Has cost cutting become the name of the game and every last penny is accounted for? Is infrastructure looked at as a waste of money in these difficult times? Have sites actually taken on board anything that players have said for a long time? In my particular case, Im sure these decisions come from higher up the food chain but what's it like elsewhere? Do sites want to retain a loyal playerbase that has money to spend or do they just want numbers through the door?
Ps. We all had a good day as a bunch of mates, but none of them would go again which I think is sad.
Thoughts? Am I asking too much for the money I spend?
sounds like a typical day there anyway, understaffed and low value for money...
