Best guess I can make...
I've thought about this, too...I'd say, in a couple years time, the stuff I'd sort of expect to see would be:
-X-ball becoming THE tourney format
-Paintball making it about as mainstream as an unconventional sport can make it (similar to skateboarding, I suppose)
-Television coverage of the big events
-The general public maybe...maybe...getting an idea about what paintball is really like
However, before any of this happens, we need...
-A single, standard set of rules for both America and Europe. I hate when people ask me about the rules of tourney paintball and I say, "well, it depends where you play..."
-Paid reffing staff. Nothing else will do, and eventually, it'll happen. It's only a matter of time.
-Maybe a limit on firepower. As it is, around 20 shots a second, we're maxing out all loaders that rely on gravity. This includes crap like the halo and warp feed (which, at the end of the day, is still hooked up to a gravity fed loader...and so still limits the rate of fire somewhat). The next step would be either some kind of belt-fed paintball or admitting that, maybe, just maybe, we've got all the firepower we need.
-To get our image sparkly clean. That means all the little 'ballers out there who like to cop a 'tude need to take a ritalin, sit their asses down, and consider how they make the sport look. That means wiping has to be less common...and I don't just mean we need better refs.
As far as advances in guns, I dunno...I don't have a good enough imagination to think up the next step.
-Mike
