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Where is our sport heading ?

Robbo

Owner of this website
Jul 5, 2001
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Mario said:
was i a little harsh you think?
.....nope...but I think it needs a little perspective and we should be adding the fact that while the vast majority wallow in almost abject indifference to improvement (and to be honest, why should they care anyway), a certain very small minority get on with the job in hand and the problem comes when we begin to believe it is the same people who are moaning are the very same people who are doing fcuk all about it....hence your post !

To some degree, those who do actually care and moan are the people who are doing something about it and so in other words, there's no real point in preaching to the unconverted because they won't ever change and will never see the need to anyway.

Conclusions:Those who care will do something about it, those who don't won't, we can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear I'm afraid
 

Mario

Pigeon amongst the cats
Sep 25, 2002
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Robbo said:
.....nope...but I think it needs a little perspective and we should be adding the fact that while the vast majority wallow in almost abject indifference to improvement (and to be honest, why should they care anyway), a certain very small minority get on with the job in hand and the problem comes when we begin to believe it is the same people who are moaning are the very same people who are doing fcuk all about it....hence your post !

To some degree, those who do actually care and moan are the people who are doing something about it and so in other words, there's no real point in preaching to the unconverted because they won't ever change and will never see the need to anyway.

Conclusions:Those who care will do something about it, those who don't won't, we can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear I'm afraid
sanity returns :) we can but battle on...
 

Markie C

Carlos Spicy Weiner
Aug 1, 2004
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Its not really about the state of the paintball scene its where is it going to go.

But the state might be what is causing the sport to not go any further than it is that's why i am asking because i am not as "in the Know" as some people and would like to know what they think.

As before i ask do you think its because we use guns to shoot each other that's whats making people not see the skill involved ?
 

Mario

Pigeon amongst the cats
Sep 25, 2002
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markie c said:
Its not really about the state of the paintball scene its where is it going to go.

But the state might be what is causing the sport to not go any further than it is that's why i am asking because i am not as "in the Know" as some people and would like to know what they think.

As before i ask do you think its because we use guns to shoot each other that's whats making people not see the skill involved ?
They aren't mutually exclusive markie. The state the scene is in now dictates that we cannot move forward as a whole. Only the individuals putting the effort in can push forward and as such make their own scene.

And its not because we use guns. Its the people. It's always the people.
 

Baca Loco

Ex-Fun Police
Mario said:
1--baca people go to motor sports events because they have some idea of whats going on.

2--I took my parents to an event just to see if they got it. They didnt, because its not something they are familiar with. Even when i explained what was goin on they still didnt really get it and they left pretty much as soon as they could.

3--Motor sports mean something to people. they can latch onto one face and see it as the main factor in why they watch it. To cheer for their boy (schumacher, button etc)

4--Paintball, you have seven fairly unattractive guys shooting another seven fairly unattractive guys. Who do you cheer for? And dont someone say 'look at football' cause thats a f*cking sh*t analogy. their faces aren't covered up at the most crucial time.

5--Another reason i'd guess why people go and watch events like these is because its a "family" occasion. The sense of camaraderie with the 10,000 other people in the stadium, the chance to talk to like minded people. I also appeals across the board, to men of all ages and waist sizes and many women.

6--Paintball as an activity lends itself to a small percentage of the population (i.e. idiots)
I realize, Mario, you are enjoying wallowing in self-pity and pessimism at the mo but even so ...
you aren't really addressing Markie's original query except to vaguely say there ain't enough peeps interested in making anything much happen. (Which may be fair enough but doesn't give very good mileage.:) )

1--not so much while they are actually there. Yes, they understand the general idea and apparently they like horrendously loud cars and they may have decided to be fans of one brand or driver or another but in terms of enjoying motor sports on the basis of observable displays of skill, a coherent presentation or an unfolding drama that mostly doesn't exist. (One of the reasons I stopped attending F1--when they ran in this country--even though I do enjoy horrendously loud and fast cars.) And my point was all the things pball supposedly lacks that peeps can't do without in order to enjoy; well, apparently they can do and in reasonably large numbers, too.

2--which is a valid point but begs the question of motor sports or golf. Why them and not pball--at least at this particular time?

3--perhaps so but it isn't like they can "see" him except as a blink of the eye blur once every 5o seconds or so nor, without additional info can they put into context what his blazin' past means in terms of the ongoing race. It's one thing to say fans have attachments--d'oh--and another to explain how something like most motor sports can attract the interest it does given how little it offers in live performance.

4--The real football analogy stands actually.:p But even so you could as easily say the same about my reference point sports. Does the average racing fan know Schumacher or have they decided to like him cus he wins or drives Ferarri or saw a bit about him on TV once or read something in a magazine? (Hint: you're mixing apples and oranges and being intentionally perverse.:) )

5--and this happened how? With the first car off the assembly line?

6--more peeps play paintball in the US than play baseball so you're plainly missing something. (As is paintball but the question is what.)
 

Mario

Pigeon amongst the cats
Sep 25, 2002
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i am inferior. im off to wallow in pessism. and also to drink heavily.

quick query, the baseball thing. Is that stat from people who regularly play paintball - i.e. the particapants of each play roughly the same amount or is it how many people have played over the year?

i would also say i am addressing his point because im giving him reasons why paintball wont progress. Im letting him know where it wont progress :)

but i dont want to argue with you cause youll beat me :) your way more intelligent.

edit: realise im keeping this on a local basis. Paintball could go big worldwide but not in this country for some time.
 

no-infernomark

I think therefore I am.
Sep 19, 2005
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it will be awhile before anything does come out of it, people say show the public the sporty side of it i.e sup air, the public want to follow something they can play, say for instance if there was a sup air site for the punters, they wont be using ego's or anything super fast like the pro's do, as no site is gonna fork out £30,00 for ego's and other super quick guns which are used, thus they wont be able to see what the sport of sup ir is all about, hardly gonna be a barrel of laughs for the tippman mechs, although will be fun, its just not gonna put across an imge of fast pace, excellent team work and tactics. so until sites want to buy electric guns and reduce paint prices then woodsball is all i can see happening
 

Cusack

Well-Known Member
Oct 17, 2005
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could be the fact that you only get to see one team for 6 minutes or less and then they're replaced by a completely different team, and the only thing you have to compare the two performances is the field.

In F1 the same cars are battling for ages; each lap something has changed slightly, maybe someone has dropped to 2nd or moved to 1st, the point is it's the same people, and spectators who don't know about the sport can begin to root for a particular driver. In standard paintball tournaments there's only 1 game and you have to choose a new team to root for every time, and even then it's only based on what colour they're wearing or that your mate told you angels are better than ions and therefore the red team would win.

To build interest for newbie spectators or TV, Xball (and things like knowing what a team plans to do, who's gonna do what) would allow people to understand, then watch the team's plans fail and them get wiped off the field, go perfectly or even watch someone have to compensate for something and scrape through?

im just thinking out loud though really...
 

oggey

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Oct 29, 2004
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Have to agree with Mario here, the level of competition inside the UK is generally sh*te. I enjoyed going to the masters now but as a team and player I dont feel that push you should be getting from division 1. I expected to go out there first time and get hammered to the ground but it didnt happen. If this keeps up teams arnt going to improve, they are just going to stay at the same level. If people are happy with having a team constantly play in a certain division and win month after month then fine, to me it would get very boring as I want to reach the best I can while Im young and fit. Playing Uk based tournaments aint guna cut it Im afraid!
 

Baca Loco

Ex-Fun Police
Mario said:
i am inferior. im off to wallow in pessism. and also to drink heavily.

quick query, the baseball thing. Is that stat from people who regularly play paintball - i.e. the particapants of each play roughly the same amount or is it how many people have played over the year?

i would also say i am addressing his point because im giving him reasons why paintball wont progress. Im letting him know where it wont progress :)

but i dont want to argue with you cause youll beat me :) your way more intelligent.

edit: realise im keeping this on a local basis. Paintball could go big worldwide but not in this country for some time.
Quite all right, Mario, as I'd decided after the last post not to 'debate' the particulars as that isn't really the issue.
It just seems to me when peeps discuss this general topic the point of view is always paintball-centric but if it's looked at in light of a broader perspective the view might appear somewhat differently.