Why paintball will never be football. (Popularity)

[TheDestinyPB]

Sorry, have I missed something?

Who precisely is trying make paintball like football, rugby or tennis?

Yes you have. I'm saying that people should look at paintball differently, not saying "It should be on TV again".

Also, I'm talking about popularity not "trying to make paintball like football, rugby or tennis,". It's just an open discussion, an opinionated point.

 

[TheDestinyPB]

agree, and it will never be like football.

in my opinion on of the biggest things is:

children and teenagers grow up with football as part of their school P.E and break time hobby - playing on a daily basis. All that participation in a sport at a young age...no wonder why so many people like football throughout there life span.

Completely agree with you. Great point

 

[TheDestinyPB]

I agree that many electric markers far surpass mechanical markers, the point I was trying to make is that you can still have fun and keep up with players with electric markers if you as a rental player are using a mechanical marker.
After all that's how all of us got into this sport didn't we? We played punter/ rental games, had a great laugh and then moved on to purchase our own gear, etc.

I agree with most of what you said. However, the price of electic markers after you decide to get into the game is often extremely high and playing a walk-on, when relatively inexperienced, with a mechanical marker your not going to enjoy the game as much as if you had an Ego at 12.5bps.

 

[Henry.B]

We should just advertise paintball for a fun adventure sport, and competitive sport that it can be; many of my colleagues and friends are intruiged by it, and have started playing more/getting their own kit due to increased exposure... of course it will never be like football or rugby, but it is certainly growing!

 

[Bolter]

This is my opinion; if you disagree please leave your constructive point below and I will be happy to respond.

Interesting points are in red, and generic points are in brown.

1) The community - To enjoy football you don't have to play it. The fans support there team and have fun without touching a ball. This however cannot be said for paintball. Anyone who likes paintball or enjoys it has to play it to do so. You don't have avid Nexus fans who have never touch a marker or people who can't stop thinking about the sport but don't play it/have never.

Nonsense, out of 1000 football fans, I would wager a months salary that 99% have played football at some point in their life.

2) Price - This is a very basic point which people already know about, therefore I am not going to expand upon it.

Thing is, if you really want to play paintball, you will do everything possible to. If you are so so about it....then yea, price would be relevant. But to expect it to cost as little as throwing your jumper down as a goal post is never going to happen.

3) Public connotations - If you start a conversation about paintball at work/school - who is inexperienced - the phrase "frozen paintballs" will appear. This is what is known as fear mongering, although on a small scale. Yes, it is all about education, but this is not possible if people are scared of the sport. They will have zero interest in something that they feel is dangerous, and will not research to find otherwise. This prevents new members enjoying the precious activity we have.

Theres always rumours, about every facet of life. Its nothing new there. Being intelligent enough to decide whats true and whats not is a whole other issue.

Many many many people do extreme/scary things at weekends, and they love it! Cycling down a mountain in Wales, sky diving, rock climbing etc etc and they all have a massive market. No-one is scared of paintball, you are assuming people are scared of paintball. In reality its probably the opposite.

4) Technology - As we all know paintballing technology is huge. So big in fact that there is now a huge gap between rental kits and electronic markers.People new to the sport are going to want a electronic marker, as the normal mechanic rentals are simply not good enough (ROF and accuracy). This does two things: scares people off by making people think if they don't have a Geo 3 and a rotor they are at a disadvantage and shows them this is not going to be a cheap sport.

Yes but this is probably the cheapest paintball has ever been equipment wise. You can get a gun for £200 that Pro's in the US use to win tournaments. When I started playing £200 would get you a rusty cocker with bits dremelled of it, and held together with ductape. If you wanted what the Pro's used, you had to drop £1000+ easy. These days there are options. You can have an EGO with a million settings for you to mess up, a nice anno job and a barrel kit for a lot, or you can choose an etek, which in all fairness still shoots 10.5bps the exact same as the EGO. Neither are more accurate than the other. The biggest factor to effect accuracy is you. Second is fresh paint. No longer do you have to have the expensive option if you dont want it.

 

[TheDestinyPB]

Nonsense, out of 1000 football fans, I would wager a months salary that 99% have played football at some point in their life.



Thing is, if you really want to play paintball, you will do everything possible to. If you are so so about it....then yea, price would be relevant. But to expect it to cost as little as throwing your jumper down as a goal post is never going to happen.



Theres always rumours, about every facet of life. Its nothing new there. Being intelligent enough to decide whats true and whats not is a whole other issue.

Many many many people do extreme/scary things at weekends, and they love it! Cycling down a mountain in Wales, sky diving, rock climbing etc etc and they all have a massive market. No-one is scared of paintball, you are assuming people are scared of paintball. In reality its probably the opposite.



Yes but this is probably the cheapest paintball has ever been equipment wise. You can get a gun for £200 that Pro's in the US use to win tournaments. When I started playing £200 would get you a rusty cocker with bits dremelled of it, and held together with ductape. If you wanted what the Pro's used, you had to drop £1000+ easy. These days there are options. You can have an EGO with a million settings for you to mess up, a nice anno job and a barrel kit for a lot, or you can choose an etek, which in all fairness still shoots 10.5bps the exact same as the EGO. Neither are more accurate than the other. The biggest factor to effect accuracy is you. Second is fresh paint. No longer do you have to have the expensive option if you dont want it.

Yes 99% have played football in their life... But do not play it as a sport, often and play it seriously. Unlike paintball.

People who literally are just getting into the sport will be deterred by price. Doing anything to play, if you do that than that is pretty reckless. I know people who quit playing it regularly due to the price, yet they love the sport. E.g college fees, other schooling and just paying bills are more important than paintball should ever be to you. It's just a hobby/sport after all.

People often want the best, its human nature, people don't want a rusty ex rental tippman when they start out nowadays. The game is too competitive, you won't normally have as much fun with a semi, mechanical marker, whilst being blasted by a ramping EGO.

Please reply to this, I'm not arguing, I just like debating with people who don't just shout at you if you don't agree with them

 

[olliewidd]

I think paintball is a massively misunderstood sport. The amount of people ive spoken to, who due to their punter experiences, think that paintball is played in the woods by fat men who wish they were in the army is unbelievable, As we all know this simply isnt the case but trying to explain how its played competitively is often rewarded with a blank look and confusion. Id put this down mainly to lack of publicity and media coverage. I truly would love to see paintball return to the TV but realistically its fan base is far too small and therefore the TV companies are not going to challenge the viewing numbers of other sports channels that show football or rugby.
Personally, i like that paintball only has a very specific fan bas. Quite often when arriving at a tournament you will know many people there and be able to share the sport with people who are equally as passionate as you. Unlike football or rugby where many fans are not so much fans as they are spectators. The closeness of the paintball community is something I feel is unrivaled, nowhere else can you rock up to a competition, have an issue with kit and have a complete stranger offer to lend you his £800 gun. I doubt a chelsea player would assist a tottenham player if his boots fell apart. No-one starts up paintball for something to do when theyre bored, they get into it because it captivates them entirely and they become hooked. True, many are forced out by the price of paintball but I highly doubt any of them leave with a good riddance attitude.Ive found that paintball truly is the marmite sport..you either love it and immerse yourself in it entirely or you dislike it and cant understand why people do

 

[Dskize]

What If I was to suggest, that the paintball demographic suggests, that 75% of the people who play paintball are actually fat blokes who want to play army.

 

[Pandamonium]

what i find is that whenever i mention that i play paintball to people i find that i usually have to explain that i dont run around in the woods playing scenario games (I do love them but i dont do it very often) and how supair is played. This has been a major part when works staff paintball day has popped up.

 

[TheDestinyPB]

I think paintball is a massively misunderstood sport. The amount of people ive spoken to, who due to their punter experiences, think that paintball is played in the woods by fat men who wish they were in the army is unbelievable, As we all know this simply isnt the case but trying to explain how its played competitively is often rewarded with a blank look and confusion. Id put this down mainly to lack of publicity and media coverage. I truly would love to see paintball return to the TV but realistically its fan base is far too small and therefore the TV companies are not going to challenge the viewing numbers of other sports channels that show football or rugby.
Personally, i like that paintball only has a very specific fan bas. Quite often when arriving at a tournament you will know many people there and be able to share the sport with people who are equally as passionate as you. Unlike football or rugby where many fans are not so much fans as they are spectators. The closeness of the paintball community is something I feel is unrivaled, nowhere else can you rock up to a competition, have an issue with kit and have a complete stranger offer to lend you his £800 gun. I doubt a chelsea player would assist a tottenham player if his boots fell apart. No-one starts up paintball for something to do when theyre bored, they get into it because it captivates them entirely and they become hooked. True, many are forced out by the price of paintball but I highly doubt any of them leave with a good riddance attitude.Ive found that paintball truly is the marmite sport..you either love it and immerse yourself in it entirely or you dislike it and cant understand why people do

Wow, that was an amazingly good post Thanks, I agree with pretty much everything you said