Paintball, What a Pretty Game
Paintball, What a Pretty Game
“Reason Two” – the Bullets
So I think it’s safe to say that most of you figured out that I’m not blaming the downturn in paintball completely on the field owner and industry’s infatuation on the arena (a/k/a airball, Hyperball, etc.) style game play. That’s definitely a very big part of it in my opinion, but it’s clearly not the only reason the game is shrinking nationwide. Reason number two for the shrinking number of players nationwide also has a lot to do with the speed of the game that is currently played. But again, I’m going to go back in time a bit to set the stage.
In 1988 Glenn Palmer was working on a semiauto/auto-cocking marker that would later in 1989 hit the market under the name the Hurricane. Then came the Autococker, the Automag and a host of other semiautomatic markers. All were capable of shooting 7-9 balls per second. Amazingly the extra firepower afforded by the semiautos didn’t really change the game tactically all that much. Most games were still being played on large wooded fields (both in tournaments and rec play) and as we moved into the early 1990s most everyone was shooting guns of about the same quality. For several years there were no real innovations—except for the introduction of the VL-2000, the first electronic hopper hit the market. For those not playing at the time, the VL-2000 was the first commercial electronic hopper and the first commercial hopper that did not rely on gravity for feeding.
By the mid-1990s Smart Parts introduced their Shocker electronic marker and within a few years a major change happened in paintball. For the first time ever the game was divided by the equipment players were using. The “haves” were shooting Shockers, Angels and other electronic paint throwers and the “have nots” were shooting blowback semiautos. Field owners had no idea how to handle this. Most fields didn’t have enough customers to divide their games up by equipment or skill level, so once again new players and the “have nots” were thrown to the wolves. Smaller fields (covered in Part One) and faster guns are a bad mix for new players. Yet the game’s numbers continued to grow—for a while. Despite the disparity in the marker firepower, at least most games played recreationally were still played in the woods. Smaller woods fields but woods, nonetheless.
Now by the mid-2000s there is still no solution as to how to handle the players shooting Tippmans and Spyders as opposed to those shooting Intimidators and Shockers. Fields continued to shrink and move towards arena settings and guns were getting faster and faster. Let me say at this point that I don’t think anyone is to blame here. It’s difficult to make an argument against bettering technology, and it’s equally difficult to place blame on field owners for not separating the gun types in walk-on games—the number of players at most fields doesn’t allow that to happen. As the saying goes, “It is what it is.”
Again, there’s something for each of us to do in this.
You need more players to make a living and you need more players to run your games in the most effective way you can for your customers. Like I said in Part One of this series, if your business if failing look at the ones that are thriving. What are they doing to attract more players? Maybe you should consider not having electronic gun rental upgrades. Many fields offer Tippmanns or Spyders as rentals and also offer Egos and Angels as up-sell rentals. So you’re making a few extra bucks up-selling your rentals so your Tippmann-shooting walk-ons can get shot up all day. Does that really make sense? This is just one example of thinking outside of the box. I once heard an expression that I’m not sure who originated, but it’s one I like. “If it ain’t broke, break it and make it better.” Don’t be satisfied with “good enough.”
Are we trying to sell the most high-tech guns available or are we trying to make our players/customers happy? Find out where your customers are playing and advise them to purchase gear and equipment that suits their playing style best.
You’re holding almost ALL of the cards here. You make the gear and you sponsor the events. Sometimes it just appears all that matters to you is how to make it lighter, smaller, and faster. But is that good for the game? If you’re not happy about the rate of fire the league or event you sponsor uses, ask them to change it. You have influence—probably more than you realize. But to use your influence you have to have a plan and a big picture. Do you know where the game is headed? Is that direction okay with you?
I have the same suggestion for you that I had in Part One. You are our ambassadors. Teach new players how to play the game instead of having them thrown to the wolves. Play games with at least fairly equal competition. There’s really not a lot to be excited about shooting a ten-year old kid with a Spyder when you’re shooting an Ego. You probably have your used Spyder in a closet. Enjoy a game or two with that gun again.
“Reason One” - The Bullets
The Obsession with Television and the Arena
By now you probably know that the first game of paintball ever played took place in the woods of
In 1995 Jerry Braun, promoter of the World Cup, co-promoted (with ESPN) an event called the ESPN World Paintball Championships, which was played in the thick woods and palmettos of Kissimmee, Florida. ESPN hauled multiple cameras into the dark woods filming from several different locations on the field, as well as with a roving camera, trying to catch the action and the flow of the games. After intense editing the event aired on ESPN and ESPN II for months and for most of us that watched, the show failed to capture the intensity, the flow and the essence of the game. So it was back to the drawing board.
In January of 1996, Braun and ESPN hooked up for another edition of the ESPN World Paintball Championships. This time however all games were played on an open grass field lined with hard plastic blue and white, and red and white painted bunkers. (On a side note, this was the clear precursor to airball and Hyperball bunkers, both of which were introduced later that same year.) When this new incarnation of the game was seen on the ESPN networks later that year, the flow was better, the game was easier to follow, and the bright colored gear and clothes the teams were made to wear transferred well to TV.
In the meantime people like Bob McGuire, Milt Call, Jeff Gatalin and several others began working on a variety of projects to get the game on TV again. And virtually every paintball company that sold apparel began designing game gear that was bright, colorful and “sport” looking. Now by late ’96 we saw Adrenaline Games introduce their blowup bright colored Sup’Air bunkers, players began to wear bright colored apparel, and a plethora of companies began making “splash” anodized parts for all of the hot paintguns. The game was changing right before our eyes and many of us loved what we were seeing. Paintball now had a “sport” aspect that ran parallel to its woodsball, rec-ball version.
We All Fell Hard
All was good until the industry, myself included, fell for the allure of television and the false belief that TV would grow the game enormously by bringing in non-paintball sponsorships. There were just enough of those outside companies showing interest that we all kept pushing for smaller, brighter, faster, easier, cleaner paintball games. The game’s leading companies and the paintball media pushed this agenda for a decade or more.
Two-Minute Games
Instead of playing half hour paintball games in the woods, where players could crawl, hide, or otherwise stay in the game long enough to learn how to play and feel they got their money’s worth, now players were playing two-minute games, often getting bunkered by much more experienced players game in and game out, day in and day out. New players had nowhere to hide their lack of skill, lack of quality equipment, and no way to stay in the game long enough to learn how to play. For the first time in my years of living in the game of paintball, I was seeing kids everywhere playing paintball once and walking away never to come back. The game was too fast, too painful, and too elitist.
We forgot why we fell in love with paintball. If you’ve been playing paintball since the woodsball-only days please answer this question: Did you ever really think you’d be playing on a hockey-sized, netted in arena, standing behind the pink “taco” tucking in so you don’t get shot by the “snake” guy shooting 12 balls per second? Where in that is the original game?
Where do the big boys (and girls) play? The game has gotten so small that if you’re truly not an athlete, it’s tough getting started, unless you’re playing at Skirmish, EMR Paintball or one of the other fields that do it right. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but the game is losing a lot of players that just can’t do it. Is that what we want? Do we want a game that can only be played by fit, young (often with little money to spend) athletes? Or do we want a versatile game that can be played in the woods for all types to play and enjoy?
To Be Clear
So there’s no confusion I want to make this clear. I love tournament paintball. I played tournament ball on the national circuit for seven years. But I also love playing in the woods. I made the transition to airball fields easily because I had already been playing for ten-plus years when the game became small, fast and pretty. But many people today just don’t have a chance to learn the game playing ten, 3-minute games on a typical Saturday at Joe Blow’s paintball field. A Joe Blow paintball field would be an entrepreneur renting a half-acre lot and putting an arena field on it. And there are many more Joe Blow paintball fields in the U.S. than there are Skirmish, Challenge Park, EMR and Hollywood Sports type fields.
There’s something for each of us to do in this.
Field Owners
Fields that are doing the game right are thriving. Fields like the ones mentioned above—the ones that have woods fields, castles, villages, cities, etc., are hardly feeling the economic downturn. I know this because I have asked them directly. I have also asked the major distributors where they are shipping most of their paint and one hundred percent of them have said it’s to the well-rounded fields that offer variety. Don’t play victim. If your business if failing look at the ones that are thriving. If your business is failing, look in the mirror. What can you do with your property to make the game more well-rounded?
Like the field owners, you need to think in terms of variety. Don’t be afraid to sell Empire and Dye jerseys as well as Spec Ops and Full Clip scenario, rec-ball and mil-sim gear. Open the game up to your customers and show them all sides of the game. Educate your players/customers so they see paintball in a broader fashion and send them to fields that understand what it takes to keep players in the game.
Not support field/store owners. Putting out for sponsored teams hoping for trickle-down (another article) but a better use of marketing would be to actually support Joe Blow who is selling your product. Can you feature some known scenario players in your ads at least once in a while? Pushing the tournament-only playing, high dollar gear using, skinny athletes in all of your ads isn’t working anymore. You keep throwing good money after bad. If it’s not working maybe you could show a little creativity. Someone recently said to me (cleaned up version), “If you’re driving a Bently and you’re still not getting the chicks, maybe you should save some money and buy and old pick up.” I think you know what I mean…
You are our ambassadors. Teach new players how to play the game instead of having them thrown to the wolves (good chance you’ve been the wolf, right?). If the field you play at only has arena fields, ask why. Offer to help build woodsball fields if you need to. In the end it will be in your best interest to do that anyway. Be selective about where and how you play. Support the fields that are helping the game grow and help the rest understand what they can do to better the game.