Many Paintball Patron Saints will openly complain that the game has changed and they no longer like the way it is being played. Some of those who pioneered the commercial growth of the sport no longer play. A small percentage have left the paintball industry altogether. The larger majority, of those in the paintball industry taht make the complaint that the game has changed for the worse, are still in the industry. Many are actively contributing to the problems they often site.
The elder statesmen (and women) of paintball have "given up" on the sport because they don't like the reliance on firepower, smaller fields and other facets of paintball today.
As far as I'm concerned, that's a cop out.
I started playing in 1984 when we had very few semis, the fields were larger and paintball was a game of skill, challenge and fun. I saw the changes coming, just like these industry leaders did. I also realized that I could do nothing to change the sport or keep things the way they were, just like these industry leaders did.
The only difference being that I didn't stop playing. I didn't throw my hands up and say, "The game's just not like it used to be, so I'm not playing any more." I didn't say, "I might as well jump on the bandwagon, because evryone else is doing it."
My Mom told me a thousand times, just because everyone else does it, that doesn't make it right. So what I did was help to organize (and eventually become president of) a recreational paintball club that plays paintball the way it used to be played.
It was a lot of hard work, and it had a lot of disappointments on the way. I also didn't do it all by myself, I was lucky enough to have club memebers that didn't mind taking up there personal time to help run the club. So now the Canadian Contingent Paintball Club (after ten years) has over 100 active members who are more than eager to play pump and stock class paintball. We play paintball the way I remember it when I first started playing. Every Club day we have a safe, fun and relaxing day of paintball. No attitudes, no hosing. We play at technological levels (pump and stock) that demand a player use their brains, not just their trigger fingers. We have basically created "our own reality" where our little, tiny sphere of paintball is the way WE want to play paintball.
Now I have no delusions that I've done anything for paintball, as a whole. I wasn't trying to change the ENTIRE sport of paintball. All I had to do is change a small part of paintball in my area.
The point is that I did it. I didn't give up and just walk away. I didn't give up and join the herd. The problem is that I don't have the influence in the industry to effect these changes across the board. I think that for a prominent member in the industry to simply give up the game, without trying to effect changes is reprehensible. They have the requisite reputation and influence in the industry to make changes, even in a small way.
Some, however, have done things to affect changes, even in the smallest ways. I site examples I have personal knowledge of. I'm sure there's more than these guys.
A good example is the famous airsmith Aeron Carter. He didn't like the way paintball as being played in California. Did he stop playing? No, he started the Aeron Carter Invitational Stock Tournament. He used his fame to set up an event that promotes paintball as a game of skill, not firepower.
Other good example are Mike "Blue" Hanse, owner of EMR Paintball Park and Paintball Long Island and Cousins Paintball, of Long Island New York. They both provide smaller, speedball-like fields, but most of their fields are large and give you an opportunity to move around, not just sit and hose. They don't like the way sport has gone, but they also haven't cut all of their fields into postage stamp sized plots. They haven't lost any business because of it. Both fields have seen to it that they get the best of both worlds, they can rent semis and make money on paint sales, and at the same time maintain larger fields so the game isn't only about "hunker in a bunker -- spray and pray". This is why our Club hosts an annual Pump and Stock Fun Day following the September installment of Castle Conquest at EMR. This is also the reason why our Club hosts the Stock Challenge every year at Big Game. They're not always concerned about making money, they're also concerned about the sport they make their money from.
Thanks to EMR and Paintball Long Island I've managed to effect minuscule changes myself. Both events are growing in popularity and more and more players show up to play every year. See what I've done industry leaders? I've used my relative fame as influence and have seen that it will work, if you try. Basically, all I've ever done is write, I don't consider myself an influential person in the industry (mainly because I'm not) but I still managed to do SOMETHING.
I'm not about to name those who have abandoned the sport, the purpose of this editorial is not to point them out, but to point out the errors in their logic. If I can effect changes in my local area, surely somebody with a bit more clout could do the same, even on a small scale.
Look, if you want run up to a bunker and sit there for three minutes of a five minute game and hose like you're trying to push a truck up a hill with your paint -- go ahead. It's your wallet. Play paintball whatever way you want to play, as long as you're playing, I don't care. I play semi, I just prefer to play pump or stock. I no longer condemn players who like to play with semis. (I DO condemen players for using technology INSTEAD of skill.)
I'm not saying the sport should go back to the way it was, that's ridiculous. Players want fast games, small fields and to shoot lots of paint. What I'm saying is that if YOU don't want to play like that, don't give up -- do something about it! ESPECIALLY if you have any kind of influence in the sport at all.
The interesting thing about all this is that the same people who condemn the way the sport is being played are, at the same time, directly contributing to this perceived problem by providing products that cater to firepower. How can (for example) a manufacturer of high firepower semis stand there and say they don't like the way the sport is relying on technology and not skill? One marker manufacturer (who shall remain namesless) was even quoted as saying that they were "forced" into making semis. Yeah, right -- forced by dollar signs more likely.
I'm not saying that these people shouldn't be selling semis and the associated equipment. I'm saying they shouldn't be doing that AND whining about how the sport has been ruined forever. So basically they're saying they don't like the sport because they don't like the way the game is being played but they don't mind making money off of it.
Industry Leaders: If you don't like the way paintball is being played then get off your ass and do something about it. Just don't give up and walk away without even trying.
I once admired many industry pioneers and leaders. I saw them as Patron Saints of Paintball. Those who have stopped playing, or complain about the sport the way it is today, have lost that, as far as I'm concerned. I have no respect for anyone in the industry who CAN effect change but won't. They've gone from the Patron Saints List to the Money Grubbing Weasels List.
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