Paintball players: I wrote an article on the current state of big games. Looking forward to seeing your opinions on the subject. What has happened to paintball big games? I started playing in 1988, and like most who have been involved in the sport for any length of time, have seen it evolve and in many cases take a step back from the origin of the game. I’m not talking about gear. The advancement in equipment has been amazing. The sport and game has grown into many different disciplines, and everyone has their favorite style of play. I personally enjoy the tournament aspect of paintball the most, but I’ve always liked getting out and playing big games as well. This article isn’t to sell you on the way I think paintball should be. I am just trying to find out why we are trying to change this awesome game so much. Let me give you an example. Big games used to be just that: two large teams split in half with players with various skill levels (tournament veterans to rental customers). Objectives varied (flags, base capture, etc.) but were kept simple to not take anything away from the actual game of paintball, and they helped introduce a lot of players to the game. Currently just about every large game is called a “scenario”, with events being based on everything from video games to Monty Python. For those who don’t know, people dressing in full costume pretending to be super heroes, evil villains, robots, horses, bananas (insert the most goofy shit you can think of), I’ve seen it all! WTH !!! Why is there a need to role play? Why not just be who you are…a paintball player!? Did someone along the line feel paintball became stale and that they needed to change things up by adding a storyline? Trying to get more people involved? Traditional sports have changed over the decades since their inception, but they don’t stray from what the game was based on. Scenario paintball is getting too far from actual playing for me, and actually to the point of being embarrassing. I don’t even want to attend some events, which really sucks to feel and say because I love big games. At the last event I played, a grown man was pretending to be a helicopter! He was walking around with a flag on his head yelling out opposing players’ positions and pointing at them! And you can’t shoot him! Ha! This isn’t paintball! At least to me it isn’t. Maybe I’m just getting older and miss the good old days. I’m not some old guy who plays a few times a year and pines for the way things were (well maybe the old part). I’m very active in the sport and play and travel to many events throughout the country. I plan to keep doing so, but I’m going to be very picky about what events I attend. I just hate to see this happening within our sport. Some scenarios are growing, and just about any growth is great for paintball overall, but is it because of the role-playing aspect? I hope not. I would like to feel most players just want to play the game of paintball when they attend these events. Growing up with the game, it always bothered me when people would compare it to military or survivalist training. I was quick to defend and explain it as a sport. Now, I’m just relieved when I don’t see a player dressed in a leotard!
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 20:18:49 +0000
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