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Why paintball will never be football. (Popularity)

Oct 1, 2012
82
21
8
London
www.youtube.com
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.

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

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.

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.

5) Availability - This is split into two sections, shopping and playing. We know that you can't play paintball anywhere apart from a paintball field. You can't play paintball as you could kick a football around. Although, I'm sure you know this. Also, shopping. This is once again a problem of exposure, you will not see, in the UK, a single paintball related item in almost all shops. However, other sports are labelled everywhere. Yes, this is because of popularity, but people don't know what we are.

6) What people think paintball is - Quoted from 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."

Overall:
I believe that we should not be looking to make our sport like football, rugby or tennis. I think that paintball should be treated like skateboarding in that it will remain relevant, maybe increase in popularity, but still have a close knitted and small community. This is because paintball's mechanics don't allow it to extremely popular.

Thanks for reading, if you agree or disagree leave it below.

Jamie
 
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M4rkm93

You stay classy!
Sep 13, 2012
604
124
68
30
Coventry
I agree with most points, however having an electronic marker does not make you a better player. I've played against own gunners plenty of times before I got really into the sport with tippmann 98's and out played many of them on the field. Mechanical markers aren't inaccurate my any means. In fact many mechanical markers are more accurate than some of the electronic markers available on the market today. Many all mechanical autocockers can be far more accurate than whats on the market at the moment.
 

CraigofScotland

Naked fun time
Oct 4, 2009
992
252
88
Glasgow, Scotland
I agree with most points, however having an electronic marker does not make you a better player. I've played against own gunners plenty of times before I got really into the sport with tippmann 98's and out played many of them on the field. .
Yes, thats your ability to outshoot . . now imagine the damage you could do with an electro!

They are better, more fun or whatever, thats debatable but you can get more balls downfield, more accuratly. Thats fact that is.
 

Ricki_diego

Ricki diego - Evil Twin
Jul 29, 2012
233
23
48
38
Bristol
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.
 
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M4rkm93

You stay classy!
Sep 13, 2012
604
124
68
30
Coventry
Yes, thats your ability to outshoot . . now imagine the damage you could do with an electro!

They are better, more fun or whatever, thats debatable but you can get more balls downfield, more accuratly. Thats fact that is.
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. :)
 
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Missy-Q

300lb of Chocolate Love
Jul 31, 2007
2,527
1,132
198
Harlem, NY
Well, technically you could remove the guns, negating the need for all that equipment, padding and clothing. Then instead of break-out boards, we construct a rectangular shape at either end, out of wood. Now, we introduce a ball, and add a rule that the ball can't be picked up or touched with ones hands.

There.
 
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