Thursday, June 4, 2009

That Was Quick

This is a short follow-up on The .50 Caliber Solution put forward in the post, The Ultimate Paintball Conspiracy. (If you missed it, you know what to do.) So far there have been a couple of interesting results. First, there weren't any serious denials. Just an unserious denial or two. And those didn't last any time at all. Second, everybody who initially rejected it either backed off, fell silent or quietly changed their tune. Third, and most importantly, there has been no consistent hue & cry opposing the idea. There are reasons for this too but it's interesting nonetheless. (As is the word nonetheless. But I digress ... ) While the internet is ubiquitous the information available on it isn't. There is so much stuff that it's impossible to keep up and VFTD isn't a giant among paintball sites--yet. So even if you and I are not totally out of the loop there's a whole wide world of ballers out there who probably haven't heard about the smaller paintball possibility. Of those that have all indications are that a majority simply don't believe it will ever happen, or could happen. (See the propaintball poll, for example.) Others don't find it as interesting as the latest gat to almost hit the market or the most recent video telling them what to think of an assortment of aftermarket regulators. Which is fine but just goes to show (as has been demonstrated repeatedly in the past) that for a large segment of ballers their parochial paintball interests are what matter and they won't be overly bothered by much else. (No, internet whining doesn't count.) And if that is an accurate assessment of the general situation that's one big hurdle overcome before this thing even gets started.
Of course things could change when some official word is announced. (But I doubt it.) Or one or more of the major players gets spooked by the economy and backs out. Or the PSTA steps up to support the field owners--oh, hang on, it's mostly gonna be the PSTA guys trying to sell new stuff to the field owners, isn't it? So maybe not that one but there's a field owners association, right? A players union perhaps? Piecemeal resistance isn't resistance at all, it's an obstacle to be overcome and not much of one in all likelihood.

10 comments:

Janek said...

Players vs Industry, in the mines of Retailia

- You shall not pass! - Players stood on the bridge over a deep blackness defiantly!
- Dave, quick! Let's distract them! - The Gardner twin-dwarves suggested to Dave, the shrinking giant.
- I've got something special for just that occasion - replied the one also known as Youngblood, and from his gearbag he removed a small bundle and threw at the players. - Hey, look, this is the new Rotor 2 loader!
While the players were busy commenting on the new loader with words "looks like an Egg had a sex with..." and "your mom", the manuacturers slipped past them...
- How long do you think we have before they resume pursuit? - Inquired the representative of the Paintball Manufacturing Guild. To which the Dave replied:
- Oh no worries, we're not shipping for another two weeks, and after that Richmond from Italia will show them his latest creation at the fare in city of Orlandia.

Missy Q said...

I don't know what thats about above, but I did get some quality intel confirming the push of 2 of the main manufacturers (one paint, one markers) tooling for 50cal guns. Actually, its not a push for this - its already happenning.

So after a bit of digging, I can confirm that Baca is on the money as regards his information on an industry shift to 50cal. Its not all the industry, but its going to happen.

Reiner Schafer said...

I have no doubt that .50 caliber (or something close to that) will be available more in the future in our industry. The Mil-sim market is too big right now to ignore what smaller paintballs allow in making markers more realistic. Carrying mre ammo by shoot happy Mil-simmers will be an added bonus.

Each paint manufacturer now carries multiple lines of paint already. It's not going to be a big deal to offer some .50 caliber options. It's just widening their product line. I believe it has very little to do with cost savings though. If the market ends up big enough, Supply and Demand will dictate where the price is.

I don't think it's going to be a BETA vs. VHS war. I could see both sizes having a following, at least for a long time and both will be made available by multiple manufacturers.

What I do wonder about is how the velocity standards will be handled. Will insurance companies allow higher velocities for smaller caliber paintballs for instance? Without that change, .50 caliber balls will not go far in the industry (or on the field).

Missy Q said...

The people I am hearing are pushing for this are not companies you would asociate with the mil-sim market over the tournament market - quite the opposite in fact.

Reiner Schafer said...

Well, all I can say is that I hope the push to .5 caliber isn't for the sake of carrying more paint (and shooting more paint). If .5 caliber gains enough popularity, a .5 caliber paintball WILL end up costing less than a .68 caliber paintball. That would result in more paintballs purchased/shot. We've seen enough declines in attendance at the grass roots level due to high volume shooting. That would be an incredibly stupid (suicidal) move on the industy's part, if that is the direction they are heading. Let's hope they have enough brains to figure that one out before it's too late. As an industry, we've got enough problems to deal with already.

Missy Q said...

the idea is that 50cal, if strong-armed through by the right people (and believe me, the perfect people for this are involved)

Reiner Schafer said...

Missy Q, I have a feeling you meant to write more and something was cut off.

I hope the "perfect people" aren't in this just for short term sales and actually think about the long term affects involved.

.5 caliber at the current volocity (less than 300 fps) would be frustrating to play.

.5 caliber at velocities needed to achieve equivalent distances (if that's important) would have deep skin penetration affects at short distances. Who wants .5 caliber paintballs (or their remnants) embedded 1/2" into their flesh? I know..I can hear it already..."Suck it up, it's part of the game. If you can't take it, GTFO."

Of course .50 caliber at less than 300 fps will change the game completely. It would become a much more close contact game played at short distances (due to necessity). I don't believe that will make the game more newbie friendly though. Quite to the contrary. Especially closer quarter games at high ROF. A nightmare in the making.

Missy Q said...

Reiner, I completely agree with you, and yes, I edited my post to protect the guilty, however, I think if they go to 50 cal they HAVE to lower the velocity, or, for your stated reasons, it won't work. Problem is, once you shoot a 50cal ball at a lower velocity your chances of a break are getting slim. They would have to make the paint very fragile, whioch presents its own problems.
The good part is that you'll get, like, 50,000 shots from your tank.
They could just make the balls out of wax (Wax paintballs are on the way guys, they will be here next, before 50cal)

Reiner Schafer said...

Doesn't temperature play even more havoc on wax?

I'm a believer in, "if it's not broken, don't fix it." Our industry, as a whole, may be partially broken, but .68 caliblre paintballs aren't broken and break, for the most part, just fne when they are supposed to. Why are we trying to push something that seemingly has more potential problems than advantages? Is shooting 50,000 paintballs (I know that's an exageration) with a tank really that important to anyone? Maybe a few tornament players and a few scenario players, but the other 95% of players playing on a given day couldn't care less.

To be honest, I personally don't care if someone introduces and pushes .50 caliber paintballs. It won't really affect me in my little world. If they end up working with little problems, I'll allow them at my field, if there are issues I don't like, I won't.

Looking at it from a business point of view though, I think the people behind it aren't seeing the whole long-term picture. They seem to only be seeing the advantages and don't seem to care what the long-term negative affects will be.

Paintball manufacturer said...

Wait, hold on, long term effects to us or to you? To you huh? No, in that case, there's no need to worry...