While not quite ready for unveiling just yet I've actually been working on this nonsense to the detriment, at least time-wise, of other projects but if I won't make the effort to perfect the game, who will? That kinda makes it a duty. Then when I object to one thing or another and some idiot says, why don't you do it yourself then, I'll say, I already have, you moron. Besides, there's quite a lot to this and if I can drag the revelations out over a few posts I can rationalize the enormous time-waster it's turning out to be.
My goal with this exercise was to "fix" the aspects of the game I don't like and to try and realize a variation of the game that might prove more easily appreciated by non-playing spectators by offering clear focal points and more obvious suspense as points play out. As it turns out those changes will alter the tactics and strategy of the game rather dramatically. (So much so I'm not sure whether I like it or not. If anything it puts a higher premium on communication, teamwork & thinking on the fly. There's only so much of the game play I can project without seeing it played for real.)
Unfortunately Bacaball isn't going to be any more economical to play than the current xball derivatives in Race 2 when played in its purest form. But there are elements of Bacaball that can be easily incorporated into simpler variations of competitive paintball without any real difficulty. Bacaball can, for example, be played on most any sort of field from Race 2 to 7-man to whatever the local field operator has set up for speedball. As presently conceived there are three variants of Bacaball; Lite, Bacaball & Bacaball Champions.
At the core of Bacaball is a simplified rulebook and a change in both methodology and intent when handing out penalties for rules infractions. The other key element is the scoring system. Bacaball optimizes the playing environment and Champions incorporates the ultimate variant of Bacaball, one that might, just might, be ready for prime time.
More coming soon in Officiating Bacaball.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
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9 comments:
I'm skeptical of this whole "focal point" problem actually being a problem for televising the game. The times when two amazing things happen at exactly the same time are so rare as to be not worth worrying about.
And as Patrick Spohrer has shown, camera people and a director who know the sport can anticipate big moves and the right action will make its way on to the screen. Couple that with expert Play by Play, and even the most brain-dead layman can follow the action and get in to what they are watching. It's not like sitting in the stands allows you to see more than one thing happening on the field anyway.
Besides, so what if the back center guy who never moved the whole game got dinked out of his bunker off camera?
Unsurprisingly I'ma disagree with you, Don, on a couple of counts.
Is it necessary for fans to understand the nuances of the sport they are enjoying? No, it's not but it doesn't hurt if they understand some of it. (Fact is there players who don't know what the hell they're watching either.)
In this case I simply decided it is possible to create an environment that doesn't drastically alter the game played but will alter people's perception and help clarify what's happening and why.
And the why is the critical component. If you can grasp the why the pieces fall into place. Bacaball has an easy to follow why. The visual display requires a narrative. Each point is a story and telling that story is what makes the game exciting. You guys were getting closer and closer to that pinnacle with the webcast but it wasn't there yet.
I think I have a big old document somewhere full of my musings over the same problems. I wonder how similar/different your ideas will be.
Baca, if what we need is a narrative, have one team dress up as Heman and the other as Skeletor with Tigers in the middle.
Or maybe have someone running around on the field inside of one of those American Gladiator rolling cage balls. That's a pretty good narrative :)
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The best and most successful version of TV/crowd oriented paintball will be a format that can end with the phrase, "game, set, match."
Now you're trying too hard.
As long as one can FEAST playing Bacaball I'm all for it.
Did somebody say FEAST?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOfibMWr8uY
I don't think a focal point is necessary either. I think we've done a decent job of coverage over the past years with the NCPA show, and we sort of hit on something by accident with the NCPA live webcast last year that will make things a lot easier to follow. In retrospect, it's so obvious I don't know why no one thought of it.
It *SHOULD* be pretty good with our limited budget. If I had a more substantial budget (i.e. any sort of sponsor support whatsoever*), I think we could definitely televise something that would make sense.
Anyway, Fox College Sports has thrown some technology at the problem, so we'll see if it turns out as well as I think it will.
The * was to note that I meant out-of-industry sponsors. Someday...
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