Monday, April 2, 2012

The Mysterious Shrinking Field Kit

As reported in the last post it seems Adrenaline Games (Sup'Air) have done a wee bit more than gone "technical" all over the snake props as Huntington Beach was played on brand new Adrenaline supplied "Who Shrunk My Paintball Field?" NPPL style prop sets. It was suggested, not unreasonably, that perhaps the new reduced props are merely a cost saving device. Could be. After all it wasn't too long ago manufacture of Sup'Air props was moved from Morocco to China to pinch some pennies and maybe this is just another cost saving measure as far as Adrenaline is concerned. It's been a tough row to hoe in the paintball biz lately and maybe they're only doing what they had to do.
Except there's that business with the snake props in the PSP recently. That was a unilateral decision made despite the fact they knew full well the PSP was trying to cater to a broader--not to say less skilled or athletic--player base. Of course the PSP owns some of that for not taking control and making sure that everything about their game was consistent with their vision of it. Still, if Adrenaline has now begun shrinking props--again unilaterally--it isn't just a business decision because it can and will effect play on the field--just like those new snake props. And while I commend Adrenaline and Laurent for their contribution to bringing competitive paintball out of the woods it isn't carte blanch to do as they please whenever they please everybody else be damned.
So, what's the deal, Sup'Air? Are new tinier bunkers part of the "stealth" Adrenaline vision of how the game should be played or just a cost saving measure? And in either case why was the action taken unilaterally? Was nobody supposed to notice?
And finally what are the leagues that currently do business with Adrenaline gonna do? Maybe shrunken bunkers aren't the end of the world but a free pass can only encourage more of the same sort of conduct.

11 comments:

Douglas Grider said...

It would be interesting to know where the PSP & NPPL really stand on this issue, did they agree to the changes? If not, what are they going to do about it? I would find it hard to believe that one of the other bunker manufacturers won't love to have their bunkers being used in these events.

MikeMfromPRime said...

Didn't realize they had shifted to China. Tough to see that the labor costs in China can counter the shipping costs from Morocco into Europe. Also, never thought I'd be using blindshots over a Can anytime soon. Hopefully some of these questions get answered. I sense that they will from a few posts back: "(Hint: I also had an extended conversation with Laurent Hamet.) So expect Millennium stuff here & there for the next couple of weeks."

Baca Loco said...

I've got a bunch of the MS stuff written so it will start appearing soon as I finish up HB.

psheegog said...

The 2012 PSP galveston divisional fields also had shrunk cans and mayans... my tall ass can shoot over a can with the new field so the change didn't go un-noticed. It also changes blind lanes pretty drastically. I was surprised that an announcement wasn't made because it would have changed lanes completely had we not played on the pro field at night.

Anonymous said...

Our team also noticed this. Some of our back players(who usually play a tall can or a mayan) were getting shot in the head OVER THE TALL CAN. I think it is terrible Supair changed their manufacturing to China and made smaller bunkers without TELLING ANYONE. Smells like some standard paintball BULLSHIT to me...

When will the PB companies start treating their customers and their buisness seriously? Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Mark said...

I know they've been making props in China for quite a while perhaps 4 years or more so any shrinking has little to do with manufacturing locations.

It might be interesting to have a running tally on the current combined cubic feet of the new "shrunken" fields including the new snake versus the old snake and pre-2011 field (i.e. the one designed only for 5'2" mega-athletes) with it's 2 extra MD's and bricks (i.e. the ones swaped out for the 4 MR's) compared with the increase in field length/sq footage. Kind of an X cu ft per y sq ft sort of ratio.

But don't look at me to to compile it. I dum.

sdawg said...

Are there any standards for the dimensions of the obstacles on the playing fiel? In either leagues rule book?

Baca Loco said...

Well, since the MS hasn't put out a comprehesive rule book in years--if ever and the NPPL's latest doesn't actually cover their format(s)and the PSP's doesn't I think the answer is nope.

Full Bore said...

Not just your side of the pond that they are shrinking, its a worldwide conspiracy. Makes buying the upgrade for training limited in value when there are stealth changes to other bunkers too. Not only may it save on manufacturing, but also make fields smaller and lighter to ship too.

Anonymous said...

it's just to get you to buy full bunker sets. The function of Adrenaline games is to make money, and there are only so many people that buy fields. As the games (and the sales) continues to swing towards scenario play, that means even fewer fields being bought. If people only have to add a couple of bunkers every year, I guess they just don't make enough money. Better to have people buy whole fields...

Anonymous said...

it's just to get you to buy full bunker sets. The function of Adrenaline games is to make money, and there are only so many people that buy fields. As the games (and the sales) continues to swing towards scenario play, that means even fewer fields being bought. If people only have to add a couple of bunkers every year, I guess they just don't make enough money. Better to have people buy whole fields...