First a little love for the kids at Social. (Title is link to Social website.) They have put a lot of blood, sweat & tears into a labor of love and paintball can only benefit from the efforts of those willing to do so for the most minimal of returns--generally accompanied by more criticism than praise or worse, indifference. Second, you should visit Social, if you haven't, and see what the new site is all about. And I would recommend the same for any and all paintball-related sites that have something of interest to you. If nothing else support them by regularly checking in and seeing what's going on--and if you have anything to contribute to an ongoing conversation or the site, post a comment or three. Traditional media support of paintball is mostly a thing of the past and the plain fact is if you want to have a diversity of new media supporting and promoting paintball you (yes, you, no, not the other guy, you) need to actively support it. Just saying.
Now comes the part where I harsh everybody's mellow with some criticisms of the new Social PB. First up, "girl paintball tech" videos. For real? I know there's a contingent in paintball desperate to include more girls but pointing them (girls) out like freaks in a sideshow every time one shows up isn't the way to do it. If she was working on your gat is it important that she's a she or that she can do the job correctly? It's condescending (and isolating) whether it's intended to be or not.
Reporting & interviews. Neither one are about the reporter, what they think or how they feel. Case in point, the Russian Legion coverage. I realize the staff isn't professional journalists but more professionalism would go a long way from separating Social from the rest of the herd. (And frankly from much of the rest of paintball media, period.)
Keeping it real; controversy & taking a stand. This is an area that needs to be handled with care but not because it might upset some people but because it's easy to make a mess of it. For example, the piece called 'Does the APPA system class players out of the game?' For starters it's incomplete. All it does is throw out an assertion. It makes no case supporting that assertion or offers any alternatives. All it really does is re-hash in the most superficial way a subject VFTD broached in 2008. Is it a fair question? Sure, but if it's going to serve any purpose other than to rile up the ignorant or ill-informed it needs to be more than that. In fact APPA, working with the PSP, has changed the classification system dramatically from the time I first started posting about the issue until today and they continue to move in positive directions. (And of course the alternative to some sort of classification system is to say there is no such thing as sand-bagging. I'm okay with that but do you really want to go there?)
Then there is 'The Cost of Winning.' It isn't controversial or thought-provoking, it's just silly. It opens with the idea that Legion dropped it's American players from 2011 because they were more interested in saving money than winning paintball tournaments by equating them with professional football teams that focus on profit over winning. A) it misunderstands what Alex says in the PR, B) it demonstrates the author doesn't know the facts, and C) it strongly suggests the author has no clue about the realities of competing at the pro level in paintball. Later in the article he says, "Some pro teams are obviously worth more than D4 teams ..." No, they aren't worth more, they COST more. There is no profit, there is only cost and it is a flawed premise to begin with to equate any paintball team to a truly professional sports franchise. And everything that flows from that is misguided at best.
But it's hardly a make or break flaw. It is an example perhaps of trying too hard. Look, there are plenty of debatable topics in paintball. Exercise good judgment and some editorial oversight and raising controversial subjects will contribute to paintball instead of further muddying the water. Social has the potential to be a great paintball site and I am looking forward to seeing it reach its potential.
Showing posts with label paintball on the web. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paintball on the web. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Friday, June 10, 2011
Calls to Action (Paintball Edition)
I did it myself yesterday. A call to action. On behalf of Central Florida Paintball--a place I've spent more weekends than I can count. And I'd do it again. Anytime. But being a cynic (and a lazy slacker) I'm not giddy with excitement awaiting the outpouring of happy (weekend) warriors ready & willing to combat the retrograde anti-paintball forces all around us. Don't get me wrong, it would be nice to see but my hopes are modest and my expectations more modest still. It would be nice to see but every day we are tugged and pulled this way and that by a thousand and one things demanding our attention. From a quick glance through the latest paintball news there are numerous calls to action--of one sort or another.
What merits our interest and attention? Why?
Before I go further I need to confess a thing or two. I'm not a joiner. A member in good standing of much of anything. Nor am I a team player by nature. (Though I can make it happen when needs be.) My default position is to push back against authority. I don't play well with others--and I frequently run with scissors. Consequently I tend to rebel against any and all calls to action regardless of their nature.
Besides the upcoming hearing involving CFP there is also the pending law hanging over the heads of Californians, the Facebook group gathering round the idea of 'Respecting Paintball' and a charity scenario game benefiting the wounded warriors organization. Each is promoting a cause and in one way or another issuing a call to action. It's a pretty diverse group considering they all fall under the banner of paintball. And they are just representative samples. (Hell, I was invited to join 3 other Facebook groups (that I remember) in the past few days and all of those mostly wanted easy access to try and promote stuff at me. Have I ever mentioned before how much I hate social networking? I have? Well, I do.)
Despite the lack of outrage from much of the VFTD universe--which legitimately spans the globe--if not the solar system--at least that I'm aware of (or the galaxy) (or universe) the pending legislation in Cali is a big deal for paintball--or it might be depending on how things turn out. It's of immediate concern to much of PBIndustry and many west coast players but after that it's hard to say. Even if you're concerned what can you do? Does the voice of one guy in Arkansas make a difference? Or a Facebook group called Friends of Cali Paintball? Maybe. What about a paintball team from Finland? Seems kinda unlikely. But what about the PSP or the NPPL or Millennium Series or PALS or paintball federations from around the world? Closer to home there's the Airsoft industry. Are they up to speed on this? How many stores and fields in Cali are working together to reach out to these politicians?
Then there's the Facebook group (plus available T-shirt) started by a sincere (and earnest) woman who is a long time player and nostalgic for the good old days when honor and respect ruled the playing field. As an ideal (if never quite the reality) it's a swell notion and God bless 'em. And as long as it's a voluntary association of like-minded peeps I say more power to them. But good intentions are also the paving stones on the road to hell. How long does it take before if you're not a member you're assumed to be without honor and disrespectful? That the litmus test of the "good" paintballer is the one willing to join in lockstep with the majority. Sound silly? Give it time. If it isn't this one it will be something else and then it'll seem prophetic. It won't happen on purpose. There will be no malice aforethought. But that won't matter and won't change the outcome. Anytime something like this reaches a critical mass it goes south and turns sour and becomes a vehicle for somebody's dreams of power--even if it's just another big fish in a little pond.
The final example of a call to action is a charitable scenario game honoring (I was sorely tempted to put that in quotes) real wounded warriors. I have issues with reenactment-type scenario games (yes, like D-Day) and I'm a cynic. 9 times out of 10 I see 'charity' attached to some routine commerce and I assume it's a gimmick. In this case it would be to pump up the turnout with a game while also delivering the personal satisfaction of contributing to a worthwhile cause whilst running around in the woods reliving the Battle of the Bulge--or whatever. What's better than entertaining altruism? Which is okay. What looks like a cynical move to me may in fact be completely innocent. But does nobody else sense the intellectual disconnect between legitimately honoring the sacrifice of real soldiers while trivializing everything about real combat running around with paintball guns pretending to be the Allies vs. the Axis. Reenactment scenarios intentionally attempt to frame their game with some vestige of "reality"--and they can't. All they end up doing is making a mockery of what they are supposedly honoring.
So what's the point? Don't have one really. It was just one of those how are these things like the others moment. And a tiny rant of sorts if I'm honest. I found it momentarily distracting--and kinda interesting. If you're reading this--so did you.
Oh. One last thing. There's no links to any of these calls to action because they were unnecessary and to include them would have been to promote them--and there's already plenty of that going around.
What merits our interest and attention? Why?
Before I go further I need to confess a thing or two. I'm not a joiner. A member in good standing of much of anything. Nor am I a team player by nature. (Though I can make it happen when needs be.) My default position is to push back against authority. I don't play well with others--and I frequently run with scissors. Consequently I tend to rebel against any and all calls to action regardless of their nature.
Besides the upcoming hearing involving CFP there is also the pending law hanging over the heads of Californians, the Facebook group gathering round the idea of 'Respecting Paintball' and a charity scenario game benefiting the wounded warriors organization. Each is promoting a cause and in one way or another issuing a call to action. It's a pretty diverse group considering they all fall under the banner of paintball. And they are just representative samples. (Hell, I was invited to join 3 other Facebook groups (that I remember) in the past few days and all of those mostly wanted easy access to try and promote stuff at me. Have I ever mentioned before how much I hate social networking? I have? Well, I do.)
Despite the lack of outrage from much of the VFTD universe--which legitimately spans the globe--if not the solar system--at least that I'm aware of (or the galaxy) (or universe) the pending legislation in Cali is a big deal for paintball--or it might be depending on how things turn out. It's of immediate concern to much of PBIndustry and many west coast players but after that it's hard to say. Even if you're concerned what can you do? Does the voice of one guy in Arkansas make a difference? Or a Facebook group called Friends of Cali Paintball? Maybe. What about a paintball team from Finland? Seems kinda unlikely. But what about the PSP or the NPPL or Millennium Series or PALS or paintball federations from around the world? Closer to home there's the Airsoft industry. Are they up to speed on this? How many stores and fields in Cali are working together to reach out to these politicians?
Then there's the Facebook group (plus available T-shirt) started by a sincere (and earnest) woman who is a long time player and nostalgic for the good old days when honor and respect ruled the playing field. As an ideal (if never quite the reality) it's a swell notion and God bless 'em. And as long as it's a voluntary association of like-minded peeps I say more power to them. But good intentions are also the paving stones on the road to hell. How long does it take before if you're not a member you're assumed to be without honor and disrespectful? That the litmus test of the "good" paintballer is the one willing to join in lockstep with the majority. Sound silly? Give it time. If it isn't this one it will be something else and then it'll seem prophetic. It won't happen on purpose. There will be no malice aforethought. But that won't matter and won't change the outcome. Anytime something like this reaches a critical mass it goes south and turns sour and becomes a vehicle for somebody's dreams of power--even if it's just another big fish in a little pond.
The final example of a call to action is a charitable scenario game honoring (I was sorely tempted to put that in quotes) real wounded warriors. I have issues with reenactment-type scenario games (yes, like D-Day) and I'm a cynic. 9 times out of 10 I see 'charity' attached to some routine commerce and I assume it's a gimmick. In this case it would be to pump up the turnout with a game while also delivering the personal satisfaction of contributing to a worthwhile cause whilst running around in the woods reliving the Battle of the Bulge--or whatever. What's better than entertaining altruism? Which is okay. What looks like a cynical move to me may in fact be completely innocent. But does nobody else sense the intellectual disconnect between legitimately honoring the sacrifice of real soldiers while trivializing everything about real combat running around with paintball guns pretending to be the Allies vs. the Axis. Reenactment scenarios intentionally attempt to frame their game with some vestige of "reality"--and they can't. All they end up doing is making a mockery of what they are supposedly honoring.
So what's the point? Don't have one really. It was just one of those how are these things like the others moment. And a tiny rant of sorts if I'm honest. I found it momentarily distracting--and kinda interesting. If you're reading this--so did you.
Oh. One last thing. There's no links to any of these calls to action because they were unnecessary and to include them would have been to promote them--and there's already plenty of that going around.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
PBN Sells Out!
Okay, maybe not or maybe they did that a long time ago--depending on your point of view--but you gotta admit it's a catchy title. (Did I mention the kids at ProPaintball have been doing good work lately? I didn't? Well, they have. Check out the PBN news here.) And while I'm at it the title is a link to the PBN news thread announcing the sale. (But you already know all this right?)
Here's an item or two you may not know. The Crowdgather folks have some detractors. (Right here!) And if you like legalese you can read all the down and dirty details of the deal right here.
(Link opens a pdf file.)
Now I'll be the first to admit I don't know how this dealio is gonna shake out but it appears that Crowdgather has so far only demonstrated an ability to lose (or spend) other people's (investors, one presumes) money. And if it is to be believed it appears Crowdgather isn't in the habit of dishing out real dollars for their past acquisitions so let's hope the cash is actual greenbacks (while they still retain some actual value.) Mostly I find these kind of paintball stories curiosities more than anything else but I do wonder what will become of the employees in the long run. And wasn't it Ed's kid who had the original idea for PBN? Is anybody cutting him a check? Curious (and idle) minds want to know. Sorta.
Here's an item or two you may not know. The Crowdgather folks have some detractors. (Right here!) And if you like legalese you can read all the down and dirty details of the deal right here.
(Link opens a pdf file.)
Now I'll be the first to admit I don't know how this dealio is gonna shake out but it appears that Crowdgather has so far only demonstrated an ability to lose (or spend) other people's (investors, one presumes) money. And if it is to be believed it appears Crowdgather isn't in the habit of dishing out real dollars for their past acquisitions so let's hope the cash is actual greenbacks (while they still retain some actual value.) Mostly I find these kind of paintball stories curiosities more than anything else but I do wonder what will become of the employees in the long run. And wasn't it Ed's kid who had the original idea for PBN? Is anybody cutting him a check? Curious (and idle) minds want to know. Sorta.
Monday, April 25, 2011
The Monday Poll
This week's poll is interested in the second hand paintball marketplace and more specifically what typical items of paintball gear are most likely to bought and sold second hand. To that end the poll will include a list of items. Choose the three items you are most likely to buy second hand. Even if you have purchased more than 3 of the items second hand in the past please limit yourself to just three. That should help the final poll numbers to differentiate between the categories of paintball stuff and what y'all are more and less inclined to buy used. Remember, please choose just three items--the top three in order of the likelihood you would purchase that item second hand.
Ready, set--vote!
Monday Poll in Review
Well, that was fun, wasn't it? It must have been because last week's pick your favorite paintball websites received more votes than any previous Monday poll. And that's with some of you not bothering to vote for your top 3 choices. (Yes, that would mean many of you voted for less than 3 websites.) Even so, VFTD has drawn a few conclusions about the data collected. PBN is far and away the most popular (and populous) paintball website [on our list.] I add the list business 'cus nobody could have (or did) vote for a website that wasn't on the list. Okay, except for the guy who would'a sorta voted for TechPB in the comments of the 'Oops, I forgot TechPB' post. But my point stands because I also forgot to include Paintball.com--really--it's not there--and not only did nobody write in a vote for Paintball.com, nobody else remembered them either. (apparently) Unlike our friends at PBLive & Paintball News Asia who put out requests to their regulars to vote for them here at VFTD. Again, coming as no great surprise, ProPaintball came in a strong second. The results I found unexpected was the strong showing from Social Paintball and the fact Warpig remains a player despite the fact it isn't particularly active and doesn't cater to any particular niche. (It remains nonpareil as resource for paintball history.) Also interesting was the factoid that none of the news-oriented sites was particularly strong--with the exception of ProPaintball which is really a hybrid site of sorts. Otherwise they all came out about the same. All in all the results mostly confirm what most of us would have guessed to begin with. That, and also like most of us would have guessed, the average paintballer has specific interests and the odds are the websites that attract their interest are the ones that match those interests. Not exactly earth shattering data.
Ready, set--vote!
Monday Poll in Review
Well, that was fun, wasn't it? It must have been because last week's pick your favorite paintball websites received more votes than any previous Monday poll. And that's with some of you not bothering to vote for your top 3 choices. (Yes, that would mean many of you voted for less than 3 websites.) Even so, VFTD has drawn a few conclusions about the data collected. PBN is far and away the most popular (and populous) paintball website [on our list.] I add the list business 'cus nobody could have (or did) vote for a website that wasn't on the list. Okay, except for the guy who would'a sorta voted for TechPB in the comments of the 'Oops, I forgot TechPB' post. But my point stands because I also forgot to include Paintball.com--really--it's not there--and not only did nobody write in a vote for Paintball.com, nobody else remembered them either. (apparently) Unlike our friends at PBLive & Paintball News Asia who put out requests to their regulars to vote for them here at VFTD. Again, coming as no great surprise, ProPaintball came in a strong second. The results I found unexpected was the strong showing from Social Paintball and the fact Warpig remains a player despite the fact it isn't particularly active and doesn't cater to any particular niche. (It remains nonpareil as resource for paintball history.) Also interesting was the factoid that none of the news-oriented sites was particularly strong--with the exception of ProPaintball which is really a hybrid site of sorts. Otherwise they all came out about the same. All in all the results mostly confirm what most of us would have guessed to begin with. That, and also like most of us would have guessed, the average paintballer has specific interests and the odds are the websites that attract their interest are the ones that match those interests. Not exactly earth shattering data.
Monday, April 18, 2011
The Monday Poll
I confess I have no idea how this is gonna turn out. The Monday Poll this week, duh. Everybody knows PBN is the 800 lb gorilla in this contest but I don't necessarily see heavy crossover between VFTD & PBN. (Btw, that would be the 364 kilo gorilla for our Euro friends.) What contest is that, you ask? The one our Euro pals didn't bother to contribute to and the one you would know about if you'd read the post, 'VFTD needs you,' last week. Yeah, that one. This week's poll question gives you three tries to identify your favorite paintball site(s) on the world wide web. I am leaving VFTD off the list since VFTD is hosting the poll and I'm leaving the other sidebar blogs off since most of them are less active than Mt. Aetna. Otherwise the list of options will include every site (and link) listed under Paintball Around the Web plus any extras y'all suggested and maybe one or two or three others. If you don't like the list, bite me, you had plenty of opportunity to help make it better. So go on and work off some of your hostility picking your three favorite paintball sites on the web--and while you're doing that I will assume you would have included VFTD if given the opportunity. This way I can continue to delude myself without fear of contradiction, after all, how could I possibly continue without your daily affirmations? (Yes, that was off the charts on the sarcasm meter.) Now quit dawdling and get to voting.
Monday Poll in Review
Last week VFTD borrowed the then budding brouhaha stirring over at P8ntballer to keep the string of Monday Polls going. Besides it was (sorta) interesting and I was making a play for the paintball geek crowd. I'm not proud, one of these week's I'll go for the gun whores if it ever comes down to that. (Please God, no.) Sadly the dust up didn't last long as it was all mostly misunderstandings and before long they were all singing round the campfire. (Frankly, it was nauseating.) The issue in question was whether or not greater shot-to-shot consistency of operation would, all other things being equal, improve accuracy. 71% agreed with the basic premise although 42% qualified their agreement by being uncertain as to how much real world impact that improvement would have. Another 20% were more or less in the same boat but were less certain of the science involved what with talk of fluid dynamics and laminar flows. The remaining 8% dissented and insisted that consistency was not synonymous with accuracy.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Paintball Around The Web
I look around the paintball web some days (like today) and think if only you lazy slackers would clue your friends in on the wonder & wisdom that is VFTD it would put a substantial dent in the level of mind-numbing ignorance out there. And then I come to my senses. Like you have any friends. (No, I don't care what your Facebook says.) Besides, most of you are only interested in the pictures. Without you lot what would happen to all the paintball magazines? Oh ...
Today's examples are: Gee, what's happening to all the pro teams? & (in a tie) The PSP doesn't pay a thing for the Phoenix venue/We need the 2011 PSP schedule yesterday. It's a matter of life and death (and if the league really cared they'd get this done on my schedule.)
Anybody remember Bolingbrook? PSP finally stopped returning to Bolingbrook 'cus they kept raising the rental fee. Phoenix is on that same arc and the likelihood of returning to that location is very tiny, practically microscopic. (I don't care what your friend was told by a guy who knows a guy.) Yes, it sucks. The Phoenix venue was swell.
About the schedule; everybody would like to see one as soon as possible, from the players to the regional leagues. But here's the thing. Phoenix, if it's still Phoenix, is likely to be a new location. As will Chicago. And there are almost certainly opportunities to minimize the cost to the league while still getting an acceptable place to play. One that needs to meet a variety of criteria to be suitable. Is that an excuse? No, it's just a fact. The PSP has more work to do to get venues this season and the decisions made now may make things easier and better for years to come. Does that mean the PSP (in this instance) is above criticism? No, of course not. It's just that the dim-witted whining of the uninformed isn't really criticism. Just saying.
Now about those pro teams--hey nimrod, where you been? This is not a new phenomenon. It's not even "new" news. Go back and read the first paragraph of 'CPL meltdown?' D'oh! You know, these things aren't happening in isolation. Frakking retards.
UPDATE: Just letting off a little steam, kids. Allow me explain the pro teams thing in more detail. Last year some time Magued backed off running Joy on a day-to-day basis. Additionally, over the course of the year it was clear they were struggling with a sponsorship gap with Angel unable or unwilling to supply the support they needed. Toss in GI Sportz and a very abbreviated association with small ball and the circumstances weren't improving. Now add an aging roster with little interest in or ability to transition to a new generation of players and the outcome shouldn't surprise anyone. It is, unfortunately, a pattern being repeated over and over.
Today's examples are: Gee, what's happening to all the pro teams? & (in a tie) The PSP doesn't pay a thing for the Phoenix venue/We need the 2011 PSP schedule yesterday. It's a matter of life and death (and if the league really cared they'd get this done on my schedule.)
Anybody remember Bolingbrook? PSP finally stopped returning to Bolingbrook 'cus they kept raising the rental fee. Phoenix is on that same arc and the likelihood of returning to that location is very tiny, practically microscopic. (I don't care what your friend was told by a guy who knows a guy.) Yes, it sucks. The Phoenix venue was swell.
About the schedule; everybody would like to see one as soon as possible, from the players to the regional leagues. But here's the thing. Phoenix, if it's still Phoenix, is likely to be a new location. As will Chicago. And there are almost certainly opportunities to minimize the cost to the league while still getting an acceptable place to play. One that needs to meet a variety of criteria to be suitable. Is that an excuse? No, it's just a fact. The PSP has more work to do to get venues this season and the decisions made now may make things easier and better for years to come. Does that mean the PSP (in this instance) is above criticism? No, of course not. It's just that the dim-witted whining of the uninformed isn't really criticism. Just saying.
Now about those pro teams--hey nimrod, where you been? This is not a new phenomenon. It's not even "new" news. Go back and read the first paragraph of 'CPL meltdown?' D'oh! You know, these things aren't happening in isolation. Frakking retards.
UPDATE: Just letting off a little steam, kids. Allow me explain the pro teams thing in more detail. Last year some time Magued backed off running Joy on a day-to-day basis. Additionally, over the course of the year it was clear they were struggling with a sponsorship gap with Angel unable or unwilling to supply the support they needed. Toss in GI Sportz and a very abbreviated association with small ball and the circumstances weren't improving. Now add an aging roster with little interest in or ability to transition to a new generation of players and the outcome shouldn't surprise anyone. It is, unfortunately, a pattern being repeated over and over.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
In the News
Saw this item over at the Big Bullet. It's an interesting twist on the tourney norm, if it even qualifies as a tourney format. Whatever it is it's an intriguing hybrid and I'll be looking forward to see how it works out as it could unite all kinds of ballers behind a fun, flexible competitive format.
More news on the HydroTec paintball front too thanks to the Catshack. (Litter is not optional.) In an interview that recounts elements of the conversation instead of verbatim quotes it sounds like the new paintball may be underweight compared to current 68 cal paintballs. Depending on the variance it's unlikely to be a big deal except in the competitive arena where an underweight paintball could be at a performance disadvantage. And in discussing pricing it sounded like it may end up closer to current paint prices than a lot of the rumors have suggested even though no actual pricing was given. Something to keep an eye on anyway.
More news on the HydroTec paintball front too thanks to the Catshack. (Litter is not optional.) In an interview that recounts elements of the conversation instead of verbatim quotes it sounds like the new paintball may be underweight compared to current 68 cal paintballs. Depending on the variance it's unlikely to be a big deal except in the competitive arena where an underweight paintball could be at a performance disadvantage. And in discussing pricing it sounded like it may end up closer to current paint prices than a lot of the rumors have suggested even though no actual pricing was given. Something to keep an eye on anyway.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Some More Talking Paintball
We's Talking Paintball some more, picking up on the excellent comments posted in response to the first post a couple days ago. It's more accurate to say that a generally accepted and understood paintball vocabulary doesn't yet exist. This runs the gamut from ways to communicate conceptual elements of the game and play as well as a paintball specific slang--which in paintball's case seems mostly to have been appropriated from other fringe activities. I'm beginning to wonder how much of a factor this limitation is when it comes to converting new players and helping to build a fan base. Perhaps counterintuitively I've always assumed while some understanding of the game is necessary it isn't critically important. Players play and fans enjoy--for whatever reason. My mom was a huge basketball fan at one time--she's more into baseball these days--but her enjoyment and appreciation of the sport wasn't predicated on a complex understanding of the game mechanics. Far from it. Over time she learned a reasonable amount about how the game was played and what was really going on when it sometimes looked like chaos but something about the game drew her in before she really understood the game. Does competitive paintball have a "natural" fan base or do paintball fans need to be educated? And if past efforts at educating a potential fanbase through prior televised programming haven't quite succeeded what's it gonna take?
Okay, so talkin' paintball is kinda tough but we still have the teams and the players. Sort of. Without continuity teams struggle to build a fan base and the players, most of them anyway, are virtually anonymous to much of the competitive paintball world. That was slightly less true when there were a fistful of printed mags but even then the mags tended to be starmakers or star-perpetuators and paid only scant attention to the rank & file pro.
Which is where traditional and new media have an opportunity to step up. (And have always played a role.) Although as was also pointed out in the comments it's difficult if not impossible for paintball media to act as disseminater of information, watchdog, friend of the game, etc. all at the same time when it's industry money footing most of their bills. (You might be surprised that cash paying advertisers don't like bad reviews or lots of pictures of the other guy's gear.) Of course if paintball specific media can't pull it off then maybe it's time sports media got involved. Oh, I know, easy to say but how to make it happen? (Coming later this week in the long promised league promotion post. Promise.) In the meantime part of the future is direct outreach. (Which we're seeing.) By the industry. Direct advertising & promotions. By the teams with videos and Facebook. Even by players with personal websites and social networking and other venues. By folks like Social Paintball and Traumahead. (What's the chance of the Traumahead TV shows being made available in alternative formats?) And MWAG & Derder do awesome work but part of their appeal as documenters of the sport trades on already established teams and players.
No wonder this talkin' paintball thing is hard.
Monday, July 26, 2010
New Look ProPaintball
No doubt you've already been there seen that but if you haven't the title is a link to the latest--ProPaintball's first pro teams power ranking of the season. Go check it out and let them know where they got it wrong--and right.
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