Ask Baca

Gonna try a new feature and see how it works out. I realize this runs counter to the lazy slacker creedo and will require some meager percentage of VFTD readers to actually do something but it's not like I'm sitting at the keyboard waiting with my fingers crossed. So, if some of y'all are interested, that's cool and if not, c'est la vie.

Here's the deal. Got a question you'd like an official VFTD response to? Drop me an email. Got a suggestion for a topic VFTD ought to address? Drop me an email. Got a killer idea for a Monday Poll? Drop me an email. Feeling lonely and need a shoulder? Get a dog.
Additionally, there's tons o' stuff been posted in the last year plus here at VFTD. Try out the Lost & Found and if (when) that doesn't work to dredge up past pearls of VFTD wisdom--well, drop me an email and I'll see what I can do. (All past posts have keywords but honestly the Google search function doesn't seem to work all that well--and you never know when I gave something a bizarre and/or incomprehensible keyword link to begin with.) So there you go. Wanna give it a try, knock yourself out.

Ask Baca responses will be posted on Fridays and I'll answer as many of the requests as possible or until I get bored. Oh yeah, questions are limited only in their general relevance to competitive paintball. Anything from game theory to bunkering technique. It's up to y'all.

VFTD Stuff

Right, I missed last week's enlistment announcement. Maybe the last couple of weeks. Oops. Not like it mattered as the DPA has actually lost a member. I blame the economy. I'll try to keep up but if anyone does decide to enlist drop me a note so I don't overlook anyone else. Thanks.

UPDATE: Is the lost recruit back or is there a new enlistee? Help me out.

Remember my effort a couple (or more?) weeks ago to try and stop the onslaught of "friends" dropping Facebook requests into Baca's emailbox? Well, it didn't work very well. In fact, it only precipitated an ongoing wave of daily requests that continue to clutter the place up. So, I'ma try a new tactic--I surrender. I will be converting the Facebook page into a VFTD-oriented page (maybe this weekend sometime) and hopefully it will be possible to do all the cool internet friends thing without my direct participation. If not--well, I guess I'll cross that bridge when the time comes. Maybe y'all can hang out and be friends with each other.

Picking up the 'Name That Penalty' series next week, probably on Tuesday. Finishing those posts will have priority so unless something big comes up ...

The Association of Paintball Field Operators

Perhaps the one thing everyone can agree on is that the local field is the portal into paintball for the new (or prospective) player. And as such the outcome of that first paintball experience is (or ought to be) of prime importance not only to that individual field operator but also to PBIndustry, other field operators, store owners and even, according to conventional wisdom, all true sportsmen of the paintball variety.

The following is not a new idea. It is, in fact, an old failure of an idea. At least past efforts to implement this idea have been a failure. But the idea remains a good one. Perhaps even a necessary one and it may be that only in difficult times for the industry as a whole that this idea has any real hope of being supported, not out of foresight but out of desperation. At any rate the inspiration (and credit) for this post goes to one of VFTD's Euro correspondents who brought the subject up in a conversation the other day. And, as it struck me as both self-evident and timely, it was perfect for a post. (Possibly one of many as I so enjoy repeating myself.)

The idea is the post title; the (formal, organized) association of paintball field operators. But not like the CFOA or the Norcal variety which are tournament series. More of a PSTA-like organization for field owners in order to provide assistance for individual operators as well as operating standards designed to assure that members are best positioned to draw and retain new customers. (It is my understanding the PSTA intends to act in something like this capacity, at least in part, but that doesn't negate the potential value of an association completely focused on promoting paintball fields.) In addition, should the association ever gain widespread participation it would have the ability to act on a universal basis that is beyond the local field in a variety of diverse areas like marketing and insurance. A strong association would also be a position to act proactively on behalf of its individual members. It's a big idea with big potential and almost limitless benefits.

Hopperball

Since the ubiquitous Faction (raehl) seems to be engaging in a quiet crusade to promote the notion of hopperball (and some people are easily led astray) I've decided to devote a post to the subject. On its face it may seem simple and self-evident. If the problem is the cost of paint in the volumes required then the solution is to require less. Much less. Now the typical baller is likely to respond, "That's stupid." But what they really mean is it's different and I don't like different. (Which sums up the majority of thought behind most of the objections to any proposed changes.) But that isn't a particularly good argument.

In fact I'm not going to argue against hopperball. In certain applications. If some bold tourney promoter wants to try and use hopperball as an introduction into competitive paintball or as a variant of beginner tourney play I see no reason to object. (Of course it isn't going to happen. See reaction of typical baller above.) But if it did ... it wouldn't solve all of competitive paintball's problems but it might have some utility. So my first suggestion to Faction if he is actually serious is let's see hopperball succeed on some level, any level. Convince somebody somewhere to play hopperball and see what happens. Otherwise it's a pointless endeavor in which you are advocating, for whatever reason, swinging the pendulum all the way back in the opposite direction.

The implication I do want to address is that hopperball is the answer for competitive paintball. Because it isn't--unless we are willing to dramatically alter the way the game is played. Once upon a time--stop me if I've told this story before (good luck with that)--I participated in a practice where we decided to use pumps. This was prior to the introduction of the format-formerly-known-as-xball so the result wasn't immediately predictable (as it ought to be today.) One team came up with the crazy idea that armed with pumps the other guys couldn't control lanes or put enough paint into the air fast enough to deter a really aggressive offensive push so when the whistle was blown for the first game that team just ran down the field and overwhelmed the other side in seconds. You see, while much of the movement vs. firepower conversation has gone the other way in recent years it works both ways. Too little firepower and you can't contain or control movement at all. For highly skilled players in our present format hopperball would initially invite trainwreck paintball but it wouldn't last long because the outcome would be too random to be acceptable for those focused on winning. In very short order changes in style of play would be made in order to have more control over results. And these changes would be guided by a commonplace concept; scarcity.

A hopper full of paintballs (and no more) puts a premium on their use that doesn't currently exist (even though players can, and do, occasionally run out of paint.) A hopper of paint dramatically alters risk/reward in how that paint is used compared to current practices. It would re-prioritize the game's skill set to focus on fundamentally defensive skills like accuracy and snap-shooting. (Yes, those are defensive skills even if they can be used in conjunction with offensive efforts.) And the scarcity of paint would also change game tactics. The ultimate priority would be to limit the use of your paint to only the highest reward type situations and this would drive a large number of teams to re-embrace a defensive posture wherein the opponent comes to them given that field position would no longer play a critical role in success. (For the simple reason that superior positions are superior largely because of the available firepower.) In fact proximity in a hopperball environment would only invite an aggressive attack because the capacity to defend against it won't exist. The end result is slow, pot-shotting points with teams and players seeking to avoid as much risk as possible in order to enhance their odds of winning.

Hopperball would certainly "solve" the paint bill problem but at what cost to the game? Is that really a trade-off anyone wants to make?

(Not Very) Musical Chairs

You know the game, don't you? The game begins with one less chair than there are players. The players march around the chairs while the music plays and as soon as it stops the players sit down on a chair--except the one player left without. That player is eliminated, another chair is removed and the music starts up again. The winner is the last player to sit down on a chair when the music stops.

Pro paintball has been playing musical chairs for awhile now and this is the time of year the music begins to play. But pro paintball musical chairs is a little different. The teams are the players and industry provides the chairs and chooses when the music plays--and stops. Of course there is some playing of the gray in that a team or two is able to sneak their own chairs into the game but the end result remains the same. When the music stops there are players left without a chair. Much like last year the haves and the have nots will largely be separated by paint. And it won't be tournament paint at issue, it will be practice paint. Unfortunately there is also a trickle down effect. The state of the current game demands certain levels of commitment in order to be a serious competitor and there are today, and will be tomorrow, bubble teams that may have "enough" resources to continue but not enough to compete. Those teams will be filling a space and they will soon begin to ask themselves if it is worthwhile. Is there a chance things will change sufficiently that next year or the year after might be different?

Unfortunately the leagues don't seem willing or able to address this issue. (Why should they, you ask? Because when the music stops and the game is over nobody will be the winner. That's why.) Industry seems ambivalent, unwilling to give up tournament paintball altogether but also unwilling or unable to support the creature they helped create. And too many teams continue to wallow and wait. Instead everyone is focused on survival. Sadly, survival is not usually a winning strategy. For anybody. Sometime in the hopefully not too distant future the leagues, the industry, the teams will realize things gotta change. This game of attrition won't satisfy anyone at the end of the day. (Been watching too much SportsNation.)

The Monday Poll

The conventional wisdom is that competitive paintball is in trouble--or if not exactly trouble, it's stagnating. This malaise mirrors a general decline in paintball participation, or at least a quantifiable drop in overall sales of new paintball equipment compared to the early years of this decade. Theories abound as to the specific causes.

Among the favorites are the economy; it's too expensive; the decline in new players has trickled down to competitive paintball; a younger player demographic; the transition from rec to tourney has become an intimidating gap largely because of high ROF gats & a perennial fave, too many punk ass kids (which isn't the same as the younger demographic because it refers to a type of kid playing tourney ball.) All of these possible reasons have some traction. Otherwise we couldn't keep hearing them proposed as sources of the decline of tourney ball. But I've got a couple of others I want to throw into the mix--and then it will be time to vote.

If you buy into the younger demographic argument isn't the question then what caused that demographic movement toward youth? And isn't the answer to that, the xball format? Seems to me the format eliminated a bloc of players simply by being too physically and athletically demanding. Or how about this: The transition from hobby to sport has killed a lot of the fun of competing. (This one is gonna get confused with the fun of traveling around, playing & partying. What I'm talking about is just having fun playing the game.)

Now it's your turn. Time to cast your vote. Competitive paintball is in decline because--

While the polls are fun (for me, anyway) of greater interest to VFTD is what peeps in a position to influence the direction of competitive paintball think is true and what they've chosen to do about it. Consider all the possible reasons for the current state of competitive paintball and ask yourself what anybody has done and what has been the result. I'm just saying.

Monday Poll in Review

On a Sunday. Last week's poll question was: Which league will make the biggest off-season changes? This is a tough call. What is a big change? If the Millennium dropped their locked divisions in the SPL and D1 would that be bigger than if, say, the NPPL went to a capped ROF?

The Review this week is a separate post 'cus I'm hoping to encourage y'all to comment. 58% of the vote went NPPL, while 33% was cast for the PSP and the MS came up a distant third at 7%. Regardless of the percentage let's hear what changes you expect each league to make and explain why one change is a bigger deal than another. And if you've got no idea what's coming what do you think each league ought to do to improve? Or are you a pessimist and expect the biggest changes to be negative ones?

Oh, and one other possible topic of discussion. Which league should make the fewest changes?

Name That Penalty 3

This is the third, and last, scenario I'm gonna ask you to evaluate. (Yes, I know, it's dragging out but things happen. The good stuff is coming.)

Player X is tucked into an Aztec attempting to control a lane. An aggressive cross field move puts an opponent into a position to shoot Player X in the pack. One paintball breaks on a pod still in Player X's pack. Player X doesn't indicate in any way knowledge that he's been hit and continues to play--which includes periodic bursts of fire.
What does the ref do? A) signal the player eliminated. B) signal the player eliminated, throw the yellow flag, and assess a minor penalty. C) signal the player eliminated, throw the red flag, and assess a major penalty.

Next time I visit these scenarios I'm going to break each one down and use some of your contributions in the collective comments to illustrate the points I want to make about rules & officiating.

The game is not in service to the rules. Read that again. Too often rules are designed (and/or enforced) to address some specific "problem." The process confined to consider narrow issues or effect convenient changes. The potential problem with those practices is that the rules define the game as it is played but that isn't the game. (Stay with me.) Competitive paintball didn't begin as a set of rules. It began as a concept, an idea, like every other game and sport. And the rules are written, first and foremost, in order to construct a playable version of the concept. The game is not in service to the rules, the rules are (or should be) in service of the game.

Saving Paintball?

I can almost feel the hate already. You see, I checked out SavePaintball after seeing the Nicky interview over at ProPaintball. And instead of being uplifted by a noble effort it left me feeling vaguely suspicious. I know, I ought to be ashamed of myself but I'm just not. What can I say? About all I can promise is that no puppies and only a few kittens were harmed during the writing of this post. Well, that and I contacted the savepaintball peeps to give them an opportunity to offer their side--and they made a dent. A small dent in the soft melon I call my head. Let's say I'm not totally convinced yet but ... we'll see.

Right about now (if I were you) I'd be asking myself the rhetorical question: Who appointed this guy Guardian of Paintball and why should I care what he thinks? The simple answers are nobody and no reason why you should. Nor do I expect you to. However, this is what VFTD does, question any and everything related to competitive paintball.

Here's the thing that bothered me right away: the sum of the site as it exists now is a few pithy paragraphs of virtually substance free emotionalism wrapped around a campaign to generate email addresses. The site consists of 5 pages and those 5 pages provide 16 opportunities to sign up for the newsletter, connect via Facebook or become a fan. The home page proclaims (one of ) their purpose(s)--"a movement to educate players to grow paintball in their community" and for the slightly thick educate and grow are in bold. But I couldn't find any content that seemed directed at accomplishing either education or growth. Well, except the growth of SavePaintball.org. The educate page makes unsubstantiated claims, acknowledges the numbers may be wrong but claims it's too serious a concern not to act. And how do you act? By signing up. By joining the movement. On the join page SavePaintball is about sparking conversation and providing a platform for exchanging ideas. Okay, so where is it? This platform. Is it gonna be a forum or what? At best the change page seems like a mixed message--Are we saving paintball or taking the sport of paintball to the next level? And while I'm at it how 'bout a clue as to what sort of change does anybody (somebody?) have in mind? Sign up and find out. We are the change we have been waiting for. See, I can do it, too.
Try as I might all I found was a concerted effort to convince ballers to join SavePaintball. There aren't any answers. Not even any suggestions. Or even a consistent message.

There's nothing sinister about any of that and I might be misreading it completely. One might reasonably give the project the benefit of the doubt, despite reservations, and consider it a work in progress. Where's the harm? I may not be impressed by the wrapper but that's not really all that important anyway. So that's what I'm going to do. Give the project a chance. From their emails the guys doing this have some potentially productive ideas--some concrete plans--although they don't seem to be altogether on the same page yet. Assuming the work in progress status let's wait and see what actually happens. After all, it's not what you say that matters, it's what you do.

Responding to Mr. Curious

It seems Mr. C.'s curiosity struck a nerve or two yesterday. As a consequence VFTD feels obliged to pass along some info and continue the 50 cal conversation--at least for another day. Among the info received was a retail price comparison that suggests 50 cal prices could undercut current 68 cal pricing anywhere from around 15% up to around 40% for tourney grade paint. These prices apply to a particular market and might not be matched across the board but provide a place to begin. I am not dismissing that 40% difference out of hand in part because my paint guy suggested some months ago the manufacturing cost reduction could easily go as high as 40%--not that the two circumstances are equivalent. Be that as it may the other consideration is the pricing given for comparison was msrp and at least in my neck of the woods msrp doesn't mean a whole lot. What would be really interesting to discover is the mark-up given the 50 cal prices quoted relative to the 68 cal mark-ups. That would give us a clearer idea of a couple of things. For example, is the 50 cal paint a money maker or is it a means to an end? (Remember, at this point GI Milsim is not a paint manufacturer. Their paint is being produced for them so my question is: Are they taking a mark-up in distribution and if so how much does it affect the retail profit margins?)
In addition it would seem that at least all the GI Milsim 50 cal is PEG based. (I don't know if everyone producing 50 cal is PEG also or not.) Simply put this means the present results are based on the most expensive variant of paint production. That doesn't leave a lot of room for improvement but, then again, it may not matter.

Btw, should GI Milsim or anyone else involved wish to dispute anything posted with respect to 50 cal etc. VFTD would be happy to post, unaltered and in its entirety, any authorised communication in an effort to give readers a full & fair view of the subject. That, of course, goes for any other topic as well and applies to teams, players, industry and paintball-related organizations who wish to make a public statement regarding VFTD content.

While the promotional tactics and claims offered by the 50 cal crowd have a certain odor about them I'm not particularly bothered. As a cynic I suppose that's what I expect. And if the 50 cal peeps can convince enough field operators and retailers to make the move it probably won't matter whether or not it's cheaper for the customer, it'll happen eventually anyway. I can even see it being welcomed amongst the milsim members of the scenario crowd and siphoning off those rec players motivated by playing war games--all well and good. But a couple of things do concern me. One is safety and the other is a short-sighted view that allows another "new idea" to sweep in and alter the competitive game--again--without taking the time to think through the consequences. On the safety front it seems as if almost nothing has been done to test the 50 cal ball within the environment it will be used and with the current equipment. We don't even know what velocities are either practical and/or safe (300 fps gives significantly reduced performance compared to a 68 cal ball) yet it's full speed ahead. Apparently the paint passes thru the loose weave upper half of field netting and I'm hearing that it does the same with the venting on some goggles. Is any of this stuff a concern or just an excuse to re-make the entire market?

Mr. Curious

The whole 50 cal business has Mr. C. flummoxed. He's so confused. He doesn't know where to begin. Before one question gets answered satisfactorily somebody else is making a new claim about the benefits of the 50 cal ball and the whole process starts all over again. Mr. Curious isn't an unreasonable guy and he's willing to consider a product with some potential trade-offs but all he wants to know right now, today, is what the price of a case of 50 cal paint is gonna be. Up front, not whispered to some likely dealer with nothing written down. Disseminated to the public at large in black & white because if the 50 cal paint isn't going to be decisively cheaper for the consumer the rest of the conversation is a waste of breath.

Name That Penalty 2

This time it's a snake runner off the break. Once again the player is hit in the legs during the run. The paintball breaks and leaves a mark. The player may or may not have felt the hit. The player dives into the snake and tucks up tight behind snake one.
Based only the information given what is the correct outcome? A) the referee signals the player out and the player is eliminated. B) the referee throws a yellow flag, calls the player out and assesses a minor penalty. C) the referee signals the player out and assesses a major penalty.

The Monday Poll

Buckets of riblets and bottles of Dewar's are disappearing as weary discussions last deep into the night in a secluded corner booth at the neighborhood Applebees. The hum of intense conversation carries strained voices as conference call after conference call amid spates of email process the latest dialogue. And the barely audible percussion of a jolly oompah band hangs suspended in the thick air of a windowless basement room playing counterpoint to the repetitious sound of jangling coins as an antique calculator rapidly converts Euros into Sterling. The PSP and NPPL 3.0 (USPL) are already hard at work on the 2010 season. Even the MS have leaked the unconfirmed dates and locations for next season in a likely bid to appear proactive compared to last year' s indecision. Long talks are taking place and big decisions are being made. Change is in the air, but how much? Will there be rules changes? Will there be format changes? Will there be entry and or prize changes? Will there be more or fewer locked divisions in major league paintball? The list of unknowns is long. The time grows shorter everyday. Decisions are likely to be announced earlier than ever in order to give potential sponsors and teams an opportunity to fully prepare and make decisions of their own.

This week's Monday Poll asks Which league will make the biggest off-season moves?

Monday Poll in Review
Last week wanted to know which teams would be playing PSP semi-pro in 2010. Across the board the vote was soft--even on the listed teams that played semi-pro last year; XSV, RNT, Aftermath 2 and PBV--with no team receiving more than 68% of the vote. (I am, of course, discounting the possibility than some percent of the voters were semi-literate goobers who only voted for one team instead of all the teams they thought would be playing semi-pro next year. Your calculation may differ.) In general existing Race 2 (xball) teams were preferred over the majority of the rumored 7-man candidates although Xplict, Arsenal and Mutiny all received notable percentages. Otherwise, much of the voting seemed either a smattering of the usual suspects or a reflection of voters favorite teams. And in something of a surprise the poll proved to be of less general interest than VFTD expected.

Name That Penalty

The horn sounds. Both teams are on the break. Player X is running & gunning a corner bunker. He is hit on one of his legs below hip level during his run. He shoots all the way into his primary. Protected by his bunker Player X immediately checks his leg for a break.
Does the action described result in A) no penalty with the ref signaling the player is eliminated, or B) a minor with the ref signaling the player is eliminated or C) a major penalty with the ref signaling the player is eliminated.

I realize many of you are sufficiently creative to complicate this scenario almost endlessly. What if the player misses the hit? What if the ref waits to see what the player does next. Etc. Etc. None of those complications are to the point. The point is this is a simple, oft-repeated situation. Take it as given and answer A, B or C.

And, yes, for those thinking ahead there is a point. One we'll be getting around to in the not-too-distant-future.

Odds 'n Ends

Just a few assorted comments on various items posted recently or that have come up related to recent posts. But first--
I'd like to take a moment to congratulate PBN and the online paintball community for the Paintballers for Peyton effort and to let Darryl and the Trent family know they are in our thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery for Peyton. If you are unfamiliar with the situation or the effort promoted by PBN and want to know more take a look here.

Regarding the final event of the Millennium season held in Antalya Turkey the seemingly universal response from participating teams has been that the venue was brilliant. So it would seem apart from the late announcement of the Turkey location and the ridiculous scheduling in the face of all the locked division no-shows the MS got something right. You know what they say--even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

The weak response to the 'Name that American' post only served to reinforce a personal prejudice or two. (I do however appreciate the effort made by a few of you. Thanks, but there were not enough knowledgeable responses to merit awarding a prize.) First, most American ballers couldn't care less what happens some place else and two, most Euroballers would rather have a drink with a "celebrity" American baller than actually learn anything about playing the game. (Which doesn't really bode all that well for my prior contention that at least the upper echelon of Euroball isn't too far off the U.S. standard, does it? Nor does the fact that virtually all the top ranked CPL teams sport apparently anonymous American--or roamin' Canadian players on their rosters.)