Other hobbies overtaking paintball

[BrickHaus]

I'm hard on MTB right now. I've been obsessively on pink bike looking at bikes I can't afford for weeks.

[Trbo323]

Kites.



I like big power kites, the kind I can hurt myself with if I'm not careful but the more time goes on the more I want to fly big display kites and chill.

Sent from my motorola edge 2024 using Tapatalk

[Grendel]

Paintball has been a hobby that has always been present in my life since I started playing in 1988. I have slowed down at times, but I'm always up for a good game. I have several other hobbies, mostly centered on building/restoring things. The height of my playing tournament and scenario ball actually was when my daughter was still at home. It helped that she liked to play occasionally, but the family never really stopped me from playing. I just had to balance it with other family responsibilities. In fact, to this day, my wife tells me to get out of the house and play some paintball. It does wonders for my energy and stress levels.

[iamthelazerviking]

My wife tells me I should do the same. Until I actually do and leave her alone with the kids all day 🤣

[boomersruckus]

I have a theory that I can do all of the non-physical hobbies when I am old. For now its paintball, bicycling, obstacle course racing, and most of all.....


Racing these things.

[Cal440]

That looks very cool, who makes it?

[boomersruckus]

Its a 2022 Honda Grom that I massaged the hell out of.

[Shan1Fat]

Stay on the ultralight game. I got into throwing big glides/swimbaits not that long ago. Do yourself a favor and stay ignorant to that side of fishing as long as you can 🤣

[DocsMachine]

I haven't played since probably '17 or early '18- and even then I bet I only played two dozen games between '15 and then.

Admittedly that's less 'lack of desire' than simple 'lack of place and players', but hey.

That said, I still go out to the shop every day and put in my six to ten hours either making paintball parts, or patching up these old, obsolete machines so I can make more.

That said, I was a car guy before I was a paintball guy, and every now and then the car bug bites me again- this past summer I put a few hours into the interior of my old Oldsmobubble, and holy crap did my mental well-being need that. All work and no play makes Jack a bit of an asshole, and all that.

Considering that's pretty much my one last remaining pastime, I think I can be allowed the occasional break.

Doc.

[The Jayster]

Honestly my interest in paintball has been waning lately. I'm fortunate enough to live near a mega center (20 min drive) and another nice field about an hour's drive away; my kids are pre-teens and even when they were toddlers me playing frequently has never been an issue (my wife's smart enough to know which fight to pick and avoid with me); cost is not really an issue as I buy paint at good prices and I now play pump 50% of the time. Attitude and issues with douches are very rare wherever I go, so, not an issue. The equipment I use is very reliable and allows me to focus on my game. So why the waning interest?

A few factors: I'm old enough (50) to remember the days of GOOD paint; now the woodsball stuff is passable at best. A few weeks ago I was in a game where my shots were landing nowhere near my target. I thought I was having a bad gunplay day but I realized that even experienced players snapshooting at me missed me by a mile. After talking amongst each other we realized the paint was the issue.

I also miss the days of the early 90's when paintball was played on huge woodsball fields, where you didn't see your opponents 150ft away from your starting position. Now it seems everything is designed as to engage quickly and shoot as much paint as possible. Modern woodsball or recball for me has become a bit of a wash-rince-repeat thing. When I pull off a grandiose move and take out a whole bunch of players, I don't feel the thrill I used to feel. I'm like 'meh, it worked' or 'meh, it failed' depending on the outcome. The exception is when I play pump and actually manage a few nice shots, and then again, that depends on paint quality (see above).

For the record I also enjoy hiking since I live near decent enough mountains and swimming outside with the kids in the summer. My days feel fulfilled if I do that and don't play paintball. Now, you may laugh but sometimes when I play with NERF guns (some of them are surprisingly powerful and accurate) with my kids or laser tag (I bought high-end sets), it sorta scratches the paintball itch somewhat.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Just played a scenario where the paint was crap. Only way to handle it was to shoot a ton of it, so good for the field I suppose?! Anyone with a pump switched almost immediately as you could shoot straight. Everyone was all over on the chrono. Disappointing.

[MAr]

As man I bet we’ve played together a few times! Either at Mirabel or elsewhere.

[The Jayster]

@MAr: Maybe, or at Warzone. I malnly play at Mirabel nowadays though, typically on Saturdays.

[Hutbrew]

Paintball was always my first “Fixation” from Middle through High School I was always trying to get a group to go sling paint.
In (my decade) of acquiring a bachelor’s degree I was too busy working full time and being poor to play paintball regularly, I did find a hobby in brewing mediocre beer for a while, until discovering all-grain brewing and made some quality kegged batches. Recently beer-making has fallen by the wayside. Similarly to paintball making a few batches it will eat a whole weekend of mine- luckily I only need a couple weekends a year to make a decent supply of decent swill.

As far in as paintball goes, I finally got a steady job, started playing and tinkering more then convinced my near life-long group of friends to get together 1-2 a year to play, so PB had come back ‘round for me for a while around Covid times. I found a local group of chill/laid back former tourney ball dudes who get together on someone’s back lot and have a solid 3-4hrs of play on occasion. I probably made it out to play paintball 8-9x in total year!

During my “college decade” (the 2010’s) I picked up Guitar, and would jam near daily the couple years I had a musical roommate. I was mainly a “campfire chord” king for 12+ years. Got decent with vocally carrying a tune. Recently picked up a looper pedal for the first time and been working on my Jam-Band noodling over recorded chords. The wife prefers the guitar picking to other hobbies because “I don’t make a huge mess” and can be “quick to put it down” when she comes calling…

Everyone (my age) I know has had, or will soon have, young kiddos, so the days of hanging out 2-3 weekends/month are pretty much gone, I hope as the kids grow up I can get them paintballing, otherwise I’ll be.

TL;DR: like everyone else, my hobbies fluctuate. For me it’s a random cycle between Paintball, Guitar, Beer, and Hiking/backpacking/outdoors- to keep my hands from idling too much

[Magmoormaster]

For the past few years I've only played once or twice a year. And I don't really see that changing.

For me, there are a number of different factors that decrease my motivation to play and my enjoyment when I do. In 21, I started dating my wife. Between school and work, I had very little free time and I mostly just wanted to spend time with her. We got married in 22, and our first apartment was a good 45 minutes from the field I would normally play at. I played once or twice a year and usually had a good time, but it was a lot of work to get there and I just didn't have the interest most of the time. I sold a lot of my gear cuz I just wasn't playing. In 24, we moved to Arizona. Fields are closer, but paint quality is so much worse here than it was in Utah (mostly cuz the store owner in Utah paid a lot of attention to it). I also didn't know anyone, and while I made friends I generally had pretty blah experiences. I also decided to dabble in airsoft, and that fully disillusioned me. Airsoft gets a lot of things right that we don't, but the gear quality (its baaaad) and the milsim aspect is a turnoff. Paintball gear is so much better, but the quality of the game is degrading and the industry is in a death spiral. Participation has been declining pretty much every year since 2008 and no one wants to do anything about it. And the longer I think about it, the less reason I see in trying. I'll continue to play until it becomes impossible, but probably only once or twice a year like I've been doing.

Back in January I got back into Magic the Gathering, and it's eating my brain like the very hungry caterpillar. I've been selling gear to fund more card purchases. I'll never sell my trilogy of course, but I'm almost at a point of selling everything besides it and a mask, and just renting emeks from here on out.

[iamthelazerviking]

The paint quality trend is hurting players everywhere. Cent go wrong with Magic, while I'm not into it I know many who are, I understand the appeal.

I've done the same, shed pretty much all gear recently. Keeping pads/clothing, goggles and maybe a tank/barrel, but I've sold several markers to the same dude who plays when I do LOL so I can borrow whatever I need to

[The Jayster]

I thought of doing the same one day: just keep my main Phantom with a 13ci tank, a mask, a small harness and a pair of cargo pants to play once in a blue moon. Ok, I might keep my main Emek too. I would just sell the rest (the masks, tanks, loaders and everything else on my modest gun wall).

[ford]

For me, kid activities take up the weekend Maybe in a few years when they get old enough to go to the field that might change... I've had to find hobbies I can do around my family life and the closest I've found is bouldering. A gym is about 15 minutes away and it feels way better than trying to play paintball during Texas summers.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

Quit, never coming back. It was cool to play with adults as a kid. Not so much the other way around as 25 year old man. It's lame to shoot kids, while being reffed them at the same time. Your own kids in your own backyard, completely different, godspeed to you for being present in their lives. Fuckin pools still have adults swim. So why can't paintball have 21 and up only events? Paint sucks, gear sucks, (be honest, a lot of this shit we hoard, old or new, barely functions as intended), player base is full of reddit dorks who ruin the fun with their non stop yapping. Like everyone else said, it's a big pain in the ass to play paintball these days. So why waste your limited rec time on it? Hug the wife, kiss the kid, take the dog for a walk. Really anything is better than hours of driving, just to wait and wait for another dumb 7 minute recball game to go out. I still got my Brass eagle jersey and 280 mask. But you could not drag me to a field ever again. Let alone a 3 day event!

I bought the best acid of my life at a Phish concert july the 18th. Waited till the next day to try it out. 2 tabs and I was drooling laughing at the clouds swirling like bong smoke, laying on the lawn at tinely park, for my first Pantera concert. THEY DID 10'S! Took 2 again 2 Weeks later at a water park. Catching air and feeling weightlessness for a moment, while coming up hard, is a feeling you will not forget! And T&A never looks as good as it does when you are peaking! So glad I brought my headphones, so I could walk around and jam out. 3 tabs at my apartment alone a month later, had me hearing songs within the song. Man Freddie King and the Grateful Dead were good! What I'm saying is, I really just want to listen to good music, and look at hot women is bikinis, while on acid in my free time. btw I'm all out of acid until Phish comes back to Alpine Valley or Deer Creek. Got Tabs? Please?

[Riot]

Quit, never coming back. It was cool to play with adults as a kid. Not so much the other way around as 25 year old man. It's lame to shoot kids, while being reffed them at the same time. Your own kids in your own backyard, completely different, godspeed to you for being present in their lives. Fuckin pools still have adults swim. So why can't paintball have 21 and up only events? Paint sucks, gear sucks, (be honest, a lot of this shit we hoard, old or new, barely functions as intended), player base is full of reddit dorks who ruin the fun with their non stop yapping. Like everyone else said, it's a big pain in the ass to play paintball these days. So why waste your limited rec time on it? Hug the wife, kiss the kid, take the dog for a walk. Really anything is better than hours of driving, just to wait and wait for another dumb 7 minute recball game to go out. I still got my Brass eagle jersey and 280 mask. But you could not drag me to a field ever again. Let alone a 3 day event!

I bought the best acid of my life at a Phish concert july the 18th. Waited till the next day to try it out. 2 tabs and I was drooling laughing at the clouds swirling like bong smoke, laying on the lawn at tinely park, for my first Pantera concert. THEY DID 10'S! Took 2 again 2 Weeks later at a water park. Catching air and feeling weightlessness for a moment, while coming up hard, is a feeling you will not forget! And T&A never looks as good as it does when you are peaking! So glad I brought my headphones, so I could walk around and jam out. 3 tabs at my apartment alone a month later, had me hearing songs within the song. Man Freddie King and the Grateful Dead were good! What I'm saying is, I really just want to listen to good music, and look at hot women is bikinis, while on acid in my free time. btw I'm all out of acid until Phish comes back to Alpine Valley or Deer Creek. Got Tabs? Please?

This is one of the wildest posts I’ve ever seen here...
…and I’m here for it.

I don’t have drugs to offer you, but sometimes I go to walk on days just to make 12 year olds cry, and while you may think that’s lame, I think I’d look a lot cooler doing it in a dope Brass Eagle jersey….

[BLachance75]

I can think of something that you could wear that would look cooler