Never Fully Satisfied

[glaman5266]

I have the tendency to not be satisfied after a build. My last Spyder project was a great example. I got it built and I liked it well enough... But now what? I traded it away, lol.

But... In the last couple years I have been sticking with a few particular markers more than I have in many years. Specifically my Emek, Resurrection & pre-2K sniper. This has been a very welcome surprise for me, since I've gone for so many years without finding one to stick with long enough to really get good with. I almost feel like I'm hitting a stride again. My efforts in finding markers I actually have the urge to stick with are paying off.

Hoppers have been more of an issue for me... My Revvy is the only thing I use consistently, lol. Every time I get a new one I use it a few times and I'm over it. I could probably sell off 4 or 5 hoppers and not notice.

[spikeball]

Satisfaction is the complete opposite of human nature. Our brains are wired to constantly be looking for the next obstacle. It's our survival tool that we now express by purchasing more things or building more things. Like Matrix Guy said, it's a means to an end, but not the actual end.

With that in mind, it's hard to completely enjoy your creations, or stick with your current collection. We are always going to want more or something different.

I enjoy working on gear and projects. "Improving" them or just simply getting them to work again, maybe using it, and then selling it so it has a chance at a new opportunity. That's what I find satisfying, aside from playing of course.

[gabe]

Maybe I just don't have time or the energy to chase guns around anymore but I've given up the constant search for "perfect". I end up buying a bucket list gun and just keeping it and using it. If it doesn't get used it gets sold and if it does get used it gets kept. Keeps my collection to around 10-12 guns since that's all I can reasonably rotate through in a single season. With my other hobbies taking up all of my disposable income (airplanes and cars are expensive hobbies) I just don't have cash to throw at every deal that comes along. I keep a list of guns I'd like to buy and a little cash squirrelled away and when a deal comes along on a list gun I buy it and put it in the rotation. A different gun that doesn't get used much gets sold. Keeps me honest about my gun whoring.

[MrBarraclough]

I think I've hit my marker saturation point, which fortunately for the sake of my wallet and marriage, isn't all that high. I enjoy trawling through eBay and MCB looking for cool stuff, but a year and a half after returning from a 20 year hiatus I think I've gotten most of the "Holy hell I can now afford to buy this stuff at will!" impulse out of my system. My entry level electro is actually overkill for a once-a-month, strictly recreational woodsballer like me. My actual needs are more than met, so to buy any other marker it would just be for the cool factor, and thankfully my willingness to pay for the cool factor turns out to be rather weak. I think a Blazer or a Sovereign would be awesome to have, but not so awesome that I'd be willing to pay what they are worth. Now I'm down to buying the peripheral stuff, which is much less dangerous to the wallet. A cool barrel or a chronograph or some such.

Two realizations have done much to curb my paintball purchasing desire:

1. I love tinkering with markers at home, but I absolutely hate it at the field. When it is paintball day, I want to focus on playing and I want my gear to just work.
2. While I enjoy sharing paintball with new players and try to be a good ambassador for the sport, playing the role of armorer/quartermaster for my friend group is exhausting. See #1. I don't like being responsible for anyone else's equipment. Realzing this about myself has greatly dampened the temptations of "That'd make a great loaner gun to keep in the spare gear bag."

In fact, I have adopted a new personal rule in light of #2: I will loan markers to friends or guests only if they rent gear that day (or have their own). That way, if something goes wrong, they can just pick up their rental marker off the table and carry on, and I can work on my loaner between games if I have the time and inclination or I can simply not.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Yup, it's hard working bringing gear, getting people outfitted, explain it all and getting them on the field. I never make the first game of the day. This is why I gave a bunch of sets of gear to family so it's now their problem not mine!

[JeepDVLZ45]

Agreed! I usually hook up 1 or 2 friends every time I play (I thought I had a better chance to hook someone into the sport if they had decent gear their first time out). Bringing my primary and a backup, plus 1 or 2 extra setups plus backups for them is CRAZY

For Artic’s Summer SC game, I outfitted myself and 5 other guys with phantoms…it’s a lot of work to be the armorer.

To Cuda’s point, my nephew now has a decent mech and a good pump (now it’s his problem) another buddy has a nice phantom (again, now it’s his problem) and I’m giving my A5 to another friend I just got into the game. Now they can pack, tech and clean!

[gabe]

That's why I typically keep both tinkering guns (autocockers) and playing guns (M170R, CVO, LV1) in the gear bag. The tinkering guns are fun until they don't work and if that happens you just whip out the reliable guns.

[DiamondDave]

I have 2 markers. A Minimag I bought in 1999 brand new and a PGP I bought brand new in 2001 or thereabouts. PGP is bone stock and mint. The mag I upgraded to an Intelliframe and later lvl 10. I had a 68 carbine that I traded in for some stuff like an HPA tank and I had a BKO I sold to cover some other expense. Wish I kept it. All I really want is to play with the gear I have because now I have the cash to play. Just need the weather to cooperate. I do want an auto cocker. That would probably be the only itch I have right now.

[Arthur]

Yeah, but kind of keeps me going it seems. I love fielding exotic gear. It isn't officially one of my guns until it shoots someone.

[spikeball]

I like that perspective. Like it truly hasn't become initiated until it does make that shot. Might have to adopt this one.

[JeeperCreeper]

I will say I have considered only having a handful of markers, and it could happen eventually. I'm done buying Spyders and Ions for sure. I got a CVO on the way and that's gonna be with me for a long time, and it will pretty much stay the way I receive it (with the exception of a nice ano). I have a Spyder Pump and a Hammer so I'll be set with pumps until I finally get a Phantom or some brass. I have an e grip Spyder, and a modded Ion / Epiphany mash up for electros, and of course my mech Ions. I have already made a new rule for myself where if I buy something, something else needs to go. It was just no more buying but I ruined that with the CVO, but it's for a great reason. It's my first modern marker since the Ion I bought in 06, and it should be way more reliable than my Ions ever were.

[iamthelazerviking]

Part of the thrill for me is selling parts, getting money. And then using that to buy more parts. The never-ending cycle.

[Cdn_Cuda]

I’m knee deep in that cycle right now. Did well last year, spent way more on paintball than I have in likely a decade. I’m getting close to my self imposed limit and will have to start selling things so I can buy more things.

[Arthur]

I've been dabbling in this practice and now can understand its allure, haha.

[homerj]

I have bought/traded for and never used FAR more markers over the years than ones i actually played with. Often times i never really intended to (or at least subconsciously knew i never would) play with a lot of the markers I’ve owned. They were mostly things i just wanted to check out in person. We’ve never had a huge paintball scene in my area so i couldn’t just wait for someone to show up at the field with one. Had that been the case i probably would’ve saved thousands of dollars over the years but i regret nothing. Ok, i regret buying this ultra cheap little pump whose grip cracked wide open about the 2nd or 3rd time i put a 12 gram in it.

[Dusty Bottoms]

I've also kinda reached my saturation point with marker buying and parts collecting for now. I have seven mags and an Emek, and while there's always stuff I want to try, I just don't see the point right now. I like to play with everything I own, and once you have more than ten markers, it seems like some fall out of the rotation for years. Plus, prices on vintage mag stuff rose during the pandemic to the point were it's just too expensive to keep buying and building these things considering how many I already have that all work, and the fact that I'm only playing maybe ten times a year.