Helping Novice Players Have a Good First Day: A Mental Exercise

[lhamilton1807]

Most of the games I host every month during good weather include at least 1 new player. We go through the safety talk and equipment orientation, then some strategy and how to have fun

1) You’ll get hit, it’s inevitable. It’s like bumping your arm on the corner of a table: it hurts for a few seconds, and then you don’t notice it unless you poke the bruise. (This helps give them a reference for how much it will and won’t hurt)
2) Communicate with your team. The other team will know where you are the moment you pull the trigger, so you might as well scare the other players by giving out their locations.
3) Don’t bunch up, for both defensive and offensive strategies. If you’re in one place, you’re just a bunch of marks in one spot and you can’t get multiple angles on other players.
4) Keep moving up, and try to flank your adversary. It won’t hurt much if you get hit, and you’ll get a better chance to experience shooting someone else.
5) Playing paintball is essentially like surfing the Internet: just point and click. Try to have fun and don’t overthink it too much.
6) Between rounds, give high fives to the people who shot you out and talk about the experience. Ask other players how you could have done it differently to get a better outcome. (Last month I had a kid who said he couldn’t ever hit his targets, so I did some basic training on how to adjust where you’re pointing the marker slightly based off of where your previous shot went. It seems so simple to experienced players, but it was gold for him. He tagged someone out the next round and was on cloud 9, finally in love with the game.)

[flyweightnate]

I tell the new guys to stay farther back from their bunkers. I know they're not going to be far enough up field at first to worry about getting pinched, and it's so much easier to have fun when you're watching the game, instead of staring at plywood.

[Chappy]

3 - Don't be scared to make a move. The worst case scenario is you get shot and have to respawn. The best case scenario you pull off a great move and win the game for your

this. I try to tell them Fortune favors the bold and even if it doesn’t you’ll be laughing about it in staging area afterwards.

[coyote]

I have actually reffed newbies and done this exact thing.

You're going to get shot. It will hurt a little. You will forget it in a moment.

Put your nose on the rear end of your marker and keep it there. This way you can always shoot what you are looking at.

Use both sides of your cover. Minimize coming over the top. If you keep one foot on the ground when kneeling you can move faster than when you have 2 knees on the ground.

You need to get closer than you think. I recommend 60 feet.

Communication and motion will beat shooting and shooting and shooting.

2 tricks;

Pair each new player with a field regular for a couple of games. You build good field culture this way, and the newbies will have some coaching.

If the groups are small enough and the players are green enough have the refs play with the group rather than just ref. The refs don't necessarily need a marker to do this, as the job isn't to shoot, but to coach.

We need these new players to return and play again. Treating them like they are a priority helps.

[MrBarraclough]

Yeah, a little outside the parameters there, but that's okay. I was thinking in the context of my local field, where there's only one game at a time and everyone plays together on teams of mixed skill level. We've got a pretty good local culture where the regulars understand the importance of not chewing up the rental kids. Often we gravitate towards confronting each other and avoiding the kids where we can. On a big woodsball field, you tend to move towards the sound of the rapid but quiet markers.

[MrBarraclough]

Proper sighting and understanding the difference between maximum range and effective range always top my list.

[MrBarraclough]

Honestly, that is the hardest and most important parameter for me. It takes effort for me to stay focused and be reasonably concise without the paintball autism taking over.

[TF_Aloha]

Maybe i should start showing them a couple of scars i have from particularly nasty hits & let them know that those are definitely the exceptions & most likely won’t happen to them. 🤣

New players can get nervous for the silliest reason. Just assure them that the majority of people who get hit during a game don't require an overnight hospital stay. It's 100% true so it should put everyone at ease.

[homerj]

One of the main things i try to impart on the renters on my team is to not waste paint. Without fail, the first thing they seem to want to do when the refs give the ok to take off barrel covers before the game starts is to shoot 10-20 or more times into a tree. Games can last up to 15 minutes & they’ve got 200 rounds (if they remembered to top off their hoppers after the last game). I have seen on more than one occasion a renter who i was pretty sure purposely emptied their hopper as fast as they could so they’d have an excuse to call themselves out. Which brings me to another thing i try to do which is calm their nerves before games, especially those that are visibly nervous. I try to convince them that it won’t be 1/10th as bad as it is in their mind. Maybe i should start showing them a couple of scars i have from particularly nasty hits & let them know that those are definitely the exceptions & most likely won’t happen to them. 🤣

[scottieb]

It's always good to pick a few from this list.

https://web.archive.org/web/20010418...y/murphys.html

[Nish]

Most anything you tell them, especially if it involves fine motor skills or complex thoughts is going to be right out the window as soon as the game starts and adrenaline hits. Here are the foot notes versions that I try to convey to new players.

1. Hopper tricks. Don't overfill it so paint can fall, shake it if paint isn't coming out when you shoot. The difference in the sound of the gun when there is no paint in the chamber

2. Range. Just because you can see them doesn't mean you can shoot them. Watch where your paint is dropping.

3. I know some of you want to be snipers and commandos but if you want to win you need to communicate so we can work together.

[scottieb]

Lol @ #3!

[Jordan]

A good cry can be cathartic... hey, maybe that's what all those guys screaming "Get out!" need!

[PinhotiHiker]

I strike up a conversation and get to know everyone. Helps a lot with communication on the field if you actually speak to them off the field. Offer to help them out with their equipment to make sure they are not setup for failure. Then I go grab my phantom and enjoy a day of rec ball with some new players.

[TF_Aloha]

1. Put the back of the gun in line with the tip of your nose. "Touch" the tip of the barrel to whatever you want to hit when you aim. Shoot 3 times each time, try to make the last one hit.
2. Talk to the people next to you before the game starts. Pick where you're running before you start. Be greedy.
3. If you haven't hit anyone in a while, your gun might be malfunctioning. Simply shoot your nearest ref to make sure the paintballs still work. That's why they're there and so brightly marked.