Hindsight of a self destructing industry.

[Fubarius]

Am I the only one that looks back at our little hobby, and notice that a lot of it, while great for the players, seemed designed to screw over field owners?

(all observations paraphrased and timelines condensed for humorous purposes)

Industry: Hey field owners, what do you think of CO2?

FIeld Owners: The tanks freezing up in the cold and occasionally blowing burst disks in the summer is kind of annoying, but I'm getting like 20 percent of my profit just from doing fills with just a couple hundred bucks invested.

Industry: Well we got thing new thing, HPA! Won't freeze up in the cold or spike in the summer. Guns will run so much better.

Field Owners: Hey that's nifty. So how much do I have to invest to fill these? A couple hundred bucks right?

Industry: Ha! Try thousands of dollars for a scuba rated compressor and a bank of high pressure bulk tanks.

Field Owners: Dang, that sucks. So I should be able to charge people more for this HPA fill since it costs me more and performance is better. Players should be perfectly happy to pay more for this, and I'll make a return on my investment right?

Industry: Oh hell no. We'll setup tournaments in such a way and push a playing culture so that not only will you have to spend the thousands of dollars to fill these tanks to be considered a "real field", but players will demand the fills for free.

Field Owners: Uh, wait, what?!?


Industry: Hey Field Owners!

Field Owners: Oh crap, now what?

Industry: Tournaments!

Field Owners: Oh yeah, we run a few of those a year for our regulars. Kind of a nice change of pace.

Industry: Tournaments are the only real paintball!

Field Owners: Uh, wait, no. Most of my customers are just here to have fun. Even most of my regulars like to keep things laid back.

Industry: Tournaments will get us outside sponsorship! Media exposure! Soon you'll be able to watch this sport on ESPN! We'll be legit!

Field Owners: Well, I suppose some media exposure could be good for business. You'll be having these tournaments at established fields, right?

Industry: Hell no! Stadium parking lots. County fairgrounds. Huntington Beach baby!

Field Owners: Are you even going to mention local fields at these events? And how are you running tournaments where there are no woods?

Industry: Only if you pay us, and Speedball baby!

FIeld Owners: That little field we use at the end of the day? WIth the pallets and tire stacks? It's fun, but kind of repetitive.

Industry: Pallets and tires? Bah, newbie baby stuff. Big balloons only! They're easier to transport from event to event. And we'll hype it as the only "real" paintball and everything else is "holding back the sport".

Field Owners: And these players you're creating, they'll play at my field too, right?

Industry: Ha! Not a chance. We'll teach them to never be caught dead on a mere woods field. Unless you also have a field of big balloons, then they'll come by to practice. But not just any, they have to be EXACTLY the same as ours.

Field Owners: So how much do these balloons cost. A few hundred bucks right?

Industry: $7000, to start. And like a grand a year when we start adding new ones to the setup.

Field Owners: Jeeze, again with this. And these tournament players, they'll pay extra to use this expensive field?

Industry: Not a chance. They'll demand to be "sponsored" and not have to play field fees at all, and they'll want paint at cost. Or below. Or else you're not "supporting the sport".

Field Owners: But they'll attract regular paying players to field, right?

Industry: Oh no, they'll make fun of them and actively chase them away.

Field Owners: Wait, WHAT?!?

[DocsMachine]

That's... entirely too close for comfort.

Doc.

[Ecapnation]

Oh boy... Don't get me started.

[Morgenstern]

Yeah everything about the tournament scene, the air bunkers, the fashion, the rate of fire, the cheating culture... all of it was anti-newbie and newbies are the only way to make money. Paintball exploded in popularity when it was salvation army fatigues, pumps and Tippmanns for a reason. It's what people imagine when you mention paintball. People want to play war. Simple as that. The industry, partly driven by anti gun political pressure, partly by wanting outside sponsorship and recognition as mentioned above, did everything they could to make it something the masses did not want and they did a darn good job of it.

[Chuck E Ducky]

The majority of paintballers only play within 45min-1hr from ware they live. They don’t see what works in places outside what they know. The Tournament part of paintball is a massive part of the paintball industry. You can hate it all you want. But that’s the truth. When’s the last time you purchased a new paintball marker? Hell the new LUXE came out and it’s like it never existed here. 10 man had a massive revolution for tournament ball. Hell PSI was a ghost town if it wasn’t for the few mech events Jerry Brawn ran this year. Point is Paintball does just fine given the right location, right customers, and staff that care. Paintball will be just fine going back to its backyard roots if the commercial places ever cease to exist.

Save the doom and gloom. Lots of fields that go under are not the fault of the industry. They are often poorly run or Inundated with people who prefer to play shit paintball. A Field is only as good as the company you keep. For instance you can have the coolest field around but if you keep crap players people stop playing there. There really isn’t a dam thing a field can do about it. Pinnacle Paintball NJ comes to mind. Amazing field but it’s “NJ paintball” almost as bad as “NYC paintball”. Then you have the exact opposite “NH paintball” some of the most nasty well respected pump players around just having a blast in the woods. Killer mech fields a massive speedball following with regular big name team rotations. Bar restaurants pro shops on site. The ones that are successful know it’s about the experience. The ones that fail well sometimes it’s a good thing they don’t exist anymore.

The economy and inflation is the #1 thing hurting luxury sports. It’s been great for pump paintball tho if you want a silver lining. But man that grocery bill is getting out of hand.

[Magoo]

I wonder if industry optimization has an impact on the "death" of paintball. I got into paintball at a point where hotrodding your gun, whether or not the mods were practical, was almost essential. I loved that personal touch. The crazy things people were doing with Tippmanns, the plethora of aftermarket for cockers, mags, Impulses, etc... Then Ions happened and made customizing your gun a thing even broke middle schoolers could do.

Now everything is perfect from the factory. Why buy parts? Why airsmiths or custom shops?

I feel like all the shiny bolt on bits were good for field pro shops as well.

But I realize I'm archaic. Brick and mortar stores have a hard time keeping up. You need to draw people to fields, and I definitely don't know how to do that.

[jetenginekyle]

I wonder if industry optimization has an impact on the "death" of paintball. I got into paintball at a point where hotrodding your gun, whether or not the mods were practical, was almost essential. I loved that personal touch. The crazy things people were doing with Tippmanns, the plethora of aftermarket for cockers, mags, Impulses, etc... Then Ions happened and made customizing your gun a thing even broke middle schoolers could do.

Now everything is perfect from the factory. Why buy parts? Why airsmiths or custom shops?

I feel this is a major positive for the industry, new players being able to buy a marker that works as expected out of the box with no need to touch anything for it to perform just as good as the $1000+ markers is insane. How many people do you think bought e-spyders broke every other ball got pissed and never played again? I'd bet a lot of people did.

[grimace]

None of this really matters when the customer base declined with the 08 financial crisis and never fully recovered and many of the field owners / lessees were sitting on what was now millions of dollars of real estate. They either cashed out or were squeezed out by external economics.

[Psycho91]

Sounds about right to me

[uv_halo]

I feel like there's a couple things missing here:

Industry: "If you make the fields smaller, with more bunkers, and shorter time limits, everyone will shoot more".

Field Owners: "That's Awesome!! My primary revenue is paint, I'll make bank with this!"

Industry: "Since the Insurance underwriters want more money for full auto coverage, we've developed double-finger, and response triggers so players can shoot nearly just as fast,"

Field Owners: "Awesome! I'm sure to sell more paint with this. When they become cheap enough for me, I'll even rent them out for a premium fee!!"

If you can't tell, I hold most Field Owners just as responsible as the rest of the industry. Field Owners largely forgot or just plain overlooked that their primary revenue was an experience. I can even point to a case where a field owner got coverage for full auto and, structured their games to allow full auto (while renting response triggers), and having them scenario-based. It set them apart from all of the other, older fields in the region and they have survived by pivoting to tactical 'laser tag', maintaining the 'experience'. Transitioning to Laser Tag is a net loss for paintball but, they probably wouldn't have had to make this transition if the industry was bettter postured to support magfed and, varied projectile play.

[bobthebot]

Paintball is one of the cheapest gear-sports you can get into. Competitive gear is cheaper than its ever been, and a case of paint barely costs more now than it did ten years ago which is a minor miracle.


The greatest thing the industry did to screw the game was trying to promote it as a "real sport". Paintball is an oddball hobby that does not have universal appeal, so the whole airball on ESPN thing was never going to stick. The way it blew up into a fad 25 years ago taught people the wrong lessons and promotors are still beating the same dead horse all these years later.

[DocsMachine]

The two things wrong with paintball are simply that it's dirty, and it hurts. Both were, for want of a better term, more acceptable years ago, when it was basically the only safe way you could spend the weekend shooting your buddies.

Today people have options that don't leave behind colored splotches, and don't hurt- NERF, laser tag, airsoft and even those new "gel" water pellets.

(Besides, of course, the increased 'competition' from things like video games and streaming TV, but we won't get into that. )

Really, regardless of what "the industry" did- and there's certainly more than a few things I've disagreed with over the years- paintball is its own worst enemy. No matter how it's played or what equipment is used, it's a simple fact that only a certain segment is going to enjoy, or at least tolerate, both the pain and the mess.

Doc.

[Refoogee]

The greatest strength the sport has is that it's a lot more inherently competitive. It's comparatively easy to ref, and more intuitive than something like laser tag. Paintball, as a primarily scenario, narrative, or simulation based activity makes less, and less sense as the years go by.

The greatest weakness the sport has is that we decided to pivot to a competitive format that actively drives away most players, and bankrupts most fields. It wasn't ever a bottom up design. It was formulated by companies, not sports clubs, and really does not resemble the game casual players want to play at all. It really sucks that's where we are.

[coyote]

Paintballs biggest barrier to success is the general details of the business model. Every big detail leaves an owner facing an identity crisis.

Where (location);
Ideally you need to be near a high income population center. You need recreation hungry customers with golfer sized budgets. It needs to be far enough away from this population center that the land is cheap. Staying off the radar of political minded soccer Karens is easier at a distance. It needs to be zoned for multiple uses a it can draw revenue during the week, as paintball is rarely profitable on weekdays. Lots of mutually exclusive details popping up for location.

What (capital equipment);
Modern rental fleet options are better than they ever have been. Tippman type platforms and STBBs are still legit options. HPA is a necessity today, no longer a luxury of the past. This the big nut, the buy in is expensive and the depreciation is steep. If your air system is down you are out of business. Ditto if enough of your rental fleet breaks down.

Who (target the market);
Are you about middle school birthday parties or "serious" paintballers? It's not the same market, different cultures, different look for your field. Finding mutual exclusions? Paintball is loaded with tribal subcultures, many of them claiming moral superiority.

When (your schedule);
Darn few commercial fields pull revenue during the week. Paintball is a weekend outing. Unlike a round of golf, you can't go at it solo on a lonely Thursday. Weather is your enemy on the few days you are open.

Want to make a small fortune? Start with a large fortune and open a paintball field. The "industry support" isn't a field owners primary problem. It's a terrible business to be in for those who understand it. It's downright evil for those who don't.

[cfos00]

Most owners make their money on renters and birthday parties, and with full price paint sales. That's where they get paid. It's all well and good to have tourney guys there, but hte private parties will keep the field alive. Really big events can also make fields money, but not a ton of places can pull off events with hundreds to thousands on a weekend.

[maggot]

cfos00 exactly, but to take it a step further having those tourney guys there actively undermines the quality of play for your renters. Few owners are willing to accept this, and fewer are willing to take steps to address it.
Those that do thrive.

[pillage]

Land get sold out from under plenty of fields, where the paintball field rents instead of owns. Subpar crappy cheap land of thirty years ago, has become valuable suburbs.

[Socalpumpballer]

Big problem with the industry is how many people want to still be professional paintballers in the long past their prime instead of stepping back and supporting the base of the sport from the bottom they decided to monopolize behind GI and double down on the NXL which is an absolutely absurd format post 2008 crash. IMO paintball can be saved by just adopting reball and going an airsoft route until things improve if ever. Paintballs aren’t event round anymore it’s the games namesake for crying out loud.