So, I was talking with my SO about paintball's complete failure to become a recognized sport (and to be honest, I've given up on that ever happening) and after I described several game formats to her, she had some suggestions...which absolutely floored me and got me thinking.
Her ideas:
-strip a team down to a single individual (1v1 match)
-structure the field so that the players can't shoot each other right off (they have to move forward to engage)
-put a button in the middle of the field that either player can push to win the game (i.e give both participants a reason to push up)
-allow any and all gun formats
Y'all...even if I didn't play paintball, I would watch this. A mano e mano contest, driven by individual personalities that I can root for, a game format that I can understand even if I'm a casual viewer just tuning in for the first time, plus individual persons I can care about and cheer on? I'd be here for this.
Plus, it offers what paintball as a sport has been lacking and that's drama. Let's face it, most Speedball matches are boring as f**k to watch (because they're hard to film). Something like what I'm talking about would be easy to make exciting, for a variety of reasons.
-1: You got two guys fighting over a central domination point. That's easy to capture
-2: In this situation, literally any paintball-slinging device becomes competitive. I mean, if all I have to do is hit one guy one time my PGP becomes a viable contender against the latest electro. All I have to do is get position...which is a learnable skill, which would result in David vs. Goliath matches in tournaments (and you know that would draw in viewers)
-3: (building off what I just said) You got two guys shooting at each other. That's "boxing match" levels of easy to film and make exciting
-4: If paintball became popular enough under this format, corps might want to sponsor individual players rather than teams...and that seems more viable to me, due to how individual personas sell better than team vibes
Anyway, my SO came up with almost all of this (we talked a bit, some of it is due to me explaining paintball to her, but the main ideas are hers) despite never once playing paintball, but I think she's on to something that could actually work...both as a way to make professional paintball fun to watch AND something that would actually draw people into the sport because it would make it look cool.
Curious to know what the rest of you think of this.
Her ideas:
-strip a team down to a single individual (1v1 match)
-structure the field so that the players can't shoot each other right off (they have to move forward to engage)
-put a button in the middle of the field that either player can push to win the game (i.e give both participants a reason to push up)
-allow any and all gun formats
Y'all...even if I didn't play paintball, I would watch this. A mano e mano contest, driven by individual personalities that I can root for, a game format that I can understand even if I'm a casual viewer just tuning in for the first time, plus individual persons I can care about and cheer on? I'd be here for this.
Plus, it offers what paintball as a sport has been lacking and that's drama. Let's face it, most Speedball matches are boring as f**k to watch (because they're hard to film). Something like what I'm talking about would be easy to make exciting, for a variety of reasons.
-1: You got two guys fighting over a central domination point. That's easy to capture
-2: In this situation, literally any paintball-slinging device becomes competitive. I mean, if all I have to do is hit one guy one time my PGP becomes a viable contender against the latest electro. All I have to do is get position...which is a learnable skill, which would result in David vs. Goliath matches in tournaments (and you know that would draw in viewers)
-3: (building off what I just said) You got two guys shooting at each other. That's "boxing match" levels of easy to film and make exciting
-4: If paintball became popular enough under this format, corps might want to sponsor individual players rather than teams...and that seems more viable to me, due to how individual personas sell better than team vibes
Anyway, my SO came up with almost all of this (we talked a bit, some of it is due to me explaining paintball to her, but the main ideas are hers) despite never once playing paintball, but I think she's on to something that could actually work...both as a way to make professional paintball fun to watch AND something that would actually draw people into the sport because it would make it look cool.
Curious to know what the rest of you think of this.
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