The Slow And Unfortunate Death Spiral Of Stock-Class Paintball

[Cunha]

It's not just stock class. Young people are surprised paintball even exists today. There are no paintball magazines at Safeway or borders and big data platforms squash gunny stuff.

It's niche and becoming nicher and there are a lot of alternative games that are similar enough and easier to get into, like the fancy water guns and gel blasters.

The people my age, our kids are just getting to be playing age. So be ready for a new wave. But you gotta hold on. Don't burn out on Facebook if you choose to engage there.

[$L!mBo]

Move the events a little further south?
i love AG, Eric is the man forever.
but when i try to tell folks to go to a Slim's event, the travel is the biggest deterrent. There are pump events in NY, i think those players would definitely join the cause if it was a bit closer for them.

i really really like the raffle at CapitalDave's Rhode Island Rumble! i had to steal that idea for Stockstravaganza and its been a huge hit! prizes have been getting wilder every year, i provide some of them but many are donated! This year we had 2x pgps (~$150 each) one from Chuck E Ducky , new in box proflex ($90) from Magageddon, Araphel threw in a Vents mask (at least $50? gently used), ThatBobbyjoe also donated a mask!,HandmadePaintball donated a headband and dump pouch (close to $100 combined value), and a very lucky attendee went home with a mint condition Large, VNeck Flecktarn Renegade jersey ($300)!
Cool, desirable gear promotes itself! i had many folks messaging me "i cant make it to the event, is there anyway i can still participate in the raffle?" want cool stuff? gotta show up!!

Quick draw should always still happen!
maybe some different formats would spice things up?
5v5 on hyperball/mounds simultaneously with teams drawn at random? and some sort of "award" or "prize" for the winning team?
somebody borrow COB's hoard of splatmasters or the vulcans!!!
I cannot overstate the insane amount of fun the "Craptastic Plastic" games at Ganza are!

unrealistic suggestions:

-strippers (non mcb members😁)

-.689+ paint

-seek out and pander to any fringe groups we could trick into showing up (local summer camps,
militia, old folks homes)


With all that said, WE ARE STOKED FOR GLOWBALL!!!

[Pyrate Jim]

The world has changed since T.A.C. I was never officially a member but still wear the patch out of respect.

I feel the media promoted technology over skill.
In magazines all the ads were focused on the newest, most colorful and highest ROF.
Then Internet came along, and it was great! No longer waiting a month to find games being advertised ~ find games as soon as posted.
That was good. Yet the focus was still tournament style, shoot more. Like a video game.
Speedball became popular, increasing turnover. One large woods field became six smaller ones.
For most fields, it was a matter of economics. Getting more customers spending more for paint.

I've said that the best players use the least paint.
Slim is one of the few still promoting that one-shot elimination over just painting the landscape.
Skill, tactics and experience, not firepower. A concept lost along the way, regrettably.

[Socalpumpballer]

It just doesn’t make sense for new players to get into a niche and difficult play style in this economy and for the amount fields are charging to play. I got into stock class when fields were open and packed 5 days a week and field entry was $15 and air was charged per fill. So limited paint and 12 grams made sense to play 2-3 times a week on fields where you could sneak around and one ball target rich games with high quality paint. Now it’s $50+ to play you have to buy all day air, plus expensive poor quality paint and the quality of the game your getting for your money on a weekend is just going down hill.

i literally only go to SoCal stock private games now.

[Fossilhead]

Well, I hope you can keep it going because it sounds like a great time.

Ive never been to a big game in my LIFE.

And I wanna try it!

And stock class big game!? Come on!

Im your demographic man.
The guys coming back to the game in their 40s and 50s.

That are finally looking to take a playcation!

[Chuck E Ducky]

Definitely worth the trip if you enjoy the style of play. Highly recommended bucket list games. Slims Spring game @ AG, Jim’s Mid season at NR, and Slims Fall at AG are favorite events hands down.

[Fossilhead]

Thanks!

[LittleSnail]

A stock class big game would be pretty cool.

[Fubarius]

I think another huge problem, too many Paintballers don't actually play paintball. At least, not the paintball you, I, folks around here play. At it's core, in it's most simplified definition, what is paintball? Show up at a the venue, gear up (rental or your own), divide into random teams, go to a random field, play a game that's run around and shoot at people, maybe there's a flag, repeat until the end of the day.

Now think of how many people who call themselves paintballers will refuse to play that? Heck, I know quite a few who have thousands of dollars in gear and have NEVER played that. Practices, scrimmages, tournaments, but they've never played paintball.

Now take these same non-playing players and not only ask them to play actual paintball, but with gear rules that go against everything they've been taught at practices, scrimmages, and tournaments. That's a damn hard sell.

[Riot]

I’ve noticed the numbers dwindling even from our New England crew. Mostly due to personal circumstances; families, careers, things of the sort. There’s also a lot of guys who have ventured into, and seemingly enjoy, other play styles. The days of the purist are dwindling too, it seems.

I’ve been trying to recruit more people to the Spring Classic and Stocktoberfest. In some cases, even telling the guys that have limited travel time to skip my own personally hosted games to come to these two instead. It gets harder to convince as the numbers drop.

I guess if I had to give an opinion… I’d say the advertising is good in numbers, but I think it’s focusing on the wrong aspects to attract new people.
Honestly, these are my favorite two games of the year, but not once have I even really noticed the theme in real time. Respectfully, I’d focus less on the camaraderie, sportsmanship, and the western theme and lean all the way into it being a real challenge, AFFORDABLE, classic option. It’s not just a game, but it’s the biggest pump EVENT in the country. I don’t think the issue is the equipment, I don’t think you need to bend the 2.0 rules, I just think the advertising needs a different approach. It needs to be appealing to a new generation.

Using the Pump Kings as an example… they’ve turned what was a slower paced game into something more exciting for a generation that requires more thrill than chill… and they’ve done it under the rules of Stock Class Paintball.

This is actually something I’ve given a good amount of thought to in the past. I’ll be at the games either way, but I hope some of this is taken into consideration.

see ya’ll in the mosh pit!


*Note: this is really in regards to these two specific games and not Stock Class as a whole.

[ThatBobbyjoe]

Throw in my 2 cents.

I truly think stock class can be the future of paintball. Don’t need compressors, boxes of paint, batteries, or refs (kinda). It’s the most future proof form of ball and is by far the most fun.

What got me interested in the first place was seeing someone one ball electros on the rec field. Looked into it further and found MCB and a semi local group of fanatics to play and talk shop with.

There are lots of other guys just like me who just haven’t been reached with the stock class gospel yet. I really don’t think class dying, it’s waiting.

To grow I agree with Slim, we need social media. Like a YouTube/tik tok guy. We already have the most welcoming and knowledgeable player base, just need the participation numbers to go up.

MORE OLDSCHOOL ,MORE HARDCORE ,MORE BETTER 🤘🤘

[Riot]

This first paragraph is everything. In a world that speedball is becoming too expensive, this is THE alternative (well, all pump, really). I think, as mentioned above, it just needs a bit of rebranding to convince the non-believers.

[iamthelazerviking]

I can also agree with the first paragraph. For outlaw games or running games on private property with your own bunkers, what better way that stock class.

And playing stock class again has been on my mind for these very reasons, especially since I don't get to play very often. No tank to worry about hydro testing, no batteries for anything, no bulky loaders.

There's definitely the learning curve, but also the initial investment into things like 12 grams, 10 round tubes, and a way to carry all of that.

And then finding a good stock class marker isn't easy unless you know where to look. Extreme Velocity is the only place making readily available markers, but the pricing is pretty dang high going new from them.

[BigBalla23]

This is year 23 of me playing paintball. I've been playing primarily pump and stock for the last 7ish years, maybe 8. This year, I've swapped back to semi. Paint is horrible right now, and it makes playing pump or stock a brutal experience. I wonder if that's part of the attrition rate too? People don't want to play the "aim careful and shoot once" type deal if they can't shoot straight to begin with.

Just my thoughts though. Love what you do Slim. I gotta make it out that way soon.

[iamthelazerviking]

This is a huge reason I've been ok with not playing for a while. Especially pump/stock. As much as I love it and want to, bad paint ruins everything. No amount of barrel kit or marker type will change that. Once in a while you'll get lucky with some "not absolutely shit" paint, but typically it's just tiny Skittles shaped trash.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Honestly lately paint isn’t terrible it’s very inconsistent in size but at least it flys straight and breaks nicely. It’s small bore and inconsistent in size not always round but at least it flys straight.

[Magageddon]

Personally I think the way to grow the sport at least in some respect is the boots on the ground rec play format. 10 years ago, that's how I got into stockclass, a few of the local field regulars all had custom phantoms and I thought they were so cool, they let me try them out etc. I ended up getting a phantom when cci was still in business back in 2014 and not gonna lie, I sucked first starting out, definitely hard playing stock even against rentals when you don't have any gun fighting skills. I stuck with it though and its been a fun time. If those local regular pump guys weren't so welcoming though, can't say I would've dived in as much as I have. I think the learning curve is one of the biggest barriers to entry. You can buy all that stockclass equipment, but you can't buy skill, that takes a lot of time to grow and a lot of people don't want to do that. My stock experience was playing against electros/semis, wasn't a huge pump scene when I got into it. The more I played rec though and started doing well playing pump/stock, soon other regulars took notice and a few even got phantoms and tried it out for themselves.

I wish I had the time now like I did in my teens and early 20s when I could play almost every weekend, but with adulting and other responsibilities that's not realistic. I'd rather go to these events and ball with guys I like talking to and hanging out with.

[$L!mBo]

i think we all wish we "started pump/stock class in our teens"!
i *****just***** barely got out to the last 'classic' rec days at my local fields (75+ walkons with a even variety of cocker/mag, electro, and rentals) when i bought my first pump (oc cci phanty) and the short lived "weird guy with the pump" vibes were undeniable

[SignOfZeta]

I love what you’re saying there and I very much respect what you’ve put into stock class over so many years but if stock class absolutely requires Facebook to exist then there’s nothing I can do to help. Not using Facebook is a moral/ethical issue far more important than a game format I haven’t had a chance to play since Reagan was president. Using FB requires “looking the other way” on scale I’m not capable of. Nobody should be using it. It’s quite literally an evil organization. I’d just as soon promote stock class via the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

[Jsc5150]

Paintball absolutely fumbled the opportunity, now the saudis are unstupiding their investments

Can imagine if we got 1% of the money they threw at the hasbeens of golf?

[$L!mBo]

ITS OVER

next Slim's, everyone bring all your stuff. we're gunna dig a mass grave, everyone hop in, we're going down with the ship!

Stock Class Jonestown is a GO!

[$L!mBo]

Bare-Hole Aged Malort

[Chuck E Ducky]

Why does my barrel plug taste like eggs?

[Melrosejedi]

Least i would go down with the ship with the best crew.

[frd333do33]

I've been an advocate for stock class for over 20 years now and the pathway to stock class for those around me used to be this: they start with a rental, get wrecked by the regulars and then either go electronic or quit. Those that go electronic keep going deeper and deeper in electronic markers until it gets boring. They’re shooting 2-3 cases a day and shoot tons and tons of rec ballers out, but it gets boring. They seek a challenge and go mech. Mech gets boring and then they go open class pump (usually CCM or some autococker pump). That eventually gets boring and then they go stock class.


These days, it seems like people are reluctant to even play pump because the paint is so bad. I’ve found that the best paint right now is ProShar, so if you can get your hands on that, you can go back to one balling people again. And if you can loan out your pumps with ProShar paint, I think people will get back on the pathway to Stock Class.


I find that those around me right now with electronic markers don’t even want to try pump because the paint is so bad that they believe they need accuracy by volume.


So, I’ve assembled this abomination to lend out to electronic players to get them to see the light of limited paint play, so that they can work their way to Stock Class. I know a lot of you disagree with this, but based on my experience with trying to get people to play Stock Class, this at least gets people to try something that isn’t electronic. It's an Emek with a 36ci tank and a stick feed that Craig Palmers made for me.

[Chuck E Ducky]

I actually enjoy putting stick feeds on everything especially my emek. Just needs a nice 2” round FS tank to really get the feels.

[frd333do33]

What stick feed(s) are you using, Chuck E Ducky?

I'm considering getting an Etha 3mek and then cutting off the feed neck, tapping the body or installing helicoil into the plastic body, and putting a Phantom stick feed on there. If I cock it up, I can get replacement Etha 3m bodies from Inceptions Designs.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Older style all aluminum ones. I forget who makes them. But they are just like the Sanchez / Autococker parts ones but they are all aluminum and threaded together. Not the plastic feed block and glued aluminum feed tube like the newer ones. They look more the one’s Sanchez sells now.

[gabe]

This isn't about stock class... Paintball in general is in a death spiral. It was hurting before the economy tanked. But now, I don't see it coming back like it did after 2008.

Its too expensive for newbies and too wrongly catered too by the industry to support the common player.

Fields are closing, paint is terrible, and everything is boutique and hype driven now.

We're not a sport. We are a trend. Armed labubus.

This pretty much sums it up. The game became too centered around shooting tons of paint, paint got expensive, everything got expensive, it moved out of the woods, speedball sucks, the game is spiraling. Airsoft is eating our lunch because it's cheap and still centered around being a combat sport.

After my recent once annual game of paintball I'm considering just hanging it up. A day of play looks like $100 to get bonus balled and lose games based on rate of fire. Unfortunately not the same game that so many of us fell in love with years ago.

You're doing what you can to support stock class which is great and appreciated but the entire game is circling the drain. Not much can be done to resurrect a niche portion of the sport that field owners don't want to see exist because they make money off paint sales.

[Chuck E Ducky]

The game is dying in your area.

[gabe]

Brother, paintball is dying across the board. We have a paintball slowdown thread at least once a year. Good for your local field for having good turnouts but it's the exception not the rule.

[$L!mBo]

idk about all that. scenario has massive turnouts, there will alwaysbe paintball birthday parties, bachelor parties, and company team building days.
If its gunna "DiE" anywhere, it would be Alaska.
but near PA and up north, fields still have consistent numbers

[Slim]

I appreciate the helpful feedback.

I agree that geography does play a role in the attendance of any event. I also know first hand that changing venues is a "double-edged sword". You will always gain some new players and loose some regulars with every move. Obviously, having a venue that is centrally located between major metropolitan areas would help attendance to a degree.

I also agree with Riot regarding a potential refresh of how the format is promoted. While I feel that maintaining the connection to the original spirit of the game should always be a foundational component, it can definitely be repositioned to appeal to a broader, younger audience. Many of today's mainstream players are frustrated with the fighting and hyper-aggressive attitudes that constantly ruin a rec players good time. I've always felt that emphasizing the fun, skill and challenge can attract those who are tired of the mainstream BS. This is certainly a larger discussion, but worth having in order to boost attendance at events.

I agree that the learning curve to get into stock-class is an obstacle in attracting mainstream players. Providing rental equipment was a pivotal decision but doesn't address the issue of inexperienced players acclimating to actual game play. And yes, I agree that anyone new to any game who is going up against experienced veterans is a consideration. Again, this is a larger discussion.

Yes, I'm focused on attendance numbers and I should be. Numbers justify if an event takes place on one day or two days. For players, numbers can justify whether it's worth traveling long distance to or not. Field owners are going to expect a minimum number of players to justify hosting an event. Organizing events is a lot of work, and there is always a breaking point for every organizer where if they don't have enough participants to justify that effort, they stop organizing events.

Clearly, we are not at that point yet, but my past two events have seen a drop in attendance of about one third. That's a pretty big deal for any event, but it's especially concerning when you're talking about events that have historically only averaged around 75 players. Again, given the historical average, I think it's cleat this can be attributed to the current economy and higher than usual player attrition.

I'm hopeful the turnout at this Stocktoberfest will improve with the introduction of Cosmic Paintball, but if the numbers continue to drop, then there will be some tough decisions to make - which is why I'm asking for help now.

And to be clear, all I'm asking for is to help create some buzz on social media and rally any friends who either haven't played in a while, or who may want to give the format a try for the first time using rentals. It's a pretty small ask, but one that will hopefully have a positive impact. Gracias!