Oh yeah I realized those were Google's points I just think they needed addressing.
As for paintball vs airsoft, I could see the cheating being much more of an issue. "No ref I didn't feel a thing" I doubt the sideline cameras would be much help. The BBs are smaller and typically traveling faster than paintballs. Maybe you could invest in some super expensive high speed cameras but yeah, that would be quite the investment for a game that's based around the honor system.
I had a roommate back in college that was into airsoft, he said at the time that a lot of the competitions were moving to the 6mm paintballs because of this exact problem. It sounded like there were issues with those though since the guns were designed around launching a hard plastic BB and not a paintball that can crush
For paintball we have the physical aftermath of the hit. So even if the cameras can't catch the hit in real time, the aftermath is pretty easy to see.
In regards to efforts to get it into the Olympics- I'm not opposed to something like speedball getting into the Olympics. The problem I have with it, could've been avoided if, the industry (incl.the field operators) and, the media didn't try to convince us that it was all just paintball, and more specifically, the way paintball is meant to be played. Imagine if basketball had to be significantly changed for the Olympics (i.e. making the court smaller, increasing the number of players, or, not allowing any physical contact between players) and then every basketball court changed to make the same changes. How would the basketball player community (all those playing in local courts) take it? That's a similar level of change we're talking about. It's not just a matter of a more casual game. Casual vs competitive should not be the difference between paintball (as it began) and speedball. They each can be competitive and casual.
The differences you just described, with the exception of court size (the key is a different shape though) are basically the differences between the NBA and a local friendly pickup game. Yet both of those are played and considered basketball.
Olympic hockey is already played on a different sized rink from the NHL.
Hell, short track speed skating came about because there were so few long tracks in the US that all the skaters were practicing on hockey rinks. But even before it was officially in the Olympics that means there was a time that there was a difference between what was practiced at the local level and what was competed at on the world stage.
I don't see the differences as a problem. I expect what I watch on the Olympics to be the most competitive level and to have many differences from what I can go do at my local level.
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