BBC Article: Paintball Olympic Sport

[Everex5]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce...gAOL_tcGmCntGA

[nerdcore]

Even paintball wouldn't get me to watch the olympics. The events are too formal & curated. Lifeless. Lobotomized. I'm not even sure what metrics would be used to gauge qualification, or how many countries would or could put up a team.

[Trbo323]

That's pretty cool.

I don't see a down side to paintball in the Olympics. As far as I know. Nobody has ever actually tried to get it included

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[Pyrate Jim]

The IOC had observers at the 2002 Skyball tournament. They were there by invitation, so trying to raise Olympic interest in paintball has been going on for a while.

[redsquirrel]

I wonder which version of the game they would be playing? 5-man stock class woodsball please.

[Trbo323]

I wonder which version of the game they would be playing? 5-man stock class woodsball please.

Lol. We can all hope it's anything besides 5 man speedball but we know the reality is that's what it will be

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[Bow]

It'll never happen. Cheating is to engrained into the sport, and our attitude towards it proves it. "He got in a good wipe". While I do acknowledge that there are other Olympians who cheat, it's not nearly to the level that paintball does. They pull medals and rewards for using Numbing cream... Let alone wiping a hit or using a cheater board.

The Olympics are supposed to be the pinnacle of sports and if our best routinely break the first rule of paintball, and break the Olympic Oath every single point what's the point?

Let alone all the possible points of contention with different equipment. Cheater boards, HUDs with someone in the audience feeding live enemy player locations, or mics doing the same thing. What about all the other junk? tanks, in both length and weight and capacity, this bolt vs that bolt, this fancy valve or that one, he's got big pillow pants and it causes bounces, this barrel does that, etc etc.

Unless they provide all the equipment, from head to toe, standardized, and randomly assigned, I don't see how we could ever have a real shot at getting in. Way to much space for all the sneaky little things we're all aware used to happen since the late 80s till even now.

[Trbo323]

In every sport there's controversy, why should paintball be different?

Paintball is one of the only sports that has real time penalties though. In everything else, football (both) basketball, hockey etc play stops or the penalty is handled after the current play concludes.

I say make the penalties harsher. Found wiping? Automatic point to the other team.
Same player wiping twice? They get ejected from the whole Olympics.

I don't care if they end up giving every team a gold medal because there's a bunch of complaints, the exposure would be good for the sport. I don't understand what you are scared about? Little Jimmy gets to see paintball for the first time and somehow comes up with $3000 to get himself a professional level setup complete with cheater board? Oh no, someone new is now playing paintball that's terrible.






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[vijil]

Meh. I don't hate it and I would support it if it happened, but meh.

My biggest reservation is that I think augmented reality esports like Spatial Ops (you run around your own house and can see the outside world) or similar would work much better as a proper ranged combat sport than paintball ever managed. They scratch the same itch, and they do it much better from a reffing, admin and spectator point of view. They just don't have the widespread adoption yet.

It's not the same, I say with my nostalgia goggles on, but it will work better as an actual sport once refined a bit.

My time playing shooters in VR convinced me it's the future, especially the AR piece.

Paintball needs a lot of things. The Olympics isn't one of them.

[uv_halo]

I spent quite a fair amount of time in VR shooters. They were great fun until the kids took over (when the Quest 1 was released and it was cheap enough to use as a form of babysitting).. The biggest problem I saw was rampant perception of cheating. I personally saw a limited amount but, everyone I talked to in the competitive circuits cited plenty of examples.

[vijil]

Fair. People use hacks.

It's easier to deal with on LAN with the headsets etc. provided by the organisers.

The main vector for cheating in pro esports is the way they let people bring their own mice and keyboards, which of course have funky chips in the USB plugs.

[DocsMachine]

Going along with Bow, Olympic paintball will simply never happen. Not because of cheating, but it because it uses guns.

Yes, other sports use guns- real steel and airguns*- but paintball uses them against other people, not just static targets. The sport is generally seen as an "American thing", and to all too many countries, America's "pro gun culture" is not something they want to emulate.

Sorry, but that's the way it is.

It's also worth noting that the Olympics is very much a for-profit enterprise- if they don't think your sport will attract enough viewers to make it worthwhile, it simply won't happen. Things like curling are more or less grandfathered in these days, but you're not even going to see competitive skateboarding- which has a LOT more participants than paintball.

Doc.

[vijil]

Skateboarding is in the olympics: https://la28.org/en/games-plan/olymp...eboarding.html

Along with flag football and a few other odd ones.

The olympics are simultaneously desperate to reach out to the youth of the world, and completely out of touch.

I don't think PB will make the olympics, but not because of the guns. I actually think the tide is turning a little and people will get over that. It's more that paintball as it stands is just a badly designed, one dimensional, integrity compromised mishmash of bad ideas and worse people.

[redsquirrel]

Skateboarding was at the last Olympics in Paris. Think it was the second time.

Also featured, breakdancing. Has to be a lower viewership than paintball…hopefully.

I don’t think it’ll ever happen either though.

[DocsMachine]

Paintball needs a lot of things. The Olympics isn't one of them.

-Agree and disagree. The biggest thing paintball needs is a huge public ad campaign. Nobody advertises paintball, except in Facebook, and even then only TO paintballers. The sport needs a huge ad run that gets (back) out to the 'people at large'.

My common example was those "got milk?' commercials. No one producer paid for those, they were just "promote milk in general" ads.

An Olympic campaign- especially for the first year- would be huge. As above, I strongly doubt it would ever happen- we'll see Olympic Hotdog Eating Contests first- but if it did, it would indeed be a big shot in the arm for the sport.

Doc.

[vijil]

Yeah fair enough.

If I ever make it rich, I probably wouldn't bother with the advertising, at least not at first. I do have a fantasy paintball company in the back of my head with a bunch of imaginary products ready to go, but if it was real... I dunno. I'm a CMO IRL, so marketing is my day job. I think I'd really struggle to justify a big ad campaign. Or if I did, it would be on my terms, for my products, at my fields - which would be a bit different to most fields.

[the_matrix_guy]

The paintball industry as a whole was very much investing in marketing through Fox Sports and ESPN. WDP (and K2) were also instrumental in getting many of the events in the early 2000’s on sports networks. Its been done. But like I mentioned in my post: the biggest problem to this day: the industry didn’t (and doesn’t) have the vision (and hardly the resources) to evolve the way we film and broadcast it — and solve paintball’s inherent challenges of not being viewer friendly. It would require a meeting of the minds and check books today from the biggest companies —the likes of PE, DYE, & GI Sportz to make this happen.

WDP / APS was one of the biggest sponsors of the sport. They were the NPPL’s biggest sponsor by a long shot and unfortunately that contributed to their demise as the paintball market essentially crashed during the 2008 recession. If they would’ve spent that capital on R&D and taking their lineups to the next era — they would most likely still be operating today. It’s a cautionary tale. Paintball’s always been a small market and marketing it doesn’t always prove a sound investment. Not without changing the underlying issues I mentioned.

[the_matrix_guy]

The biggest problem with televising paintball is simply that it’s not viewer friendly. It’s difficult to get into it, especially for people unfamiliar with the sport. If you watch any match on YT, it’s almost impossible to follow all the moves in the beginning while there is 4-5 players on each team. You’re going off by sportscasters commentary almost entirely. Its not until some of the players have been eliminated that the act of filming the action becomes clear and coherent — and viewer friendly.

It’s not like other sports where you are following one focal point: the ball. Or in sports without a ball, you still have a single focal point. In paintball you have essentially 10 focal points in a 5v5 format. And it’s all very fast paced. And the way we film it has to evolve with above the ground shots from drones and maybe cameras on top of bunkers that cover 180*. Also picture in picture modes with action tie ins (which would require the production team to be skilled in showing different angles of action sequences) it’s not impossible but it’s most definitely a much more involved and expensive production proposition.

[The Hobbit]

I’ll argue it not viewer friendly because the casual/bon playing viewer isn’t aware of what’s going on. There is broad understanding about the rules/goals of football, etc. paintball not so much. Though I think bringing center flag back would be beneficial. It does give a viewer somewhere to watch for action.

I saw where someone is trying to build a league that isn’t tournament focused but weekly match ups. Having the match ups at regional hubs. It seems like a promising idea and probably a step in the right direction, if pro paintball is gonna advance.

[the_matrix_guy]

Also a loitering drone that drops a bucket of paint (or something else) on top of a cheater. I would watch that 😄🤙

[Pyrate Jim]

It'll never happen. Cheating is to engrained into the sport, and our attitude towards it proves it. "He got in a good wipe". While I do acknowledge that there are other Olympians who cheat, it's not nearly to the level that paintball does. They pull medals and rewards for using Numbing cream... Let alone wiping a hit or using a cheater board.

The Olympics are supposed to be the pinnacle of sports and if our best routinely break the first rule of paintball, and break the Olympic Oath every single point what's the point?

Let alone all the possible points of contention with different equipment. Cheater boards, HUDs with someone in the audience feeding live enemy player locations, or mics doing the same thing. What about all the other junk? tanks, in both length and weight and capacity, this bolt vs that bolt, this fancy valve or that one, he's got big pillow pants and it causes bounces, this barrel does that, etc etc.

Unless they provide all the equipment, from head to toe, standardized, and randomly assigned, I don't see how we could ever have a real shot at getting in. Way to much space for all the sneaky little things we're all aware used to happen since the late 80s till even now.

I cannot disagree with any of that, except to the point that a very small percentage of paintball players actually play for anything but fun.
For most of us, it's a game ~ not a sport. Entertainment & exercise and good camaraderie. You don't cheat when your friend from the other team is also your ride home from the field.
I've done my share of tournaments, got a few trophies and medals. I've seen the whole "Win by any means" attitude in full display.
That's competition. And that's what the Olympics look for. Rather, it's one of the things. Other considerations include optics and market share. Can they sell it?
Market? Face it, only 1% of the population play. Only 1% of those play tournament trying to make money rather than spend it. A niche within a niche.
It isn't like soccer, football, or tennis where the action follows the ball. The optics cannot follow hundreds of 3/4" spheres moving 200 miles an hour over a distance of 120 feet.

So, between a purview based on paintball tournaments, an incredibly small number of individuals known for pushing rule boundaries, and a sport too difficult to film adequately.
It's no wonder that the IOC has little chance of incorporating paintball into the Olympics.

[Trbo323]

Yes, other sports use guns- real steel and airguns*- but paintball uses them against other people, not just static targets. The sport is generally seen as an "American thing", and to all too many countries, America's "pro gun culture" is not something they want to emulate.

Sorry, but that's the way it is.

Doc.

I have to disagree with this. There are a TON of combat sports already in the Olympics, sports where at the core the discipline was developed with the intent to harm other humans. Paintball was developed as a game first and foremost. Hell look at fencing, massive changes had to be made to it just to make it not lethal. Skeet and trap shooting are still there and the reason they stopped using live birds was not because they needed a thousand birds to shoot at but because the amount of gore on the field became enough that audiences didn't like it. It wasn't that they were shooting the birds it's the aftermath that made the change to clay pigeons

-Agree and disagree. The biggest thing paintball needs is a huge public ad campaign. Nobody advertises paintball, except in Facebook, and even then only TO paintballers. The sport needs a huge ad run that gets (back) out to the 'people at large'.

My common example was those "got milk?' commercials. No one producer paid for those, they were just "promote milk in general" ads.

An Olympic campaign- especially for the first year- would be huge. As above, I strongly doubt it would ever happen- we'll see Olympic Hotdog Eating Contests first- but if it did, it would indeed be a big shot in the arm for the sport.

Doc.

This has kind of started. I've been watching some pro matches of late and the NXL now has outside sponsors sponsoring bunkers on the field. The sponsor gets their name and logo on the bunker (2 bunkers, one for each side) and when the commentators are taking about where players are they then have to say "the hertz bunker" etc. at first I didn't think much of it but I realized that was an easy way for an outside company to get their name mentioned a lot. It's kind of smart, brings in outside money for sure

The biggest problem with televising paintball is simply that it's not viewer friendly. It's difficult to get into it, especially for people unfamiliar with the sport. If you watch any match on YT, it's almost impossible to follow all the moves in the beginning while there is 4-5 players on each team. You're going off by sportscasters commentary almost entirely. Its not until some of the players have been eliminated that the act of filming the action becomes clear and coherent — and viewer friendly.

It's not like other sports where you are following one focal point: the ball. Or in sports without a ball, you still have a single focal point. In paintball you have essentially 10 focal points in a 5v5 format. And it's all very fast paced. And the way we film it has to evolve with above the ground shots from drones and maybe cameras on top of bunkers that cover 180*. Also picture in picture modes with action tie ins (which would require the production team to be skilled in showing different angles of action sequences) it's not impossible but it's most definitely a much more involved and expensive production proposition.

This has started though. Like I said above I've been watching some current stuff and even if you go back 2 years the camera footage is much different. I encourage you to go try it. I wouldn't say it's perfect but it certainly is much better. They use an overhead drone a lot so you can see the whole field and often mark the bunkers players are in so you still know they are there even if the drone can't see them from it's angle. The overhead is great because it gives you that sense of what's happening strategically on the whole field then they go look at individual or a few players and then back to the drone.

The commentating, that could be improved. Matty Marshall does do a good job, but yes if it were being done for an Olympics audience you would really have to explain basics better than he typically does. He does great if you are a player already and often has a guest commentator in the booth with him so he sometimes ends up having to talk about a tangent they drag him into but overall he is good it would just need some tweaking for a broader audience.

Happening or not I don't see how it would be bad for the sport. More exposure is more exposure. To use the example of curling from above again, how many of us would know it even existed if not for the Olympics? I doubt I would, I certainly have never seen a curling.... Arena? In person.

To all those who say it would be boring to watch, probably, to you now, but think back to 16 year old you just getting into paintball. Man I would be glued to that TV yelling for team USA, I'd be inviting my friends over, players or not to watch with me and to me that would be the best part of getting paintball in the Olympics.

Yes it could be boring, repetitive, have cheaters and unrealistic amounts of money for the beginning player, but so does every sport in the Olympics already. And yet, there's teams of curlers, indoor soccer players, hand ball players and synchronized swimmers that all got started by being inspired by something they saw and decided to try that sport.















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[the_matrix_guy]

That’s good to know. Admittedly, I haven’t watched a single match from 2010 or later. I just lost complete interest in the pro scene. But I’m intrigued now just to see how its evolved