What Paintball Needs

[davidb]

For as long as paintball has enjoyed its sort of underground but well-deserved popularity, players have shared ideas on what it will take to bring it out into the open, to become the widely accepted and enormously popular extreme sport that it so greatly deserves to become. We, the players, all know that paintball has all of the components required to become a truly great sport. Speedball and its derivatives are so fast-paced and exciting as to make Nascar racing seem like a grass-growing championship. Scenario games have cunning, strategy, and intrigue. Paintball can be played by practically anyone, with little regard for age or gender. I have yet to meet someone who tried it and did not immediately want to get their own equipment and do it again. It relies heavily on teamwork, it builds friendships, and by God is it FUN. But for some reason the general public refuses to realize this. It might be because they are afraid of getting shot. It might be that they think paintball is comprised of a bunch of psychotic snake-eating gun-nuts in ghillie suits running around hunting each other down. My theory, however, is that they just haven't had the privelige of being introduced to it.
Paintball is by no means a tiny, underground sport. It's the 4th most popular alternative sport in America. It's more popular than snowboarding. I did some of my own math based on some stats I read in a magazine, and as it turns out, paintball players spent well over 700 million dollars IN THE US ALONE. That's only about half of us, and get this. That's just what we spent at the fields. I'm certain that if you counted all of the paintball players in the world, and included the money we spent on equipment, paint, jerseys, gloves, etc., that figure would reach well over a billion dollars.
And yet your average person knows little about paintball other than the fact that it involves people running around with firearm-type-dealys trying to shoot each other. What causes this utter ignorance? I'll tell you what. When's the last time you saw a paintball related add? Do you look forward to the arrival of the next Sports Illustrated so you can read about the new 'Cocker model? "That's why I have paintball magazines", you say. But who else has them? The fact is, the only people who know anything about it are we who play it. What we need to make paintball popular is the same thing that made Coke and Pepsi any more popular than every other soda that tastes just like them: ADVERTISING. Not in paintball magazines. Not big banners hung up over the chronograph. I mean adds in mainstream sports magazines, adds on billboards, adds on TV. My dream is that all of the major paintball companies can pool some money together, and buy a full-blown, minute-long ad during the mother of all events. That's right: the Super Bowl. This ad wouldn't be touting any particular company, it wouldn't have anything to do with marketing a particular product. Its sole purpose would be to expose a huge number of people to paintball. The Super Bowl would be great for several reasons. One: it attracts more viewers than any other event. Two: I know people who watch the Super Bowl just for the dang commercials. Three: football fans are exactly the kind of people that would enjoy paintball. Just either get one of the paintball legends, or even hire some celebrity to just come on and say: Look, people. There's this sport out there, that you may have never even heard of. But more than 10 million people play it, in (how ever many) countries. Anybody can play it. 15% of the players are female. Players range from 10 to over 40. It is more fun and exciting than anything you ever imagined. That sport is paintball.
Then show some ****** clips of people playing speedball or something, a few images of some sweet customized guns, basically show them how much fun we get to have. Make their hearts skip a beat. Then at the tail end, say, to find out more, visit WARPIG.COM, or call this toll-free number to order a copy of PUSH.
It can't be long now...

[Predator2]

and your point is? Actually i saw kids playing at the age of 6 so i guess the age range would be from 6 to over 40. Well anyways those are interesting facts thanx!

[X]

Excellent first post. Good idea, but nobody would pay for it. I doubt these companies would be willing to collaborate if they can't advertise a specific product though, it just doesn't make good business sense, especially when they could buy a cheaper slot for themselves. I think it would be helped most if it were on ESPN. On ESPN, I see commercials I never see anywhere else. Ever see a chainsaw commercial ? Neither did I until I watched lumberjack competitions on ESPN. I assume since these companies don't have a mass market share, they can only afford to advertise a little bit, so they do it when they know their target audience is watching. I think it would be great to advertise during the X-games.

[MuckRaker]

Originally posted by X
I assume since these companies don't have a mass market share, they can only afford to advertise a little bit, so they do it when they know their target audience is watching. I think it would be great to advertise during the X-games.

Gotta disagree here, Look at any paintball mag and count the number of ads. You may not thing those full page ads cost much, but they're contracted out for an entire year. Some Page Ad contracts in Glossy magazines cost as much as $50,000 to $100,000. Paintball companies are making a killing selling everything from decals to Cockers. And the really Strange and Wonderful thing about it is that they've done it without a lot of national exposure.

[PsycHo AbE]

The reason it doesnt really work is this. Ever see those people doing drivebyes with there paintball gun? Or hear stories about people shooting there eyes out or creating vandalism with paintball guns? We all have.

These people most likely bought a paintball gun at walmart or Big 5. Didnt buy a mask, and thought it was cool. They didnt take time to learn the sport or its safety rules, probably played without masks with the rule: "No shooting in the face" withoug realizing about how dangerous they could be. Turning there velocity up and not properly caring for there guns. If paintball becomes mainstream and extremely popular, many companies would begin to mass produce paintball guns and equipment. The result would be cheaper products, but as well as quality(look at brass eagle).

Paintball is being used and shown more frequently however on television. "The Mole" showed a variation of paintball. People wearing masks and everything. All though those particular players were no good, and I dont know if its a popular show, it did showcase paintball.

A commercial simply showing the sport of paintball and nothing else(gear or safety products) would result in someon saying that it looks cool and may buy a gun for that reason. However, they may know nothing of the sport.

Long post huh?

[Intruder]

I gotta agree with PsycHo AbE on this. You see on the news once in a while, some kids somewhere stoll a car and shot paintball guns at people along the road and the sport gets a black-eye it doesn't deserve. Also with more people around the world want ing to play, companies will have to turn to mass production and therefore, worse quality...cough,brass Eagle,cough...well, that's all from me...

[PB ninja]

How about some cheasy wrestling paintball hybrid like the xfl? I can just see it know, paintballers with cool personas running around in crazy costumes. They could even have a story line with good guys and bad guys. In all seriousness though to make any sport popular in America it needs to be marketable. Paintball would need to develope a system for marketing itself as entertainment not just as a sport. I think the thing that makes that difficult is the fact that it may be harder for non-players to identify with the sport. I remember watching a televised paintball game (by televised I mean public access channel) before I started to play, and even though I had a definite interest in paintball it was just really boring to watch. Seeing someone crouching behind a pile of logs with paint flying every where seemed to contradict the image I had in my mind of what paintball would look like. Now that I play and can understand what's going on it makes much more sense but paintball needs a way to break through to the general audiance that knows nothing about the sport. To me paintball has that potential and it's just a matter of time until it get's the third party support that it needs. Some rich guy is gonna get much richer if he has the courage to get behind the sport and bring it to the national telivision audiance.

[Edited by PB ninja on 02-14-2001 at 03:20 PM]

[Richy_C]

they already tink we're like the xfl, which sucks arse

[Phaelon Veritas]

I have to say any newbie with heart wants everyone to love and endear their sport just as much as they do which is just absolutely awesome I myself think I posted this same topic some time ago when I first got fired up about paintball. But the problem being is that the majority of adults (NOT ALL) see this as merely a game and something that is not a passion where as younger people and the adults that are young at heart cherish this game and have a real passion in it. But lets face it how many of us can see one or two of our parents getting on the field and running around shooting a paintball gun... neither of my parents god forbid someone shot my mom ... I think the thought of her beating the ref and the guy who shot her to death with a broom is kinda amuzing but I don't forsee them getting on a field anytime soon.... the other big factor in paintball lets face it it is no where near cheap to play.... on an other note welts are not appealing on anyone and many people can't see the funny in getting zap by a paintball...
how many times has someone asked Does it hurt? Then , Why do you play ? It seems kinda Dumb to play when you know you are going to definately get hurt... The other part of this game that tends to turn people away is the bad publicity the sport recieves and lets face it there are some dumb people in this world who do alot of dumb things... Next to that is availability , not everyone lives around a paintball range or store and not everyone has a field nearby ...... Imagine trying to organize a paintball game in say africa (not sure of the actual scarecity there) and no one in 3000 miles owns a paintball gun much less paint balls and c02 and nitrogen aren't exactely a staple on the local market place 500 miles away.. In a nut shell if you want to get people to like paintball keep an extra gun around and invite as many people as you can find to come out to the field with you and tell them they can use the extra gun you have and don't hand them a talon this will only piss them off. And even if you don't particularly care for someone invite them to go if nothing else you can shoot them for pulling your shorts down in gym class or whatever... Like I do I tell everyone at work about paintball I bring my guns in and everyone around the office wants to hold it touch it and a few are almost ready to go ... If they don't like me cause I like paintball then Scr3w all a yall really though .. and it's my way of supporting and promoting our sport I never lie when they ask if it hurts I say yeah a little but as long as you dress appropriately you should be fine. Some agree with the idea some laugh and turn away and yet others seem utterly disgusted (sp) by the whole idea... take it for what it's worth , sent to live and die on earth as a blessin we all have a star all we gotta do is find it and once you do all who see it will be blinded hehehehe DMX WHAT!

[davidb]

People love to talk about the inherent potential for violence with a paintball gun. Well, I don't know about you, but I'd much rather be shot with a paintball gun than schmacked with a baseball bat, golf club, skateboard, or whatever. It's maybe a little more tempting with a distance weapon, but in all honesty, the potential to hurt somebody or something is in everything, from a pencil or a pair of scissors to a shotgun or rifle. You say the companies would never go for it, and while I tend to agree, I think it would definitely benefit them if they did.
Picture this: 40 million people watching the superbowl see this commercial. 30 million of these people think nothing of it and just blow it off. 10 million actually think it looks pretty cool, and get kind of interested. Say 10% of those who are interested actually decide to go out and try it. Your average person spends $44 on a trip to the paintball field. Your average one million people should therefore spend around $44 million. It would actually be more for this group, because they would be first-timers and have to rent guns and equipment. Say two thirds of the people that try it like it, and start to go at least a few times a year. Then say that maybe half of those that liked it get really hooked, and start to play quite often, which adds to the original $44 mil. because now they have to buy their own equipment and THEN start to play more often. That might seem a little generous, but who have you ever known who tried paintball and didn't immediately want to do it again. Say all of these people, around 600,000, go out and tell all their friends how much fun they had. Seems to me that EVERY company would benefit from that.
I'm not saying that I ever expect this to happen, but I've been wanting to share this with somebody for d@#$ well forever. And think about how this would benefit players in general! People who have played forever can tell you about when they had to pay five times as much for crap paint as we pay for the good stuff now. If suddenly a huge number of people started buying paintballs, history would tell us that the price would drop and the quality would improve. I somehow can't imagine that Worr Games and Airgun and the rest of them would suddenly start turning out crap simply because they have more people to sell to. And if paintball became an Olympic Sport... Seems unbelievable, but have you ever seen Olympic Curling? Wow. They must have been desperate.

[MuckRaker]

A good comparison might actually be the Cigar Boom of the early and mid 90s. Cigar Companies (not the cheapies in the gas stations, but the really expensive brands you only find in Cigar Stores) began mass producing cigars in 1992 ... just flooded the market with them, which drove down the prices. The only advertising was in specialty mags, like Cigar Aficianado, but by 1993, everyone and their mother was smoking cigars. Before you knew, Cigar Bars were popping up all over the place. Demand for cigars rose so drastically that manufactureres and growers couldn't keep up with demand, which cause the prices to go back up.

If marker and goggle manufacturers began pushing more product into the market, and agreed to a marketing package, they could do the same thing. The real question is, do you want that to happen? Do you want paintball to become so ingrained in the national Psyche that it becomes boring? Do you want every Tom, **** and Harry to have a marker? Do you want paintball to become so popular that instead of one or two local fields in your hometown, there are 10 or 15?

Personally, I say no. For paintball to become as popular as, say, Football, I think that would kill the sport faster than any debate about the new technology or fully auto markers.

If you want to make paintball more popular, take a different tact. Promote the sport. Push field and store owners to sponsor charity tournaments that benefit your community. Push for safety seminars, push for Ref training. Push the positive aspects of the sport. And go further.

At the field, help weed out the guys who give the sport a black eye. If you see someone turning up the Velocity knob, knowingly shooting hot, intimidating younger players, ... you get the picture. Don't be scared and don't hesitate to report those Suckers. Get 'em off the field. And don't forget, to have a nice day.