Eliminated Player Etiquette

[timmeh]

Last week I was playing rec ball with a group of guys. Some guys were catching a lot of "bonus balls" and getting pretty upset about it. I was on the giving end of some of those bonus balls, but it was because the guys would get hit and then stay crouched behind a bunker for a while, before trying to inch their gun up over their heads before standing up. I didn't know they had been hit, so everytime they'd stick their gun up I'd shoot at it and they pull it down. Then they'd inch it up again, so I'd shoot some more. They said that they were yelling that they were out, but I couldn't hear them over the noise of my gun and the rest of the players. In my opinion it's up to the player who has been eliminated and the referees to make it known to the other players when someone has been eliminated. In tournaments it's not considered a bonus ball unless you shoot someone who has their gun raised on their hand on their head. I consider myself to have good sportsmanship and obviously I wouldn't purposefully shoot at someone if I knew they were out

What do you guys think? How should this kind of thing be handled? Do you guys usually give the benefit of the doubt if you think there is any chance the other player might have gotten hit or do you keep shooting just to make sure?

[Jaster]

I've been on both sides of that. On the giving side, I normally go say sorry and that I didn't realize they were out because their hand wasn't up. Most of the time peeps are pretty cool about it.
On the recieving end...same thing. That's what I get for not putting my hand up.

Now if a hand was up and there is still shooting going on then, ya', there's an issue. But...peeps have to understand, at 15 bps sec, the first one hits you there are at least 14 more coming. In the 3 seconds it honestly takes to shoot, see the target get hit, and stop shooting, you've already put 45 balls in the air (assuming you're at a constant 15bps). Some of those will be hitting their target. That's not overshooting IMO, it's speedball.

[timmeh]

I'm glad to hear my thinking isn't so far off base. I'm lucky that everyone I play with has pretty good sportsmanship and tries not to do anything that they wouldn't like done to them. For the most part when a player recognizes that another player is out they stop shooting, but sometimes that recognition is a little slow coming. After all, you do spend most of the game looking for something to shoot at, not something to not shoot at.

[STO Balla 22]

Your thinking is right. It's not your actions so much as your intentions, which only you know. If you're overshooting thinking that it would be funny, then what you're doing is wrong. If you honestly made a mistake and were just playing aggressively, then that's ok. If someone bonus balled me and they were genuine in their apology, I would be OK with it.

[LAMANTEthePBguy]

I think refs should explain how to remove yourself from the game better at the begining of the day talk. I remember one time, there were two rentals behind one bunker a guy with a trix shot them both out. They were fumbling with their barrel plugs, and the trix didn't know they were out. He continued to shoot and the rentals were trying to get out, but were afraid of getting hit because he was posting on them. The one rental (middle aged man) came out very mad, even though it wasn't the trix's fault. If they had just stuck their barrels up in the air, none of that would have happened, but it hadn't been reinforced in their heads enough for them to remember to do it.

When I get out, I stick my gun above the bunker for about 2 seconds, then walk to the side of the feild and put my condom on. The sooner I'm out of the bunker, the less likely I'm going to get hit. I do feel bad when I pop out and hit the guy fumbling to put on his barrel bag. Its just sometimes youre so caught up in the game and adrenaline you don't hear them, and the instant you see somone sticking out you want to shoot them. I do usually apologise, unless they are and expereinced person who half expects to get bonus balled.

[Downfall08]

honest mistakes are alright but there's also the "just shooting enough to make sure" mindset. One time I was playing against some marine newbs and I ran down field to bunker. I ran by and shot until both of them got out. One marine got really pissed because I ended up shooting him 6 times while trying to shoot the other guy. mistake. another time off the break I got into my bunker and saw someones leg hangin out. I shot a few shots just to make sure I hit him and ended up shooting 4 times, 1 bounce and three splats. He was slightly mad but I apologized and he was cool. STO is right. If your trying to hurt or embarass this guy then your in the wrong but if your going for a honest elimination and happen to overshoot I think its aight. As long as you don't go to extremes, that is.

[Ghost2867]

when i get shot, and i stay in the bunker for a little while to check myself, i just put my gun out, and leave it there...regardless of whetehr or not it gets shot.

they usually realize im out after it gets hit a few times.

or when im pissed, i just walk out wiht my arm raised, and i get shot...

w/e floats ur boat.

i think what u did was fine tho.

[flyingeagle3]

The bonus ball should only be used when needed not just anytime. At our field everyone is preety close and know each other so when some starts talking crap like im going go shoot you guys up we all look at each other and say Did he just ask for some West Kentucky lovin

[coolrazer]

i was playing out in the woods with some friends and we had some problems with bonus balls. Two of em actually. i was on the giving end and a my two friends were on the recieving end.

Game 1: I was behind a bunker and my friend was behind another. My dad was on my team and at about the same time, my dad and I start to lay paint on his bunker. He got hit....didnt call himself out or put his gun up. I couldnt see him very well so I didnt see the paint break, whereas my dad had a better angle on him and he saw the paint break (he shot him) All my friend does is stand up so i shot a string of 7 balls at him. All of them broke and he gets all pissed and starts shooting me saying "I'm OUT!" Needless to say, I unloaded a couple more on him as he was walking out.

Game 2: We were playing on a woods field w/out bunkers, just trees. The kid from game 1's brother was out about 75 feet from me and two others so we all basicly lit him up. No paint broke but he claims he called himself out cause he was out of paint (quitter....). But I have a really loud Ricochet loader and I didnt hear him call himself out and the smart guy didnt raise his gun so I kept shooting. He also gets all pissed and shoots in the direction of me and shoots my friend who was out of paint in the mask. He grabs my gun and shoots the pissed kid about 10 times.

As you can see all of this could have been avoided if the people would RAISE THIER GUNS! So if you get a couple bonus balls and you didn't raise your gun, don't whine! It's your own damn fault!

[baseballboy138]

in a tourney I shoot until the ref calls them out, sometimes the ref gets 3-4 hits too.

in rec, I shoot until I see a gun or hand raised, which isn't very often, so usually I'll see come out, put a couple on them, they glare at me and I say "raise your hand/gun next time!"

[xXniTemAreXx]

People, EXPECT TO GET BONUS BALLED! Its speedball and there are like 100 paintballs flying in the air everysecond.

[Pyro-Shutter-md]

yup that happens.. ive also ben on both sides of that thats paintball for ya..

[Ghost2867]

most of the time, i get shot out from like 15-20 feet away...then ppl see me, and like i said, i raise my gun up first.

i dont expect to get bonus-balled, but when it happens, i dont care that much...usually ill just glare back at them and give them the finger or soemthing.

i got bunkered once...got bonus balled there, but i thought it was hilarious. he came up opposite the side i was shooting out of, and tried to shoot me. the airball bunker got in the way, and he missed me like 5 times somehow...

so he ran up some more and unloaded like 3 shots into my side from less than 10 feet.

i was jumping around literally, and such. we talked after the game, and he showed me the paint marks on the bunker, and i couldnt help but laugh.

[timmyfreaker]

If I get shot, I dont even stop to check until Im in a bunker. Getting bonus balled is part of the game. wehn I bunker people, I shoot until I see a break. But when you get out, hold you marker HIGH above your head. I was playing this really big outdoor field(its too big to be speed, to small to be woods) and there was a kid who got shot, so he crouched down, didnt put his condom on or plug in, and literally looked like he was running to another bunker. I shoot until I see something that makes them harmelss.

[Squidly]

It's sort of funny to read this as I had almost the same issue happen to me last weekend.

I had taken out the back right guy and moved into the snake. I was sparring with the back left guy for a good while... shooting at whatever bit of hopper and mask he was showing me while he did the same to me. Naturally I was sending a good number of balls his way even when he wasn't hanging out...hoping to time his next move. Anyway after awhile of not seeing him, he suddently stood up - back towards me. My first impulse was to shoot, and I did, sending 3 balls his way. His arm was not up, but after the balls were away I realized that my teammate along the left tape had tagged him out. He started spazzing out as he left the field, but I ignored it until the game was over.

Afterwards a ref who was spectating from behind the net along the right side said something like "you need to watch the bonus balls when guys are out". I responded - "hey, when the balls are in the air I can't take 'em back." He said "the guy's back was turned!" "Yeah", I said "but his arm wasn't up.

The more I thought about this exchange the more it pissed me off later. I never got to say anything to the "victim" - he took off to get air and I never saw him again. But when I'm playing I get into a zone where I'm shooting the instant I see something hanging out. If someone jumps into a lane I'm not waiting to see if his "back is turned". As far as I'm concerned the only thing that puts the brakes on is to see that arm in the air. This isn't really a concious decision on my part - it's pure reflex.

Now when I'm shot, I sit in my bunker and raise my arm. I leave it there for a good 3-4 seconds while, then I slowly get up and move out. Once out of the bunker, I move quickly to get the heck off the field.

[malcontent]

im sorry, but if im hit, as soon as i call out my guns in the air and im standing up. and if i get shot while my guns in the air i bring it back down and light the ******* who shot at me up like a damned GE factory...

on the other side, if i hit someone and they dont call out umma keep hitting them untill they make a noticeable action towards them calling out. like ghetto rushing them...

[can'tthink of1]

Sat, I was playing, and well I would shoot, and I'm a nice guy because there were a bunch of younger players there, so I would give them the benifit of the doubt, and they always raised their marker up, and everyone was in a good mood so we didn't really shoot at the marker, I would scream stuff like "If you're out go!" just because I mean, they were like 11, 12, 13... Didn't want to seem like a bad guy. But this was woodsball, so when they raised their marker, thats all you saw really, so it was easy to tell if they were out... I don't have an itchy trigger finger so I don't really bonus-ball. WHat annoyed my was when you got some kids out, and they stayed behind the bunker, so when the ref let them out like 6 kids ran out... ALso, I did shoot this little kid who was running to either the deadzone, or to cover, cause we took out their whole flank.. but I shot him and he fell to his knees and grabbed his back, so I had no idea what he was doing, but I felt sad because he did stop and grab his back in pain...

[robdamanii]

Two favourite situations:

Rec play. Guy get's hit. Disappears behind a bunker or turns around. I see a body part sticking out. I shoot it (head in this case). Said guy says "I'M F***ING OUT ALREADY!" Me, being a head field ref, reply with "Guess your gun will go up faster next time then, won't it."

Tourney play:
I get shot up. About 20 times as I've got my marker over my head and I'm walking off. I yell "Listen MotherF****r, I'M OUT ALREADY!" There was nobody anywhere NEAR me he could be aiming for, so it was indeed intentional.
No apology after the game. Next time we play that team (round robin league style tourney), I got the bunker move on him. I intentionally put 10 balls into him. Stitched a line up his leg, side and back. He complained to the ref, who says "payback sucks. Deal with it, no points deduction."

Moral?

Keep your marker up or you'll be overshot (explained in graphic detail during safety briefing).

Call yourself out and GET OUT. Don't stand there.

If you overshoot and don't apologize, you'll be getting it back, almost guaranteed.


Being a ref, I understand both sides. There's no excuse for not apologizing if it was a mistake, and if it's intentional, especially without an apology, I encourage people to pay them back.

[dog-of-Dislexia]

If you are hit, just get up and walk off with your gun in the air. You might catch one or two bonus balls, but the more obvious you make it the less chance someone will light you up.

In rec sometimes, and in tournaments always whenever I see someone who I'm not positive is out I make sure I send one or two shots their way, no reason to not hold your gun up if you are out.

[unoudead]

a little while ago i went to area 51 in toronto (dont get there that often cuz its a couple hours away) me and my team were playin a few on their scenario field and there was this kid about 3 bunkers down, he kept wiping, i hit him 3 times and all of them he wiped, so i moved up 1 bunker and landed 10 shots on him fron his toes to his head, then the ref finally called him out.

i have 1 more story please gimme some feedback, last year me and my team went out ballin with a guy that lives down the street from a guy on my team, him adn his friends play on a woodball field with some hay bails set up in a little clearing with woods all around, theese guys dont want ME to come back this year,... get this beacuse i shot them in the head too many times.. either theese guys were pi**ed because i took out theyre whole team by myself a few times or i dont even no... i thought it was a joke when i herd it first, i dunno if i should feel bad or theyre a bunch of pussies.
(sorry if i am typing weird this still pi**es me off, just need to vent a little)

[Squidly]

When one player thoroughly dominates a game over and over again, it can get pretty tiring for a new player.

The only thing to do is try mixing the teams up a bit...stacking them big time in the newbies favor.

That can get pretty humiliating though if you still win.

[g_splat]

For recball - My rule of thumb here . . . if you're hit, CALL YOURSELF OUT LOUDLY AND GET OFF THE FIELD ASAP! If you don't call yourself or, you're still a valid target in my book!

If your playing an oganized game or turny, call for a ref to paint-check you. I wont fire from the point you ask for the check until the ref states your clean (keep in mind, the player being check shouldn't be firing either).

Always remember to stay calm and shake hands and walk away in any disagreement over a question of overshooting. Remember, we're all out there to have fun! IT'S JUST A GAME!