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We're trying to design a new version of pro paintball

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Hypothetical: We're trying to design a new "pro" version of speedball. Maybe it needs to be: team based easy to ref. Probably shouldn't be getting refs to count bodies during the game. no electronics. To keep it playable for walkon or outlaw games. no timers other than the main game limit. Again, this is a ref load and outlaw ball issue. easy to admin. So, I think just one or two objects. Having loads of flags gets a bit funky. easy to explain. No complex scoring structure. Definitely no points-per-kill or points-per-body (alive or dead).  playable anywhere there's bunkers. No need for walls or buildings or whatever. Minimal special equipment. So ideally you could just use a flag or a ball. No paint lines required to mark the field. Again - outlaw. Any field, anywhere, any time. An incentive balance that makes flag action happen while the opposition still has bodies alive at least, say, 50% of the time. What happens when you put all that in your brain and stew on ...
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Paintball is impossible to film live.

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This shot looks great on a poster. It sucks during live coverage. Anyone can make an exciting paintball reel in premiere or final cut. It's MUCH harder to do it live.  We've been debating this for so many years. Paintball has certainly been on TV before, but it's always been... mid. If you ask a paintballer why it's so hard to film they'll normally tell you "because there's no focal point". And they're right - paintball has no single point of focus. Action can be happening everywhere, all the time. Every player "has the ball" all the time. That's part of what makes it so much fun - you're not being left out if nobody passes to you. But mate it sucks to film in a way that is easy to follow. How do you know where to point the cameras? And even if they're pointing the right way, things happen so fast that a lot of the time you end up missing things because you're on the wrong camera at that moment. So how do you decide which ...
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Try not to puke

This one is a workout. aka Push the Payload. Take a standard speedball field. On one team's side at the 30 in the middle there's a differently colored aztec or small temple.  Two teams of 4.  Make sure there are clear corner markers and a clear startgate that's tall and can be used for cover. When shot, you respawn by running around one of your own back corners, across to your other corner, then back to your startgate. Wipe yourself down (or sub out) while in cover, then rejoin the fight. Or: wait for teammates to show up and then all breakout at once. Your call. Your goal: push the payload , which is the aztec. You need to get it past the 50 to score one point, to the opposition 40 for two points, and to the opposition 30 for three points and a "delivery", ending the point. Then there's a break between points and now the other team goes on offense and tries to push it the other way.  A match would be two five minute push attempts per team, for a total 20...
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Location: WHHQ+FP Te Haroto, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand
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Oh wait...

The ongoing saga of vball continues. I get feedback, I notice problems, I write another blog. Sweet. Here's the new revision: hangzone - as before. Carry the flag into the enemy zone to win 1 point and end the set. The zone is much like a touchdown zone in NFL. Pull point - Get a point for the first pull, so up to two points per "set" which is what I'll call the old "point". You get points during sets to win games . Centre flag as before. Pass and drop and throw the flag, fine - it's a nerfball. Um... that's it. Otherwise standard speedball, though I suggest a time limit with no points cap and very limited paint (hopperball basically). Carrier respawn was dropped as it creates an incentive to overshoot players walking off. This format incentivises movement, focal point and risk. It's also simple. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE. The problems with paintball include cost, commitment, pain and fun. So I suggest this in addition to the ab...
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Another better format idea

So you may have heard of the NSL ,  a new paintball league in the USA with a few ideas. The core concept is that of a "live flag" meaning essentially that the flag is in play during the game rather than being an afterthought once you've eliminated the competition. How do you do that though? How do you make teams actually want to get the flag rather than just waiting til they've shot everyone? And even if they do get the flag, why would they risk it all trying to score and push up when there are still opposing players alive? It just makes sense to play conservative most of the time in the current game, since a player that's safe in a bunker and concentrating on holding a lane will be a more effective shooter than one who's out in the open or focussed on moving up. What do the NSL do well? Well, the core idea of a live flag game makes sense. We need a focal point and the flag provides that. The touchdown line rather than a hang station makes scoring feasi...
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10 Ways To Make Paintball Watchable

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*Updated April 2015* Paintball is hard to watch. I don't think I need to explain it in detail since being here you've probably thought about it, but most folks will say it's because there's no focal point. And that's probably true. It's freaking hard to watch a sport when you don't know where to look (like football). It's even harder to watch a sport when learning all about the sport doesn't even make it that much easier (unlike football). Paintball is screwed, they say. Let's give up on making it watchable and just enjoy playing. It aint broke so don't fix it. Bah. Yeah, so people have tried. The NSL. Redzone tried too, probably more successfully. Moneyball... let's not even go there. But do we really need a whole new format ? Nah. Just a few tweaks to what we've got. Here's a few potential ways. 1. Make that pull worth something Sexy, sexy flagpull. If you make a pull matter, teams will be more likely to grab the ...
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The future of paintball

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Not next year. Not even ten years from now. Most folks don't seem that interested or seem to assume that things will just continue along roughly the path they've been on so far. Unfortunately for them the future would say otherwise. There's a technology on the horizon that could   will  make paintball, airsoft, RAM, CoD and just about everything else redundant. It already exists in a primitive form and there are no real technological breakthroughs still needed. It will let you feel hits like paintball, will no longer rely on honesty, and it'll revolutionise the spectator appeal of the sport. It's called Augmented Reality, and maybe you already have it on your phone in a basic form. Meanwhiles google are actively developing it in the form of Google Glasses:- A little exaggerated! Here's how it would work. Everyone has some special gear - at minimum goggles and a gun, but potentially more if you want to feel hits via small electric shocks (see IRTac...
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