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 feasible during a game, so that's good. Having a flag start with one team makes sense, though this is mostly because there's no incentive to have the flag early otherwise.

What's less good? Brute force rules. Teams not wanting to play aggressive is dealt with by simply making it illegal to hang back without losing the point on a technicality. You've got 45 seconds to get the flag forward a certain distance, another 45 to get further up a set distance, and you can't take the flag back over each line. If your flag carrier is shot, the point is over. And so on.

It's brute force rules rather than incentive based. Your incentive as a team to play the way they want is that you're not allowed to do it any other way. Where they foresee a way a team might want to hang back and play conservative, they simply make that illegal.

There are a number of disadvantages to this approach which I think holds it back. For one, the rules are relatively complex to explain to a newbie or an existing paintball player. For two, they ensure that most points will play out in a very similar manner with minimal scope for unusual tactics. For three, it requires a ref watching the clock at all times. That means it's hard for casual walkons to play, which is a requirement if you want it to take off.

I think there's a better way. Simplicity is a key goal of game design. 

Simple rules + minimal admin/ref load and maximum tactical depth are all hallmarks of the best and most famous games in any genre from sports to board and video games. 

Here's my attempt at an incentive based rather than brute force approach to live flag gameplay. It's about tweaking the risk/reward balance such that lazy conservative teams are organically disadvantaged rather than being shut down on technicalities.

I call it vBall

Here's how it goes.

Start with what you know of xball, and do the following to it:

• Semicircle hangzone: rather than being taken to the start gate, to score the player must simply take the flag into a semicircle shaped hangzone, like a basketball 3 point line but about 2/3 the size.

• Live flag: The flag starts each point centre field like xball. It may be passed/thrown at will, or left on the ground anywhere just like a regular flag. however there are incentives to carry it and play aggressively which will stop teams doing this too much.

• Carrier respawn: This is the incentive to play with the flag and get it early. Whichever player is holding the flag at any time can respawn if shot. Only that player. Anyone else who is shot from either team is out til the next point. Suddenly, getting the flag matters.

• Return the flag rule: if shot, the flag carrier must quickly (within ten seconds) return the flag to the centre stand it started from. Then they respawn by touching their own start gate

There are two reasons for the return the flag rule: It stops teams worrying about losing the flag in enemy territory, because if shot their carrier must return the flag to a neutral position. Worrying about it would make them play conservative. Secondly, it stops teams wanting to just grab the flag and then simply camp with it in their own territory as the main tactic. Teams may still sometimes want to use that, however other factors along with this rule will make this undesirable most of the time.

And that's basically it. Penalties and game time and so on can be figured out later, those are the core rules.

Tuning the idea

Of course the first version might not work that well, so we'll need to tune and playtest the rules so that we get good action, aggressive play and tactical variety that's interesting to watch. We need to make sure these incentives are strong enough to actually work in the context of the rest of the game. You don't just launch a series without trying it out first, and likewise you don't dump a good idea just because it doesn't work first shot. I believe this idea absolutely can work, but it might need some tuning first.

To tune the game there are several major areas to experiment with in playtesting. The first four are common to all forms of paintball, the rest are specific to live flag formats.

• Player numbers. It's easier to move when there are less players shooting at you. If the game is playing too aggressively so that it's crazy, have more players per team. Less players for the opposite problem.

• Field size. A bigger field relative to the number of players facilitates movement. A smaller field makes movement harder.

• Bunker density. More bunkers make it easy to move, less make it harder because you have to run farther and have less cover. You can also control which parts of the field players tend to move in by how useful the cover in the area is, among other things.

• Paint. More paint per player = more paint in the air = less movement. And vice versa. I suggest starting with hopper + one reload, which has the bonus of being cheap to play and saving time between points for pod collectors and refs cleaning bunkers.

• Flag type: to aid in passing/throwing and carrying the flag, the flag could now be a nerf ball. Perhaps with holes in the wings so you can carry it on your barrel. Too much passing or being passed too far? Too hard to see? Make it bigger, or a towel, or a pole with a flag on the end. Not enough action? Make it smaller and easier to carry and throw.

• Hangzone size. The harder it is to get the flag to the hangzone, the less likely a team are to attempt getting to it prior to shooting the entire other team out. At present in PSP or Millennium it's almost impossible to score  under fire. In the default vball rules I've made it a semicircle about 7 metres wide, however a touchdown line across the whole back of the field may work better and could be placed almost anywhere from the back of the field to the 50 yard line. We playtest til we figure out the happy median that works.

Interesting point:

Changing the rules can really change how things go in certain situations. What if we're playing vball and there's a 1v1?

It would first lead to the player with the flag trying to lose their opponent in order to score sneakily. If shot, they would want to sprint to the centre to drop off the flag, then sprint to their start base in order to shoot the opponent before the opponent could grab the flag and score.

This could lead to some exciting and tactical back/forth 1v1 battles. There could be a situation where the opponent (B) is waiting at the flag station to pick up the flag as soon as it is dropped by the previous carrier (A) who's just been shot. The advantage here would be with B, who has a shorter distance to run with the flag than the other who must run all the way to the start gate to respawn. Both players will be running the same direction.

On the other hand if A moves fast enough after being shot to drop off the flag before B can get there to pick it up, A might have a chance to respawn and shoot B before B can score. If B decides not to race and hides with the flag we're back to a tense 1v1. Once again one player literally has the ball and the advantage, only the other way around! This would be excellent to watch rather than just a snap battle as we currently have. Kinda like advantage in tennis.

What do you think? How would you tune it? How would you change the rules here to work better? Or do you prefer regular old team DM as we currently play?