|
|
|
|
Paintball
|
| |
|
| |
Paintball is a game in which players eliminate opponents by hitting them with pellets containing paint (referred to as a "paintball"), usually shot from a carbon dioxide or compressed-gas (HPA or N2) powered paintball gun (or marker). Many players and others consider paintball to be a sport, given its physical and athletic demands especially at higher levels.
The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association estimates that over 5.4 million people played the game in the United States in 2007, with over 1.5 million playing at least 15 times.
Games can be played either indoors or outdoors and take various forms, of which some of the most popular are woodsball, scenario, X-Ball and speedball.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Paintball' Start a new discussion about 'Paintball' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Paintball is a game in which players eliminate opponents by hitting them with pellets containing paint (referred to as a "paintball"), usually shot from a carbon dioxide or compressed-gas (HPA or N2) powered paintball gun (or marker). Many players and others consider paintball to be a sport, given its physical and athletic demands especially at higher levels.
The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association estimates that over 5.4 million people played the game in the United States in 2007, with over 1.5 million playing at least 15 times.
Games can be played either indoors or outdoors and take various forms, of which some of the most popular are woodsball, scenario, X-Ball and speedball. Rules for playing paintball vary widely, with most designed to ensure that participants enjoy the sport in a safe environment. The sport requires a significant amount of equipment.
A game of paintball usually involves two opposing teams seeking to eliminate all of the other team's players or to complete some other objective, such as retrieving a flag, eliminating a specific player, or other variations. Depending on the style of paintball played, a game can last from seconds to hours.
Paintball equipment
Paintball equipment varies depending on the type of paintball game being played and the skill level of those playing. Every player, however, is required to have two basic pieces of equipment:
- Mask: Necessary for players' protection.
- Complete paintball marker: Guns usually also require some sort of loader/hopper and propellant to work (CO2, nitrogen or compressed air).
The most common gas propellant is CO2, which is typically packaged in the four sizes of 9 oz, 12 oz, 16 oz. and 20 oz. The larger 20 oz. tanks typically provide enough propellant for 800 to 1100 shots depending on the efficiency of the marker. CO2 propellant is considered to be of lower quality compared to compressed air, but is cheaper to manufacture. CO2 tanks sometimes malfunction when the temperature is lower than 50 degrees Fahrenheit, while compressed air tanks have a much wider operating temperature range.
Compressed air tanks come in 3000 and 4500 psi variations and typically have a volume of between 45 ci and 88 ci. The 3000 psi tanks can provide enough air for 500 to 1300 shots depending on the gun, while 4500 psi tanks can give 1000 to 2000 shots. Compressed air tanks give more consistency and accuracy.
Regular paintballs are made of a gelatin shell filled with food coloring and vegetable oil. The gelatin shell is designed to break upon impact, however, bounces (ricochets) may occur. There are many types of paintballs, such as glow in the dark paintballs for use at night, scented paintballs, formulations for winter play, and more.
Reusable balls
A reusable ball is a rubber substitute for a paintball, but is often used when describing Reballs and other brands of reusable paintball-sized spheres. Most reusable paintballs are the same size as normal paintballs, but weigh less and do not contain a paint filling. They do not break open to leave a paint mark on players, so the lack of filling makes them practical for indoor locations where accumulation of paint from broken paintballs would be a problem. This fact also makes this form of paintball questionable, since no mark of paint is left, it allows players to cheat much more easily. A Reball is more expensive than a paintball, but since they can be cleaned and reused many times, they potentially have a lower cost per use. Some paintball parks have added dedicated reball fields, and some fields have actually gone exclusive with Reballs, eliminating the use of paintballs entirely. The primary use of Reballs, as intended initially by the manufacturer, is as a practice aid for teams who wish to save money by using reusable ammunition. Other manufacturers have created similar products, such as the V-Ball, a Velcro (hence the name V-Ball) reusable paintball. Reballs are also used at a lower velocity because of their inability to break on whoever they hit. For example, a Regular paintball will normally be shot at approximately , but a Reball is supposed to be used at around .
The term 'reusable balls' does not refer to paintballs that have been picked up from the ground. This 'loose paint' should not be used in a paintball marker, as groundwater or condensation may have swollen the paintball, which could cause it to jam in the barrel, or rupture and foul the internal workings of the marker.
Paintball tanks (vehicles)
Paintball tanks are a wide variety of vehicles sometimes used in woodsball events to eliminate large numbers of opponents by using protection and superior firepower. They can range from golf carts covered in plywood to real military tanks with real guns converted to paintball guns. Many paintball sponsors and businesses have their own paintball tanks which they take to events.
Playing locations
Most players prefer to go to commercial paintball parks, which charge for admission. These paintball parks usually feature different themed fields (e.g. woods, jungle, city, or historical battlefield), as well as a complex of speedball fields made up of inflatable paintball bunkers for speedball and tournament teams. Some commercial fields are indoors, allowing players to play when it is too hot, too wet, or too dark outside. Commercial fields also (but not always) provide such amenities as bathrooms, picnic areas, lockers, equipment rentals, air refills, and even food service. These fields adhere to specific safety and insurance standards and have a paid staff, including referees, whose job is to make sure players are instructed in proper play in a manner that ensures all participants' safety. In order to avoid liability, commercial fields strictly monitor paintball velocity with chronographs.
Players that find commercial fields to be too expensive or too crowded sometimes play on private land, often referred to as "renegade" play or "outlaw ball". Though less expensive and less structured than play at a commercial facility, the lack of safety protocols, instruction, and oversight means that the vast majority of injuries incurred by paintball players occur in these "renegade" games. Private landowners may also be liable for injuries sustained on their property, especially if they opt to charge fees for play.
Major scenario and tournament events may sometimes occur at other locations like fairgrounds, military bases, or stadiums, essentially turning them into temporary paintball parks. The same trained staff and insurance found at permanent commercial paintball parks can be found at these events.
A recently occurring trend in paintball is that of a mobile field, where a business primarily provides paintballs and paintball related services on land that they are using only temporarily. This is often done for the means of scenario gaming, to provide different tracts of land for players to play on.
Common rules of play
Rules of play vary widely among fields and tournaments, but some rules are commonly in force at many events:
Overshooting
To overshoot (also called bonus balling, lighting up, or overkilling) is to repeatedly shoot a player after they are eliminated. Generally, a few extra shots after a successful break is considered overshooting. The practice is frowned upon by nearly all players. It is also considered overshooting if player knew the opponent was eliminated but continued to shoot, disregarding the safety of the opposing player. The penalty for overshooting in tournaments is usually a 2-for-1, the elimination of the guilty player as well as two other players from his or her own team, but each tournament has its own set of rules.
Blind firing
To blind fire is to discharge a gun around a corner or over an object with your head still behind that object or corner, making the firer unable to see where they are shooting. Blind firing is discouraged on many fields, for potential safety implications. As the shooter cannot see where their shots are landing, they could accidentally fire at somebody point blank, hit a referee, hit a person that had removed their mask (a major safety violation itself), or otherwise cause damage or injury through indiscriminately firing paint at an unseen target.
Ramping
Ramping refers to an electronically controlled marker increasing either its rate of fire (balls per second or BPS) or its paintball exit velocity (the speed at which the paintball leaves the barrel of the marker) when a player pulls the marker's trigger and then continues to keep the trigger pulled.
Ramping of rate of fire is widely prohibited at most paintball fields, however it is allowed in some tournament formats. Most of the major professional leagues modified their rules for 2008 to limit the maximum rate of fire to 13.3 balls per second versus the previous 15. For 2009, the PSP tournament series further limited the maximum rate of fire to 10 balls per second to reduce the costs of playing in a weak economy. Although it is possible for players to fire more than 13.3 BPS, doing this with ramping is disliked by some players, and is also regulated by PSP.
Ramping of paintball exit velocity is prohibited in all tournament formats and on most paintball fields.
Tournament paintball
Organized paintball competition is nearly as old as the sport itself, starting with regional tournaments held at National Survival Game locations in 1983 and culminating in the National Survival Game National Championship (won by "The Unknown Rebels" from London, Ontario).
Though tournament paintball was originally played in the woods, the rise in popularity of teams such as Team Dynasty (then known as the IronKids) in the late 1990s saw speedball become the standard competitive format. The small size of speedball fields brings several advantages to competitive play. The artificial nature of bunkers allows each side of the field to be set up as a mirror image of the other, ensuring that neither team possesses a terrain advantage (as can be the case on woodsball fields). The flat, vegetation-free playing surface makes it easier for officials to see players and make the correct call and, coupled with the small field size, allows spectators to view the entire game at once or be televised. There are many type of tournament rules and regulations for speedball, ranging from the number of players (7 vs. 7, 5 vs. 5, etc.) to time limits. Popular all-female teams such as Team Destiny and Femmes Fatales have helped to get many females interested in tournament style paintball.
Due to the largely artificial nature of speedball, camouflage is of little strategic use. Clothing with camouflage patterns, common in wooded play, has been largely replaced in tournament play by distinctively colored team uniforms similar to those found in other competitive team sports.
Paintball leagues
Professional, semi-professional, and divisional leagues regularly hold high-class, well-organized tournaments involving a large number of professional teams, crowds of spectators, and large cash prizes. A "smaller" league in the northeast, the NEPL (New England Paintball League) has been at the forefront of organized paintball for almost 20 years. CFOA (Carolina Field Owners Association) and the XPSL (Extreme Paintball Sports League) have become very popular recently in their respective regions bringing a high caliber of competition only found in larger tournament bases. Major national and international leagues include Paintball Sports Promotions featuring the National XBall League (United States), and the Millennium Series (Europe). X-ball, which is played divisionally as well as professionally, is played in two halves. each half lasts 20 minutes. The object of each point is to hang the flag which scores your team one point. The X-ball format has recently been changed to a race to 9 format, whereby if one team scores 9 points within the time limit the game automatically ends.
The only two leagues which offer full length XBall matches are the AXBL/CXBL and the APBL. They still offer 15.4 ball per second ramping and play full 25 minute halves.
The parent company of the United States based National Professional Paintball League (NPPL) filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in the 4th quarter of 2008. The NPPL is a 7-man league, with games lasting up to 7 minutes.
The USPL (United States Paintball League) is the newest professional league in America. It is ran by players for players.
Tournament Paintball also exists in the woods played in competitions such as the Scenario Paintball Players League (SPPL) and the Tactical Ten Paintball League.
Professional play
Recently, professional players have started signing contracts and making earnings. Ex-Dynasty player Oliver Lang, widely regarded as the best player in the world, signed a 3 year contract with the Los Angeles Ironmen for $100,000. He later led them to victory in the 2007 and 2008 PSP World Cup. Many players see this as the next step to the acceptance of paintball as a legitimate sport.
Paintball terminology
- Main article: Glossary of Paintball Terms
Due to the unique nature of paintball and paintball equipment, players have developed a large body of jargon to describe the special kinds of tactics, equipment, phenomena, and even people found in the game. While most of the terms are neologisms, many are also borrowed from gamer and military culture.
Public perception
While paintball has received recognition and acceptance as a safe sport and is played by over 9 million people in the United States each year, a newer sport called airsoft is now taking over taking about 1 million paintballers a year and has been voted as the better sport the media often views it as "glorifying, trivializing, or popularizing war and the use of realistic firearms". Branches of the U.S. military, such as the U.S. Army, have been known to utilize both paintball and airsoft as a supplement to military training, and in many (but by no means all) cases, airsoft games and players take on a military theme, especially regarding camouflage and terminology. However, some controversial incidents of either accidental and intentional misuse of airsoft guns resulting in personal injury or damage of property have occurred, though more likely arising from "outlaw" games.
Paintball supporters have combated these negative perceptions in several ways. Some attempt to de-emphasize military themes, for example by using less violent terms such as "marker" instead of "gun", or by wearing colorful athletic uniforms instead of camouflage. Media coverage of tournaments, teams, and scenario events shows that mainstream paintball possesses the same general level of sportsmanship, professionalism, safety, camaraderie and constructive competition as many other sports and activities. It includes diverse members consisting of many races, nationalities, ages, creeds, ideologies, and genders. As an organized sport, it bears no pattern of drawing criminals or inciting civil disturbance.
Since the sport's inception, its level of acceptance as a legitimate recreational activity among the general public has increased largely with greater exposure. It is believed by paintball's supporters that greater coverage and education of the sport will settle the controversy and lead to greater overall public acceptance.
Confusion with real guns
Some cities, such as Minneapolis, Minnesota, have banned the public possession of paintball guns along with other devices that look like lethal guns capable of firing bullets. The concern was prompted by gun look-alikes being used in an threatening manner, and the difficulty of determining whether a person carrying a paintball gun is actually carrying a lethal gun.
Safety statistics
Recent research has shown that paintball is one of the statistically safest sports to participate in, with 0.2 injuries per 1000 players annually. Looking at sports eye injuries alone, which paintball has been vilified for, an international study has shown that of modern sports, paintball is responsible for only 8.3% of eye injuries. Furthermore, a one-year study undertaken by the Eye Emergency Department, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston has shown that most sports eye injuries are caused by basketball, baseball, hockey, and racquetball. Another analysis concluded that eye injuries incurred from paintball were usually in non-commercial settings where eye protective equipment such as masks were not required.
See also
External links
|
| |
|
|
