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Oh yeah.. the going from 12 gram to constant air controversy!!! LOL.
Here's WHY it is a problem. It has nothing really to do with safety in the end. In reality, the fields compensate, make rules (3 hit rules, if you hit the person more, then the shooter is out too), things like that.
The REAL reason why people have fought at every change is because of the rental market.
It wasn't fair for all the gun owners to have constant air, and all the rentals to have 12 grams. Not only were 12 grams tough to play with in general... These were new players that were just learning.
To me, that's the point to it all. If you have someone new, just learning to play. And they get a barrage of a full hopper coming at them. They'll just remain hidden, until they're pounced upon by an aggressive player.
Even if they only get hit once, it will be right on top of them, they wouldn't have gotten a shot off, and what fun is that?
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I think fields are solving this inequality now by splitting up the players. Keeping the rentals in one group, and the open class players in another group. They do this at Boston Indoor paintball, and I saw them do this at Adventure Games of NH last Saturday when the rental guys got overrun.
THAT is being smart, and catering to your base. The new player. That is and will forever be the bread and butter of a lot of rec ball fields. Get them to like it... Keep them coming back... Get them to buy that gun off the wall, and then shoot more of your paint.
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Guns now have gotten so fast, the inequality will forever be there now. It doesn't matter if I get a new guy a faster gun then me. I'll have the advantage of experience. Even at Adventure Games of NH... Some of the guys we played with might have been wearing colorful jerseys and pants and had some speedy gun. But in the end, they were too green. To new still. They didn't know how to move, etc. They were overrun by us old guys quickly and easily.
So what needs to be done?
Smart refs to keep the field evenly split. I don't care if he's your team mate. If the two of you need to be split up, then so be it.
Or if you have a large enough field. I enjoy how Boston Indoor does it. Rentals Players Only, then a Gun Owners section, and a third Open Class section that anyone can join up in, but do so at your own risk because that's where the tourney, or wannabe tourney players are in.
So you have your choice.
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