Paintball

[baader]

Only a few commercial fields in the country, and even those don´t have the kind of walk on games as you have. So pretty much that´s how we roll always.

[Chappy]

We play backyard ball at my inlaws a few times a year. Usually about 10 folks, and we've never had any problems past a little heated tempers coming off the field. And these always desolve after a few minutes of ribbing and banter I hesitate to call it outlaw, because the outlaw group in our area plays where they do not have permision and does not chrono. So I like to keep the distinction.

But this brings me to my next point...

Originally Posted by thumper

Outlaw ball >> commercial*, **

** once the dbags get run off from all the private fields, where do you think they go?

The group I mentioned above certainly does not go to commercial fields. They don't want to pay to play, and they won't chrono their guns. Of all the d-bags I've encountered while playing, its these types I find are the worst ambassadors of the sport. And you won't find them at a commercial field.

[thumper]

Originally Posted by Chappy

But this brings me to my next point...

lol.. must be where u live. granted chronoing and various other regulations can be hit or miss at private fields, the worst offenders are the commercially run fields where the paying customer assumes a level of professionalism and adherence with the safety standards. Furthermore, I imagine the average paying customer assumes the goggle lenses are safe, the staff is trained, the staff is paid, the field has liability coverage in the case of an accident, etc. If they only knew...

In out little outlaw group house rule #1 is : this is not a business. if you think this is a business or expect business-like services, get the hell out.

^ see - expectations set properly.

[Chappy]

Originally Posted by thumper

lol.. must be where u live. .

lol, maybe its where you live.

My point is not that commercial fields are better than outlaw, I certainly do not beleive that. My point is that blanket staements like

Originally Posted by thumper

Outlaw ball >> commercial*, **

&

Originally Posted by thumper

the worst offenders are the commercially run fields.

are simply untrue. Life is situational. I have had positive and negative experiences on both commercial and non-commercial fields.

[panhead4411]

I miss the days of playing with random groups of people in random woods. I have only played 'outlaw' once in the past 3 years.

Man i wish i knew more players around here that played in their own woods. Those were some of the best times playing.

[thumper]

Originally Posted by Chappy

lol, maybe its where you live.
My point is not that commercial fields are better than outlaw, I certainly do not beleive that. My point is that blanket staements like
&
are simply untrue. Life is situational. I have had positive and negative experiences on both commercial and non-commercial fields.

accurate IMO and in my 22 years of experience. of course I'm not an authority of any sorts and can only speak from my own experience and from my own point of view.

There are professionally run commercial fields out there and I salute them... but Ill take a private game on private land with good friends ANY day.

[Justus]

I'm kind of an inbetweener. I run a field owned by a local ministry I'm involved in, totally not-for-profit. We operate in some ways like a commercial field: we offer a limited number of rentals, and we are FPO. (But we offer high quality paint at the same prices as the stuff sitting at Walmart around here, and we do it for environmental and player courtesy purposes - everything we use is 100% PEG in non-staining colors.) We also have the operation like an outlaw field too: There are no field fees, all day air is super cheap ($1), we set up the chrono's but you're responsible for chronographing your own gun and getting your own stuff ready, and unless we're specifically running an event, we don't usually have refs for our informal games - honorbound play rules the day. For the informal game days, only experienced players get invited, and only those who play by the rules and with the right attitude get invited back.

The field was created 100% by volunteers and is run 100% by volunteers, operating just barely over cost most of the time (and sometimes under). What little it makes, when it makes anything, is put right back into the ministry.

[Mike Deep]

I used to play outlaw ball in upstate NY in 2005-2006. We cleared paths through the woods and built structures. Some of them have fallen down now, some are still there.

I really miss those days, especially for some of the crazy ideas we tried that you just wouldn't see at a commercial field.

[Horizon]

Originally Posted by thumper

accurate IMO and in my 22 years of experience. of course I'm not an authority of any sorts and can only speak from my own experience and from my own point of view.

There are professionally run commercial fields out there and I salute them... but Ill take a private game on private land with good friends ANY day.

That's fine, but you can't take your experience with private games and make a general statement that private games are better than commercial games. There is some pretty crappy, unsafe outlaw play out there. If you haven't experienced any, good for you, but it's out there.

[gospeedgo1]

only outlaw "games" were in my backyard when i was a teen playing with my brother. would really like to try it playing outlaw a couple times just to see how it differs in play compared to commercial fields.