Paintball

[Killa_x]

Money talks, bull**** walks.

The major companies in any industry want to move product and make a quick buck, they could care less about anybodies "feelings". Unfortunately, that's how it's always been and will always be.

[Schmitti]

That being said.. early on a lot of the industry of paintball were actually real players.. not just suits behind a desk. Not that there aren't still real players in industry... it's just that previously pretty much every manufacturer, owner etc was a player.

E

[columbusgeek]

Back to brass tacks here. The paintball industry is still a business model. Guns come out every year for sales. Many times there are technological improvements, but sometimes there are not. You as the consumer have to decide that. The same goes for aftermarket parts. Some will make a noticeable improvement with your marker, some are hype. Some are junk. We have all bought something for our maker and have been less then pleased with it I am sure. The same thing applies to many industries. Skateboarding, automobiles, snow cones, sex creams.......

[Horizon]

Originally Posted by columbusgeek

Back to brass tacks here. The paintball industry is still a business model. Guns come out every year for sales. Many times there are technological improvements, but sometimes there are not. You as the consumer have to decide that. The same goes for aftermarket parts. Some will make a noticeable improvement with your marker, some are hype. Some are junk. We have all bought something for our maker and have been less then pleased with it I am sure. The same thing applies to many industries. Skateboarding, automobiles, snow cones, sex creams.......

You are right, In the end, busiesses in any industry have to make products their customers are likely to buy. If a business make products not worth what they are being sold for, they might fool a few people early on, but the product will fail in the end. .50 cal is a good example. If they convince enough people that ther is value in buying the balls and eqipment, they will do OK. But if it turns out that the .50 cal balls aren't worth the frustrations and a loss in advantage when playing, they will fail, it doesn't matter how much marketing effort they put into it.

[Harbinger[TG]]

Originally Posted by Horizon

You are right, In the end, busiesses in any industry have to make products their customers are likely to buy. If a business make products not worth what they are being sold for, they might fool a few people early on, but the product will fail in the end. .50 cal is a good example. If they convince enough people that ther is value in buying the balls and eqipment, they will do OK. But if it turns out that the .50 cal balls aren't worth the frustrations and a loss in advantage when playing, they will fail, it doesn't matter how much marketing effort they put into it.

This is where the incestuous relationship between the industry and the media comes into question. Do you think any of the magazines will publish anything relating to truth about 50cal, or anything else? Nope, they are just going to run their ads, and say nothing but positive things about it.

[R.J.]

Originally Posted by thumper

1984-1993 : pump play ruled the land, honor ball is born - things are good and numbers on any given Saturday are strong.



And I distinctly remember hearing Ben Torricelli during the safety briefing tell the player community that it is up to us to regulate the technology - for the good of OUR GAME. Sept 10, 2005. -- I know I was inspired.



**maybe we ARE a bit wiser**

Early to mid 80's Sunday was the big day to play and 10 people showing up was a good turnout. I along with a few others on this site were playing then. Cheating has been around from the begining and I do not look for it to change anytime soon.
"Pump Play" didnot come about till after 85 as noone sold a pump for a marker those that had pumps made thier own.

I heard Bennie T,of MPPGames, giving the same talk, it was about ramping. Bennie didnot want to piss off his sponsors by banning ramping so he took the aproach of letting the players have markers with ramping abilty. Ended up being a clusterF*ck for the reffs as there was no firm stance on ramping. Basicly we were given the Industry whore approach to dealing with ramping take no stance just say some nice words and maybe noone will notice what you are doing which is nothing.

RJ

[B-17]

The economy and the continuous printing of money to pay debts is also a huge factor...
shipping of jobs to china, india, taiwan...

In the end, buy old and proven technology. Cheaper and more reliable (the exception being the SMG-68s... if only they still made them...)

The simpler the more reliable and more consistant without the extra boost of some crazy electro system that you would never in a million years figure out and will break in the rain.

same with keeping secrets, cars, planes and the rest of whatever you can think of.
The less parts to an object, the less to break/replace. But I'm straying here...

People that play scenario games seem to be better on the cheating problem, and is doing well.

.50 cal will only be useful in pistols for me.

[thumper]

Originally Posted by R.J.

.. RJ

Hey R.J. was there a point you were trying to make? I'm finding it hard to pick out.

[R.J.]

Two points
1 A lot of folks claim to have been around back in the day who were not but post as if they were.

2 Bennie T. took the lip service approach to ramping on markers. As I heard the same speech that you did and drew a different conculsion maybe I am looking at the issue with an open mind instead of trying to promote a producer.
The ramping issued was one of the worst handled events in Bennie T.'s short carreer as a event producer but there are no shortage of "shills" from PBJ.com to say different.

Do you need me to explain more?

RJ

[thumper]

Originally Posted by R.J.

.. RJ

off topic again.. well, at least you are consistent. I believe the topic dejour is tied to being lead around by the manufacturers and media types as opposed to the players driving the market.

As for me.. I started in '91 .. you can track my experience here:
Team History : South Carolina Roadkill Scenario Paintball Team
and on the blogs here Section8 - Scenario Paintball Team
This experience drives my opinions on most things... And yes, I was the founder for both teams. And both are still active, alive & well. On a side note: Ben seems to be doing well. Bear Claw just set another record, and the players were saying it was the best game ever. Personally, I can't make it that far any more. Charleston has been averaging 500 in fall and spring for 3 years running, and this year looks no different. And it looks like LCP and Ben are talking again.. The future looks nice and shiney. Er, you stand corrected sir banned-a-lot.

Mods: please excuse my tangent here. I grow weary of home boy's shenanigans.