Renters vs self equips - the old problem

[P.I.C.T. Tactical]

At our field we are trying to discern the best way to divide up self equips and renters so the newbs don’t get owned. Other fields have adopted a rather heavy handed approach (renters and self equips cannot ever play together) and we don’t want that as many times some newb gets a tippy for his birthday and wants to play with his friends who are all renters, for example. We definitely don’t want newbs getting beat up. Ideas?

[Toestr]

Beginner, intermediate, 'pro' groups. Let the players themselves determine what group they best fit in. Refs should be able to discern if someone is sandbagging and give them the option to either tone down their play or move to a higher level.



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[punkncat]

It used to be that enough people showed up that we ran "fast" and "slow" games. Anyone could play either, but you had to adhere to an idea we call shoot at as being shot.
It has gotten to where any given weekend there may be 100 renters and 3 open play. Anyone that wants to play with the renters has to ask permission and determine within that group what will be acceptable level of play. We absolutely never ever condone shooting up renters and new players, unless they specifically ask for it.

[Nish]

One of the semi local fields holds weekly Gravity feed days that people seem to really enjoy.

Other than that I would simply say what you tolerate you encourage. Toss them out. If you set a precedent for what behavior isn't allowed you won't see it nearly as often.

[ChuckLove]

This is a problem I see almost every weekend at my local field. The only separation they have between players is when people opt for a private party. Every season but winter they do "Gravity Feed Saturday's" which help a little. It pains me to see people out for their first time getting shot at 15bps. It really takes a sensible field owner who's willing to pay an extra ref or two.

[shadow191]

At my local field, they mix everyone but make sure to split up the self equipped evenly between sides. So they don't allow the "tournament" (and I'm using that very loosely) guys stay together and shoot up renters for practice. A lot of it is self policing though - the main field is pretty big so there's a hyperball side and a mounds side. Renters tend to all go to the mounds and the self equipped head toward hyperball so it's almost like 2 games going on in parallel. They also do have quite a few refs on the field too which helps quite a bit. If they see someone dumping pods on renters, refs will step in and tell them to stop. They also prevent bunkering and if it's toward the end of a game and it's self equipped rushing a group of renters, they'll often call the game and end it. So I think that proactive reffing makes a big difference.

[ford]

I haven't played my usual field since the 'VID, but they get enough regulars they generally know how to split folks up so it's fair. They also know which rec players are the 'try-hards' so they split them up pretty evenly. We are fortunate that even our try-hards aren't gunning to take out newbs. they usually coalesce around one side of the field and go head to head during the game.

There is another field in town that draws 3 times as many players as my usual field and they tend to split folks up as the OP describes. Rental gear in one group, own equipment in another. They also rely on their regulars to manage the team with folks with their own equipment.

It would be nice if there was some kind of system fields could use to call out different kinds of players more easily....

My first thought is if there was a "Rec baller association" which offered different progress paths for players to become, and gave patches/discounts as players hit marks that fields could reward them with.

For instance, say you've got two paths. "Big, Bad Speedball Master" and "Paintball Ambassador" rec players in this association could choose to go. Say, it's a busy Saturday in the pits and you, a player is helping some new players by showing them how to air up tanks... a ref or field owner sees that and has some mechanism to give you a point towards your goal of being a paintball ambassador. Similar, if a ref sees you win a 2 vs 1 or something, you get a +1 towards your "big, bad speedball master" title.

If you had the badges fields and newbies would better know who to go to for different kinds of help.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

most fields that id frequent regularly over the years all eventually adopted the same rule of doing beginner and advanced open play games. Beginner wasn't just renters only and some fields did special rules like a mandatory surrender rule at close range, no modes besides semi, and a lower bps cap on electric markers.

The field i play at now doesn't do different rules for either but doesn't stop a renter or a new player from going to play advanced if they choose. Refs here are paintball players themselves so they make stuff fair and insure all guests have a good time.

if i do play beginner, i only use my tigershark or my talon or a stingray. But i only do that when i miss the advanced go out or i made a new friend and they don't play the advanced games

[BenoitOWN]

I mean I didn’t have the cash on regular paintball(not a member at this field) to bring my electro so I just rented a basic marker. Was last to be chosen by the teams. Stood my own again’t them since it was a member/renters players mixed up. Of course all the speed’s dominated the renters but at least I was offering to be up front and get the renters moving up.

now I have a spyder for that purpose.

[Cunha]

I haven't been to a field with a problem with this in a long time. It really comes down to the field management and if they let new players get smashed, people should go elsewhere.

It really depends on the population though. If there isn't too many super aggro guys then its best to mix them in with the newbies and let the newbies see what it looks like to be good at paintball.

Otherwise I can understand just splitting them up completely.

[Falcon16]

Fields in my area will divide the owners among the renters if it's say 8-10 owners but there are 30+ renters. My home field that closed down we had enough owners that we'd go off on our own and let the renters play by themselves, sometimes we also had it where we'd be mixed in but by agreement we'd only go after each other and only shoot the renters if absolutely necessary.

[ChoSanJuan]

Our local field's division is if it's a private group or not. There are rules posted, like no ramping and keep it at 10.5 and under, so it's pretty less aggro than most. The staff is great about listening for suspicious bps and generalized overshooting. They have no problem talking to the anyone that has their own equipment to knock it off or walk. They are the same with rentals and private games too.

So if you are talking about the fine division between rentals and owning your own gear...
What about many of us that are pretty good with pumps? Does that immediately slot us into the non-rental group? Not all refs are good at judging skill level based on the gear that someone is walking on with. There are days I walk on with with a pump. Other days, I'll come out with my mech Ion or eNMEy or my 99STO. Rare days, I'll come out with my EM1 or Mini GS. Some day soon, it'll be my secret project that I'm working on now... The refs know what kind of "mood" I'm in by my marker and will assign me to certain open/walk-on groups for that day. Multiply that by all the other norms that hang out there, plus the new guys trying to call it their new home field is an impossible task.

This further causes division on how to handle the rentals vs the world debate.

[BenoitOWN]

IMO 10.5 is still too much for electro vs ‘beat up tippy’s.

[spikeball]

All three of the fields I play at mix it all up, and in a good way. Renters and experienced players will be split up, usually with rock paper scissors. Losers on one side. Winners on the other. That way if you pay attention (people catch on quick), friends can play with friends, friends can play against friends, and renters can play along side experienced people. Sometimes if there is a group large enough the fields will keep them separate, but they still try to encourage playing with the larger rec group.

I think this is the best approach I've seen as it keeps things pretty even.

[russc]

Field design can play a huge part. Create dense cover at close quarters in the middle to encourage good players to move up to the front and engage each other, but create larger bunker spacings at the rear, with cutout windows to shoot out of. Those rear positions are easily defended, and if the renters are using the windows, they'll tend to get hit on the gun or mask, which isn't painful.

The other thing I'd recommend is limiting paint carried onto the field, or increasing paint prices. That formula has worked great at the Canadian fields I've played at.