Getting Involved in the Play

New paintball players come in a lot of different flavours.  Some players have no concerns or fears about the discomfort of paintball and get right into it, playing aggressively right from the start.  Then there are others who are very hesitant and have a tough time leaving the first bunker they get to or start at.  We’ve all seen new players who get to a bunker and then never stick their head out to take a look to see what is going on.  I guess the sounds around them tell them it’s not in their interest to take a peak and risk getting hit by one of those balls they hear hitting bunkers all around them.  This is most common with the younger players and female players.

The latter players often get over their initial fears after a while, usually by confirmation from their friends that “it’s not that bad”, or by actually getting hit themselves at some point and thinking that it’s not that bad.  Then there are those that never get over the fear and just stop playing, never to set foot on a paintball field again.

One of the things we are noticing with having more and more of our Low Impact Games (50 caliber), is that first time players are playing more aggressively quicker, most noticeably the younger and female players.  We are also seeing virtually no players choosing to sit out games or stop playing completely.

As we were gambling on, the decreased discomfort of being hit is getting people playing more and getting them involved in the action more quickly and more often.  Personally I think this is great.  We all know that actively participating in an activity will make it much more likely for people to continue with the activity, opposed to watching the activity from the sidelines or in this case from behind a bunker.  My guess is that this will mean that in the long run, we will end up with more people playing paintball, which is of course is what it’s all about.