Observations at PbNation

PbNation.com is the world’s largest paintball community, no doubt. I have an account there and hang out in the Field/Store Owners section and in all honesty rarely check out much else. I took a few moments to glance at the main page today and a couple of thnngs caught my attention.

In the General Paintball section, the busiest section, by quite a large margin is the “Paintball Talk” forum, with over 4.2 million posts (not sure when the counting started by the way). That makes sense. It’s a paintball forum after all and people are going to drop by and talk paintball.

But it’s not the busiest section on PbNation.com. No. That honour goes to the “Small Talk” forum in the Off-Topic section with over 7.2 million posts. That’s quite a few more and those posts have nothing to do with paintball. At first I thought that was pretty odd. Why are all these people coming to a paintball forum and then opting to talk about a whole lot of stuff that has nothing to do with paintball? Then it occurred to me that Pbnation.com is like a community. People meet there because they share a general interest, much like a club meeting. But anyone that has ever been together with a group of people, knows that conversations wander. It doesn’t take long before subjects having to do with the shared interest are left behind and other things are debated.

The other thing that caught my attention was in the Paintball Marker Manufacturers sections. That is where each Marker Manufacturer has it’s own little section for people to drop in and talk about that brand of marker. I would hazard a guess that the popularity of each section would be a testament to the popularity of the brands of the markers. So why is it, that the most populated section in the Paintball Marker Manufacturers (again by a fairly large margin) is one that couldn’t hold it together and is no longer in business? The Smart Parts forum has over 1.6 million posts with second place, Planet Eclipse forum lagging a ways behind with just over 1 million posts. After that, rankings drop pretty quick. Tippmann for instance, has a dismal .2 million posts. Tippmann! I thought almost half the people in the paintball world started marker ownership with a Tippmann. I guess they don’t have a lot to talk about. Maybe Smart Parts and Planet Eclipse forums are full of threads with people trying to solve problems with the markers. I don’t know, I didn’t actually go into those forum sections.

Anyway, just a couple on things that caught my attention and I thought a little odd. But then, there are more than just a couple of things odd at PbNation.com.

How Much Does it Cost to Play?

As a recreational paintball field owner, this is one of the most common questions I get asked by new, never before played, potential customers (the other one by the way is, “Does it hurt”?).

I always tell them that the cost to play will be somewhat dependant on how many paintballs they shoot and then go on to tell them how many paintballs our average player shoots and how much the total cost ends up being.

The cost to play will also be somewhat dependant on location. Real Estate cost, whether you own or lease will be a big determining factor, and the other big one is staffing costs. Minimum wage for instance differs quite a bit and the size of the available labour pool will determine how much a field owner has to spend to get good employees.

Therefore, there is no single answer for the cost to play question. It varies quite a bit. I’ve hear of the odd stock class (pump) player playing at a relatively inexpensive field and spending $20-25. Others shoot cases of paint each outing and spend well over $100 each outing. But there is an average, probably in the $50-60 range.

There is another common question I get asked and that is, “How many paintballs will I need”? Of course, that is associated with the overall cost question. The two really go hand in hand, and when I answer either one, I have usually answered the other as well, so it really depends on which question gets asked first (most often it’s the “How much does it cost?” question).

So if there are two fields, more or less side by side, one with a pricing structure based on high entry/air fees and low paintball costs, and the other with lower entry/air cost, but higher paintball costs, how do these field owners answer the “How much does it cost?” question? The cost at any field is going to be partially dependant upon paintball consumption, no matter what they cost (they have to cost something). So I am sure that all field owners are going to answer that question, if they are at all truthful, based on their customer’s average paintball consumption. Both fields will most likely have their customers spending an average dollar amount, that is probably not that much different from one another. People just aren’t going to spend twice as much at one field than another, with the possible exception of a few fields in the world that tend to be “destination” fields. These fields are so much superior to almost all others, that players will go there every once in a while just to experience that difference and will pay more occasionally. But overall, the average a player spends will be much the same. Or is it?

I believe there is a difference in average spending between regular players and new, or occasional players. Regular players are going to more cost conscious. First time players will get caught up in the excitement and will often spend over their budget. They are having so much fun, they don’t want it to stop. But I’m getting off topic and the difference between the two groups (new and regulars) isn’t huge.

Back to our two field owners with differing pricing structures. I’m sure that the owner of the higher entry/lower paint prices (we’ll call him field owner # 1) is going to throw in something like, “You will be paying $40 more at the other field for the same thing”. That would be based on the amount of paintballs the average player shoots at his field. And if you look at it in his way, he is absolutely right. So what can paintball field owner # 2 do in response to the question when he is asked? Well, first of all, he will hopefully be truthful. What I tell the potential customer is what our average customer spends and make sure they know what that includes (including the average amount of paintballs purchased/shot). I then tell them that it is probably very similar to what they will spend at any paintball field. The difference is, that at our field they will shoot less paintballs and have less paintballs shot at them. I tell them, in case they can’t figure it out for themselves, that the pricing structure is designed to cost our customers the same overall, but it keeps most of the high volume paintball players away, meaning that their experience will be more relaxed and more fun.

There seem to be many people out there, that can’t seem to understand that two fields with completely different pricing structures can exist in the same market area. The two pricing structures attract two different types of customers. Restaurants do this all the time (as do most other industries). The difference is that restaurants use pricing structure to separate by class or financial ability to pay, whereas paintball field’s differing pricing structures separate customers by preferred playing styles. At a “high priced” restaurant, customers usually pay considerably more (hopefully they get better quality food and service as well). At a “high paintball price” paintball field, customers do not necessarily spend more, their consumption/usage of paintballs changes. This changes the playing style and overall atmosphere at the field.

Is one style or type of field better than the other? That is a question based on the tastes of the consumer. There is no right or wrong. There is just different.

Unlimited Paintball Poll in Review

Well we didn’t have a huge number of votes in our poll, which is to be expected. I’m still amazed we get more than a half dozen people stumbling on this blog every week as it is. To get as many votes as we did, knowing that the majority of people don’t bother voting is quite amazing to me. Thank you for dropping by and double a thank you for those who took the time to vote.

Now for the voting; a small sample, but a sample nonetheless. We had two categories on each side of the spectrum, with ‘no change’ in the middle. It was interesting that no one voted that there would be no change, but the vote was pretty much evenly split down the middle whether free paintballs would increase or decrease participation.

So what does this tell us? One thing it does is confirm that we, as a community, have very little understanding on how paintball prices affect participation in paintball. If we had a poll that asked if consumption of orange juice would increase or decrease if suddenly orange juice were given away free, we all know how that poll would go. There would be no question. But half the people who voted (actually slightly over half) figured that paintball participation would decrease either slightly or a lot, if paintballs were free and unlimited for participants.

If the poll had asked what would happen to paintball consumption/usage per player if paintballs were free and unlimited, I think we would all conclude that the average paintball consumption per player would increase drastically. But I didn’t ask that as I knew that virtually every reader would come to that conclusion on their own. So the question was really, “Would paintball participation increase or decrease, if the average player would drastically increase the amount of paintballs they shot?” Over half the people polled stated that participation would decrease. Does that really surprise anyone?

So what does the raising and lowering of paintball prices do for the average paintball player? Obviously, lowering paintball prices makes more paintballs available to the player and alternately, raising prices makes less available to the player. Free paintballs (the lowest possible price), are at the extreme end of low prices and makes the availability, unlimited. But before we get to “free”, we pass some other very low prices as we head down the pricing scale.

When paintball started over a quarter century ago, paintball prices started at approximately 25 cents each. Since then, due to competition by manufacturers and efficiencies in production by manufacturers, paintball prices have continuously dropped. In some instances, prices can be found as low as 1 cent each. 2 cents is not uncommon at all. If 25 cents is at one end of the scale and zero is at the other end, 1 or 2 cents seems to be getting pretty close to the limit of the low end. Unlike other commodities, whose consumption are easily understood with raising and lowering of prices, paintballs, and their relationship to paintball participation does not seem as easily understood. So what has the ultra low price of paintballs, and the resulting availability of paintballs, done to the participation of paintball thus far? I can only conclude, that as a community, we don’t totally understand and know. So was the poll useless? No, absolutely not. I think it’s very important for all of us to realize that paintball pricing does not necessarily have a linear relationship with paintball participation.

Poll: Unlimited Paintballs

Look at this. Reiner's trying a poll. First time on the blog, so encourage my expansion of my own comfort zone by voting, and hopefully commenting.

Here's the deal. In a hypothetical situation, if recreational paintball fields could somehow provide unlimited amounts of paintballs to their customers, how would this affect participation. Now I say hypothetical, because paintballs cost money, even at the wholesale level, so to provide unlimited paintballs would also mean a field would have a limitless expense on it's hand, so they would have to charge through the nose. So for this hypothetical situation, I'm going to state two criteria that would need to be in affct to set this up.

First, the cost to play would be moderate, about the same per day cost as players spend today. We'll say about $50 for field fees and rentals if needed. Air would be included and all the paintballs a player would want to shoot are included. Whether they want to shoot 100 or 20,000, it wouldn't matter (players can't take any home though).

Second, ALL recreatioanl fields would have to offer unlimited paintballs. So this wouldn't be just one field in a city where the other four fields are charging for extra paintballs as they do now. All five fields would have the same deal. One cost, no limits on paintball use. Players could get a bag or case, use it up and then come get another bag or case, and when those are gone get more. As often and as many as they wanted to.

So how would this affect the industry and participation in paintball. Don't worry about the paintball manufacturers. They are in on the deal and found a way to produce paintballs for free. Like I said, this is a hypothetical situation.

It would be great if you told us why you think the participation would be the way you predict it would in the comment section. Thanks for playing.

Base Jumping or Comfort Zones Part 2

I know very little about base jumping. What I do know is that it’s got to give you an awesome adrenaline rush. Yet very few people take part in base jumping. Much fewer than play paintball for instance. Why is that?

I’m sure most people will know what base jumping is, but if not, Google is you friend.

I constantly see posts on forums where players are saying that if people can’t take getting hit multiple times with paintballs they should just GTFO. It’s part of the game. I sort of understand where these people are coming from, although I don’t agree. I’m more a Live and Let Live kind of guy. These people are obviously into a higher intensity kind of paintball that others may be into. And that’s OK. What bothers me is that they expect everyone to be into the same thing they are into. If they are so much into a high adrenaline rush, why aren’t they jumping off tall buildings or high bridges (it’s cheaper than paintball)? I’ll tell you why. It’s because it would scare the hell out of them. It’s outside of their comfort zone. Yet they see no problem dictating what other people’s comfort zone should be. Hmmmm?!

Comfort Zones

People are all different. Early on as children we start to develop levels of social comfort zones. Some of us are outgoing while others are not. Some kids need or want very little assurances from parents while others can barely leave their parents’ sights. As we grow up and learn that the world is not necessarily as scary as we thought it was as young children, we expand our comfort zones. We slowly learn what the world is about and what is normal and acceptable social behavior.

As teenagers we struggle with this (some more than others). The “unknown” can be both frustrating and intimidating, and maybe downright scary. Even as adults, once we’ve discovered most of the secrets of life, we are still different. Some people want to climb mountains and jump out of airplanes, while others think twice about booking a flight on a commercial airliner. We all have different levels of comfort zones.

In paintball, there are people who can’t get enough of an adrenaline rush. Skilled athletes shooting 15 balls per second at them don’t faze them. Others cringe at the thought.

I’ve mentioned before how I turned down my first two invitations to play paintball, many years ago now. This was in the days when pumps were the norm at recreational fields. Of course that didn’t mean anything to me. It was an unknown to me. I had never seen anyone play paintball in real life or even on TV. It was out of my comfort zone. It was easier for me to say “no thanks” and stay home where I was in my comfort zone than to agree to participate in something I knew very little about (I knew enough that getting hit by a paintball might hurt). Of course I have expanded my comfort zone now and although I would most likely get my butt handed to me on a platter if I were to step onto a field with high level competitive players, I wouldn’t hesitate to do so, if the situation was called for.

One of the biggest challenges a field owner faces is getting people to step out of their comfort zone and onto their paintball facility. I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. But there is a huge market out there for the paintball industry to tap into, should we figure out a way to do it effectively. But I think it needs to happen in small steps. We can’t expect someone with a very narrow comfort zone to automatically enjoy taking part in a relatively extreme activity. We would make them withdraw right back into their narrow comfort zone again if we try to do that. And yet over the years, as paintball has evolved, the experience, even at a relatively mellow recreational paintball field, has become much more extreme. It’s very difficult for a first time player to “ease into” paintball in present times.

It’s no problem for those outgoing, mountain climbing, skydiving types, but most people aren’t those people. I think many of the people involved for any length of time in paintball tend to forget that. Their comfort zone has always been big or has expanded after much participation in paintball and they don’t remember what it is like for those that aren’t at the same level of comfort zones. It would serve us well to remember that we are not all the same.

Tournament Teams

Earlier this season I mentioned that some members of our staff had formed a speedball team. By the time I had caught wind of it, more than a half dozen of our staff had been recruited. I have to admit that I panicked a bit. The busy season was starting and a good portion of our staff were committing to be at practice every Saturday (our busier of the two weekend days) plus they would be gone several Sundays during the season for tournaments. We had no choice but top look for some new staff to have on call so we wouldn’t be caught short.

Well, it’s been a few months now and the staffing shortages were short lived. It didn’t take long at all for some of the newly formed team to opt to work at our field and skip practice. Apparently when practicing speedball regularly, you need money constantly, even if the paintballs are dirt cheap compared to our field. Today I had a conversation with one of the team members and asked how things were going. I see them wearing their customized jerseys when playing at our field all the time, so I get reminded (it bugs me by the way when speedball teams come to a rec field and wear their jerseys). He told me that they hadn’t had a practice in about a month and even before that, the practices were always short of players. He told me he is not too interested anymore. It’s hard to get everyone to come out and it’s too expensive. Shooting a case or two every week really adds up he says. Then he asked me if I needed any help next weekend

How many times over the years have I heard and seen the same scenario play out; gung-ho wannabe speedball players with glory in their eyes, only to be defeated by shortages of funds and lack of commitment from team members. When are tournament league organizers going to come to realization that they need to find a format that is manageable for regular folk to get into and stay in for any length of time?

The fellow I was talking to also said that the BCPPL is looking to have a 3-man Pump Division and that might be something he wouldn’t mind getting into. 3-man is manageable and pump is fun and affordable. We’ll have to wait and see if it’s sustainable for the league though.