Paintball is Expensive (mostly)

The most common reason I hear that people play less paintball than they want to, or they have quit playing entirely, or their friends don’t play is that paintball is too expensive. There are other reasons, but expense is by far the most common that I hear. The reason for that of course is that paintball, for the most part, is an arms race and those not wanting to arm themselves and load up as much as the other guys feel at a disadvantage. Yes, there are those of us who go out and actually enjoy being the underdog (as far as arms go), but we are not the average player. We are more the exception to the rule. Most people do not enjoy themselves as much if they feel they are being overpowered by others with better equipment and more ammo. In order to not feel that way, you need to buck up, financially.

This is quite obvious when you look around the paintball industry and you identify the trends of the last few years (and yes it started before the recession). Tourney play is down. Tournament play is the most expensive form of paintball if you want to compete even halfway seriously. Tournaments cost money to enter and even more money to arm up for. Take into consideration the money and time commitment (time is money) needed for practices and it’s not difficult at all to see why only a small number of people can afford to take part or stick with it for any length of time.

Big game scenario paintball has increased dramatically in the last decade. Players are willing to travel great distances, shoot lots of paint and even pay a premium sometimes for that paint. Does that mean that big game scenario paintball is bucking the trend? No. Because those taking part in the big game scenario games are playing fairly rarely, for the most part. Many of the participants are only playing a few games per year. Sure they are paying hundreds of dollars per event between entry, paint, travel and other associated expenses, but if they are only doing it 2 or 3 times per year, it’s a much smaller bucket than the tourney guys need to fill, for instance. Big game scenario games are well attended, but if they were readily available every weekend at your local field, they would not be, for the simple reason that players could not afford to play these events that often.

Local recreational field play has always and will probably always be reliant on new players and those that only play a few times per year. There are fields that try to cater mostly to “regulars” but those are also the fields that have suffered the most in the last few years (and yes, more so during the recession). But there are not enough people in most areas that can afford to play every week or even every two weeks for fields to not be reliant on the new and occasional player. It’s not that these people don’t have fun playing paintball. Many of them go home ecstatic, but that doesn’t change the fact that they can’t afford to come back week after week. But it does mean that a certain amount of recreational paintball fields can exist in most areas catering to the occasional players.

The trend also means that a certain amount of big game scenario games can be held and will continue to be well attended. If however the market gets flooded with big game scenario play, not only will the separate games be less densely attended, but the overall attraction to the events will fade away. This is because many players go to these big events because they are big events. I have met several people who have gone to big events, such as D-Day for instance, who said it was a great thing to experience and they are glad they did it, but it wasn’t something they would do very often. If the numbers were to start dropping at these events, the allure would fade. It’s much like going to a popular night club. Once the novelty wears off and the crowds start to thin, they tend to thin quite quickly.

Tourney play during the late part of the last century and the early part of this century was “the” form of paintball that was going to dominate paintball participation, or so many thought at the time. Technology brought prices of gear down and mass paintball sales brought the price of ammo down. With the falling prices, how could the game not gain more and more popularity? And it did. Recreational play also increased during those times, but the focus was on tournament paintball. But of course we all know now that the dropping prices of gear and paint didn’t make the game cheaper. It just changed the game (not just in tournament play). We had markers that could shoot higher volumes of paint more reliably and paint priced such that we could do so. In the end though, a player’s pockets were just as empty at the end of the day and the next practice and/or tournament was approaching fast.

Unless a player chooses to play a form of paintball that handicaps them or plays with a group of players in a version where it has been predetermined to play with a lower volume of ammo and/or reduced technology like pump play or hopperball (which will result in lower ammo consumption), paintball will continue to be a relatively expensive past time. That’s just the reality of the situation.

Value and the PSP

Recent changes in some rules in the PSP have got the paintball world in an uproar it seems, at least for those who care about the PSP and a few who probably care very little about the PSP and just want to see the league suffer. Some hate the changes; others love them and then are those that go with the flow. Lane Wright (CEO of the PSP) sent an email to members explaining why these changes were made, basically explaining that the PSP is in dire straits (expenses exceeding income) and the changes were made for the most part to try to attract more players.

A quick disclaimer: I don’t play tournament paintball (barely touched the game). I do not nor have ever played a PSP event. I haven’t even seen a PSP event. So what am I doing writing about the PSP? Well it is paintball and this is a paintball blog. It’s also my paintball blog so I can pretty much write about anything I please.

Being a business owner in paintball, I tend to look at things from a business point of view. That’s not to say that I look at every business to see how it can maximize profits. Heck, I don’t even think I look at my own business like that. But I do like to see businesses succeed. I understand what it means to take a risk and understand that it takes a lot of hard work to make a business successful and therefore I don’t like to see people fail. Any business, it doesn’t matter what it is, facilitates an exchange between two or more parties. Both parties seek at least an equal value to compensate what they are giving up. The PSP is no different. Those with whom the PSP deals with, are also no different. Vendors setting up booths want to sell wares and feel they received sufficient exposure to compensate what they paid for that opportunity. Members of PB Industry that donate money or wares (if there are any left) also want to feel they received an equal value of advertising and exposure.

Then we get to the players that play the events. These are the players that must in these times pay for the lion’s share of the PSP’s expenses. But like everyone else, they want an equal amount of value. But this is where it gets a little muddled. In most acts of commerce, it’s fairly easy to see both sides of the trade. If you buy a watch for instance and pay a certain dollar amount for it, say $40, before you buy it, you justify to yourself that the watch is worth what you are giving up ($40). Very simple. You hand over $40, the shopkeeper hands over a watch worth (to you) $40.

So what does a player get that plays a PSP event? Well they get to play a game. That’s entertainment and has value. They might win a prize, which has value (obviously not a certainty, but it is a possibility and I’m sure the chance to win has some value). They get a weekend of hanging out with their buds. Again, value. What I’m trying to say is that there are various ways players feel they get value by attending a PSP event.

On the other side of the equation is what a player has to give up. Event fees, paint fees, hotel fees, car rental fees, transportations costs, restaurant (food) costs are among some of the most obvious. Obviously this can add up to quite a bit. So if a guy like me has the money to pay for the aforementioned, and feels he will get an equal amount of value form playing a PSP event, can I go (assuming I can find a team to play on) and take part? Sure I can. But chances are no one is going to want me on their team cause basically I suck and have no experience. So how do I change that? Well, I could practice and get better. It would take a while, no doubt, and would cost a fair bit in time commitment and money for practice time and practice paint, as well as appropriate gear. Then there is the possibility of lost wages in lost work opportunities. How about vehicle and gas expenses to and from the field? Gifts for the wife to stop her fuming cause I’m never home and spending all our money. These are all indirect costs to playing a PSP event. And they add up. Big time. Now there may be some value gained along the way. For instance I might really enjoy the practices and enjoy hanging out with the rest of the team. Maybe the wife will enjoy the gifts so much I might get a little extra (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more!). But overall, the reason I’m doing this at all is because I want to play paintball in the national circuit. I’d like to add that every player will account differently the value they get, so it gets really quite difficult to stand back and say, “Yeah, that looks about right. Each party is getting an equal amount of value.”

In all commerce transactions, both parties are looking for value equal to what they are giving up. Is the PSP providing this? Is it even possible for the PSP to provide enough value for what the average player has to give up? I really have my doubts, at least for the majority of players in the world.

It’s going to be a very difficult battle for Mr. Wright and all those involved with the PSP. I would really like to see them succeed, but in all honesty, I’ll be surprised if they can.

Woodsball/Milsim

Milsimm paintball players may play in the woods most of the time, but woodsball paintball players are not necessarily milsim players. Please do not lump them all together. That is all. Thank you.

A Step Between

A recent thread on one of the forums I frequent got me thinking. As paintball prices have dropped over the years, the experience offered at fields has obviously changed. Paintball at $10/100 balls is not the same as $10/500 balls. I don’t think too many people with any sort of gray matter between their ears is going to disagree with that. So let’s discuss what is available for people in most areas of North America.

Rental players for the most part do their own things. Many, maybe even most fields, have clued into the fact that they need to foster their rental players. Rental players will generally shoot considerably less paint than gear owners.

On the other side of the coin are gear owners. Gear owners, for the most part, will go to field s where they can shoot what they want in a manner they want. Many fields separate the two, which is a good thing. Since most fields sell paint for closer to $10/500 than $10/100, the paintball played by most gear owners is fairly aggressive, or extreme, if you will. So my question is, what do the people that want to step up from rental play (pick up paintball as a regular activity) do when the next alternative is a rather extreme form of paintball? Do all people who want to play paintball regularly suddenly want to shoot 13 or 15 balls per second? Sure some do, but not everyone. And in my opinion, there are many more people who would like to play paintball regularly shooting 4-5 bps, than there are shooting 10-20 bps. But in many places in North America, that’s not available. Does that mean that we as an industry are missing out on many potential players (customers - if you are a field owner like moi)? How much is that costing the industry? And how big is that piece of the pie? Does anyone really know? Personally, I think it is huge; at least as big as those owning gear and playing at 10-20 bps. Probably much bigger.

Woodsball – The Solution for Newbies?

Our newest field at TNT Paintball is in the woods. It’s one of our larger fields and it’s definitely the most dense, as far as foliage goes. There are lots of trees and lots of undergrowth; the type that you can crawl through and might not be seen and is hard to shoot through to eliminate a player even if you do know he/she is there. It has man-made bunkers, but they aren’t densely placed. To survive, and gain real estate, a player pretty well needs to use some of the natural cover.

We were very excited about it during the building process. Our first field was a predominantly woodsball field and it’s what started our ascent to popularity. However, that field never had the amount of natural cover the newer field has. We were excited because we thought this would be a field that players can find cover and not be in the thick of the action right away if they didn’t want to be. Basically we thought this field would be a great field for newer players. I know I’m not the only one that has/had the belief that larger, denser fields were better for newer players.

As it turns out, this field is probably our least popular field of the five fields we currently have at TNT Paintball. It’s the least popular with many of the regulars but it’s also not that popular with the newer players. It hurts a bit to admit that. We put a lot of effort and time into building this field as the bunkers, although only 22 of them, each took quite a while to build (and considerable expense). For the longest time, I wouldn’t admit it and to be honest, couldn’t quite understand it. But I at least think I understand the reasoning a little bit now, after a couple of years watching players play on the field and listening to players that opted to sit out playing on the field.

You see, playing on this field is much more unpredictable. Due to the dense cover, players are constantly being shot at from spots that they had no idea an opponent was occupying. Players don’t like that. Regulars definitely don’t like it, but even new players don’t seem to like being shot from places that to them, made little sense.

Then there is the ground cover. Sure, it’s great that you can use it to hide, but once discovered, a player has no real defence, unless he/she stays cowered on the ground. If the player lifts their head to try to get some shots off, a hail of paintballs come their direction and they are forced to dive for cover again. It’s difficult for even the most experienced player to get out of that situation and nearly impossible for a new player. I could only imagine how much worse this would be at a field where the average player shoots many more paintballs than our TNT customers shoot.

That brings up another issue, that the field lends itself to sucking ammo out of players. Now some field owners might consider that to be in their best interest (sell more paintballs), but that’s not us. We like people to use about 500 rounds in a day, and if they are wasting too many shooting at players in the dense bush that are difficult to eliminate, they have less to play on the other fields, which means their day will be shorter, or worse yet, will feel we tried to suck more money out of them by getting them to shoot high volumes of paintballs.

I think we have no choice, but to clear out some of the undergrowth and add more man-made bunkers, so that this field will become as popular as our other fields, both with our regulars and our newbies.

Paintball Forums

I visit several forums on a regular basis (probably too regularly to be considered healthy). Anyway, a couple of posts on different forums asking why things seem so slow reminded me of feelings I’ve had for a while that paintball forums in general are a lot quieter these days (at least the ones I frequent). I’ve had these feeling for a quite a while now, probably a year or longer, but have kept them in the back of my mind. I don’t have statistics on post counts or anything to back these feeling up. But I’m quite sure I’m not imagining things.

Now this may be a direct relationship to the economy. People may just be staying home and watching TV. But then why aren’t they sitting in front of their computers as much as they used to (I certainly am). I have to conclude that there may indeed be less interest for paintball in general these days. I’m sure the manufacturers could confirm this. If people aren’t talking as much about paintball, chances are they aren’t playing it as much either, and if they aren’t playing as much, they aren’t buying as much gear.

Field owners as well might have some input. We are down slightly this year and the “regular” player portion is down more than the rental portion. The “regular” players are the ones that would be talking on the forums as well.

Anyone else notice a change in forum activity?

Technology to Blame?

I was reading one of those Smart parts was the Devil threads today where once again someone posted that Smart parts was to blame for much of the problems the industry faces because they put fast electronic markers in the hands of everyone with just a few hundred dollars in their pocket. The reasoning was that once “kids” could get markers ramping at tourney level rates relatively cheap, the sport started to go downhill.

Now I’m not going to argue that inexpensive, fast, dependable markers didn’t change the face of paintball. Of course it did. But anyone with a head on their shoulders would realize that if Smart Parts had not introduced the Ion, someone else would have eventually done exactly the same thing. It’s the American way and the way of the world. Technology advances. That’s just the way it is. When I was a teen my parents bought a 26” state of the art colour TV for about $800. A much better TV today can be had for under $200. Advancements in technology are going to happen, whether the old folks in their rockers want it to or not.

Some will say that the introduction of loaders capable of insane feeding rates, are what changed the game from a leisure activity into a high intensity pastime. There is probably some truth to that. For sure it was a contributing factor.

Technology is never going to stand still. Especially when there is a demand for it, and there certainly was in paintball. Players wanted faster, more dependable equipment and they wanted it for a low price, so that everyone could afford it and the game would expand in popularity to those that couldn’t afford it at the higher prices.

I wonder if those same people that blame Smart Parts for introducing the Ion would complain if auto makers came out with a high tech version of their cars for $10,000? I doubt it. But would that create problems on our highways, just like the Ion created problems at paintball fields? Maybe it would. All of a sudden, cars capable of insane speeds are available to virtually anyone. How would that affect the accident rates on our highways with everyone driving 220 mph? Or is that problem alleviated with enforcement of speed limits? Would cops handing out $200 tickets control the problem? At least a big part of it? Hmmm?!

So where are/were the cops in paintball? Oh yeah, they were busy selling paintballs. That’s sort of like giving gas station owners the job of enforcing driving habits. Probably a bad idea. Probably best just to blame the auto makers for bettering technology and making it affordable for more people. Cause technology really shouldn’t keep moving forward, right?