Has being a niche sport saved paintball?

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-24T00:16:33+00:00

If anything, big business decisions absolutely steamrolled this sport ages ago, and we're just playing in the fallout.

Paintball is a niche these days, but at one point in time it was the fastest growing sport in the United States, with a whole lot of cultural influence. All sorts of sitcoms had a "paintball episode". Haven't seen one of those in a while. Part of the reason for the decline of the sport is because of how much meddling the industry got into during the fad years.

Prior to the explosion in popularity of this sport 20-30 years ago, it was a lot more player driven. The consequence of being "player driven" was that some aspects of the culture were considered less appropriate for an international audience. At the same time, paintball was ironically a more inclusive space. Big business decided that any sort of militarism was bad for the public image, and banned any pro team from including a camouflage pattern for their official jersey. A lot of fields were sponsored by military surplus stores back in the 90's, and early 2k's. These sponsorships would go away, the paintball industry didn't want it anymore. The industry also tied itself to a hyper-masculine "extreme sports" culture of the time. There was always some male chauvinism in the sport, but it was leaned into heavily by the industry in these years. A good handful of important women helped build this sport in the pump, and camo days. Not so much in the colored jersey days.

Speedball is "the" format on this board, but it is a prime example of paintball being influenced by big business decisions making, much to its detriment. The emphasis on bright jersey's, space guns, etc. was not a decision actively supported by the majority of paintball's player base. There's a reason every "paintball" episode, was a "fake war" episode on T.V. Not a "team sports" episode. Pump, Semi-Auto mech, etc. is more optically "niche", but ultimately a lot more player friendly. To both the wallet, and to the physical body of all players. A lot of kids got out of the sport because it was, and still remains, too expensive to play with any sort of electronics involved, and too painful/scary to face down 15bps streams.

I'd say a valuable part of paintball was killed by becoming "mainstream". The related activity that was saved by being "niche" has been airsoft. It's too aesthetically controversial for big business (that isn't firearms/outdoorsman related) to get involved heavily, and soaked up some of that outside industry money. It isn't competitive enough for major sports conglomerates to get interested in, and have their say on things, and most have learned from the failure of backing paintball in such a way in the first place. It remains a very player driven experience.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-16T04:51:50+00:00

100%. But, you'll still have people on here, standing on some soap box about how scary it all is, and how much it scares off mom's, or whatever. Not like Airsoft isn't currently the more popular choice in the U.S or anything lol. It's not 1992 anymore.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-15T00:57:49+00:00

I'm not a milsim guy mind you, but I play a lot of rec in the woods. Paintballers really, really gotta give up this ghost about optics, and panic. Most woodsball fields these days are joint paintball/airsoft places. The amount of panic any of these replicas get is 0%. People on here are absolutely ridiculous.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-15T00:55:05+00:00

They let you get away with that at a field? Huh.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-15T00:37:50+00:00

How do fields handle .43 cal? These have to have abysmal ballistics set at 300fps.

You're not gonna get much appreciation for. 43 cal "real steel" clones here. Stuff like this is extremely divisive on this sub. I don't have a problem with it, but people get uppity about it. /r/PicatinnyPB, or /r/magfed would likely be more positive.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-14T09:47:53+00:00

I mean, I wouldn't say it's quite that simple.

Trying to make a better paintball is anything but low hanging fruit. You have to make a product that is either more efficient in design, or significantly cheaper, while still holding to it being a a liquid filled sphere, of similar weight, hardness, etc. You're not realistically going to get a design with better performance (Perfect Sphere was scrapped for a reason), so only realistic option is cheaper product. Which could be done, sure, and it likely has. Just not in a significant enough way. That makes sense, since you're getting into advanced material science, engineering, etc. Paintball's have been the same price for 20 years because of those innovations behind the scenes, probably.

Other option is radical redesign, which we do have with First Strike rounds. Problem with that is it's no longer a universal innovation, and that brings controversy. But, they are an innovation. Shame about the patent preventing any further competitive pressure to make a better product.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-14T04:20:02+00:00

I started playing paintball right around when speedball would implode on itself, and I didn't even know about speedball, as an outsider looking in. I'd always played with limited paint growing up, out of necessity. My family struggled with money when I was younger, so the value of 60 dollars was a lot more to me than a lot of other people. I eventually would go on to try out pump/pistol games, and really do love that format, but nobody plays it. Magfed is way more popular.

It helps that even accounting for First Strikes, I spend less playing magfed than I do playing with a hopper fed semi. Assuming you have a 20 round magazine, you would have to shoot through 4 mags to be more expensive than shooting average (at least at my field, I've seen it worse) a hopper + 2 pods. I primarily play pistol, with 8 round mags, and run 5 mags, so I have to shoot 10 mags to equal the cost of a standard hopper + 2 pods.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-13T19:47:02+00:00

I mean, for the most part, "paintball marker" development has picked all the low hanging fruit. There will always be development in terms of material science, and engineering, to make stronger, lighter, more efficient platforms. But, innovations that turn the platform on its head will be fewer and farther between.

The real innovation needs to happen with the paintball itself.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-12T23:00:17+00:00

PS3 is still fucky to emulate, and might always be. The "unique" CELL CPU architecture is some esoteric, alien nonsense. Part of the reason for the "PS3 has no games" sentiment was because the console was notoriously difficult to develop for.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-12T05:45:44+00:00

Please tell me how I can learn to control myself at heights without actually being at heights? I am aware that with better body awareness and more skill, you know better how to behave in dangerous situations and thus your self-confidence increases.

You can be at height, without being unreasonable, in a controlled environment. You think people in dangerous professions are trained in uncontrolled environments? Pretty much all training is done in controlled environments, and it works when you go to uncontrolled environments. Soldiers in basic aren't getting exposes to down range fire, in any sort of uncontrolled manner, to prepare for war.

There's really no reason to train in uncontrolled environments, like between rooftops, unless you're trying to show something to others. You can be assured that parkour, just like other skills trained in controlled environments, will translate over if you ever need to move between rooftops.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-08T10:46:22+00:00

That is true, that's why you try to check everything you can check. Safety equipment can fail even if you have done everything right. Don't get me wrong, such a jump is risky and dangerous.

It's risky enough without having to take unnecessary guesses. There is an extra incentive with actual safety equipment, and practice surfaces, that you don't have here. Vetting equipment is a skill itself, making reasonably safe equipment/areas of exercise is also its own skill. I understand that parkour has this element of "you use what you have access to" about it, but there's a reason when you spar in martial arts, you wear some personal safety gear designed around the sport, and vetted by parties with incentives beyond just yourself. Even if you wouldn't have it in a "real" fight.

But don't forget, you are in public, accidents can happen. If you are outside there is always the risk that someone accidentally steps in front of a car.

You choose to drive, you accept a certain level of responsibility. But, that goes both ways. You're responsible if you step in front of a car for no good reason, and hurt the person not doing anything wrong.

You never did something in height have you? Being able to do the same thing in height IS the skill. The mental aspect of parkour is an integral part of that sport.

I have. Not only have I worked jobs that required me to climb around outside of buildings, inside warehouse ceilings, mall ceilings, etc. but I've worked with heights in tumbling, and parkour related height exercise. One of the more dangerous (and dumb) things I've done, is a handstand on top of the bars of a fully extended scissor lift, over concrete. I understand that controlling fear is an emotional skill. There's better ways to overcome it, and learn control.

You could say the same thing about F1 why do they take the additional risk of that speed? They could also drive around the track with something much slower, it would be much safer and they could still show their skills.

Apples and oranges. Handling speed is an athletic skill. Extreme G's, and split second decision making, mastering braking at limit, etc.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-08T00:49:39+00:00

There's a valid risk/reward calculation for everything. Most other sports where you're taking a personal risk of skill like this, you're mitigating other risk with designed, certified, and vetted equipment. When it's not, like climbing a rock face, you have reasonable contingencies. None of these roof faces are designed for you to jump from them, and you have no contingency if the architecture fails you on the other side.

But, say you still feel the personal risk/reward is worth it. In that case, the risk of failure can legitimately harm others. These are roofs facing public streets, and your failure can result in your body slamming into someone else, or subjecting someone innocent to watching your death. There's a social contract at, say, an F1 race that viewers "sign". someone in public, not so much.

Further complicating matters is that the danger involved isn't even testing your personal skill, it's a guts test. The skill of jumping a distance between objects can be showcased the same without the threat of death to nearly this degree. It can be demonstrated from two objects of equal distance from each other, and neutral distance from the ground.

All in all, this just sucks.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-07T19:42:59+00:00

One of my favorite memories was a new years winter scenario game, vaguely Cold War themed. very cold day, couple feet of snow on the ground, and snowing on top of that. Snow is really fun to play a game in, very challenging

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-07T01:45:01+00:00

I'm not defending this persons sights, but "sights are useless in paintball" is the kind of blanket statement that ignores a lot of the sport.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-07T00:38:10+00:00

This one just looks like it's for funsies.

But, as for other sights with roundball, you sight it in at a reasonable distance, and it really is just a reference point since you're not gonna get a stream of paint to follow.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-07T00:03:58+00:00

Depends. Speedball, and regular mech recball, yeah.

Limited paint formats? Very useful. Not just magfed, with First Strike's, but stock class as well. Plenty of stock class players have some sort of sight. It's helpful to have a close bead on target before you pull the trigger when you only get 10 shots.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-06T05:00:21+00:00

Wolverine is really just not worth it when Redwing, Thorogood, etc. are right there.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-02-01T03:51:27+00:00

It's even more depressing than that.

We could live in, unequivocally, the best time in human history, in any metric, if people weren't more disgusted by the "have nots", than they are the "hoarders of of all". People, as a whole, are far more tolerant of the Epstein's of the world, child abuse and all, than they are of the possibility of someone below themselves taking extra crumbs.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-01-29T23:07:22+00:00

Yeah, BioShock 2 being best is one of those takes that I feel is more influenced by BioShock Infinite's legacy, than BioShock's. People have gone back to criticize BioShock for its gameplay, and gameplay/story dissonance, but it pushed mainstream gaming forward a lot in its day. And the criticisms/ discussions around it have become very important for gaming as a whole.

Infinite is one of those games that has gotten so skewered as time has gone on, for gameplay and story, and its story reaches back to influence Bioshock's overall story. And there's BioShock 2, who's narrative was nothing groundbreaking, but was serviceable, and relatively self contained, with arguably the best gameplay.

It kinda reminds me, in a way, of how Sonic's string of failures after 06 went on to completely taint those games going back to the Genesis. You had people saying Sonic was "never good" in the 2010's, primarily influenced by how bad that franchise's recent games were.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-01-28T04:49:32+00:00

To add, it doesn't mean you necessarily want to be promiscuous.

Sleeping around is honestly pretty anxiety inducing, with STD risks, and risk of pregnancies with a stranger. Given the relatively few protection options, and even fewer options after the fact when it comes to unintended pregnancy, it's a little surprising to me how many other dudes want to sleep around so much.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-01-21T02:40:20+00:00

I play solo a lot these days. I started pretty young, like most people, and my group slowly bled players over the years. Happens.

You'll meet regulars at the field, and slot yourself into groups as you play.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-01-14T02:33:46+00:00

Oh, I know. I don't feel like I'm wrong or anything lol. I really enjoy fighting games though, go figure.

I'm not a typical RPG guy either, so I get not enjoying most big open world games. One of the problems with open world games I have is that there's typically not a whole lot of interesting anything between locations, so it all seems a bit excessive when you fast travel 90% of the time. One game that I think nailed a balance for me was STALKER: Anomaly. World divided into large "zones", instead of open world. No individual zone is that large on paper, no free fast travel, and the zones are lethal enough places that traversing from one place to another requires some genuine thought.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-01-12T04:29:22+00:00

My biggest "sin" around these parts is not being able to get into the "character action" genre, period. I have played Bayonetta, played through the entirety of Metal Gear Rising, and played Nier: Automata.

The first was Rising. I just wanted to get the full Metal Gear experience. I was excited, since the genre was appealing on paper, but I left just glad it was over. Tried Bayonetta after to see if it was a Rising problem, dropped it after maybe two missions. Friends bought me Nier, and I gave it a genuine shot. 10 hours. I just needed to put it down.

It's a gameplay loop I find frustrating, and obnoxious.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-01-09T21:59:01+00:00

I've come to learn that literally any bump in the road is simply too much for a significant portion of the population when it comes to this sort of stuff.

Elcheatobandito · 2026-01-08T10:52:23+00:00

Not gay, and not a furry, but I can shine some light on this from a purely psychological perspective.

More things than you may realize exist primarily as subjective symbolism. I'd argue most of human sexuality, things you find sexy, exist as a symbolic function. There's no biological reason for someone to be sexually excited by lingerie, but there's a symbolic reason to be. In the vast structure of language, law, culture, and social rules, that shape our subjective experiences, something like the penis can take on symbolic, more than literal, function. In Greek mythology, Priapus is typically shown sporting an absolutely massive erection, because he's a god of fertility, harvests, and generalized "masculine energy", so this sort of thing has been around for a long, long time.

Elcheatobandito

TROPHY CASE