John ( L ), Dennis Patac ( R )
What is the biggest mistake we have made as an “ industry ” over the years ?
Smaller fields , smaller bunkers and faster firing guns would be my answer if you asked for two … but you asked for one .
I think the biggest mistake we made as an industry was to virtually eliminate C02 from the game . From the mid-90s and through the early 2000s tens of thousands of players were out playing in backyard games and renegade games around the world every weekend . Although everyone feared these types of games wouldn ’ t be played safely , there ’ s no data to suggest backyard games were any less safe than organized games . And of course back then , anyone and everyone would rather players spend their money at legitimate paintball fields . But again , losing a larger percentage of the game ’ s player base year after year hurt field owners as well — many of the backyard players eventually became
local field regulars , scenario players and tournament players .
As paintball guns became more and more high tech , the need for high pressure air development grew and C02 became an afterthought . And now , all these years later , informal backyard games are almost completely gone because there ’ s nowhere to fill an C02 air tank . That ’ s tens of thousands of players not buying guns , not buying paint , not buying goggles and not getting immersed in the game and its culture . Think about this … you can give a paintball gun , goggles , tank and a case of paint to someone that is interested in the game and if there ’ s no field within 45 minutes of their house , they ’ ll probably never play the game . In fact , they may never even fire the gun . That ’ s my number one …