Seems like

StormyKnight wrote: Has paintball lost popularity here or has the membership at large just moved on to bigger and better things?

PBNation really did a number on most of the brand-specific sites years ago. Add in the fact that so many of our members are married/getting married, working full time, raising families, etc and the fact that we all kind of keep in touch via Facebook as well, and it just keeps slowing down and slowing down.

Paintball as a whole also experienced a crash of sorts. It's just now starting to dig itself out of the pit that Smart Parts dug for it. Combine the fact that newbies with rental 98's couldn't even hope to stand a chance against bonus-balling aggletts spewing 20+bps from cheap Ions, especially at smaller mom-and-pop fields that couldn't afford to split walk-ons into separate rentals and owners groups with the fact that parents could no longer afford the cost of the paintball arms race (in terms of cases of paint, new markers every year, jerseys, pants, etc) when their credit cards got maxed out and the bank came for their houses, and the whole thing just collapsed.

Those field that did survive found that the profitable side of the sport was the flashy, paint dumping tournament side of things. Almost all of the fields around me started tearing out trees and forts in favor of turf and airball bunkers. After all, what's the point in devoting all that acreage to just a few woods fields when you can cover it with 5x as many airball fields and make even more money off of the high volumes of paint people are shooting AND charging a premium to play on artificial turf rather than grass and dirt. I consider myself lucky to have a honest-to-goodness recball field near me. Everyone else pretty much either packed it in around 2008 or changed over to all airball.

I think it'll be a few years until the sport sees another "golden age" like the late 90's/early 2000's. It'll happen when guys like me, USAF, Reb, PCF, and others have kids who take an interest and get us back into it. I think that was part of the impetus we saw in the late 90's. All those guys who played in the early days suddenly had kids of age who wanted to play too.

I'm rather disappointed I got out of it. I never said "I'm done" but I rather just stopped going. I know I have a case or two somewhere that is probably a cube by now. Plus I have an Atomic Ordnance grenade from before Tippmann bought them.

I have so little time for any hobbies whatsoever that I have no idea when I will go again.

I think Facebook killed the amount of time members spent on this forum. 

Edited by God - 18 August 2014 at 5:53pm

God wrote: I think Facebook killed the amount of time members spent on this forum.  Its nice to think it was us all getting older and having less time, but I am willing to bet that most of the members still spend time on a social website daily without the strict-ish rules.

I would spend more time on here if others were more active in posting as well. I send more time on teh bookface due to the fact that Mother isn't as busy anymore...

Been a couple of years since I played.  Seems like there aren't enough people interested in playing anymore.  But now, football is starting up with my stepson and school at the first of next month.  This would have been the perfect summer to play as it never really got hot at all.  Oh well...

I'll second that "feeling it" part mbro.

I chipped a kneecap a year ago when playing. Slid into a 55-gal steel drum which was on it's side and wasn't wearing my knee pads (old ones were shot, new ones hadn't come in yet). Now I can tell you when it's going to rain or snow....

I've been massively into prep for the twc this year.   I've been flipping pb stuff in an attempt to update some gear.

I swung through the monster game and it was kind of sad to see only a couple of hundred players and when they gave away a thousand dollar gun there was little celebration.   Anyone that remembers hs knows that typically the crowd is very rowdy.   The game play actually looks fairly solid.

I still know quote a few people there. During the raffle I stood next to the tippmann trailer listening which was away from the crowd.   I think Dennis wondered if I had a question for him as they were loading up.   Nope.   I Just wasn't identifying with newer ballers.   Just doesn't feel the same.   

The days of private individuals with a massive pile of parts are not happening right now.   All retail.

I know times have changed when a baller with 3 Grand in gear asks what an autococker is.

A quick glance at other large fields across the country and you'd never know the economy skipped a beat. Hot Pink and lime green head to toe toting a 2000 gun.   Pink shoe laces too don't forget the shoe laces.

Hs is so blue collar currently.   Cut off shirts that don't match etc.

New Deal with pg gear is bounce pads.   I'm ready

I lurk, sometimes post replies or start a thread. Started one about my new mountain bike hoping to see others who enjoy that hobby, zero replies. The multiple gun threads are boring, maybe because I lost my drive about that hobby. Haven't played pb in years. Still have some of my gear. One of these days I'll get a new battery for the Angel, dust off the revvy, and borrow a tank. But most of our fields closed down, and I have zero interest of ever walking onto a Speedball field again.

But, I still check this site at least once a day.

I fell by the wayside when the group of players changed from gunho and ready to go out on the field and play to showing up late with their unprepared gear (not cleaned from the last time).  I would spend hours fixing all their markers while they stood around and talked about how awesome of players they are. Also since I have played mostly Outlaw, I lost even more interest dodging piles of broken glass, wood boards with nails pointed skyward, and rusty metal everywhere in some of the more sketchier playing locations.

Edited by God - 21 August 2014 at 1:48am

Checking the price of the local field, entry fee and a case of paint will run you $80 for the five hours they are open. If a case of paint could get away from the $60+ that it has been at since I started playing way back in the day, then I might be more inclined to play. I missed the days of going to an 8 hour scenario game or some night ball. Field paint has really killed it for me too. I understand some crappy paint can't be washed off, but those should be on a banned list by the field.