Paintball gear in mass market stores

Well no time like the present to get started then. Besides, this is something I've had on my mind a while. In the future I'll actually have better writing, but this is on my mind now and there's no real better place for it than here.

Having set this blog up I also set up the WDR blog as well. I wanted to make sure the "feed" system was working out for me, so I checked it over on Yahoo. Being somewhat curious, I also did a quick search on the word "Paintball". Here's an eye opener for you.

Out of the first 20 hits, over HALF were of paintball vandalism. HALF! Ok, a few were repeat stories that got picked up by the news and spread around, but here's a highlight reel.

Man tagged in leg from Drive By paintball shooting

Teens accused of paintball attack on bicyclists

Horse shot with paintball gun

And finally, my favorite : "Paintball terror suspect sentenced to life" And with the exception of the title there's no mention of paintball anywhere else in it. There were other stories too, but those jumped out at me.

Yes, it's modern journalism where red = green, but in the larger sense it's showing us what the outside world still thinks of paintball. Hooligans. Pranksters. Vandals. Paintball players aren't the main problem. The problem is partially stores like Wal-Mart and Dicks Sporting Goods. The problem is partially the industry's interest in turning a fast buck over long term growth of the sport. And the problem is partially cheap gear and disposable income combined to make it worth tossin paintball gear in the trash after a few uses.

How do I figure this? Well let's look at the reality. With $100 in my pocket, I can go into Dicks and pick up 500 paintballs, a semi-auto paintgun and a CO2 tank which they'll also help me get filled. I don't need anything more than money, and sometimes a parent nearby if I look underage. Yes, cheap gear is cool if you want to get more people into paintball, but it also means disposable tools for people who want to vandalize places and things. Sure, they'd use spray paint if it wasn't paintballs. But with paintball gear they can "SHOOT PEOPLE". Paintball gear is cheap, it's easy to get, and if you're in trouble throw it away because it's not that expensive. I used to think it was cool to have paintball stuff in Wal-Mart, now I'm not so sure.

I hate to say it's not just them, however. Skyball '04 we cleaned splat marks off of the Skydome from TOURNAMENT PLAYERS who decided it'd be funny and cool to deface our host's building and property. In 1998 I cleaned up splats 150 miles away from the Skirmish World Record Game at a rest stop where paintball players shot the hell out of a garbage can. These are players who should know better. These are people who don't help the perception, but nobody in the industry wants to say or do anything because it's lost revenue.

Solutions? It would be stupid for large companies to pull out of the major stores at this point; they'd lose a lot of money in the process and it'd do more harm than good in paintball at this point. But does the industry not have a responsibility to the game? To simply place items on the shelves without some kind of message to teach people how to use it properly is no better than handing lawn darts to grade school kids and letting them play catch. I still think that the solution is to get paintball gear out of the Wally-World and only in paintball shops, but that won't happen anymore. And it's obvious to me that the industry as a whole won't take action. So we have to look elsewhere.

The real solution is with the players and field owners. When it all comes down to it, we are the ones who have to make the difference. It's one thing to say how disgusted we are with people using paintball gear to vandalize property. It's another to offer to find the people or report activity. And it's yet another to tell a friend "Dude, that's not cool."

The media loves to run paintball stories. It's an easy way to drum up overused clichés and gang or military visuals. We as players need to pick up the slack. We can't control the media, and we can't control the morons who abuse paintball equipment, but we CAN make a difference. Help educate people who buy gear. Invite a reporter out to play paintball. Show them the other side of the sport. They may be closed minded, but they also might gain a new perspective. Instead of "4 paintballers vandalized a car" it becomes "4 teens used paintball equipment to vandalize property."

You may not think that's much of a difference, but believe me. It is. In one the black eye is on the paintball community. In the other, it's on 4 morons who would have used baseball bats if they had 'em. Realistic? Probably not. But entropy is easier than action.