Fix the Reffing, Fix the Game

This is the blog post that gets me in to trouble. Before we dive all the way in, let me spell out some caveats and things that should go without saying. First, my personal tournament playing experience is very limited. My experience reffing tournaments outstrips it, but that's not really saying much. I'm coming at this not from a player's stand point, and not from a ref's stand point; but in the only way I'm qualified: as a spectator and fan/student of all sports.

Second, nothing I write is intended as an indictment of any individual ref, nor am I making light of the difficult job they have to do and how little they get compensated for it. Yes, we all know that it's a tough thing being 100% mentally acute after standing in the hot sun for 12 hours, and I'm not dick enough to respond by saying "suck it up, that's the job you signed up for." I know reffing is hard, and if you read through my thoughts, I believe it will be plain that I don't think the refs are to blame for the level of reffing we currently see in this sport. So there, I'm not hating on refs when I'm hating on reffing. Some of you won't see past your own defensiveness to get the distinction. That's fine, just tell your friends how lame I am and post many many comments! And then buy a Contract Killer shirt from RazaLife.com. Come for the debate, stay for the pie!

The 3rd thing you should know about me is that I have a very scientific way of looking at the world. No, I'm not a scientist, but when I approach problems of philosophy or in trying to come up with solutions to issues I try to stick to that which evidence makes most probable, and I rarely (if ever) come to full-on conclusions to things. If I do come to a conclusion, that conclusion is provisional based upon further evidence. In other words: I don't pretend to know the answers, but when forced to, I will make my best guess based on the best available knowledge, and will always be willing to admit I was wrong when my guess turns out to have been mistaken, either from faulty logic or new data. I love learning and that means I'm wrong a lot. I'm used to it.

Lastly, we're going to be honest here and assume the players aren't going to help the refs out by stopping when they are shot. The honor system? Never heard of it. Oh yeah, and for ease of understanding, the PSP game is called Xball in this piece. Race2 is going to get replaced once they wake up to how lame it sounds.

OK, so let's get in to this. I don't think 7-man is a viable format because I believe it is impossible to adequately ref.

Whoa... this is about 7-man and not about reffing? Well... kinda. In my internal quest to answer the question of where paintball is headed and if we should be headed there, I'm always comparing and contrasting the two most popular pro formats. Y'see, I believe we should have one way to play pro paintball. I think it makes me look ridiculous when I can't answer a question as simple as: How does one play paintball? I also think it's clear this sport just isn't generating the income for the major sponsors to have 10 events a year, so we really should pick one way to play it at the top levels.

One of the ways in which I gauge which one (Xball or 7-man) is better for the sport in the long term is in its ability to produce a fair and equitable match-up that truly shows us which was the better team. And I think 7-man has some inherent flaws that make it impossible to adjudicate close calls.

Let me explain. If, after the breakout (and regardless of format), the game consisted solely of guys gunfighting out of their spots or players making moves from one prop to another (with no bunkering moves), paintball would be easy to ref. What makes it tough are when guys run other people down, or worse, when there is so much movement you have guys running at each other. At that point, the game becomes un-reffable and the refs are forced to make their best guesses. If two guys basically joust each other up to the 50 bunkers, and both end up with hits, the action is too fast and too spread out for one ref to be able to determine who was shot first (and consequently, who played on and deserves a penalty). Now imagine if 4 guys do it, and you have the Joy Division/Dynasty Commander's Cup finale in Costa Mesa a few years ago.

In the case of Xball and 7-man, those calls usually end up about the same, at least from my experience. I've seen some bad calls and some great calls in both. The difference is in how those bad calls end up affecting the outcome, not only of that game but the whole tournament. In Xball, thanks to the format, the refs have time after the fact to assess any penalties without making a life or death decision over the entire game... just one point in the game. And even if it ends up being a missed call, the team on the short end of it has the chance to overcome it and still win the game. Now, all of those things are also true of 7-man, but with a much smaller (microscopic, by comparison) window for not only doing the work of making the call but also for the team that might have suffered a bad call to overcome and still prove they are the better team.

In 7-man, the decision has to be split second and the repercussions, comparatively, are much bigger and affect much more of the game. And, because of the much higher effort required by the referees to get it right, 11 more hours of such calls in the hot sun with teams and fans and parents all screaming for your head introduces more chances to get the calls wrong. It's true in my line of work and in most others: the faster you are forced to work and the more distractions you must deal with, the lower the quality of your output.

And 7-man, as long as I've been watching it, hasn't improved in its reffing. Now, there are many reasons for this, not the least of which is one set of fixes requires money and nobody ever has it or is willing to spend it on reffing. But, even just having experienced refs hasn't shown any kind of increment of improvement. Again, I'm not talking about individual refs, whom I'm sure have improved as they get more experience. I'm talking big picture, overall kind of stuff. Reffing of the pro's on the center court of 7-man paintball has seemed to have always been at about the same level.

And, as I'm trying to make clear: I don't think that's the fault of the refs. I think the system they are being put into sets them up for failure. The combination of promoters neglecting to get them food and water (which has happened often enough to be the trend and not the exception), a shift lasting 12+ hours, no consistent training and practice apparatus in place, and the very nature of 7-man and the demands it places on the refs all spell out, at least to me, an untenable situation. And the best proof I have that it can't be fixed is that, at any of those levels, it hasn't been fixed after 5+ years. And these aren't incompetent slackers, these refs. Not at all. And, thanks to my experience with Kristen Kleist and competing in or helping to ref her events, I feel familiar enough with these top level 7-man refs to say that. They care deeply about the sport, they care deeply about doing a good job, and they do strive to get it right, or at least make it better. While many point to the NXL/Pro Race2 refs as the best in the sport, it is hard for me to believe they are actually better refs than the 7-man regulars. More likely, it seems, they have a better system in which they ref.

Refs of the Old School Challenge

At this point, I'm more inclined to blame the system rather than the people in it. And, with inventing Xball, they made wholesale changes to how the game is played that makes it much easier to ref. As a consequence, I believe they have made a game where the best team does win each match. And isn't that the point of the tournament? To see who the best team is?

What I have written above, I fully expect to be controversial, and probably in many aspects wrong or too simplistic to be accurate. I welcome your comments and look forward to learning from them. Thanks for reading!

History Pt. 1

Who can name everyone in this photo?

Why don't we have any history in this sport? To most people, Lane Wright is just the guy who runs the PSP and gets in arguments on the internet. Most people have to be told that he used to run to the other teams 40 and kill everybody... in the 10 man days when the fields were huge. When Oliver left Dynasty for the Ironmen, only a few saw it as a RETURN to the Ironmen. I think we can point to a few things for a reason why. None of them, by themselves, account for it. Fact of the matter is, we have about a 3 year shelf-life for the Story of paintball.

The big story right now is Dynasty wearing Empire gear... but people do an "Oh yeah!" when I remind them of what it was like seeing them shoot something other than an Angel. This sport has a long, complicated history, and we have collectively dropped the ball in keeping that history alive.

First, we can blame the media. We do have some excellent storytellers in this sport. People who are passionate about all aspects of it and starve themselves in singular pursuit of telling stories. People like Patrick Spohrer, Matty Marshall, John Amodea. But, those stories have always been told long after the fact. In the case of videos or magazines, it is months or even years later that we get a taste of what happened and why. Especially in the digital age when the gist of the story has already been told. And it's not a very lucrative career choice.

Decisions and sacrifices have to be made that dilute or minimize the story. Things move so fast and there is so little money in it that we have no Guardian of the Past. No Bob Costas who can make a living talking about Micky Mantle for 40 years. Technology pushed the splatmasters and autocockers and automags out. Shortened the fields, games and rosters. Faster faster faster. Meanwhile, who remembers what it was like? Who is keeping it alive to put today's game in the proper context? The only reason we marveled at how high Jordan could jump is because we had guys around to remind us what Dr. J could do. So Carl Markowski is the "fastest man in paintball," but we don't really have anyone to compare his feats to. We just have to take it on authority when Matt Marshall says it or Mike Paxson writes about it. I can't get into an argument with someone about Lane vs. Carl like I can about Wilt vs. Shaq.

Once something happens, we seem to mention it and even marvel about it... but quickly forget it. Our magazines are already looking to the next story, the internet has dubbed it "old news," and by the time we see it on a DVD, we can't remember what tournament that was or what it meant at the time. We don't have a cast of characters who will talk about it forever on the radio or internet, and just one filmmaker who can seem to build a good story out of it... but can't make it financially viable enough to do it more than once every 5 years.

And that brings us to the 2nd part of our blame-game: the fans. They don't care. Well, that's not true. I'm a fan, and I care. But I am, it turns out, a very small demographic. I'm rare. I actually sit and read stories and pay for DVDs and I even spent a year of my life talking in to a microphone to try and keep the dialogue going and the stories alive. I do plan on doing it again (podcasting), for sure. But, to what end? So I can entertain 80 people again? Or 120? I never got thousands, unless I was actually showing a live tournament, and that was only the PSP. Nobody seemed to care when I simulcast a local tournament in Canada. Not even Canadians tuned in.

Magazines have gone out of business left and right. The only ones putting DVDs out on the market anymore is DerDer, and as much as I like their videos, they don't really tell stories. Not like Jawwbraker did. Not like PUSH and Sunday Drivers. And if you ask Dan Napoli or Spohrer how many DVDs they sold, they'll quickly change the subject on you. Mostly because it's a rude question. It's like asking a woman her weight. But also because they don't get the support from the fans of this sport. If everybody who was willing to download a torrent of a paintball video actually purchased a paintball video, we'd actually have storytellers with cameras in this sport.

I don't think any of them would be buying yachts, but they'd be able to not only afford to produce another disc, they'd be able to feed themselves in the meantime and give their craft 100%. It's hard to make the effort when there seems to be no market for the stories. I ask myself, "Why? Why doesn't anybody seem to care?" I could sit and listen for hours to Matty or Chris Iaquinta telling me stories of the old days. Guys I only know by name and magazine photo only come to life as I hear about their hijinks or idiosyncrasies. I'm a relative newcomer to this sport. Bea Youngs had to tell me all about Lane Wright as a player. IQ and Mike Paxson had to tell me about the little tricks Ron Kilbourne has gotten away with. I actually had to force a story out of Eric Felix about his playing days. He was as hesitant to talk about it as my dad is about the Japanese occupation of his village in WWII.

Tomorrow, I will continue to berate you all for everything that is wrong with you, and then sit very high on my horse and tell you what you need to do to please me. Or... something.

PSP Phoenix Open, or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Wolf Shirt

Sleep! It is precious and good. I’m not an old hand at this… I haven’t been attending out-of-state paintball tournaments for years and I’m certainly not much of a party animal. So, recovering from this weekend’s PSP Phoenix Open is going to take me some time. Time, and massages with release.

So, I was tasked with writing about the Phoenix Open and the “condition” of our sports current Longest Running North American National Paintball League. I will do so by telling you my story. I am doing this for 2 reasons: because I think it will illustrate to you what I see as going on in our sports top level, and also because nobody else (not even my wife) cares at all about my story.

I arrived in Phoenix on Friday morning to begin preparing the PSP Webcast. The work was already underway and I made myself busy pretty quick. Patrick Spohrer, the man, the god, was running a day behind because a member of the crew was unable to make the event. As you may or may not be aware, we simulcast the webcast via closed-circuit feed to the major vendor booths in the vendor area. Patrick had to do all of that wiring and set-up himself, putting us behind in everything else that needs to happen to put on a webcast of this caliber. For those who don’t know, I myself have webcast 2 PSP Events, but they were rinky dink. I think everybody deals with me with kid gloves over this, because they weren’t really all that good. But I know that. I knew going in that it was me and a cam and a laptop and that it wouldn’t look anything like a professional show. But, it was better than nothing, and I take pride in the fact that what I produced was so bad it forced the big wigs to give Spohrer the financial backing to do his thing. I’m the grain of sand that irritates the oyster into producing the pearl. Patrick isn’t someone who does anything by half, though, and the sheer amount of equipment and cabling and computers and complexity to the webcast absolutely blew me away. There is no way in hell, not with all of the funding in the world, I would have been able to do a show like this. I didn’t even know this many cables existed!

Not only was the budget expanded a bit to add cameras for Dorito side coverage, the PSP gave the webcast away for free. The PSP seems really committed to building a show for the long term, taking the initial steps to packaging their product for more mainstream consumption. The plan, as I know it, is to do all four events this season, refining our practices and adding features as budget allows. Working on making this a viable avenue for advertisers to give the PSP money. You have to break eggs to make an omelet, and they have already broken a few thousand eggs on this.

As I ran around the event on Friday, before super huge weekend crowds hit the venue, there was a very somber mood in the air. Nobody was mad, or sad… but I felt a weight over the event. As if everybody knew some hammer was going to drop. Again. Like a Giant Hand might come out of the sky and yank you right out of the event, never to be seen in paintball again. Walking through the vendor village really brought this feeling out. Yes, the PSP changed some rules this year and only manufacturers, or their official representatives, can sell product at the events. A whole other 5 blogs can be written arguing the merits of this, and frankly such matters are way over my head. But I got the feeling that the vendors looked to their left and their right and wondered who might get yanked by the Giant Hand next, hoping it wasn’t them. This is how I imagine the streets of London felt in daylight during the bombing in WWII… only far less dramatic because nobody is getting killed. Underneath this oppressive weight, however, I could sense the plucky reserve of our current group of survivors. They were all determined to be the ones still standing in their respective niches when the tide comes back in. And yet, there were times during the weekend when the single row of vendors was packed. The Phoenix event increased in size over last year by about 20 teams, and as I moved through the crowds of the divisional players, I never sensed this weight of impending doom. They were there to win and have fun, and that much hasn’t changed. Not true when I was around the pro teams, however, as their fate is more closely tied to the manufacturers than the lower divisions.

As Friday got to be Friday night, there was still so much to be done. Our brand new, remote controlled, wide angle Dome camera still wasn’t working, and we didn’t realize until Chris Raehl had already shut off our wireless internet that we needed to download the control software! It took us over 2 hours to do something as simple as duplicate the scoreboard computer’s desktop out to my remote monitor so I can make sure the webcast’s scoreboard and the official scoreboard remain in sync. Little things like that which made our Friday turn into Friday night and then Saturday morning and then Sunrise and games are starting and 3 of us haven’t been to bed yet! Surprisingly, Saturday’s webcast went off pretty well. We were all tired and were facing around 13 straight matches, but managed to do a good job. Sure, our encoding software was wreaking havoc with everybody’s ability to watch, but we didn’t know about that until the end of the day. None of us had a spare moment to even look around the internet for feedback. If XSV hadn’t completely embarrassed someone in one of their games, we wouldn’t have even had a 30 minute break to eat a quick sandwich. Sat. night is a haze to me right now. I think we went out and had Wings and watched a UFC fight. Sunday morning just came too quickly and so did that first game.

Now, with a little sleep under our belts and a whole day of working together, we were ready to really start screwing up. Actually, I was the only one who did. I hit the wrong button and went live on Matty’s camera right as he took a huge bite out of his sandwich, and on another game I got the start time on a game wrong and was caught in the vendor village at game on. But, the good news is there was a whole night of cleaning up to do, and Patrick couldn’t fire me just yet. When cleanup was finished, we caught up with the 2^nd place Ironmen at a nearby eatery and had a good meal. The feedback from the interwebz went from “You suck!” to “You are amazing!” Zero to hero. We went from being on the verge of seppuku to being the kings of paintball. The web is a fickle and terrible mistress.

So we all finally relaxed and I got a chance to start processing all of the conversations I had with various people throughout the weekend. PSP execs, vendors, players, pro’s; everybody with their own piece of the puzzle that is the State of our Union. On the one hand, we have this new and shiny toy with the webcast. We are able to watch this sport like never before and it feels like we’ve reached a new plateau. Only to look back and see the entire mountain looking less and less stable. Is this a last ditch effort? A shot in the dark attempt to at least look “mainstreamable” so someone comes a long and pumps some much needed life into our coffers? Did we fire our last flair into the air? Or is it not all so bad? Maybe we are being overly sentimental to what was lost in this constriction. Maybe we look back on the days of Money Wasting as the salad days, barely conscience of what has caused our near demise. Perhaps someone has created the webcast to shine a light on what is still great about our sport and hopefully show us the way. One thing I know for sure, the professional players never fail to deliver the excitement and drama that makes for good show. If we are truly passionate about this sport, then we’ll at least carve some time out of our day to put eyeballs on a professional presentation of that drama and excitement, right? Especially when it’s free.

Right?

Oh, and a quick note to those cowards out there that didn't wear their Wolf shirts at the event, you've lost your right to wear them in the future. Don't blame me when the zombies come and you are powerless to stop them.

Man arrested for having 16 guns at LAX

MMMMMMMM.............. pretty sure that is Phil Dominguez from old NPPL and Worr Games.

If it is... He should have wore a Contract Killer shirt.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=6596169

THE PROCESS OF ELIMINATION

The PSP industry heavies are meeting next week do discuss the future of paintball and the future of the league. A possible merger with the NPPL may be in the discussions at that time. However, this could be just another rumor that has plagued the misinformed after the end of both leagues season. If the possible merger was to come into affect, one league would either have to bow out of its format or both leagues would have to recognize both formats and work as one. PSP partners have claimed heavy stakes in the XBall format that they have argued is the most effective to way justify winners and losers in one paintball game. (Ironmen and Philly can claim this format) As far as the NPPL format-Any given Sunday, can a team make it to the top. (Dynasty has been most dominant in)

As far as the quality of each league:

PSP- most competitive, most owned by industry, most political. More player appeal
NPPL- Great promotion, has TV in their pockets, promoter owned, more public appeal.
Cons- loop-hole game format and suspect "family teams" as real organized sports teams

7MAN NPPL CHALLENGE 2009

Activision Publishing Redefines Competitive First Person Action With the Release of NPPL Championship Paintball 2009





SANTA MONICA, Calif., Nov 25, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ --
At last, a true next-generation paintball experience is unleashed! Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) announced today that the official NPPL (National Professional Paintball League) Championship Paintball 2009 videogame is available now for the Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION(R)3 and PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment systems, and Nintendo Wii(TM).
"NPPL Championship Paintball 2009 is the fantastic end result of a close collaboration between the NPPL, Activision, and top professional paintball players," said Scott Pierce, NPPL CEO. "No paintball game has ever been this real - it masterfully captures the competitive intensity that makes paintball one of the most popular extreme sports in the world."
Paintball is an extraordinarily deep sport that requires teamwork, strategy, and precision, something the game accurately represents. NPPL Championship Paintball 2009 features multiple game modes (including woodsball-based gameplay), officially licensed gear, and authentic tournament locations and field layouts from the NPPL, the Millennium European Paintball Series, and the XPSL. Players can perfect their skills as they progress from a rookie to pro in career mode and take on the best paintball teams in the world, or get online for an adrenaline rush of cutthroat multiplayer action. With deep design contributions from the NPPL, San Diego Dynasty and Bob Long, motion-captured player movements, and cutting edge ballistics, the level of detail and realism in this game is unmatched.
"NPPL Championship Paintball 2009 is a blast for both paintball fanatics and first person action fans looking for something fresh," said Dave Oxford, Activision Publishing. "We're ecstatic to redefine the paintball experience in videogames."
NPPL Championship Paintball 2009 has a rating of "E 10+" for Ages 10 and up by the ESRB. It is available now for a suggested retail prices of $49.99 for Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system, $39.99 for Wii(TM), and $29.99 for PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system.
More information is available at www.PbSting.com.
About NPPL
The National Professional Paintball League (NPPL) is the #1 paintball tournament series and trade show in the United States and the preferred choice of players, teams, sponsors and spectators. Its five premier tournaments each year include the top national paintball event in the country held on the beach at Huntington Beach, California as well as at four NFL stadiums around the country.

WINNERS AND LOSERS PART UNO...

Biggest winner today- Dye Precision
Dye decides to go out this past weekend with the new Rotor Loader. This loader is smaller, lighter more efficient than the now seemingly primitive Halos and other loaders of today.
Think of it as a hybrid civic and a Halo being a dodge v8 4x4 doing the same speed and going on the same highway. Go Green!

Biggest loser today-PSP
With so much riding on the acceptance of the sport and hoping for the abundance of more people to pay for new top of the line stuff, absolutely no media attention was involved accept Pbreserve, Warpig and Katspics for viewers to count on for news, pictures, journalism, sport stats and of course 4 dudes with handheld cameras taping what they can to play on youtube.
Lets look at the simpleness of the situation:
1: Scarcity promotes demand.
2: Population growth promotes demand.
3: Technology promotes demand.
The number one supplier of shiiiiit load of new, old, and rare paintball products and products that have stood the test of time to forge a gigantic surplus of trash and treasure is Ebay. They too have their own banner ad signifying the abundance.
With an overwhelming surplus, wouldn't this equate to LESS demand?
If there were too many diamonds like their worms in the earth, will they still be as valuable?
We know this, the demand to play is always up. What to play with, is not. A struggling industry should invest in awareness, not monopolies.
THIS:

SHOULD NOT EQUAL TO THIS:

We hope for the best of intentions for the PSP and produce a great show and promotion for the fans to watch and enjoy this great growing and ever changing sport.Not just a great DVD that will probably sell for 29.99