Re: Age and Complexity

At 19:05 1/26/98, Allan Goodall wrote:
>On Mon, 26 Jan 1998 11:30:29 +0200 (EET), Mikko Kurki-Suonio
><maxxon@swob.dna.fi> wrote:
>
>>Paintball is not wargaming. It is a sport. We're trying very hard to
>>erase any warlike imagery, but for the general public guns+shooting
>>at each other equals war. Sigh...
>>
>>Sorry for the interruption. It's just that after four years at
national
>>championship level, I'm a bit tired of explaining I'm not a
>>Rambo-wannabe.
>
>I agree. It bugged the hell out of me that the kept calling it
>wargaming. I think that it's starting to change, though. I haven't
>played it quite a while. Maybe this year...

Interestingly enough, a few years ago there was an article in Action
Pursuit Games where an enthusiastic minature gamer pointed out the
similarities between minature wargames and paintball, and his love for
both.

In defense of this view, I've been a 'recball' player for quite some
time,
and my favorite paintball games are scenarios... which are wargames in
effect. In point of fact, there are a few of my more sedentary gaming
friends who I'd like to get on the paintball field just to point out to
them how truly difficult it is to command men in a tactical situation
and
how much training and morale matters more than hardware. In these
respects,
paintball is a wargame, because it simulates conflict.

But I agree with Mikko: I'm no Rambo wannabe just because I enjoy
playing
'let's pretend' with gun-like objects (or little metal war machines, for
that matter.) Also, as Mikko is a tourney player (what team?), I realize
the rules/format make paintball resemble fire combat the way that
football
resembles melee warfare: vaguely.

IMHO, most wargamers are not Rambo wannabees because they have a much
better grasp of military hardware and tactical realities than the
writers
of Rambo did. :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
Jim 'Jiji' Foster / jfoster@kansas.net / Jiji @ AnimeMUCK / TIP #28

"That's the way we all begin," said Tom Platt. "The boys they make
believe
all the time till they've cheated 'emselves into bein' men, an' so till
they die--pretendin' and pretendin'."
    Rudyard Kipling, _Captains Courageous_