Re: Paintball (was: age...)

On Mon, 26 Jan 1998, Jim 'Jiji' Foster wrote:

> 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.

Let me elaborate. I like scenario games as much as the next man.
I've organized a few in the past. But paintball has a serious and very 
unfortunate image problem. If you organize a game based on a real
battle, 
someone is bound to take it the wrong way (often on purpose). The fact 
that practically all sports have roots in martial arts is completely
lost 
on these people.

Interesting fact: The Finnish version of baseball was developed to teach

the youth useful martial skills like throwing grenades, diving for cover

etc. This is a widely known fact, yet do they call baseball a fascist 
neo-nazi wargame? Nope...

It's about stereotypes. Baseball looks like any other ballgame, so it's
a 
sport. Miniature gaming gets likened to playing with toy soldiers, weird

but harmless. Paintball gets likened to paramilitary training :-(

Paintball, sports shooting and miniature games are not wargames in the 
same sense as army maneuvers could be called wargames. People don't play

them to learn to kill other people in real life (even for a good reason
as might be the case with army maneuvers).
 
Yes, paintball could be classified as a wargame, but so could be chess.
As long as the media doesn't call chess a wargame, I think it's better 
not call paintball either.

Anyone interested in my paintball career, check out
http://www.swob.dna.fi/pball/
http://www.swob.dna.fi/pball/baddboyz/

--
maxxon@swob.dna.fi (Mikko Kurki-Suonio) 	  | A pig who doesn't
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+358 50 5596411 GSM +358 9 80926 78/FAX 81/Voice  | is just an ordinary
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Maininkitie 8A8 02320 ESPOO FINLAND | Hate me?	  |	     - Porco
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