Paintball Journal

In a spot of news that’s guaranteed to change the way that many paintball fields look at doing business, Drop Zone Paintball has announced that they will only be allowing gravity hoppers on their field during recreational play.

Their aim is to level the playing field again. As guns like the Ion and PMR were released, more and more people started substituting quantity of paint in the air for skill because it became so financially viable. For what people used to pay for Tippmann 98 Customs, they began to be able to afford guns that could actually compete with higher ends.

This meant that even beginning players were able to shoot very quickly without having played for enough time to gain the skill that many had had to gain previously. In days of old, people played until they were actually truly being held back by their gear, and then had to invest a lot of money into buying guns that were not the leap in technology that you see today.

So, at least in my head, ten years ago, you didn’t see the random inexperienced kids shooting their mad gats at the chrono. Or ramping on the noobs at their local field. Or thinking they were hard until they suddenly got lit up and ran off the field crying.

Like today.

Anyway!

Drop Zone has come up with a perfect solution. There’s no ROF limit, no board caps, no tech limit on guns. Instead, there is a blatantly obvious object that has to be on top of your gun: a gravity hopper. It’s easily recognizable, and very, very few people are going to try to cheat by modding a grav hopper. In fact, how stupid that would make you is hardly describable. Plus the switch might give you away.

So, what are the potential problems? None that I can see, as long as they’re reasonable about allowing teams to practice with electric hoppers, because those aren’t going to leave tournament paintball, at least in the foreseeable future.

Read on to see the full text release!

Press Release
Date: February 1, 2008

Re: Recreational Paintball and Affordable Firepower

Starting in the 2008 season, Drop Zone Paintball Park will limit recreational paintball play to gravity fed hoppers only.

Drop Zone Paintball Park has been in operation since 1989 at our original location south of Lawrence, KS. Our goal during that time has been to run a responsible business by making the game of paintball fun and available to as many people as possible.

Over the years, the rate of fire of paintball markers has increased dramatically.

In the early days of pump markers, one could only shoot 1 to 4 balls per second. Semiautomatic markers increased that to 6 to 10 balls per second. Electronic markers made rates of fire in the 10 to 15 ball per second range possible. Most of the higher end guns at that point though were limited by hopper technology (what feeds the balls in) and the high cost of the marker itself which could easily be $700 to $1500.

Recently there has been a large influx of budget priced markers and hoppers that let the average recreational player shoot 14 to balls per second or more for well under a $500 investment. This lower initial investment has led to a proliferation of high rates of fire in recreational play. Players are still getting in to the sport for the same amount of money but they’re entering rookie and recreational play with a much higher ROF than previous players. This proliferation of high ROF has several effects.

First: The proliferation of high ROF has increased the cost of the average day of paintball play. This higher cost has limited the number of people that get to enjoy the sport. They have either chosen not to play all together or dramatically reduced the amount of play time they get in.

Anyone that wants this high rate of fire ability can get it for a relatively small cost and many people have. If they haven’t yet, then they feel compelled to because they are at a considerable disadvantage on the field due only to rate of fire. To shoot enough paint, to gain that advantage, you have to pay more. There were times that a 100 round pod of paint might last all day. Most won’t remember those days. More recently, a 500 round bag would last the whole day. Now, to compete on rate of fire, a case of 2000 is not unusual.

This higher paint consumption, just to be competitive on ROF, should not be necessary to enjoy the game.

Second: The proliferation of high ROF has kept new players from entering the sport after seeing it up close and has made current players drop out after bad experiences. In essence, paintball has become more painful. With pump and semi automatic markers one would normally get hit 1 time and then call themselves out. Getting shot 3 or more times was usually considered intentional overshooting and poor sportsmanship. With the proliferation of high rates of fire there has been a rise in the rate of accidental overshooting. At 10 balls per second there might be 4 or more balls on the way to the target before the first one hits. Then more on the way while trying to see if the first few broke. An accidental overshooting, by one person, of 5 or more hits at one time is no longer unusual. When you factor in higher rates of fire, instances where there are multiple people shooting at one target, and intentional overshooting, it becomes a commonplace occurrence where players are shot 8 to 12 times or more before leaving the game.

It hurts. It’s not fun. And fun should be what this or any game is all about.

At Drop Zone Paintball, we believe we can counter the multiple problems created by high ROF with one new rule. All recreational play for the 2008 season will be done with gravity fed hoppers only. Regardless of the paintball marker being used, it must be fed with a gravity fed, non-agitating hopper. This will reduce the rate of fire, for all guns, to 7 to 10 balls per second. Being forced to shoot slower will make a day of play cheaper and more fun so that more people can enjoy the sport.
Not yet convinced?

•One thrill of paintball is the rush of being shot at and knowing that it’s going to sting when you get hit. That stays. You get all the excitement that’s been there since the first paintball marker was shot at someone but we get rid of the dread of being hit enough times to ruin your day.

•The game will be more competitive. By equalizing the rate of fire, players will have to rely on moving, communication, accuracy, tactics, and form. With an even rate of fire you can’t be automatically good. You actually have to be good. You might even have to practice. Just kidding, there are of course . . . There are of course many players that shoot fast AND have excellent, practiced skills.

•The slower rate of fire will make the game less painful so more people want to enjoy the sport. If you’ve been out to a field recently and played you’ve probably noticed a lot of anger and attitude. You’ve maybe seen an argument or even a fight breakout related to overshooting. Lower rates of fire will reduce the overall amount of tension on the field making the sport more fun for all.

With all of that being said, this is NOT the end of agitated hoppers at Drop Zone Paintball Park. We will continue to run special events, including scenario and tournament play, that may or may not allow agitated hoppers and ramping guns. This will be decided on a case by case basis taking in to consideration the level of play, series requirements, and customer feedback. Once a month we’ll have unlimited open class play on a Sunday afternoon. If you want to show off your super fast hopper and gun and get that thrill of rattling off 15+ bps then this will be your chance.

We invite anyone who has questions or comments to contact us directly at (785) 841-1884 or by email at dropzone@dropzonepaintball.com .

We’d be happy to listen to any concerns you have. We will do what we can to responsibly accommodate all types of players.

We’re doing what we think will work best for our company, in our area. This may or may not be the best policy for other fields across the country but we believe it’s worth a try. Hopefully, this manifesto of sorts will begin a healthy discussion within the industry about the proliferation of increased firepower and its long term effect on the sport.

19 years in the sport and looking forward to many more . . .

Ken Farris - President/Owner and Galen Adams - General Manager
Extreme Sports, Inc. d.b.a. Drop Zone Paintball Park
Lawrence, KS