More info on the "Top Paintball Sniper" update

Ok, I guess since I can do this here, I'll go into some depth.

Last week I was shown a "Top Sniper Competition" web site.  The site was well built, but the rules were pretty bare bones.  This is what served as a red flag for me, as I've seen this before.  Huge money promise, very bare on the "what you gotta do to earn it".  It was pretty reminiscent of the past two events I've been talking about, the Big Rubout and the Island game.

When I posted the video, I was kind of surprised (but not really) that the sniper community got all uppity about it.  Then again, they're the most hyper-sensitive group in the sport next to the tourney guys.  You throw a pebble at them, they respond with tac nukes.  So I found it interesting that most of the response wasn't about the event, but about themselves.  Not all of them, but a majority and enough to color my opinion of their subset.

One guy asked me alst night about the rules, and I had a look.  A few things had happened from 24 hours ago, the biggest being that the TPS website overhauled.  The rules are now pretty much fleshed out completely, the ranges are brought down to a more realistic paintball distance, and there's actually explanations of what to expect and practice for.

This is the fundamental difference between this event and the other two I'm talking about.  Paintball Island never addressed specifics, and neither did Rubout.  Both of which were vague with everything.  This event actually responded, which is something I really didn't expect.  So cool they did, and made changes.

I did think about this, however.  The last event is now a 50 minute crawl to get from about 300 feet to 100 feet from a human target to shoot them.  Points for getting closer, but they're eliminated if they get spotted.  Personally, I think the event would be better if they gave the spotter a paintgun and unlimited ammo.  And let him shoot at the snipers.  I think that'd be a much more interesting event.  Your'e out if you get HIT, which would showcase that long range shooting they're so happy to brag about but the points would reward guts to crawl into the barrel of a gun.

However, the whole thing is really highlighting a problem with paintball.  The irony meter is going haywire with these guys.  They say it's about having fun, not being milsim, and yet they're happily calling themselves "snipers" and wearing ghillie suits.  You can't have it both ways.  And why not?  Well I'm saving it for a video but suffice to say for the short term that it sends mixed messages.

Anyhow, a lot of these guys are now challenging me to PROVE that what they do is not being a sniper, and that I need to prove that "paintball snipers exist!"  Umm, no.  See, I call most of what they do as "fundamental woodsball skills."  Camo use, cover, concealment...  Yeah that's just playin' in the woods, not sniping.  And asI said in Q&A 5, there's no certification course so there's no minimal training so ANYONE can use the ter therefore diluting it's meaning.  And most "paintball snipers" sit back at the flag and are a useless waste of 2.5 square feet of space on the field.  They'd be more useful at the front, but that's taking a risk I guess.  A risk of being hit, oh noez.

As far as I'm concerned, this isn't over.  Not by any means.  The bit with TPS is resolved, and that's cool of them to address it.  But with the "sniper community"?  Yeah those guys for the most part spit in my face while screaming at me to "respect what I do dammit!"  Really classy, sure.

So here's what I'd like to see.  I want to see a "paintball sniper" do a show.  5 minute show on how to do something "paintball sniper" related.   Put it out on youtube, let the world see it and critique it ont he same open forum that you critique my stuff and let the world do to you what you're happily doing to me.  I'm just saying, ya know.