From: krehn@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (karl rehn)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.paintball
Subject: Re: multiple hits (long)
Date: 15 Oct 92 13:36:54 GMT
Reply-To: krehn@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (karl rehn)
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX
Originator: krehn@grumpy.cc.utexas.edu

*** this is a long post - you have been warned... ****

ron wrote:
>Now this guy gets pissed and claims that I fired him up!  He claimed
>that he got 6 shots to his mask and he called out on the first one.
>Now I didn't think that this what I did was very unreasonable or malicious
>as I have been in situations where I was raising my arms and calling out
>but shots were in the air and I received 5-6 extra hits before.

Recently I was in a similar situation, except on the other side of the gun.
I was going to be in Honolulu for 2 weeks and I thought it would be fun to
play paintball while I was there, so I took my F1 and related goodies.
I was able to make contact with some of the team members of
Tropical Lightning, who run an open game at the only field in the state.

I showed up as a walk-on, and got paired up with 5 newbies (Marines, no less),
and the two senior members of the 'home' team joined us.  Basically, for
4 hours we were used as practice targets for the home team.  Our team lost
every game - mostly because our 5 newbies would essentially hide and not move
for the entire game.  The senior team guys on my team would talk tactics with
their guys (our opponents) between games - then they would come back and tell
us our plan as well.  Typically me and the two 'home team'ers would be the
assault force and the other guys would stay back, so I was always right up
front.  Everyone was very friendly, and the games were fun - except that
it was really obvious that we had little chance of winning.

Getting to the point - during one of the games, I was told to 'run up fast and
get behind that (big) tree'.  Turned out that my team captain, who was also
the normal team captain of the homeboys, had told his guys to try to move
as fast as they could into our flagbase.  I didn't know this, and was not 
expecting the kamikaze charge that came at me (I was in the front again).  
We were playing a small field, and within 30-60 seconds I was under fire 
from 2 attackers.  I was still hiding behind this large tree.  Suddenly an arm 
reaches around from the other side of the tree - muzzle of the gun touching 
my exposed/bare left hand, and fires 4 unaimed fast shots into me at point 
blank range/contact distance.  I call hit and get off the field to nurse my 
wounds.  My left hand was bleeding from the first shot, and two more up my
left arm and shoulder hurt worse than any welt/hit I've ever had.  I was not
happy about any of this.  During the explanation of the field rules the 
'surrender' rule was clearly discussed - and 'not lighting people up' 
was also mentioned.

About this time the other team has finished wiping us out and runs back with 
our flag to win the game, in something less than 5 minutes.  After the home
team field got off the field, I went over into the middle of them - basically
ready to 'take on' whoever had shot me up.  I held up my bloody hand and 
asked 'OK- who was behind the tree?' and a quiet voice behind me said 
'well...that would be me'.   He instantly started apologizing and was 
extremely nice - his attitude definitely made a difference.  He seemed to 
be sincerely sorry for doing it - things were happening very quickly in that
game and he claimed that he didn't know I was behind the tree until I started
firing at his teammates.  His attitude really made a difference in my reaction.
I accepted his apology and cooled off.

The up-side of all this was that Scott and I ended up going for beers afterward
(he bought) and I went back the next weekend and played again.  Basically all 
of those guys were very friendly - they were just very focused on building
their team skills and weren't concerned with whether the walk-ons (who 
were paying quite a bit to play, IMHO) (a) had a good time and were 
interested in returning and (b) got to play with anyone experienced to 
improve their playing skills.  The following weekend I convinced Scott 
to get me on the home team, and they did a better job of balancing the 
teams which made for an enjoyable day.

Another (quick) story:
When I passed through Seattle a few months ago I played
with a group of folks at Shadow Lake that were great, except for this one 
guy.  Turns out he's extremely well known for being a total jerk on the 
playing field.  I watched him enter a game already in progress as a 
'renegade' player.  He thought we were using the whole field, but we were 
down to 4 on 4, so we decided to play 'half-court'.  This idiot runs into the 
(now) out-of-bounds area, runs up behind one of the players who is 
engaging two opponents from behind a tree, and hammers him 6 times 
in the back from about 20 feet.  This guy stops, turns around, gets hit
3-4 more times by the other players (who stopped shooting quickly, 
but they were in mid-hose...).  I was surprised they didn't eject this 
guy, but it turned out that both the shooter and shootee were on the 
same tournament team and the shootee wasn't as angry as I would
have been.

In your situation, I don't know what to suggest other than to try to convince
the offended player that it wasn't intentional.  I basically assume I'm going
to get hit more than once if my opponent has a semi - since I'm firing 
multi-shot bursts as well.  There's always a lag time between you firing, 
the ball breaking, the other's decision to call 'hit', and your reaction
to stop shooting.  

I guess it has a lot to do with the attitude that we bring to the field. 
Playing this game seems to require a considerable amount of maturity
and self-discipline - to keep yourself from cheating, wiping, lighting up
other players, getting into arguments/fights about who shot who first, 
and picking teams so that you're guaranteed to win (shooting up the 
newbies).  It's that battle between the adrenalin and aggressive behavior
that we let loose on the field and the calm, civlized demeanor that we
(hopefully) normally exhibit.  That aggression seems to be a big part
of the game - it gives us an environment to safely get that adrenalin rush
from (simulated) combat without actually inflicting serious damage.  In
boxing and some martial arts, major injuries are built in:  you don't win
unless you knock your opponent unconscious.  Football players get
pounded all the time.    

It's supposed to be a game.  If this guy that you shot up wouldn't 
accept your apology, there's not a lot you can do except try to be friendly
next time you see him.  If he can't get over it,  then you should probably avoid
playing with him.

Karl Rehn/ UT Austin
comments to email at krehn@arlvs1.arlut.utexas.edu
flames to /dev/null