The Heart Of Recreational Paintball

By Jamie Innes - Jan 2004

Before there was such a things as Recreational Paintball, Tournament Paintball, Speedball, Scenario Paintball... there was The National Survival Game. Paintball was invented in 1983, in Virginia, USA, by a couple of guys that had thought of an ingenious use for cattle markers (Air guns that shoot paintballs). In The National Survival Game, players typically carried paintball markers with very limited ammunition, wore shop goggles for face protection, wore camoflauge, and usually played in the woods. Every other type of paintball has evolved from this.

In this day and age, paintball caters for several kinds of players. However, ultimately it boils down to the individual... and ultimately, different types of paintball are mere variations on the same thing anyway. A game where you fire a paintball marker against other players.

For those who would like to play the game as a sport, and play a fast paced game on a small arena, Speedball, or Tournament paintball is most likely what they will choose. For those who would like to play the game as a role play, and/or re-enact wars in an exciting, safe and fun way... recreational paintball (recball), and scenario games are what they will choose. That is what this article is about.

The desire to play bushball, woodsball, recball... and scenario games, whichever you'd prefer to call it... really stems from a desire to role play. This role playing is the heart of recreational paintball, it's what makes recball what it is, and is also the reason that it can be misunderstood, even hated.

There is a surreal fascination that man has with war. It is terrifying, yet exciting. Putting everything on the line, you against the enemy. However... war is pretty much the most terrible thing that we know about, and that we participate in. Yet war can be looked upon with a sense of usefullness, of purpose. We can learn from war. We can learn by going through such an experience. We can become better people.

Wars are fought by soldiers, and it's the imitation of being soldiers that defines most (but not all) recball. When you go to a paintball field for the first time, you can expect to play game either in the woods, or dressed in camoflauge, perhaps both. And ultimately the object of the game will most likely be to eleminate your opponents by shooting at them, and capture thier base (or thier flag). The link to real war is undeniable.

It's this link that offends political sensibilities. "Playing war". Whoever thought of such an aweful thing?

Like I said, the desire to play recball is a desire to role play. Much like war re-enactments they have in the United States. Only unlike a war re-enactment, where everything follows a set plan, using paintball to role play... gives you...

1.  A chance to participate in a battle that has a different outcome everytime you play it.
2.  An appreciation for what it's like being on a battlefield, without really being there.
3.  An opportunity to fancy dress. So is this a good thing?

To people who would be activists aginst the game of paintball, the first people they point the finger at are recballers. However, firing a paintball marker... is still firing a paintball marker, whether or not the said marker looks like a real gun, or like a laser gun off Star Trek. The next people they will point the finger at are the tournament players. In this sense, the different kinds of paintball are simply one and the same.

To the people who would use recball as an exciting and fun way to spend the weekends, playing the game offers this... and a sobering and educational perspective on war. After being shot for the first time by a paintball, one quickly realises that a real battlefield is not a fun place to be. In paintball, being hit means you're either eliminated from the game, or go out of the game for a standdown period. But there will always be a next game, and you're not in fact dead.

Despite the similarities between the dedicated recballer, and modern soldier, recball is a role playing game, and a war is a war. The two are different. Education is key to making people understand. After they understand, they can formulate an informed opinion. My hope is that paintballers everywhere, can inform the general public, whenever the said public inquires... what the heart of recreational paintball really is.