Taking the broader view, I wonder how much complaining about cheats is really an attempt by Goliath to have slings declared unfair. And how much of the desire to be nice and conform is evolution telling David to fall in line.
When debating the rules of a game, the “unfairness” defense always seemed daft to me. The rules are almost assuredly fair in that they don’t favor anyone explicitly and are almost assuredly unfair in that they favor someone implicitly. It’s better to argue about what makes the game the most interesting.
Take basketball. Adding the 3-point line was certainly unfair to the Goliaths in favor of the Davids (or centers in favor of the guards), yet it opened up the game and made it more interesting. From my own experience in a fledgling sport, paintball has had issues with rate of fire (ROF) caps and guns that ramp (i.e., shoot semi at low ROF, but shoot faster than semi as long as a higher ROF is maintained). The big debate was ramping vs. semi. Ramping leveled the playing field in one sense because everyone could shoot the same speed, however, it helped back guys in favor of front guys initially because the ROF caps were set at 15 balls per second (bps) initially. This shut down movement and made the games far less interesting. Apparently these caps were brought down to 10-13 bps, depending on the league, which is much closer to what the average person can shoot in semi. I bet this has opened up the game and made movement easier, making it more fun to play and, for the sake of TV dollars, interesting to watch(1). I say I bet because I’ve been out of the sport for a while, so I don’t really know.
(1)There’s also the safety issue, which is really just a red herring. Look up the insurance stats, paintball is safer than golf and bowling (E.R. visits per 1000 participants).
Look up the insurance stats, paintball is safer than golf and bowling (E.R. visits per 1000 participants).
My first reaction is ‘well, yeah, just look at who plays paintball versus who plays golf or bowling’. Unless those stats have taken into account the differing ER visit rates of teens & senior citizens, I don’t think that says very much about how safe paintball is; teens playing bowling or golf probably have even lower ER visit rates...
teens playing bowling or golf probably have even lower ER visit rates...
I’m not so sure… I’ve been a teenager playing golf and I… didn’t quite treat the game and the safety rituals with quite the respect unconscious respect that the older players did.
Good point. All three sports (paintball, golf, and bowling) are significantly safer than basketball, baseball, football, hockey, and just about any other sport you can name according to the same stats.
Paintball, golf and bowling have under 1 injury per 1000 participants (paintball was lowest with .24) while the other four sports named are in the double digits.
When debating the rules of a game, the “unfairness” defense always seemed daft to me. The rules are almost assuredly fair in that they don’t favor anyone explicitly and are almost assuredly unfair in that they favor someone implicitly. It’s better to argue about what makes the game the most interesting.
Take basketball. Adding the 3-point line was certainly unfair to the Goliaths in favor of the Davids (or centers in favor of the guards), yet it opened up the game and made it more interesting. From my own experience in a fledgling sport, paintball has had issues with rate of fire (ROF) caps and guns that ramp (i.e., shoot semi at low ROF, but shoot faster than semi as long as a higher ROF is maintained). The big debate was ramping vs. semi. Ramping leveled the playing field in one sense because everyone could shoot the same speed, however, it helped back guys in favor of front guys initially because the ROF caps were set at 15 balls per second (bps) initially. This shut down movement and made the games far less interesting. Apparently these caps were brought down to 10-13 bps, depending on the league, which is much closer to what the average person can shoot in semi. I bet this has opened up the game and made movement easier, making it more fun to play and, for the sake of TV dollars, interesting to watch(1). I say I bet because I’ve been out of the sport for a while, so I don’t really know.
(1)There’s also the safety issue, which is really just a red herring. Look up the insurance stats, paintball is safer than golf and bowling (E.R. visits per 1000 participants).
My first reaction is ‘well, yeah, just look at who plays paintball versus who plays golf or bowling’. Unless those stats have taken into account the differing ER visit rates of teens & senior citizens, I don’t think that says very much about how safe paintball is; teens playing bowling or golf probably have even lower ER visit rates...
I’m not so sure… I’ve been a teenager playing golf and I… didn’t quite treat the game and the safety rituals with quite the respect unconscious respect that the older players did.
I suppose the relevant safety measures are to prevent people from getting struck by golf balls?
Oh no. The safety measures are there for the same reason they are in croquet. If you follow me.
Good point. All three sports (paintball, golf, and bowling) are significantly safer than basketball, baseball, football, hockey, and just about any other sport you can name according to the same stats.
A quick google search brought this up, which is consistent with stats I’ve seen in the past: http://www.americanpaintballcoliseum.com/new/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=53
Paintball, golf and bowling have under 1 injury per 1000 participants (paintball was lowest with .24) while the other four sports named are in the double digits.