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Indy Paintball Battleground And Why I'm Done With Them


broken

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I figured the community as a whole should know about this since they have deleted the post. This is from memory, while I will try to keep this as factually as possible I can't guarantee 100% accuracy. I wrote a much longer version of this, but without screenshots or the post to reference to I will keep this short and to the point as more of a basic PSA.

 

Indy Paintball Battleground (Indy BG) posted some photos taken by Integrity Shots (the photographer) of their paintball open play from the previous weekend. I've noticed that the last few groups of images they've posted of paintball games were a lot more tactfully watermarked than the last airsoft game, basic company name vs border rounded with logos and a transparent company logo in the middle. I asked if there was a reason for the disparity and they informed me that this was their new system and they are working on migrating past photos into the new system. Cool, I let them know that the previous photos I had seen were a bit excessively watermarked and that it kinda contradicted the "grow our sport" message they had given us during the game. Long story short, this comment thread devolved into the photography company accusing me of being a freeloader who wants free photos and that I should pay for them if I didn't want the photo plastered with watermarks. That's fine, I was a bit peeved at the photography company but that is them and not the field.

 

Then after a bit the field chimes in with, what I'm guessing was their attempt at a professional response, a post that parroted an earlier claim by the photography company to just remove all the images because there was a criticism of the watermarks, that we should be very grateful that the photography company came out in the first place, that it is extremely selfish to want viewable images without paying first, and that it was "unprofessional" of me to air critique on this post.

 

I may be overreacting but I'm not a huge fan of being spoken to like that by a company that the airsofting community of the area as a whole are trying to support, especially when it basically stemmed from a minor critique/comment. Their response at the end showed they have no intention of interacting with our community like that have repeatedly said they want to. It's not unknown that we've had complaints about the photography company in the past, multiple people commented about it in the AAR. Between the fact that I got called ungrateful by the field for commenting how much better the paintball images were, the Speedsofters that show up every game and play like the worst stereotype of Speedsofters without repercussion, and the drive from Lafayette to Greenwood to support a business that would speak like that to a customer just bringing forward a minor critique, I am officially done with this field.

 

This is just my two cents but I thought this shouldn't just be forgotten.

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From what I could tell, it looked like one or two of the refs enjoyed the idea of airsoft, but the other employees seemed disinterested or bored. Could be the staff were just having a rough day but I get the vibe that paintball fields aren't big fans of the airsoft crowd in general. Same vibe when I used to ask people at WRP or Indy Acres if they'd be willing to cater to us.

 

Understandably for these people to get involved with airsoft, that requires an investment which may or may not be returned. You'd need to train/hire staff, read up on rules and maintenance of equipment, get rental gear, etc. and as far as these field owners may be concerned, there's not enough people in their eyes to justify that (not to mention we bring our own kit which could in turn cut into their profits from rentals). In summary, from a monetary standpoint I see no reason for them (paintball places) to give us any quarter in using their field. As you mentioned with the speedsofters (yes, I saw them too), one bad apple spoils the bunch and all that applies here as well.

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You have to also keep in mind that the paintball industry is all about the Benjamin's. They rarely if ever do anything for free. At least in my limited experience. That's why paintball is slowing going away. So paintball fields have now opened up to airsoft to make a quick buck. That's why you get the "field bbs only" places.

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You have to also keep in mind that the paintball industry is all about the Benjamin's. They rarely if ever do anything for free. At least in my limited experience. That's why paintball is slowing going away. So paintball fields have now opened up to airsoft to make a quick buck. That's why you get the "field bbs only" places.

 

You're right, and as I tried to put delicately there's no easier way to put it: they want cash. However in order to get said cash, they could at least show us some respect.

Edited by Snuffles
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  • 6 months later...

As a means to update, and Broken is welcome to chime in, I believe this field is now under new management. It is my hope that we can start fresh and look forward to more opportunities to play here.

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Yup long story short, the reason they stopped hosting games was due to a change in ownership and the new owners not being super informed about airsoft. I think this is a good opportunity for the community as a whole to get a fresh start.

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