Definitions and Distinctions?

[Anjin3515]

This has been coming up a lot with some people I know...so I figured I would ask here for peoples thoughts......



DEFINE...

Woodsball:

Scenario paintball:

Speedball:

Milsim:


What is the difference between...

Milsim and Scenario paintball?

Woodsball and Scenario paintball?

Woodsball and Speedball?

Speedball and Scenario paintball?

[matteusz]

This has been coming up a lot with some people I know...so I figured I would ask here for peoples thoughts......



DEFINE...

Woodsball:

Scenario paintball:

Speedball:

Milsim:


What is the difference between...

Milsim and Scenario paintball?

Woodsball and Scenario paintball?

Woodsball and Speedball?

Speedball and Scenario paintball?

I'll start.

Woodsball: Playing in the woods where cammo helps. Games are cpture the flag and the like. Major difference between this and other styles of play is usually the larger space and possible division of teams into smaller groups.

Scenario paintball: Defined by game play that is according to a script or plan usually arranged by event organizers. These events often follow military themes and historical battles. Major difference between scenerio and milsim being that re-enactment is distinct from military training for actually fighting people "where death is on the line."

Speedball: Balloons, timed games, lots of paint, massive disagreement on the rules, and wiping. When played honorably it is alot of fun. Small playing area short game times.

Milsim: Mil= military Sim= simulation Any playing of paintball focused on training for combat, reminiscing of said training, or "fighting" one another. The whole crowd that want to focus on "kills" and such. These guys turn woodsball into jungle fighting and scenerio into reenactment. They generally don't touch speedball as no one admires cammo on the balloon course and everybody knows both teams would be taken out by air support every time. They also make it either funny or really boring. After all what kind of a boring week do you have to have in order to think that games that take 3hrs and end in a single shot to your opponents back are exciting? I mean I like sneaky too but I want to actually get a chance to shoot or be shot all the same.


I will say that the scenerio that had all the "woodsball" teams using their own lingo and thinking that military tactics was hilarious and pretty good paintball at the same time. Something about flanking a dude with the tippman double trouble (that thinks he is invisible) and one balling him that just makes for good times. Ask manwe33 about it we have some good stories. Yet he still drags me to speedball.

[B-Pow]

DEFINE...

Woodsball: origin of the game, playing in the woods...with or without manmade hard bunkers (pallets, tires, 55gal drums)

Scenario paintball: try to add story to woodsball...and diffrent objectives than flag caps and eliminations.

Speedball: "fast paced" paintball with highly adjustable feilds designed to be fair and mirrored. hyperball, sup'air, X-ball...yadda yadda.

Milsim: costs about twice as much to have a marker that looks like a weapon...and clothes that muster the image of semper fi.


What is the difference between...

Milsim and Scenario paintball? a few hundred dollars

Woodsball and Scenario paintball? an attempt at story, and added/diffrent victory conditions.

Woodsball and Speedball? field "fairness"...aside from layout of cover and fairness of cover it's the same game.

Speedball and Scenario paintball? field fairness, victory conditions, story.

[Z-man]

I have the need. The need to make a post longer and more detailed than 86% of you will read, care to read or even take the time to reply with a nice tl;dr

Definitions and Descriptions (according to Zak)

Note: I make the assertion that scenario and speedball are the 2 "ends" of the ways you can play paintball. This comes from over a decade of immersion in the sport in California. I mention this because as I have found out, most states (and countries maybe?) do not have the level of fields that are in this state (I can only assume it's the money).

Scenario- Large (50+ often 200-400, sometimes as large as several thousand players) multi day games. Played on large defined areas of land ranging from urban settings to open forest scenarios represent one extreme of the paintball spectrum. Players eliminated go back to established re-insertion points meaning they are never "eliminated" permanently from the game. Cover on the field is usually limited to whatever the terrain affords and any changes to the land are limited to safety concerns and significant imbalances (if any). Virtually all have a "setting" or a "story" that includes objectives and missions that players can choose to try and complete. Points are awarded based on completing these missions and at the end of the event the winning side is determined by the greatest points.
Scenario style games commonly attract older players and those who prefer to play with an emphasis on the military similarities in the sport and real warfare. Camouflage, radio communication, and military movement formations / language / hand gestures are common place in scenario games. Many go so far as to add non-functional decorative parts to their equipment and attire to "look" the part. Role playing is a significant part of scenarios. It's a long winded way of saying these people want to RP like something out of Black Hawk Down regardless of how practical it would be.
Image of a scenario player (http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w72/enderwood/Damon013.jpg)

Speedball- Small (3 vs 3 to as many as 20 vs 20) short timed games. Tournament play being the extreme of this end opposite end of paintball speedball games are usually very short (10-15 minutes maximum) and almost exclusively played on fields that have been built for the game. All cover is laid out specifically and often in a mirror image to the other side. Bunkers, while they vary in size shape and construction are usually of all the same material. A field that uses air-filled shapes as cover would ONLY have that type of cover on the field and a field that used plastic piping would only have bunkers made from parts of that piping. The height, width and number of bunkers is usually adjusted to balance a risk vs reward perspective like in computer FPS games. A small bunker on a corner of the field might be very hard to get to without being shot, but if reached, would have a commanding vantage point. Players eliminated from a game leave the field until all of one side is eliminated at which point the game ends and the 2 sides switch sides and play the field again.
Speedball style games are the "in" style to play and as such attract most of the younger crowd. People might start off playing in the woods, but when they become hooked they gravitate to what the professional players do for sport; like cheating for example. Since camouflage in the military sense is pointless, and the younger generation is always in the know for fashion, Speedball brings with it, it's own kind of attire that often severs no purpose other than looking good to other players (ballers... whatever children). Special lingo and phrases (much of it borrowed from the online gaming community), stickers and seasonal trends usually reflecting whatever the pro circuit wears / says / mods their equipment to is what directs the Speedball community. Long winded way of saying, this is the rice car crowd of the paintball world. Bad °°° mothers and they know it.
Image of a speedball player (http://miguelcruz.com/07wc/images/07wc_2410.jpg)

Below is a graph that makes some claims about how these 2 different styles of play relate in terms of terrain, field size, attire (gear), and play style. these are simply 4 relations and there are many others that could be listed like age, honestly of play, ability to repair equipment, years of playing the sport, or distance traveled to reach the game, but I could make those later.

http://www.zakvetter.com/pb_relations_wheel.png

Also. The following are (in my opinion) terms that refer to the field layout rather than style of play (though most of these are speedball play type fields).

Airball- Just means that the bunkers you are playing among are inflatable
Hyperball- Just means the bunkers you are playing behind are that corrugated black drainage pipe
Spoolball- Just means... ya ya you get it.
Woodsball- Means that you are playing somewhere that has natural cover and very often limited to no artificial bunkers.
Recball- Short for recreational paintball. Usually means a day of play at a paintball field with whoever else showed up. Might be any of the above kinds of fields.

There now that I've done my good deed for the night.

[Ares]

i've never given this sort of thing much thought. i guess all things that have organized teams on each side are airball style and the rest is woodsie.

[RogueFactor]

DEFINE...

Woodsball: Paintball in a woodslike setting, usually played competitively like speedball

Scenario paintball: Paintball played on non-speedball fields to a scenario established by the promoter

Speedball: Paintball played on a speedball/airball/etc field.

Milsim: Paintball played with military-looking markers


What is the difference between...

Milsim and Scenario paintball? Milsim= Military style, Scenario= Any type of scenario type game(sometimes the 2 can be the same)

Woodsball and Scenario paintball? Woodsball = Speedball in the woods. Scenario= Themed non-speedball paintball in the woods

Woodsball and Speedball? One is in the woods, one is on a symmetrical organized field

Speedball and Scenario paintball? Speedball isnt played to a 'storyline', Scenario is

Basic answers in orange.