The Definitive guide to calling paintball hits.

The Definitive guide to calling paintball shots on yourself and others

Shooting at other players
When shooting at other paintball players in a woodsball event there are many factors that could keep your paintballs from eliminating its target. Those elements are Splatter/soft cover, bounces, medics,and one last factor ,adrenaline, which actually is a hit. Let me go over each element so you know what I'm talking about.

Splatter/soft cover- Basically your opponent has put several twigs/leafs/vines and what not between you and him so that your shots will not totally make it though to him to make a clear quarter mark. This frustrates some players and may cause them to think that even tho they shot 20 balls into that brush, one of them had to hit its mark. It's not always the case. The best bet for the shooter is to give the benefit of the doubt that they player isn't playing on. The best bet for the receiver is to double check himself and once he has received a substantial amount of splatter, he may need to call himself out.

Bounces- from the shooters perspective, he is lobing paintballs at his target and clearly hitting him but the target hasn't called himself out. The shooter can ask the player to check himself and if the player wants to play honorably he may want to step aside and check. Sometimes receiving players know its a bounce shot. If this is the case, the honorable thing to do is yell "Bounce!". Then the shooter is aware of part of the issues going on. Bounces happen alot under the right conditions. Some are temperature related, some are the shelf life of the ball. Bounces happen, so it's best for the shooter to be aware that is happens, and for the receiver to signal that its happening. Many a situation where a player calls for a ref to check his opponent and the ref calls the player clean is due to bounces, and not the receiving player wiping his hits.

Medics- If you playing in a game where medics are involved, be ultra aware of it. Medics don't like to see their hard work die by being shot, so do realize that if your shooting players out and they aren't leaving, a medic may be hiding. Ask a teammate to spot one. It may help out to keep your eyes peeled for one. Being a medic does ask them to get closer to the front lines, so there is a strong chance you may get a glance at him soon enough.

Adrenaline- Adrenaline keeps players from calling themselves out because they are so pumped up, and focus narrowed that they may take several hits before calling themselves out. Acts like these can cause situations to complicate because the pumped up player may take several of his opponents with him while playing on. When taking on a bold charge and lots of paint is flying past, do try to have a extra awareness of your person and double check for hits once on safer ground, and don't play up such a mistake on purpose because thats not a mistake, it's cheating.

Being shot at

Being shot at in a woodsball game also calls for awareness and self policing. When being shot at, a honorable player has certain duties that he owes, the game, and the player shooting at him. These elements would be, to make sure all hits are clarified as either a elimination or a miss, near hit, splatter, or bounce. As the rules for 24HourGames stand, if you have a fresh hit on yourself, your out. So if you have been wiping all hits at the deadbox, and see one that popped up on the field, the honorable thing to do would be to call yourself out. IF a player spots a hit that you didn't know was there, you might should call yourself out.

Playing woodsball is different from tournament, or hard core speedball. More than half of true woodsballers try to play with honor and call themselves out once hit with a quarter round splat. Some players play with deeper honor by calling themselves out on any hit, quarter, bounce or what not, but these arnt the rules for everyone. Those codes only apply to those that choose to follow them. Calling yourself out is your duty as a paintball player. It's not only honor for you, but it honor's the player that shot you.

Quote :

Why would a player not call himself out, thats just plain cheating!

Well, there actually are reasons why a player might be alittle stubborn about calling himself out, and still be a good guy. The answer is: Hard work. It may have taken a player alot of time or energy to get to where you found him. He may have crossed many hills, he may be very tired. He may have made some mistake, tripped, fallen, daydreamed, and just felt his efforts taken from him by one simple shot. It takes alot to hike half a mile up a hill and on the first sight of players, be shot out, and walk all the way back. Honor comes with a price, it is not something bought cheaply. Honor your fellow players, honor the rules, and honor yourself by making sure that the rules count when you play. If everyone starts with themselves first on keeping the rules, then our game will be much better off. Always seek to understand first, and be slow about pointing the blame.

Till next time.

I know I sometimes find that sometimes wearing a Vest makes it hard to identify if I've been hit. I know on a few occasions I have found that after a fire fight that I later discover that I got hit in the air tank on my back or elsewhere without even knowing it. There's not always a ref or teammate around to check you and most of the time I never had a reason to think I'd been hit.

When this does happen I try to give "props" to the player that eliminated me.

This is generally not an issue because I've found that if I get hit in the back that I don't feel, I usually get 2 or 3 more somewhere else that I notice.