Paintball

 

    Today in class I found the discussions we had about paintball very interesting. Here are my thoughts on the matter:

    There is nothing wrong with paintball. Many will say it promotes violence or is dangerous but both of these can be debunked with simple lines of logic. Paintball typically involves two teams with an objective, whether that is to retrieve an object from the other team, protect someone/something, or be the last person standing (all without getting hit). All three of these objectives can be compared to other games. Retrieving an object from the other team without getting caught is pretty much the same thing as capture the flag, protecting something can easily be compared to the objectives of sports like soccer, basketball, and football, and being the last person standing is simply dodgeball. There is a referee, clear rules, and clear objectives that aren't just to "hit other people" in paintball, so it is no different than the games listed above minus two clear differences: guns and shooting.

    But why does this matter? People look at paintball as a game involving guns and automatically assume that it is detrimental to mental being but this completely misses the point. The vast majority of participants in paintball are never focused on "shooting and hurting others," but instead achieving the well-established objective of the game (retrieve an object from the other team, protect someone/something, or be the last person standing, etc.). If a kid is focused on "hurting others," the issue isn't the game, it's the kid. An example of what I'm trying to say is if a kid is playing soccer to step on and hurt other people. The issue isn't soccer being violent, it's the kid being violent. There's no reason to ruin a fun game for 99% of the population because 1% can't handle it.

    Additionally, the solution to paintball being dangerous: if you don't want to get hurt then don't play.