The Wild World of TB!

Now, I'm the first to admit, I think sponsors in paintball are kind of a joke. Unless you're getting free gear, or they're paying your travel and paint, it's not worth mentioning. A lot of people disagree with me though, just cycle through any forum and look at the signatures. It is sponsors, sponsors, and more sponsors.

So this morning I'm pointed to this:
http://www.pbnation.com/showthread.php?t=3397789

A Custom Event Jersey (Special Forces or Inmate)
A Custom event Barrel Cover (Special Forces or Inmate)

Custom Jersey
The custom jersey and barrel cover are a limited edition run made specifically for this event. You will be required to wear the jersey and play as an inmate or Special Forces. The jerseys are very cool, a collectors item and yours to keep.

If I were a sponsor, and my teams had to cover up the logos I paid money for them to wear, I'd be upset. Just sayin'.

This whole thing touches on a lot of issues at once. I won't lie, custom event stuff is cool. I like that... but being forced to wear it? Now you're back into the pit of further reducing the skill level of play. Where does it stop?

Funny to wake up and find out a bunch of people you know are now cheaters.

Player packet: When you check in you will receive a packet with a player ID card (tells about the character you are playing) and a Player Badge. DO NOT LOSE EITHER OF THESE. They will not be replaced for any reason! If you find one you must turn it in at Central Command immediately. Use of lost credentials to gain access to the enemy HQ, or acquire armband tape, is strictly prohibited.

Now, here's some funny things. For years, role cards did not have a number on them. Why? Losing it might have gotten you a replacement, but the person who found that card, it was as good as gold. No attempts to spin it otherwise can change what's well known to players who were actually there.

In the evolution of that security, teams started specially marking role cards. At each event, we had special "hole punches" in a variety of shapes, to denote that that card was verified as valid to our side, and you were allowed past the insertion point near the base. We were also writing numbers on the cards, well before there were ever blanks for them. None of this was ever about turning in lost cards, it was about base security, pure & simple. Players made their own adaptions to the rules, and didn't fucking cry about it.

Why do you think a card is even watermarked? For event immersion? No, not at all. It's because Wayne never watermarked anything. In fact, he frequently had fun poked at him because of his lack of basic security features. People sat in the parking lots with typewriters and just made their own.

Counterfeiting has always been a part of scenario culture, from props to IDs, and has never, ever been against the rules at any event I've ever played.

Anyways, here is what you should have been doing in the first place instead of relying on dropped cards:

1) Buy a laptop. It is just as an important piece of scenario equipment as your marker and mask.

2) Buy an all-in-one printer, scanner, fax machine.

3) Have power available at the field.

4) Have an internet connection. Field wifi, cell modem, tethered phone, whatever.

5) Amass a mighty collection of Fonts. See, Viper uses special fonts in an attempt to differentiate his cards and make counterfeits more difficult.

6) Go to Hobby Lobby. Buy card stock in every available color, you'll need them.

7) Go get your eyeballs on an enemy role card. Do whatever it takes. Ask nicely, hang out around registration, go look over shoulders, find a dropped one and memorize it on your "way to command central".

8) Go flex your Google skills finding a comparable image. Find the closest font you can, and make your own creation in MS Word.

9) Print it, chop it, start infiltrating.

It's not hard, just practice at it.

So I've always wondered... how many promoters actually go out and pay for the necessary licensing fees to use other peoples intellectual property? I have to wonder, because people are sue-happy when you even attempt to use somebody's rule set. People, at the minimum, expect a phone call. I am the same way. Don't use my personal creations to make money without asking me first.

...but how does that apply to story lines and themes? Well, in some cases, it's perfectly legal. In other cases, if the IP owner found out, it could result in major legal issues. Some companies like Games Workshop even have a team to do nothing but search the Internet and legally attack sites using any of their IP. People always run around crying "OH NOES! 3 KIDS ON VID WITH GUNZ^&!@# END OF PAINTBAL(*!@#&" You're confused. Paintball can't really be killed. The industry is too big... however, individual promoters have been, can be, and will be involved in this type of lawsuit on multiple occasions. This is what can kill your local fun, and what you should be concerned about. If you don't believe me, just go peruse a history of MPAA and RIAA lawsuits. It's not pretty.

So lets scan some sites, and see what's out there...

Aliens vs Predators @ Cousins - Probably legal, it's a charity game.

Mission Impossible @ Playp8ntball.com - Likely illegal.

Clone War @ Pendleton last May - Likely illegal. Star Wars has open IP, but iirc, it does not apply to for-profit ventures. It is primarily for fan sites, fan movies, etc.

Battlefield 2010 @ Realms of Ruin - Likely illegal.

Planet of the Apes @ LVP South - Likely illegal.

LL3 Return of Blues Brothers - Probably legal, since the title seems to suggest an extension of the story, which could be considered Parody.

Avatar @ Fox PB Chicago - I'll shit myself if it's legal. It even uses movie artwork. Blatant IP theft on the website.

Spaceballz III @ Fort Knox - Probably legal, parody.

Attack of the Necromongers @ First Strike - Probably illegal, it's all Pitch Black.

Black Hawk Down @ EAS - Probably illegal.

Command & Conquer @ Fort Knox - Probably illegal.

Battle for Gotham - Uhm, pretty sure DC didn't license out Batman, Joker, or Gotham City.

We Were Soldiers @ Tactical - Probably illegal.

Holy Grail @ everywhere - It'd be worth checking into on that one, considering how many different fields and promoters have run this event. I'm willing to bet illegal.

G.I. Joe @ everywhere - Pretty confident Hasbro has already threatened some promoters for that one, and will happily sue others they find.

Risk @ Sherwood - Risk is owned by Hasbro, see above.

Hangover @ Worcester Wolfpack - Might be legal, it's for a scholarship fund.

That's just from a quick scan of 2 pages of PBNation. All of the events I saw that were actually unique... weren't very unique. Anybody out there actually run games that don't have anything to do with ww2 or some middle eastern shit hole? Probably not, because fake military adventures sell, no question about it. Look at D-Days numbers... which of course brings up another question, why is it so common for so much of the scenario industry to steal IP from other entertainment industries, when you don't have to?

Now before people start screaming fair use... don't even bother.

One of the rights accorded to the owner of copyright is the right to reproduce or to authorize others to reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords. This right is subject to certain limitations found in sections 107 through 118 of the copyright law (title 17, U. S. Code). One of the more important limitations is the doctrine of “fair use.” The doctrine of fair use has developed through a substantial number of court decisions over the years and has been codified in section 107 of the copyright law.

Section 107 contains a list of the various purposes for which the reproduction of a particular work may be considered fair, such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Section 107 also sets out four factors to be considered in determining whether or not a particular use is fair:

1. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes
2. The nature of the copyrighted work
3. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole
4. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work

Now here's fair use.

revision: Apologies to Paintball NY. I had mistaken their Clone Army game, which is a custom script, with the Clone Wars run at Pendleton last year.

First, people should stop going Scenario/Woodsball. They are unrelated.

They have absolutely nothing to do with each other. Newsflash, scenarios often have speedball fields in them. You can play a scenario, and never once go into woods.

It should be Woodsball/Speedball, because they're both competition, tournament formats. Adding an MOS to a tournament does not mean it stops being a tournament. It's just a tournament with different rules, and the point is still to win.

Mil-sim, when used as a buzzword to sell registrations at a scenario, is not a type of game, or a format. It's just a theme. If one game is magical fairies, and the next is afghanistan, and both are using the same rules, then it's the same fucking game. Most people will even be wearing the same jerseys to both events. No difference.

So, I'm sitting here reading some forums, while chewing on some ideas and code. See, I was banned from Viper's forums, but you really can't ban people on the Internet. Saw a post this morning, and knowing Viper, it'll likely get deleted, but lets see what all the hubbub is about..

Now here comes the rant. This is from some user named "blarho". Their first post ever on Viper's forums.

was it me or do all feel like this viper game lacked something? it seemed like it was a reunion for the sons of Confederate soldiers. more was put on that. Don't get me wrong the game was great. final battle sucked then it usually does. my question is wheres the beef? we paid 300.00 for two of us to play. That's insane!! if you had pre-reg you saved 10.00 dollars. For 300.00 we could get 3 players at tactical. my Question is why are viper games so much? and don't say because its a 26 hr battle. that's just to sell more paint. wheres the one meal? wheres the game Shirt? better yet wheres the patch viper always gives out? everyone was talking about this all weekend no one was happy with the prices 15.00 for one bottle of air. I run two bottles one for gun and one for laws. had to pay 15 twice. I will not be attending another viper Game. He charges to much and gives to little. good battle for the most part. had fun but could have had more fun. Only thing that would have made it worst if TB was there.

I have no idea about the Confederate soldiers thing. I was at T-Rev on Friday night. Back in the day, people used to wander from camp to camp and pretty much everybody partied with everybody. At TXR (formerly PBUSA), I can say that I never saw this happen. It was a surreal segregation, and there certainly wasn't inter-side mingling on Friday night. If there was some great reunion going on, it wasn't in the Wicked Witch's camp, and nobody came over to tell us about it.

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