Drop the Ego

Tuesday July 14, 2009

I'm not talking about the gun (though, I suppose, it could sometimes apply to the gun as well), I'm talking about the attitude. I was recently thinking about some great fields I played at a how much fun I've had at different venues. I've played countless paintball games with countless people. I've played speedball on groomed courses and outlaw ball in abandoned buildings and every field in between and, for the most part, I've loved all of it. The problem, though, came from a few people I played with.

If you're a regular paintball player, I'm sure you've seen that person, too. It's the super-competitive, ultra-cocky player who just is sure he's better than everyone else. Usually this isn't a problem, but the second he gets out in the first few minutes of a game, he starts to sulk and the enjoyment level drops for everyone. In his mind, it just doesn't make sense that he could have gotten out - somebody cheated, something went wrong or something is just plain messed up. Not only will he sulk for the next little while, he'll keep a grudge against whomever gets him out for the rest of the day.

I've been lucky in that I've found a lot of good people to play paintball with and I enjoy the current fields I play at. At the same time, there are fields that I have abandoned simply because of the players who go there.