Link: http://www.pbnation.com/showthread.php?t=2996652

Seriously...do not get use to this every day stuff. It's just a fluke that I happen to have found something to gab about three days straight...no really!

Anyway, just the other day Sean from Smart Parts posted this over on PBNation regarding their new marker...well technically just a new firing mode...targeted towards the rental market:

Smart Parts announces Billy-Ball for the Rental Vibe

Smart Parts introduces a new firing mode for the rental version of the Vibe electropneumatic paintball marker aimed at reducing rate of fire.

Loyalhanna, PA – February 8, 2009 – The new Billy-Ball firing mode available in Vibe rental markers from Smart Parts, Inc., restricts a players' rate of fire, opening up more opportunities for paintball field operators.

“It's pretty ironic,” says Smart Parts President Bill Gardner Jr., for whom the mode is named, “we've pushed the limits of marker rate of fire to meet player demand, but at the beginning levels of the sport that's scaring off newer players.”

Gardner's own sons were anxious about jumping in to walk-on games at Smart Parts' home field, the All-American Paintball Park in Greensburg, PA.

“Most of us around the factory started out in the days of pump paintball, so we never faced that kind of intimidation, it was a different game with those lower rates of fire. We've had a lot of field owners tell us they needed a way to address it, and they couldn't afford to keep a second set of pump markers on hand, while their more experienced customers want higher performance. The solution was easy, and it all boiled down to software.”

The microprocessor “brain” of the Vibe can be configured with custom firing modes tailored to a particular paintball field's needs. The Billy-Ball firing mode allows the Vibe to fire at a rate of 0.5 bps, or one ball every two seconds, simulating the rate of fire typical in pump-action paintball games. The new mode was first tested at the All-American Paintball Park and met with an immediately positive response from the Smart Parts staff members playing, as well as visiting field owners who had an opportunity to try it out after technical training classes. More importantly, the mode was quickly embraced by groups playing paintball for the first time.

In its first month of use, Billy-Ball's advantages in a rental marker became quickly apparent:
- Group sales, especially with younger players, are increasing as less paint in the air means less welts and less intimidation.
- Package pricing for Billy-Ball moves away from being paint-centered, to being facilities and time centered.
- The reduced cost of consumables allows for higher per-group profits.
- Increased rate of returning, occasional play customers.
- Fewer referees are needed to monitor a game with less firepower.
- Cleanup – especially for indoor fields - is easier with less paint on the field.

“Because of the lower paint consumption, we're able to put together birthday party package prices that are more affordable,” says All-American Field Manager Tim Montressor. “When paint was a variable, parents were concerned about going over budget before the day is out. Billy-Ball has taken care of that sales obstacle. We can offer a per-child price for their party that is all-inclusive – it's already making a difference in sales.”

Surprisingly, some of the more experienced regular walk-on customers have been spending time playing Billy-Ball games as well, using it as a tool to improve their communication, movement and snap-shooting skills without relying on high rates of fire to hold their game together. Even though they are renting a marker, these players are still saving money on a day's play because Billy-Ball requires so much less paint. Not only does the customer save money, but the income the field generates is a return on its investment in rental markers, instead of money it must spend on buying more paint.

SP-1 markers purchased in field-rental quantities are also available with similar features and Billy-Ball programming. Smart Parts plans to make Billy-Ball available in future updates to most of its product line.

So. .5 balls per second. I can almost fire a blow gun that fast if I really had to. Why bother?

I'll tell you why...this sport, if it is going to survive this apocalyptic economic disaster, needs to bring in new players and find new ways to enjoy the sport while at the same time cutting back on the cost.

You see, I cut my paintball shell on playing stock class pump at a little place called Sat Cong Village (now known just as SC Village) when you could rent a PGP pistol and have a rental walk on game of 40 on 40 using fields that today could house 5 or 6 speedball fields and still have room for spectators. Movement was the name of the game, not ROF. You could have three guys play all day on a case of paint and have a lot of paint left over by the end of the day. You learned to shoot, flank, and be aggressive very quickly because otherwise you got board fast. We saw some of the first semi-auto markers in the sport and watched their games a bit hesitantly when we saw guys walking off the field with six, seven, or more bright hits on them.

With the slow ROF stock class provided, we got to learn other aspects of the sport outside how fast we could pull a trigger. We didn't spend a ton of money. Yet, we still had a blast and all of us still play to this day.

If you read the posts on that board you see a lot of guys there dismissing this innovation as being useless. Well, this innovation isn't meant for them directly and I think that's the point they are missing. I mentioned on one of the threads that you don't learn to swim by jumping in the deep end of the pool...you do it in the shallow end where you can get accustomed to being in the water and learning in an environment that isn't intimidating.

The Billy-Ball game is our sport's "shallow end". It's there to bring in new players. It is there to give fields a budget controllable package to market to private parties and birthday events. I think it's a great idea that you can have a group of people get together with guns in Billy-ball mode who can play not having to worry about getting overshot or lit up by someone with a high ROF marker.

Case in point. A few months ago my team, the SoCal Ghosts (shameless plug...) put on a Big Game. Unfortunately for us the field we put it on at didn't get the memo or help promote the game so turnout was really low. There were a couple private party groups that were scheduled to be there that day and we asked if they wanted to try our big game format. They all had rental markers and went onto the field with hoppers only...no pods. Well, at first things went okay until the first "regular" player started firing at tournament level rates of fire and carrying a bunch of pods of paint onto the field. The private party players started feeling uncomfortable because they felt "outgunned" (and in a way they were) until finally they said they were done and were just going to go out on their own.

Even then some of that group struggled with trigger control and there were kids sitting out games for fear of running out of paint. Even among themselves they were concerned that if they moved they were going to get lit up by their friends firing at rates well over .5 bps. For a group like this...and mind you this was a pee wee football team with their coaches...the Billy-Ball mode would be perfect.

Even seasoned players who are trying it are loving the change of pace. They say the way you play is very different from what they've been use to and that it is so much fun to change it up by playing Billy-Ball.

Of course some have said that if you want to play like a pump why not just use a pump? Well, fields normally don't want to buy a bunch of pump markers because they don't rent them out that often (if at all) and that would make them too costly to have on hand. By being able to change modes, the SP Billy-Ball mode equipped guns can be used just like any other rental marker then put into Billy-Ball mode for those Billy-Ball games. One marker with multiple uses means fields can have a large number of markers on hand, reduce maintenance costs by only stocking repair parts for one make of marker, and can be flexible to accommodating both types of groups without having to turn anyone away from either group for lack of having the right rental marker.

The beauty of this idea is that fields won't have to sacrifice accommodating any of the games or players they have at their fields now while still being able to expand their marketability to those folks and groups who want to come out and enjoy a recreational day of paintball while staying within a fixed budget.

And in this day of economic woe that last part is HUGE. Think about this for a second...what is the number one reason your friends who have never played paintball have given you for not trying the sport? I bet the top two answers will be pain and cost. This address both issues (can't really overshoot much at .5 bps) but the cost factor is a huge deal. Right now, you can't tell your friend exactly how much he/she will spend when they play. Sure the field fee, rental fee, and air fees are all fixed but the big one, paint, is always "up to them depending on how much they'll shoot". Then they ask what to expect and I bet most of you answer "Well, about a case per day or so." and then when you tell them a case is $40-$50 they start to balk at the idea. But if you could tell them a fixed and reasonable price for paint now because they are going to be playing Billy-Ball and won't shoot as much paint now they are not going to be so hesitant.

Not only that, but it will keep them coming back more often. If you have $90 to spend on recreation a month and you can either play paintball once or play it three times for the same price which would you rather do? Maybe you won’t play paintball at all because you can think of a lot of other things you’d like to do that will make your money go further but now if you can play paintball for $30 maybe you’ll try it because when all is said and done you still have $60 to go out and do other things. This is how you’ll get more people to play the sport and stay with the sport. Eventually they may even move up to the faster forms of paintball because they find they love it so much but had it not been for that cheap introductory experience they may have never tried it.

So yes, I think this sport DOES need a marker that shoots .5 bps. I think it is a good thing for the sport and is coming at a time when the sport needs it the most.