[thevirginian]

Heres the situation. My girlfreinds son and I hunted up one of his freinds who had never played paintball, but wanted to try. We also got ahold of a young man, 16-17yrs old, who has played for awhile. I explained to the newbie what would happen, and the general safety guidelines. he played very well for a noob, and didn't break any safety rules. The other young man, upon arrival, climbed a tree at the outset of the very first game. I came around some cover, and got taken out by a clever ambush from the noob. I called "i'm out" loudly. The young man in the tree, about 25 feet away and 15 feet up, then proceeds to light me up. He shot me about 8 times. When I recovered from the shock, I saw him in the tree. I said, What are you doing in a tree?" He said "why not" I replied that it's against the safety rules that are accepted at almost every paintball field. He then proceeds to light me up again, so I shot back. Not a good reaction on my part, admittedly, it was a reaction. All said, he shot me about 12-15 times after I had called out. I walked of the field. he came down and said, I think somebody should explain the rules. I said that what he did was against general paintball safety rules, both in shooting from a tree and for intentional bonus balling, and that we wern't going to play with him anymore. I offered him a ride home, he said whatever, and walked off. I let him go.

I am correct in his violation of accepted safety protocol in paintball, am I not? I've cruised the forums for some time now, and I think I saw this come up once before, but am not certain. What would you all have done?

Again, I'm aware I shoudn't have shot back when he was in the tree, It was a reaction, and an admittedly bad one. So no flaming for that, mkay?

[Puzuma]

I have as yet to come across any commercial field that allows people to climb trees. Renegade fields generally frown on such things as well but have been known to make exceptions to such levels of safety as long as all players agree and understand the potential dangers.

You don't mention what kind of field you're on or what rules were given so it's hard to say for sure, but I would agree that he was in breach.

Was what you did/said acceptable? Shooting him, no but you admitted that. Telling him you weren't going to play with him anymore may have been a bit harsh on it's own. I'd have told him he used his only "freebie" by climbing the tree and that doing it again would result in him not playing for the rest of the day and most likely not being invited back again.

[slowerpig81]

Well, I think it's fine you shot back. I HATE bonus balling, which I never do, I rarely shoot people twice, since I use a pump. So I don't get why he did it. Climbing the tree is less of a concern to me, if he falls out that's him getting hurt.

[Puzuma]

You forget how wonderful the legal system is though. He falls out of the tree he can sue you and very possibly win.

[thevirginian]

We were doing outlaw ball. I was the only adult, so he could have very well sued me. I was under the impression that climbing trees and such was a big no no, because if you get hit when in a tree, well, people tend to flinch when their hit, and flinching while trying to hang on to a branch can become disastrous. As for the bonus balling, I hate it to, there's no point in it. I use a mr2, and have only hit someone 3 times at most, and that was when I was winging paint for cover fire. I try very hard not to do it, and expect the same from others. In this case though, it was intentional bonus balling.

As a side note, I am a teacher. This kid used to go to my school. He might have done it to get back at us teachers. Or maybe he's just a bit of a jerk. Don't know, but I would rather play with people who are respectful of other people myself.

[outlaw-master]

I think you did the right thing. If it was me I would have lit the whole tree up. Show him how it fills to cheat. And I don't know what lawsuit he would have won. He climbed the tree himself and he voluntarily decided to play. What is he going to say, you shot him?

[Teddy K]

Honestly if someone had bonus balled me like that I wouldnt have been able to show restraint you did.

Next time before your outlaw games I would openly just tell ppl things like tree climbing and such arent allowed just to avoid any problems...

But just shooting you for no reason TWICE you definitely could have used self defense as justification.
Peace,
Teddy K

[Puzuma]

outlaw-master, on Jan 5 2009, 06:17 PM, said:

I think you did the right thing. If it was me I would have lit the whole tree up. Show him how it fills to cheat. And I don't know what lawsuit he would have won. He climbed the tree himself and he voluntarily decided to play. What is he going to say, you shot him?

Has nothing to do with shooting him. Though that could be one of his arguments as to why you are liable for it. "There was nothing in writing saying I couldn't climb the tree. No signage saying stay off of the trees. And he shot me even though he could see I was in a less than safe location" .

It's how the courts work. Stupid people do stupid things and try and get compensated for it. Is there a guarantee he'd win? No, but if he gets a good enough lawyer who knows?

[outlaw-master]

Puzuma, on Jan 5 2009, 05:27 PM, said:

outlaw-master, on Jan 5 2009, 06:17 PM, said:

I think you did the right thing. If it was me I would have lit the whole tree up. Show him how it fills to cheat. And I don't know what lawsuit he would have won. He climbed the tree himself and he voluntarily decided to play. What is he going to say, you shot him?

Has nothing to do with shooting him. Though that could be one of his arguments as to why you are liable for it. "There was nothing in writing saying I couldn't climb the tree. No signage saying stay off of the trees. And he shot me even though he could see I was in a less than safe location" .

It's how the courts work. Stupid people do stupid things and try and get compensated for it. Is there a guarantee he'd win? No, but if he gets a good enough lawyer who knows?

You do have a nice defense.

[HoboHunter]

Lol, knowing me, I probably would have lit him up. Maybe not if he was in a tree though....But if he wasn't in a tree, I would've ran for cover, and would've dueled it out with him.

[TyTy]

I'm sure that when fired upon most of us would fire back, some might run. It's a situation like that where you need 30 balls a second! At least scare him a little you know? You could shoot a couple bursts before the game so he knows how much paint you can lay down and that might deter him from even thinking about shooting you after you've called yourself out.
-Ty

This post has been edited by TyTy: 18 May 2009 - 07:03 AM

[Tribs]

If he didn't know that you can't climb trees, then he didn't know you can't climb trees. He probably got the idea from whatever the media does to make paintball seem more like war. I would have explained to him that climbing trees is a serious safety hazard. It isn't your fault for not explaining something that should be common sense. The overshooting thing is inexcusable however. Unless he gets his act together, I wouldn't play with him anymore.

[Scouting Sniper]

Generally when I play outlaw, tree-climbing is allowed, but I don't think I have ever seen any one do it. Most of the players realzie how dumb of an idea it, especially just for playing logistics. Once you give your position away, you're a sitting duck. I have never had the chance to play at a field, so... I wouldn't know about their rules.

[Gilla]

On insured fields climbing anything is not allowed. On all the outlaw fields I've played on however, it's whatever you (the paintballer) feels comfortable with doing unless stated at the beginning. I've walked away from outlaw games when I've seen I'm the only adult because of liability. As the only adult I become the "responsible" party, and as it was a new group to me, I walked. Better to not be sued.

It's your call, at the very least talk to him. Apologize for returning fire and explain why it upset you. Depending on his attitude (sounded bad) decide if you want to invite him back, but explain what he did wrong in an un-hostile, unembarassing environment so he can learn from his mistake.

This post has been edited by Gilla: 18 May 2009 - 03:25 PM

[I.K.E.]

Tree thing...meh...we've had it done at our field. And after that once, it didn't happen again as the guy got mowed. (It was my bro.)

As for the bonus ball, I disagree with Puz. If it had been an accident, that's one thing. But when you called him on his behavior and he did it again, end of story. The kid is a jerk and needs to learn some manners before he can play again. Honestly, I don't see how parents can let their kids into society with such shameful behavior. If I'd have been so disrespectful to an adult, I'd have paid for it big time. Try calling mom and dad and see what they say.

This post has been edited by I.K.E.: 18 May 2009 - 04:05 PM