“Wow, that is cool. Where did you get it?”
“Hey, how do you like that? I’ve been thinking about getting one”
“You should try this out. It has made a huge difference…”

These comments, or others like them, are a common theme among paintball players prepping for a day on the field or even between games. They might be in regards to the latest marker, a cool piece of protective gear, or even something like a paintball pre-game loader. What is universally true is that these interactions between players power equipment purchases in the scenario and general woodsball community. Since there are few marquee teams with large sponsorships on this side of the industry, it’s up to the community in large part to get the word out about good products and equipment.

With our own team, we see trends in the use of certain equipment. When the Paintball Caddy first appeared, one of our team’s founders interviewed the president for an About.com article and became a huge promoter of its use. His excitement and demonstration of it won over other original players on the team. Now most of the team uses a Paintball Caddy to load paintballs prior to hitting the field. When the Medusa Paintball packs were introduced, a couple of team members purchased them. Now we are sponsored by Medusa and have most players running with them. We have even seen trends in marker lubricants. GunSav from TechT Paintball Products is now the the default choice for marker maintenance because someone bought it, loved it, and told everyone else on the team about it.

The interesting part is that these discoveries of good equipment often spread beyond the team environment. At the field we always find ourselves pressed for information on equipment that is common inside the team. We also get a different view of the gear we use from players outside the team that helps us tweak or tune our gear load. There are times we see something amazing that we just have to have too.

Sitting around the staging area talking about gear is just one way that paintball players bond as a community. Talking to other players is a great way to find out about new gear or make mods to your current gear so paintball is an even more enjoyable experience. In marketing speak, they call this word-of-mouth marketing and tribalization around products. Good equipment gets talked about, and not just at the field.

Another great source to find out about new equipment is from paintball video bloggers like Wolf. Wolf reviews a ton of equipment with an eye toward milsim, scenario and woodsball use. The video site Social Paintball also has some great reviews from many different sources. It’s a sort of YouTube for the paintball community. Paintball forums, review sites, and industry news sites are other places to go for paintball product information.

However you find gear information, be sure to share what you learn and what you like with other players. Who knows, you might be introducing the next big fad at your field.

Marv “The Reverend” White
Bad Karma Paintball Team
www.teambadkarma.com