Sado-masochism for the masses.

It has come to my attention today that, given the opportunity, there is a large number of people in the world who will rejoice in causing as much pain to someone else as possible, preferably from where they can see it in detail but not receive any backlash.

This revelation was gifted to me while paintballing today. Having been given a very small, restricted and slight glimpse of what war is like I can safely say it's a terrible idea to get involved in unless you are:
a) Naturally violent and antisocial,
b) Unable to make a living another way,
or c) Ready to die.

Had I been in a warzone situation I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have done half the things I did today - notably among them diving full bodied over a hillock into a trench and cracking a rib by landing on my gun. I also had to replace the barrel as it was instantly forced about a foot into the mud-stuff that formed the trench floor. I spent the rest of the game crawling around and trying to not draw attention to myself while attempting to ignore the stabbing pain in my chest. Having taken myself out of the fight, essentially, for a game or two I had the opportunity to watch what was going on. This was what brought on my revelation.

I saw people gleefully running at fortified positions, opening up desperately but with clear and vicious intent to try and hit an opposing player. I saw several players fire at people who were obviously 'dead' and leaving the field despite - perhaps because of - the fact they were, for all intents and purposes, harmless. And no-one ever fired just one shot. It was always a stream of about ten. I will grant that the guns we used were atrociously inaccurate so to actually hit what you were aiming at usually a few shots were necessary. However, you can tell where a ball will land before it does land there - paintballs may travel at approx 200mph when they leave the gun but quickly decelerate to following-able speeds. If your ball is going to or has already hit someone, stop shooting at them. Give them time to check they were hit properly and then, if they are, let them get up and leave.

This is what decency pretty much demands. Not much decency was visible today. After one incident I lost my temper a little. I 'died', made it abundantly clear I was dead and after taking but one step I was hit again. This was a good ten seconds or so after the first hit, so wasn't part of a burst, and was completely unnecessary. I released a short and abusive tirade in the direction the paintball had come. I think it was the only time I've heard a paintball field go totally silent mid-game without any intervention from marshalls. I would have been embarrassed but I was too busy being furious. Then, after getting everyone's attention and making it certain beyond any doubt I was 'dead' and was moving toward the deadzone, someone on the other team raised their gun at me while I approached. My immediate response was to shoot him, which I curbed but only just; he seemed taken aback by a previously 'harmless' target raising his weapon and turning into a extremely harmful potential target. He didn't shoot. I was glad. I think, given some thought, he would be too.

Given the evidence, everyone there had a good time. Causing pain and suffering it themselves at the hands of others. There were few selfless sacrifices, a small bit of team work but about as much general co-operation as a group of five year olds after over-dosing on crack-cocaine. I enjoyed. It is pretty exhausting exercise, I got shot but got revenge as well and would certainly go again. Does this make me a deviant, twisted person? I don't think so; I meet new people, shoot them, get shot, learn to be aware of my surroundings under pressure and have fun with friends.

This could just be a list of excuses for being a deviant, twisted person. Or the label of 'deviance' and 'twisted-ness' could be forced upon us by people who don't enjoy it because we're different. It depends on your perspective, and it's only fair to judge once you have every sides' version of a story.

With the advantage of having both perspectives, I would say this: Don't go paintballing. You will be stuck in filth while running from vengeful, violent and possibly unbalanced individuals given non-lethal guns and told it's okay to kill people.