|
|
|
|
 |
|
paintballimpact.com / Cheating in Paintball / The Convenient Accident
The Convenient Accident - Cheating in Paintball
The Convenient Accident is another tough penalty to call, as it is sometimes difficult to tell a true accident from a first degree, premeditated paintball offense. The convenient accident occurs when a player shoots the chronograph in the referee's hand as he comes over to check the paintball gun. In the modern era of paintball, the rate of fire on markers like the 2K5 Intimidator from Bob Long gets faster and faster, and there are always several hundred projectiles that fly through the air during a given game. So the chances of a referee's chronograph getting hit while he has it out aren't that remote. At any given moment, there will usually be a multitude of projectiles in the air at once, especially being fired in the direction of the opposing team's players. If a referee is walking in the direction of a player, there is an increased chance of him and his chronograph getting hit. Some popular chronographs that many referees use include the VLocity from Viewloader, the RadarChron ROF from Sports Sensors Inc., and the Shooting Chrony. The Shooting Chrony measures the speed of almost any projectile, from baseballs all the way up to bullets traveling as fast as 7000 feet per second (fps).
posted by user-SuiciDalSnYpER on YouTube
There are a lot of things that can happen in paintball games, and anything that moves or doesn't move can get hit, especially a chronograph in a ref's hand. But what are the chances that the target of a chrono check will "accidentally" hit the chronograph in the ref's hand as he comes over? The chances of this being an accident are remote, and it is more likely that the player suspected of cheating had something to hide. Rule 10.04 in the NPPL Official Rulebook 2006 states that chronographing on the field may be done at any time at the discretion of any field official, to determine if a marker's muzzle velocity has risen above legal limits. Other chronographs that may be used at major tournaments include the RadarChron from Sports Sensors Inc., PrChrono Jr. from PMI, the Hand Held Chronograph from PMI, and the X-Radar from Custom Chronograph Inc.
Imagine a player whose muzzle velocity registered under the speed limit prior to the start of the game, but was drawing some animated reactions from opposing players who were eliminated with his shots. The referee notes that the players who reacted in such a strong way to getting hit were pretty tough guys and do not usually react this way to a paintball impact. The referee smells a rat and begins to approach the player who he thinks may have altered the speed at which his marker fires a paintball. The suspect sees the referee approaching and knows that he will be busted if his marker is chronographed. Since he can't destroy the evidence, he decides to do the next best thing, which is to destroy the machine that will expose him.
Is the act of hitting the chronograph in the ref's hand considered cheating? Of course it is, assuming the suspected player did it on purpose. It is a judgment call on the part of the referee. If the referee is not sure, he may appeal to the ultimate judge to make a final determination. Chronograph testing during games is one way to keep players from altering their paintball gun during the game. In the NPPL, players are prohibited from bringing tools onto the playing field, which is another means of keeping players from making in-game modifications to their markers.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Paintball Guns 
