Thread: Scenario Reffing : Fights : stop before it starts, lighten up, sportsmanship,

[DMmasta]Fights : stop before it starts, lighten up, sportsmanship, allied next event, escallation, cops.

DMmasta has this one -- please post draft in this thread for peer review

He He He my idea of encounters or fights on the playing field, are first and formost get them jack asses off the field so they woun't infect the rest of the combatants. Find out why this encounter happened, then if they want to continue, put boxing gloves on them and let them go at it, in front of the rest of the players.
Maybe just maybe there will be a consoling between the combatants and no fight happens...Hopfully. If there is then the rest of the players might think twice before this type of activity happens again. If hands are thrown then suspension for a time would be my next recourse.

I'm going to start this one by throwing out a few random thoughts and let's see where it jells.

I think there are basically two or three levels of a fight. The lower, or less severe level involves pushing, shoving, wrestling or possibly a single punch. This is usually an impulsive reaction to a temper flareup and will usually not last more than a few seconds. These usually will end on their own, but having a ref intercede to make sure it ends is always a good idea.

The greater level involves serious blows, kicking or other serious physical violence and a real danger of serious injury.

The most serious involves potentially deadly weapons. If a deadly weapon is involved, law enforcement should always be called.

I've seen games go bad before the game actually starts. So preventing fights starts back before the game itself actually starts.

Paintball is about sportsmanship. When games get ugly it's usually a process that escalates beginning with minor acts of bad sportsmanship and snowballs. They rarely happen in isolation.

Preventing fights starts with a field owner and producer choosing game rules, field rules and safety rules with sportsmanship in mind. Overshooting is one area in particular that can quickly cause tempers to flare. Next most important is to have a professional, knowledgeable and courteous ref staff. The ref staff has to keep a fairly tight reign on the rules to make sure they're followed. Players breaking rules tends to cause other players to break rules (If they did it, I can to!). Broken rules creates a sense of lawlessness that can easily escalate to physical violence. Plus few things get tempers flaring faster than cheating. That's why it's important to enforce the rules fairly but strictly.

A fight actually breaking out should be a sign of major failure of the game staff, top to bottom.

If a fight does break out, the most important thing is to protect the players and yourselves. No one expects a ref to jump in front of a knife to protect a player or to risk serious bodily harm, but at the same time there is an obligation to attempt to protect the other players from harm.

If a deadly weapon is drawn, I would say that anything goes as far as disarming the knife wielder. I personally would not hesitate to pick up a marker and use it as a weapon if that's what it took - including knocking the guy out if necessary.

Anyone involved in a physical altercation should be immediately escorted from the field by whatever means is necessary to insure the safety of other players and the ref staff. But some common sense is required. If one guy shoves or takes a swing at another guy and that ends the fight, then handcuffs are probably not required. But if a person remains combative then they should be escorted off the field by two more more refs. In extreme cases, they can be restrained on the field until law enforcement arrives.

Lastly, no field or producer can tolerate physical violence on a paintball field. At the minimum, those responsible must be immediately and permanently removed from the field. In more egregious cases, law enforcement should be brought in.

I think if a physical fight breaks out then everyone should separate themselves from the situation and let the refs deal with it. And even then force on force is only going to equal more force so it should be the refs intention to try to ease down the situation at hand.

If someone pulls a knife the smart thing everyone can do is remove themselves from the situation if at all possible and call law enforcement. A paintball gun can do some damage however time someone comes out you with a knife and has intention of using it that marker isn't going to stop them before they get to you and open you up. Paintballs sting, knives can kill.

Even more so if for some reason someone pulls a gun. Best thing to do is make yourself scarce. Playing the hero will more than likely get you cut or killed.

Destro, I would agree with you in principle except that I think that perhaps event staff could have some obligation to try to protect players if reasonably possible. But certainly judgment of the situation is required. If there is no reasonable hope of disarming someone is there then don't try. If no player is being directly threatened then no need to try to disarm. Calling the police is a given.

And for the record, if I was using a marker as a weapon, I'd be using it as a club. I figure the air or CO2 tank would probably put the guy on the ground well enough. But again, this would only be a last resort to protect a player.

Right, protect the player and yourself. Just know that you could be putting that player or yourself in more jeopardy by trying to disarm than it would have been just to vacate the player to a safe area. Unless off duty law enforcement happens to be there I would just remove myself from the potentially deadly situation as best I could. You clock someone with a rifle butt there a chance they can sue you or you could face legal problems of your own if you happen to kill the smuck. Yea I know thats just wrong but I was on a jury where a guy sued a guy for shooting him while this guy was trying to job the guys place. And he won.

I do believe that the mere posession of weapons of any kind on the paintball field is grounds for immediate removal from the premises with no refunds. Now I know guys carry small knives on the field for menial tasks; paint bags, utility tool, etc. I do it myself. That is understandable and should not be a problem. But to produce a weapon in an altercation is completely unacceptable. We're talking genuine assault with a deadly weapon and battery. Physical fighting as the agressor and especially involving a weapon should be met with a ZERO tolerance level. That player should be removed from the game and law enforcement called in. The producer and field owner should follow suit and ban that player from future events. This is paintball, not some Compton back alley...

I don't see a ref (unless they are trained military/law enforcement) having any good reason to engauge a person with a weapon.

Originally Posted by Kurb

I don't see a ref (unless they are trained military/law enforcement) having any good reason to engauge a person with a weapon.

Same here. Even then that's just a bad situation made worse. I know everyone likes to think themselves Chuck Norris.

Okay, I've let this get off track again and I have to admit it's my fault. My original post was more brainstorming than anything else.

What we're doing is trying to create a sort of policy manual or guidelines for reffing a scenario. The actual instances of a deadly weapon being involved in an on the field incident is pretty remote to start with. And I think from the standpoint of what we're doing, we need to address it with a one sentence blurb to the effect that it's an extreme situation that law enforcement should handle.