I have been a regular at this field for almost a year now, and until recently I would've…read morerecommended it as a five star field.
The maps are expansive, with both close quarters and long distances to play at, and since it's so big you can play tons of different game modes, and put spawn points in all different places. Really fun.
For the most part, players are nontoxic, and the atmosphere is friendly. Down in the shop, employees will helpfully explain the game, get you checked in, and you can either rent a gun, or browse their decent selection of replicas.
Safety is a top priority, and refs take items like eyepro very seriously. All guns are chronographed and appropriate minimum distances given according to FPS.
For all the nerds out there, they do measure in FPS and not joules, so joule creeping to higher energy is a thing, but I haven't yet seen players take unfair advantage of this.
Most players run either stock guns or moderately upgraded, so most days you won't have to worry about anything over about 30 RPS. Aka, no "HPA BEATDOWN" videos.
Contrary to many stereotypes propagated by popular content creators, the one YouTuber who regularly plays at this field is a great guy to play with, and his content is drama free.
Now, on to why this is a three-star review for me.
First let me say that I will not degrade any of the players or refs by posting specific names of people involved, as it's not my intent to malign these players whatever their behavior.
Some of the regulars will occasionally ref on some days and play on others, which usually works out well. However, recently one of the "off duty refs" has acted in ways that seriously degraded the quality of the game for me.
Per field rules, if you're under 20 feet of distance, you're supposed to say "bang bang!" for a kill. If there's question about who 'shot' first, offer a trade, where both players take the hit, or a parlay, where both players walk back towards spawn and stay in play.
The game started as normal, and as we're playing, I approach a corner that I know a player is behind, then pop out and say "bang bang!". The other player contended that it should either be a trade or his kill, since he "knew I was going to peek and could've shot me".
The player obviously knew I was there, and could've answered with his own "bang bang" when I popped out, but instead stayed silent and confused the situation, because the rules say nothing about being able to point at people and have them be out.
The argument was calm, with no one yelling, and no one acting aggressively.
I asked for the ref to clarify the situation, and despite the field rules, the conversation ended with the opposing player saying he would simply shoot me point blank if I tried to pull the same maneuver, and the ref going along with the situation.
This player has bang-banged people many times before, and I have never played at this field before when any similar shenanigans were pulled.
Intentionally shooting under 20 feet is grounds for banning, but both the current ref, and this player who occasionally refs, seemed okay with that.
A few weeks later, the player with whom I had the argument was now reffing. In the safety and rules briefing, he announced that coming up on a player who has their replica raised and ready to fire will be counted as a trade or parlay, regardless of anyone saying "bang bang".
Since the player was reffing, I have no issue with him setting the ground rules as he prefers. However, after the day ended and all other players had left (I was packing up still), he proceeded to sit down and tell me that I'm an ***hole, because I got into the argument with him while he was playing, along with a few other irrelevant items.
My issue here is with a player who is not currently reffing being allowed to;
Act like a ref
Threaten to break the rules
And, as ref, call players out for things that happened while the ref was playing
Despite playing almost every week for the past eight months, I have not been back since.
I love this field, but if this happens again I will probably have to try and find somewhere else to take my business.
