15 replies to this topic

[Aaron Hosterman]

so i thought i would write about my experience for the first time i have attended the citadel. i do like the idea of cqb and i thought it was interesting and fun. the first few matches were good evern though the teams were stacked and red team continualy lost throughout the night. didnt really see anything bad until some bald guy (think his name was mike), one of the citadel veterans, decides to start screaming and swearing at other plays. now if i remember correctly your rules say if you are aggressive to other players you will be kicked out. the guy didnt even get a warning. he made more than one kid quit and decided to get into the face of one of my friends which is rediculously disrespectful and uncalled for. according to one ref you guys were under staffed? well why would you hold an even with more than 40 people and not have enough refs or staff? im not trying to be the douche here im just saying what i experience.

i enjoyed my time untill the last game. i believe it was called escort. at first we had a good team and i was sure we would do pretty good. then the ref took 3 of our players and put them on the other team stacking that team more. red team was deffinetly going to lose this one. we were waiting for the game to start. when the ref runs around the corner and goes oh the game just started. no count down. no warning. the enemy team had gotten a false start and where already right outside our spawn before we were able to really move out. from then on it got worse. the blue team move closer to our spawn keeping us pinned in the office. one threw a grenade and got most of the red team out but the decided to keep shooting even though 7 or 8 people were yelling "HIT". then to top it all off atleast one maybe two of the blue teams team members went full auto and lit my friend jon up. it was him and his brothers first time there and im sure jons not wanting to come back after this. when enforcing the rules you guys really need to knock off the double standard and hold everyone equaly acountable. noobs and vets shouldnt matter


i did some what enjoy my time because i met some good friends there but if the vet players get a "get out of jail free" card and other players dont its not worth it. the ref said that night he wouldnt take any bull shit from anyone but yet rules were still broken and no action was taken. in a way im kind of disapointed i thought my first CQB fight would be a little better. hope you read this even though it will probably get deleted.

[English]

man sounds like you had a rough night, i will say as someone who has played at the citadel a few times teams are not stacked on purpose even though it can seem like that, refs just split you into two teams and issue armbands, sometimes its even sometimes not but hey that can happen at any event, i have experiened the 'false start' also not an intentional thing just happens sometimes when they are stretched for staff, or the radios don't work. The getting shot after yelling hit happens alot too, i guess if you read this it sounds like a poor run event but its really not, the guys do a great job and 90% of the time events are smooth and refs do a fantastic job keeping order, theres always gonna be some guys who just don't understand the rules and think its 'cool' to go full auto like an idiot, if you need full auto to hit someone go home and practice your aim, i will say i have heard of people going crazy and yelling at players for no reason or because they think they can, not going to name drop but it does seem like the same people everytime.

Don't let this stop you from playing, like i said its a great CQB place and run by some cool guys who are more than willing to help you.

[Aaron Hosterman]

ill try not to let it stop me but i really hope they drop the double standard and start enforcing the rules equaly among players. just cause a person has been there for a while and pays good money and keeps coming back doesnt mean they get to break the rules

[Blindside]

i'm sorry to hear your first experience at our facility was not a fun one. Hopefully we can make your next visit a fun one.this Friday was a hectic one. with school vacation this week, we were at full capacity, and it can get intense with so many people. just to address some issues, I am the Mike you were referring to, i am not only a veteran player, but also citadel staff. there are a few of us on the field, within the teams on each side, keeping and eye on players including our own, to make sure people are doing what they are suppose to be doing. Not all players are honest and when they see a known ref. they are on their best behavior, but once out of sight they act up. i only played the last 2-3 games to help keep and eye on people who refused to call hits, and were playing like jerks. we run in to this allot and have a zero tolerance for it when we are at full capacity. especially when we have to turn away business because we are packed. We have to yell, because people can't hear you over all the shooting and distractions going on, on the field. I had to yell at your buddy because we had multiple complaints about him as well as his group not calling hits, i personally noticed him not calling his hits, even after i had 5-6 rounds in him he decided to turn towards me, shoot back and keep shooting until he got me. That is a cheap move, and is not tolerated at the citadel. I went over and instead of kicking him off the field, or sending him home after multiple complaints, i yelled at him to knock his shit off. We are not your parents, we are here to make sure everyone has a good time. we also can't allow people to just blatantly abuse the rules either. If your breaking rules, don't be butt hurt over getting caught and yelled at for it. I hate to send people downstairs or home i would rather deal with it and give them a chance. i am the easiest guy to get along with, i try to make sure everyone is happy. Sometimes one person won't call their hits, then the person shooting gets aggravated and doesn't call their hits, it turns into a vicious cycle and it gets out of control fast. I'm sorry for having to yell at your buddy, but before you get hurt over someone else getting yelled at, listen and understand to the reason why he was being yelled at.
As for your buddy being shot on full auto, that is not ok by any means and we have and idea of who it was and will definitely be handling that issue, so it doesn't happen again. even if a person is not calling hits, it doesn't give you the right to flip your weapon on full auto and blast them. that is not only a violation of the rules, but causes harm to others.

again I apologize for the confusion, but i am not just a player trying to be a dick, i am staff member trying to keep the honesty, and integrity in the game so everyone has a good time.

[English]

i knew there had to be a good reason Mike was yelling, hes pretty laid back and i've only seen him yell at players who think the rules don't apply to them or are just being dicks, like he says it gets real loud during games and yelling is the only way to get players attention, don't let this stop you from coming back again though, trust me it gets pretty crazy sometimes but its also alot of fun, if you play on semi auto, call your hits, be respectful to others and above all remember its just a game so have fun with it.

Y'all come back now, ya hear.

[Aaron Hosterman]

friday was my first time with my friends jon and his brother alex. but bryce (the guy you yelled at) has been playing with me for a while. the only time he doesnt call hit is if he doesnt feel the hit. he doesnt lie and always plays fair. me and him have been playing for a while and i know he plays fair. it wasnt just him though i watch mike yell at another kid the kid turned around and said "F*** this i quit" and i asked him why he got yelled at and he said he didnt know he didnt get hit and wasnt blind firing. im willing to give it another try just i dont want me and bryce to experience a bad game again. we can be good team mates and good friends and we learn quickly. i didnt want to come on here and trash the citadel i just wanted a better explanation and understanding of what happened and and why it seem like the rule were being broken. bryce claims he hit mike multiple times and saw him flinch and then was never hit at all. he was not hit into the elbow and has no mark welts or bruises to show he got hit. and no he was not duppled up with long sleeve shirts so it would of let a mark. just seems strange to get in someones face about it. i dont understand why people would be saying my group was not calling there hits. maybe alex and jon didnt but me and bryce always called our hits even if i was shot by the player i just got out i still would call hit. my group as far as me and bryce are not cheaters. we player paintball and experienced alot of cheating and arguing but have still always called our hits. one last thing is i can understand if you yell at a player for not calling there hits but swearing and cursing at them doesnt get there attention and gets them to learn that just makes them angry and want to get you back for it. i dont know im not a ref i just didnt expect to have my team accused of not callin our hit when we were over honest and would always call our hits weather we knew we were hit or where unsure about it. just hope this can be resolved and our next visit will be better

[Blindside]

I'm not going to get in a pissing match over this issue. I only yelled at one person that night. the other person you are referring to was yelled at by a different ref. so please don't include my name in that issue. there was quite a few people yelled at that night by other refs as well as one person being thrown off the field and sent home. the person i yelled at had on an acu uniform with long sleeves pushed up. so yes he was wearing long sleeves, and it most likely wouldn't make a mark with that amount of material bunched up. I got a complaint about people in the icecream room not calling hits, i went over to the icecream room hooked the right corner and seen the kid in acu with his side to me so i fired on him hitting him in the elbow area, in stead of the face trying to be nice. he then turned seen me and as i was telling him he was out decided to return fire, then i yelled to him him he was out, and he decided to try and run away from the situation and pretend he didn't get hit or hear me, which escalated the situation. That is why he got confronted, and yelled at. Yes he did hit me, after i had already hit him with a double tap, my weapon was no longer aimed at him and i was trying to tell him he was out. Instead of listening to what i was saying to him and realizing my weapon was not aimed at him or returning fire for a reason, i was in complete eye contact with him trying to explain to him he was out, he decided to fire on me multiple times hitting me in the stomach and groin area, and then run and try and hide. That is not and honorable move by any means. And to touch base on your friend being hit full auto. We talked with the person who did it, and he specified your friend didn't feel like calling his hits over and over again, so the other person got aggravated and decided to shoot him on full auto to teach him a lesson. No matter what the lesson was it is still unacceptable to shoot anyone on full auto for any reason. And that person who shot him on full auto has been dealt with. two wrongs do not make a right, no matter what that person was doing, it doesn't give the other person the right to cause that much pain. it is unexceptionable behavior. at-least now you know why your friend was shot on full auto, and it wasn't us refs picking on your group. it was others on the field, and they got so tired of it, they decided to take matters in to their own hands. I don't condone what happened, but i do understand why it happened.

[mhealey]

friday was my first time with my friends jon and his brother alex. but bryce (the guy you yelled at) has been playing with me for a while. the only time he doesnt call hit is if he doesnt feel the hit. he doesnt lie and always plays fair. me and him have been playing for a while and i know he plays fair. it wasnt just him though i watch mike yell at another kid the kid turned around and said "F*** this i quit" and i asked him why he got yelled at and he said he didnt know he didnt get hit and wasnt blind firing. im willing to give it another try just i dont want me and bryce to experience a bad game again. we can be good team mates and good friends and we learn quickly. i didnt want to come on here and trash the citadel i just wanted a better explanation and understanding of what happened and and why it seem like the rule were being broken. bryce claims he hit mike multiple times and saw him flinch and then was never hit at all. he was not hit into the elbow and has no mark welts or bruises to show he got hit. and no he was not duppled up with long sleeve shirts so it would of let a mark. just seems strange to get in someones face about it. i dont understand why people would be saying my group was not calling there hits. maybe alex and jon didnt but me and bryce always called our hits even if i was shot by the player i just got out i still would call hit. my group as far as me and bryce are not cheaters. we player paintball and experienced alot of cheating and arguing but have still always called our hits. one last thing is i can understand if you yell at a player for not calling there hits but swearing and cursing at them doesnt get there attention and gets them to learn that just makes them angry and want to get you back for it. i dont know im not a ref i just didnt expect to have my team accused of not callin our hit when we were over honest and would always call our hits weather we knew we were hit or where unsure about it. just hope this can be resolved and our next visit will be better

School vacation games tend to be really hectic because there are so many people there and many of them are new. Don't be discouraged by all the conflicts there were at your first game, try going on a day after this week is over and it will definitely be more controlled and more fun.

[Aaron Hosterman]

clearly your not understanding what im saying and you like to fabricate your own facts about people you dont know. is this how you treat all new players mike? i know my friend he does not cheat he has never cheated and i have known him for many year. you on the other hand i have hear from multiple people that you mike are over aggressive and take this "game" way to seriously. according to people at master hobbies your high strung and need to relax. after seeing you swearing and yelling at younger kids making them quit i can see why they say this. also i have hear that you yourself dont call your hits sometimes. should rethink how you treat newer players cause if you treat all new players this way your going to see fewer numbers. guess new players are easy to throw the blame on.

[Aaron Hosterman]

im new thought so everything i say probably is false right?

[Aaron Hosterman]

and if you would like to talk about this ill be glad to come talk in person and next time dont hang up oon my friend when calls. he was just calling to talk this out.

[Blindside]

i actually get along with everyone, maybe we are talking about 2 different situations, im not sure but we are very busy in here, and with school vacation very hectic. So if it is a different situation, i apologize. as for wanting to talk in person im fine with that as well, you name when and we can talk it over. as for hanging up on you, i don't answer phones, thats not my job, so whoever it was you can take it up with them, and i'm sure they would be glad to talk with you. there are 2 mikes that work here. We try to be new player friendly as much as possible, me especially and you can ask most of our customers, i go out of my way to help anyone that needs it. wheather its questions about guns or gear, or anything related to airsoft, to helping kids with fixing their guns that went down on the field. i do play hard, i am ex-military, and this is "MilSim" ive been playing this sport since 99 when it was only a certain group who even knew about it. You have to understand how many people we have in and out of here weekly, ranging from veteran players to new players, and we deal with allot of players who either don't feel their hits, or just don't want to call their hits. It gets very frustrating, and i'm not trying to be a dick at all, but we all have our days, good ones as well as bad ones. I have no hard feelings with you and your friends, in my eyes what happens on the field stays on the field. Please don't let one bad day deter you from coming down again, especially on a day that is less crowded, and less hectic. If for some reason you feel we need to talk this out in person i am fine with that as well. you can even call my home phone and talk with me if you choose. pm me and i will give you my home phone number. i am actually here at the citadel now working so if you want to talk with me you can call here as well and ask for me and we can talk.

[Mattrosie]

I got shot at full auto with a couple guys while we were walking down a hallway the last game last night. We were all yelling "dead man entering..." the whole time and we had our hands up and everything and then boom I was shot 4 times in head, 2 times in each arm and many many times in the legs and it REALLY REALLY hurt/hurts.

[Shaggy]

This is why we have numbered arm bands and will shortly have enough even for the mega busy nights. Walk up and get the person's number and give it to a ref if anything like this happens. It is not tolerated and people will be sent home.

As far as hit calling complaints, two things... first adrenaline affects not only pain threshold but judgement. You may not feel a hit or two that only hit fabric and not skin behind it, and second sometimes people all jacked up make poor decisions they wouldn't normally do even in another game situation. There is a difference between "i was panicked and made a bad decision, my bad" and being a dirty dirty cheater. One is not intentional the other isn't.

As far as "yelling" goes. The field is noisy, there is gunfire and people talking and running around. Trying to have a calm talk with someone isn't going to happen on the field and it shouldn't be taken personally unless someone is up in your face screaming and pointing fingers in your face. If this happens call a ref and someone is going to sit down or go home.

Lastly on ref calls. Like football refs don't always have the right angle or a clear view. We don't have instant replay. Sometimes the calls work against you, sometimes for you. It is what it is and don't read too much into it. The refs have a hard job and do the best they can.

I don't know who hung up on you but I will find out because that is unacceptable.

[mhealey]

im new thought so everything i say probably is false right?

That's not what I meant at all, I should have worded this differently. The point I was trying to make was it seems like you just got unlucky in your first game. Sometimes there are conflicts and trust me I understand how things can heat up really fast on the field. One problem leads to the next and as more and more people get frustrated the more confusion and tension there is. All I'm trying to say is give it another try, the Citadel can be really fun and the staff does their best to resolve all the conflicts and keep everyone happy even if it doesn't work out 100% of the time.

[Aaron Hosterman]

it wasnt a hang up my friend checked his phone and it said the call was dropped. extremely sorry for the misunderstanding there. i understand yelling but bitching someone out for something is different from yelling. any ways ill swing by next time i have money or gas and talk with you guys about this. i didnt mean to sound like an asshole just have alot going on this week and im very stressed out. im very loyal to my friends especially my best friend bryce. i defend my friends as i see fit and ballance the information i recieve with that of the accuser and try to make sence of it all. if i have money for a game ill swing by tuesday but right now im broke poor. hoping the next game is better.