We go to great lengths to not mix groups or allow walk-on players. This gives event organizers a great deal of control over their event at the Dunes. Only those individuals who they invite will be there.
Paintball is very much a group activity and we have observed enough groups to offer some suggestions for making an event go well.
For team outings or any other group outing where most of the people know each other and there is some reason to not dilute that group spirit, be somewhat careful about inviting players who are outside the group. In order to pump up numbers some teams will let players invite friends and sometimes the friends are paintball freaks with super weapons and a very aggressive style. One player like this on the field can really scramble an outing for the majority of players who are not "pros".
If you a planning an outing for girls, be super careful about letting any but very civilized guys attend. Put a guy who needs to prove his machoness into a girls' outing and you have a problem. In other words, make sure you know specifically who is being invited. A friend or a brother of one of the girls may cause difficulty. Guys and gals definitely approach paintball differently.
For groups of new players or confirmed amateurs, things usually go best if there are no private guns allowed. This levels the playing field and avoids intimidation. Often it is tough to enforce such a policy but it may help to lean in this direction.
Some of the best outings we see have a wide range of ages involved. For teams where the players are under 18 years, it always works well to have a few older players involved. Dads or Moms invariably add to girls outings. Family groups with a full range of ages are always winners. One of the most pleasant groups we ever bumped into was the Triton diving club where there was a mix of boys and girls and men and women and a wide age spread - perhaps they were used to working together and co-operating but for what ever reason, they seemed to have good paintball outings.
For hardcore experienced players, these points are not very relevant. But paintball certainly lets you express your personality and pleasant people usually add to an outing and unpleasant people usually detract - its the same everywhere.
There is only so far you can go in controlling the mix at an outing and it is rare that we see a really bad outing. Hopefully these thoughts will help you go for the best!
