How "Ball Sense" Applies to Tribes

I recall roughly a year ago when many Tribes players were still amped and hopeful for the release of Tribes:Ascend, when a post was made on the "Tribes:Ascend" thread of the Tribalwar forums by SmoothP. It was essentially an essay about "Ball Sense" and it's relation to the "essence of Tribes". It has stayed fresh in my memory even a year later. I think it's important to post here, because of its clarity and its truth- "Ball Sense" is present in Tribes to an extent not found in other shooter games, and it's because of this fact that the game is loved to this day.

Football, Baseball, Soccer, Hockey, Basketball, Lacrosse, Rugby, Handball, Hurling... What do all these things have in common? They are team sports played with balls. As soon as children learn to walk, they start playing with balls. Throwing them, kicking them, catching them, hitting them. Ball games are part of the human experience, our brains are wired for them. As hunters we used projectiles to take down prey, and even in ancient cultures we find evidence of using balls in recreational sport.

In Sweden, they have a term that translates into English as "Ball Sense". We all as humans have some innate amount of ball sense, and begin improving it from birth. When throwing away a piece of trash, people often throw or shoot it into the trash can. Our ball sense is what lets us make that shot without computing how far away the trash can is, how fast and in what direction our chair is rolling, or how high we need to arc the shot in order to get it over the corner of the desk. An average person may not be able to throw a football 50 yards and hit a wide reciever running at full steam, or make a jump shot while falling down after getting bumped in midair, but we can *understand* and *appreciate* these acts because of our ball sense.

The essence and beauty of Tribes is that it speaks to these innate human qualities. It engages our ball sense, and stimulates us at a primal level. Watching even pro level CoD is fairly boring... "Oh, he ran around another corner and held down his trigger and shot that guy with a machine gun. *Yawn*" But watching quality Tribes play? It's a highly engaging experience. Seeing the shots, the timing, the skill... it's in our nature to appreciate what's on display! And playing Tribes at a competent level? It's Zen-like. You can "feel" the motion of your player and your opponent. "See" the future before it happens, in an ancient and primal part of your mind. "Know" when at what angle to fire that disc to hit just the right spot at just the right time. Without doing any computations... our minds were *built* with the ability to make those computations without thinking! Playing Tribes brings out those parts of our mind that let us take down wolves with a sling shot, buffalo with a bow and arrow, deer with a javelin. We were made for this!

There is something deeply engaging about making that disc shot, or dropping that perfect mortar round, or lobbing that perfect grenade. Much more engaging than twitch aiming a machine gun or locking on a missle. When a gamer first sees CoD, or CS, they may think, "Hmm, that looks pretty fun, and shooting things is cool." When a gamer first sees Tribes they think, "Wow! That is the coolest freaking FPS I've ever seen." They find it entralling. Because of our innate ball sense, they can immediately appreciate a great shot, even while its in flight. I know, I've introduced at least a dozen people to Tribes.
And that is why *every* loadout needs a primary weapon that is based on ball sense. Because ball sense is the essence of sport... of Football, of Baseball, of Soccer, of Hockey, of Basketball... of Tribes.

- SmoothP 

When I read this for the first time, I smiled and nodded, pretty much the whole way through. And when I take a step back and think to myself "Hey, this is about Tribes", I realize that the name of the game is a piece of deserving poetry.

It was because of a completely unintentionally borked physics system of the original game that players will able to ski and jet to achieve crazy speed- and it was over months of online play that a playstyle involving shooting slow moving explosives at fast aerial targets was developed and refined. Mid-air discs and long-arc explosives are celebrated even to this day, in the current title, Tribes:Ascend.

And now, Tribes players are very much like the tribal warriors written in the lore of human history, relying on primal instinct and hand-eye coordination. We don't throw spears at prey and predator to ensure we survive another day, but our "Ball Sense" is "alive" in some sense of the word when we score that mid-air disc to ensure our survival in the game. (You could also argue that we are just as brutal and territorial as tribal warriors are- just look at the amount of bashing and trolling that occurs on our community forums.) There is no other name more appropriate for this game than Tribes.

 I will admit, mid-air frag videos were one of the very first things that caught my attention about Tribes (though I stayed for many more reasons). We should never overlook how important Ball Sense is to the essence of Tribes. Because I can say surely, when you get to that point where you are confident that every shot you take will hit the enemy- when you can nail every MA you try for- it surely is an incredible experience. It makes you feel like a beast is inside of you.