Does it hurt to get hit?

Okay, well, this is the question all newbies want to know before they go out.  Well, let me put this in perspective for you.  For the most part, most guys that play paintball seem to be between 15-27 years old, wiegh about 120 lbs. and are in fairly good to excellent physical condition.  To me, the feeling of getting shot would not discourage me from going. The truth is, yes, it stings.  It feels like a towel being snapped on you, or perhaps someone throwing a marble at you.  The good news is, the pain varies depending on the distance from which you are shot.  If you are shot in the hand at 10 feet, and the paintball doesn't break, then it's going to sting extremely bad and you may need to ease off that hand for a few minutes.  If you're shot from 40 feet in the arm, then it's more of a dull pain that you won't pay attention to.  The FPS (feet per second) at which your assailant's paintball is set to has something to do with it as well.  I accidentally made an enemy the first time I went, and he threatened to set his tricked out Planet Eclipse paintball gun up to around 500 FPS (normal is about 250) and pop me constantly with it.  So, in summary, yes, it hurts, but only like a nagging reprimand that says "next time, don't get shot".