How Paintball participation is declining - what we should do to prevent Airsoft from following suit

[PMO Gordo]

How Paintball participation is declining - what we should do to prevent Airsoft from following suit: http://mobile.businessweek.com/articles/2014-12-11/paintball-faces-competition-from-tough-mudder-and-extreme-sports

Reasons of why Paintball participation decline:

1. Tough Mudder-type events steal the extreme sport image that Paintball use to have

2. Poor economy and high expense in Paintball participation

3. Paintball culture becomes favoring rich bullies

4. Difficulties in setting up new venues

My thought on how to prevent Airsoft from following suit:

1. I'd like to see more Blacksheep-type of 24-hour "extreme" milsim events. This kind of events if marketed right, can be as popular as Tough Mudder. Also, for casual players, field owners should keep coming up with new game designs that may follow popular culture trend, such Hunger Game-style games. Finally, don't ever do Airsoft Tournaments, period.

2. Event organizers and field owners should keep a lookout for expensive new technology in Airsoft, such as the HPA system. Some new rules may be needed to keep the field balanced, so that casual players can enjoy the games as well. Quoting the article: "Many sports rely far more on a large constellation of casual participants than on a small core of rabid fans to generate profits"

[jal3]

Airsoft is what's killing paintball.

 

"2. Event organizers and field owners should keep a lookout for expensive new technology in Airsoft, such as the HPA system. Some new rules may be needed to keep the field balanced, so that casual players can enjoy the games as well. Quoting the article: "Many sports rely far more on a large constellation of casual participants than on a small core of rabid fans to generate profits"

 

 

Airsoft is not a sport.

Sports are based on having a core of actual players, which creates casual players. The casual players can then be milked for money.

This is how all sports work.

But in airsoft there's only casual players of varying degrees

An exception would perhaps be people who primarely create broadcast content, eg. levelcapgaming.

 

Paintball is the same. The tournament scene has a load of toplevel teams that are marketable. It creates casual tournament players that can then be milked for money (here buy this 1500usd marker every year, you need it).

The problem for paintball right now is that it's influx of new players are joining airsoft instead. Usually it goes like "I want to play war *fruitcage* yeah -> plays recball -> becomes better, likes the actual game/skill part -> switches to tournament paintball", now it's "i want to play war *fruitcage* yeah -> plays airsoft cause it looks cooler -> buys more gear, becomes more operator -> repeat (-> get kids, stop airsoft...)".

And thus you're left with a super high skill tournament scene, but the cash flow from casuals to support it is decreasing.

[Danke]

Pommier, the owner of the now-defunct Los Gatos Pursuit Paintball, says the sport’s culture has grown more bellicose. “You have this attitude that came to be known as the ‘agg’ mentality,” he says. “It means aggressive. It became this trendy thing to say, ‘I’m agg, and you’re not.’ The same kid who was probably getting his lunch money stolen in junior high is then coming out to the field with $4,000 worth of gear and turning into a flaming lunatic. It really did flip the game around. There were a bunch of jerks playing.”

 

Agg; good word. Wonder if I can work that into any convo on here?

[Gigueand]

Paintball has been in a decline for nearly a decade.

 

During the 1990s, paintball companies and tournament promoters all sought to de-militarize paintball and establish the hobby as a TV friendly game. Colorful speedball fields, colorful guns and uniforms were promoted over the older, more "woodsball" style of play. For field owners, who made their money on paint sales, this was a great change. Rather than having one 25 acre "woodsball" field where games took an hour to complete, field owners could have several smaller speedball courses with games being completed in 10-15 minutes. Smaller fields meant more shots being fired, higher paint sales and more downtime between games to push food, air refills and other products. Paintball manufacturers jumped on the tournament bandwagon by sponsoring teams, providing them with uniforms and guns. Soon enough speedball was the dominant paradigm for most fields and manufacturers started to cater to speedball players who wanted faster firing, lighter weight "markers." During the early 2000s, older "super-semi" guns like the Automag and Autococker were eclipsed by the Shocker, Angel and other electropneumatic markers with high rates of fire. This trend continued with fast firing markers dramatically declining in price and replacing many of the older, traditional "mechanical" markers. On the field, however, the result was that newer players were being bunkered, overshot and leaving the field with lots of welts. Firing hundreds of rounds in a 10-15 minute round of speedball was not uncommon and paint prices ($40, $60, $80 for a case) were prohibitive for newer players and, after 2008, often prohibitive for everyone else.

 

In recent years there has been somewhat of a return to woodsball with more milsim products from companies like BT, more interest in pump/stock class play and the creation of "mag fed" markers shooting both traditional paintballs and longer range "first strike" paintballs.

 

Advances in technology that allowed higher rate of fires guns did have a negative impact on paintball in the long run.

 

Compared to paintball, however, the difference between a entry level AEG and a high end AEG is not that significant. A $150 JG and a $500 LCT differ primarily in construction and build quality; not in performance. Nearly all entry level AEGs have respectable rates of fire when compared to their more expensive counterparts and increasing battery voltage (while contributing to wear and tear) can easily level the playing field. An expensive gun on a cheap 7.4v 15c lipo isn't going to perform nearly as well as a cheap gun with an 11.1 30c lipo given that they're both well maintained and have functional hop-ups.

 

In paintball, gun performance was always at the center of the sport. Innovations in how to supply air to the marker, how to more quickly feed in paint, how to decrease breaking paint in the marker's breech, how to incorporate modes of fire and increase rates of fire have driven marker develop. It's only been in recent years that the demand for "mag fed" play has pushed manufacturers to build more "realistic" markers.

 

In airsoft, in general, there have been very few innovations in gearbox design across the industry. The primary factor that drives airsoft sales is appearance, not performance, so advances have been made in decreasing the cost of guns (clones, ACM, etc) and in making better externals. It's only been in recent years that we've seen some companies trying to push performance. Obviously, KWA always used to harp on about performance and we're seeing that same thing with Krytac (associated with KWA?) and Lonex.

 

Performance differences between most airsoft rifles are fairly small with the exception being HPA guns and highly tuned AEGs, both of which tend to out perform stock rifles.

 

How can we integrate these guns fairly onto the field?

 

1. Insure that all players chrono using the appropriate technique/procedure for their rifle. Joules/FPS, BB weight, etc.

2. Mandate that all players use semi-auto only.

 

1. I'd like to see more Blacksheep-type of 24-hour "extreme" milsim events. This kind of events if marketed right, can be as popular as Tough Mudder.

I would like to see more large scale milsim event as well...

 

...But anyone can do a Tough Mudder. How many new players can show up prepared for a 24 hour mil-sim event? A Tough Mudder requires that you have shoes, a 24 hour event requires a decent gun, batteries, load-bearing equipment, food, etc. I played at Blacksheep Milsim's 24hr event at Camp Grayling during the summer, it definitely was not an event intended for new players.

 

In my opinion, the biggest hurdle in attracting new players is the nature of airsoft itself. Unlike the paintball community, the airsoft community is not interested in moving away from its own unique sector of gun culture. What would airsoft be if we had no realistic replicas? It's the realism that seems to attract most new players, but it's also a factor that keeps potential players (or their parents) from participating.

 

Airsoft is really still riding the coattails of paintball. I only know of one or two dedicated airsoft fields that aren't also paintball field. Despite having played airsoft for nearly a decade, I still tell people "it's like paintball" because people just haven't been exposed to airsoft outside of news stories about kids with springers being shot by police.

[PMO Gordo]

Getting places to play is paramount to the survival of the sport. Like it or not, indoor arenas seem to draw more players than outdoor fields. I personally like outdoor fields more due to greater game varieties. Even so, I've heard a lot of indoor arenas are barely surviving. I've been wondering if under-utilization is one of the main reasons. It's my understanding that many indoor arenas are only open for 3-4 days in a week, which means they don't earn anything for the rest of the week. If that's the case, would jumping on the Tough Mudder band wagon help? To be more specific, if indoor arenas build some indoor Tough Mudder-style obstacles as props/cover during Airsoft games, and rent them to Tough Mudder attendees after Airsoft business hours, would that generate more revenues? Here's an example of an indoor obstacle course facility: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Loft/1526318547613029

 

[TheFull9]

You'd have to sweep up 99% of the BBs every time to make it safe for the mud-runners, then airsofters would start breaking themselves and their gear clambering on stuff and proceeding to fall off.  Just don't see it getting the relevant sign offs from the powers that be, at least not here.

 

Though I've not noticed any of the CQB sites I regularly play at having and difficulties in attracting players, I have to book weeks in advance to get a place sometimes.  Though these are sites which run in the usual British way for an indoor site i.e. usually just one day a week, the staff presumably have regular monday-friday jobs as well.

[jal3]

I find the talk about "tough-mudder" odd. It seems like such a specific thing (it's even a company brand), and very disconnected from paintball. I don't see the connection between paintball as a hobby and running obstacle courses. Might as well be paintball and soccer or paintball and snowboarding.

 

From the perspective of running a business though, it does have some connection. Anybody who runs a paintball "center" around here also offers lasergames, (limited) obstacle courses, archery, axe throwing, sumo suits, human tabletop soccer etc, and whatever else that could be related to stag does, work outings and such.

 

They run the paintball (tournament) fields as passion, then use the same space and facilities to run a business on too.

Perhaps this is what they mean with "tough-mudder" events? That there's simply more participants for that side of the business on their field.

[jal3]

Airsoft is really still riding the coattails of paintball. I only know of one or two dedicated airsoft fields that aren't also paintball field. Despite having played airsoft for nearly a decade, I still tell people "it's like paintball" because people just haven't been exposed to airsoft outside of news stories about kids with springers being shot by police.

Just adding on here.

In Denmark there's none or little sharing between paintball and airsoft fields. Airsoft fields play airsoft, paintball fields play paintball (even if they're recball).

Sole airsoft is a viable business here.

[PMO Gordo]

I find the talk about "tough-mudder" odd. It seems like such a specific thing (it's even a company brand), and very disconnected from paintball. I don't see the connection between paintball as a hobby and running obstacle courses. Might as well be paintball and soccer or paintball and snowboarding.

 

From the perspective of running a business though, it does have some connection. Anybody who runs a paintball "center" around here also offers lasergames, (limited) obstacle courses, archery, axe throwing, sumo suits, human tabletop soccer etc, and whatever else that could be related to stag does, work outings and such.

 

They run the paintball (tournament) fields as passion, then use the same space and facilities to run a business on too.

Perhaps this is what they mean with "tough-mudder" events? That there's simply more participants for that side of the business on their field.

 

Jal3, would you happen to have the website link to the paintball center you mentioned? Its owners seem to have ways to make profits. I'm sure those info will help my local Airsoft arenas - they said they are barely able to pay operation fees just catering to Airsoft players.

 

BTW, Tough Mudder is an outdoor obstacle course event which became very popular in US. There are many similar events that came on board after the success of Tough Mudder, such as Spartan Race, Warrior Dash, Battle Frog, and etc. Obstacle course negotiation skills can be useful for Airsoft games in urban settings. There are times when climbing over walls or windows are better than going through doorways.

[3vi1-D4n]

Now if you look at whats changed in the past, I hypohthesized that the decline of paintball is due to a few factors:

 

- The "I"/Me/Selfie culture.  Almost every sport and hobby groups, from paintball to furry fandom has seen an increase in number of "players" who are less committed and ideological and go for the quick and easy self gratification.  As a result, sports have become less about the team espirit de corp or organisational intent, but rather about how much the player can get out of something for least effort.  Commitment based human interactions are no longer required for a meaningful adventure.

 

- Video games.  Even though we laugh at the COD/FPS players and their instant gratification games, in reality it actually takes a lot of time and commitment to rank up.  Its easier to create a worthwhile adventure in a computer game (think Eve online, BF4, COD Ghost etc) than it is in real life, with a well defined rank/skill up system and less the politics and human contact to get in the way of a good adventure.  Set up cost is cheap and readily available, without the risk of being shot by UK/US cops.

 

- Crossfit (or whatever team circuit system has been created).  You may laugh, but Cross fit is surprisingly addictive.  It can be done as a team and everyone is trying to "rank up" their personal best.  Best thing is that it takes up less time per week, than a whole week preparing and doing an overnight game.  It satisfy the self gratification with a constant stream of endorphins and has a healthy social culture.

 

---------------------------

 

- In my country paintball is also on the decline, but its not because of the lack of venues.

 

- Most people here can afford to buy a real steel and shoot $1 a round for 762 Nato and do F&M with them so cost isn't the issue.

 

- I don't see Tough Mudder encroaching on the same industry as paintball.  They are fundamentally different, though the only thing similar is that it attracts people a sense of out-of-the-ordinary adventure, which wakeboarding, skydiving, and motorcrossing also have in common.  Having been on Tough Mudder before its more for those guys/gals who have never stepped out of their gym, and was more for s*its and giggles. 

 

- The decline of paintball to my view is also not directly influenced by what happens in airsoft.  Airsoft has always attracted a very different crowd from paintball.  In the country I am from, paintball is seen to be the badass "working mans" game attracting builders, plumbers...compared with airsoft which have attracted mostly Scrawny Asian kids, video gamers, people who are students/professionals who haven't quite settled down, overweight chairsofters/collectors, and even more strange overweight ex-mil/contractor types.

 

- I do agree that the paintball culture has been seen to have an aggressive and can lend itself to bullying. Since its seen as a working mans game, airsoft is seen from paintballers as a game for wussies/wimps who plays with small balls.  Even within the teams the competition can become very unhealthy.

 

- In terms of the game, mainstream paintball is very fixed, in the way its more well defined as a sport.  Both sides have the same fixed goals, with equal playing fields, and the only way to win is not so much as strategy and use of ground, but by pure aggression creating momentum.  Its a relatively mindless game, but its skillset is harder than it looks to perfect.

 

AIrsoft is much less well defined and often goals are not set in stone.  In speedball games its similar to paintball, but even scripted games would have at least some mechanism to set goals and objectives either before a game or in-game.  Airsoft skill-types vary between the different types of games, i.e. the skill build between a speedball, skirmish, and varying degrees of milsim (vs real military skillsets) often are very different and not transferrable. 

 

The other noted difference between the two groups is that airsofters spend half the time arguing who is right, or complaining about difference between 1J vs 1.1J

 

Basically its a different game from paintball.

 

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[jal3]

Jal3, would you happen to have the website link to the paintball center you mentioned? Its owners seem to have ways to make profits. I'm sure those info will help my local Airsoft arenas - they said they are barely able to pay operation fees just catering to Airsoft players.

 

BTW, Tough Mudder is an outdoor obstacle course event which became very popular in US. There are many similar events that came on board after the success of Tough Mudder, such as Spartan Race, Warrior Dash, Battle Frog, and etc. Obstacle course negotiation skills can be useful for Airsoft games in urban settings. There are times when climbing over walls or windows are better than going through doorways.

Here's a few:

http://www.paintballarena.dk/baner.php

http://www.paintballarena.dk/galleri/img_4041.jpg

 

http://kongelunden.dk/aktiviteter-2/aktiviteter/

 

http://extremepaintball.dk/aktiviteter/

They follow more or less the same business model.

 

Most of it requires an indoor facility.

This is where the paintball fields come in handy. It's easy to move the barricades to one side and then run whatever event you want in the space.

For most airsoft fields that isn't really possible, but they could still do laser games, paintball (the usual tipmann rental etc) and some other things. Treasure hunt events maybe.

It doesn't really cater to the same crowd (airsoft or paintball regulars), but it makes good use of the space outside walkon events.

[Cannonfodder80]

From talking to a mate who does paintball I think one of the main issues regular players have is the cost. He was genuinely surprised when I told him how much a bottle of bbs costs.

 

Also I think that a big part of the problem for site owners is that airsoft has a larger percentage of regular players whereas paintball sites (or at least the one we share the site with) seam to rely on casual rental players like stag dos etc

[Gigueand]

In my area at least the model for paintball play and the model for airsoft play are totally different.

 

Paintball fields host weekly, weekend games and derive most of their cash from a few regulars and casual rentals like bachelor and birthday parties, corporate team building events, etc.

 

These same paintball fields host airsoft events, but only on a monthly or every other month kind of schedule as airsoft events are not organized by the paintball field and tend to move around the state from field to field. In generally, airsofters organize and schedule the game, contract with the field owner to basically rent the field for a given day and then do all the hosting/reffing/objective setting, etc. The field owner basically stands back, takes waivers and accepts entrance fees. They are pretty much paid to stay out of the way and allow access to the field. 

 

Most of the successful (?) retail locations around me that cater to airsofters also sell paintball equipment, board and card gaming stuff as well as BMX, skater type stuff. There just isn't enough of a market for airsoft to sell just that. Successful retailers have to bring multiple niche items together in order to insure a continuous stream of revenue. Even then most of these places seem like they're nearly always on the edge of going under.

[harborne blue]

Personally, I don't like paintball for all the reasons stated above. The last time I played, someone referred to the speedball field as 'the cash machine' for the site owner. At that point, I knew I'd had enough.

 

However I also worry for the long term future of Airsoft. Here in the UK we have to deal with the nonsense that is the VCRA and nimbies who want us all to have bright pink guns or whatever. In addition, there's a growing number of site owners charging a lot of money for a poor days play, with the games made up during the briefings at badly constructed sites with marshals who don't seem to care about making it a fun day. And they're charging an increasingly high fee for this.

 

Without the Cash Cow that is paint and air sales, airsoft needs to provide a great experience with innovative sites, well thought out rolling games and this plus the weekenders, mil-sims etc. will see us through. Especially as the former feeds noobs in and then into the latter: we need both and they need each other.

 

Site owners need to realise that £50 (plus kit hire) to walk around the woods looking for someone to scrap with does not a happy softer make. And that no one is going to get rich running an airsoft site (in the UK at least).

[Cannonfodder80]

no one is going to get rich running an airsoft site (in the UK at least).

This, you can always tell what sites are run as a money making business and those run as clubs for the enjoyment of playing

[3vi1-D4n]

I considered a paintball/airsoft business is tough.

 

A paintball/airsoft park would only operate weeknights mostly for adolescent types, and after 12pm for weekends.  The issue is that the field hire would never generate enough money, and only feasible if you use it as a marketing tool to generate demand for the sales of guns, accessories and gear.  While for paintball, extortionist ammo price and gear hire may be acceptable, airsoft that is not so.

 

The mistake I have seen is to charge too much for the door fee, exclusive use of site ammo and gear, or create too much churn (i.e. charge for half hr session).  This creates high turnaround, low quality games which increases the turnover rate of players which means people rather staying 5-10 years for the hobby they spend 1-2 years worth of money before leaving.

 

I think the biggest mistake for site/shop businesses is that they think short term about getting money quickly.  The overall intention is actually to cultivate the hobby and see value in the game so people will spend money for longer.  While main effort is in the store, the package is not complete without the idea which improves value in the marketing of the game on the site.  Short term vs Long term

[Danke]

The mistake people make in business is that they don't run it like a business. They open a paintball shop/field because they "love" it and as a result their choices are clouded from the get go.

 

They may be sharp but under capitalized, or they may be clueless and subsided by parents who pull the plug when little Billy decides RC drones are more fun.

 

You get a big glut of weak retailers and fields opening up and you've got a crash looming that will get your activity in the news.

[PMO Gordo]

Airsoft to me is more of an interactive educational program. I've always been fascinated by soldiering tasks, and Airsoft provides a glimpse to them. It'd be cool if Airsoft fields / arenas have a education center / museum on combat skills, survival skills, physical training, and etc. With virtual reality technology, the exhibitions can be interactive as well - imagine a education center / museum like the picture below:

 

Figure: Soldiers of the 157th Infantry Brigade, First Army Division East, take advantage of the Dismounted Soldier Training System (http://www.army.mil/article/97582/Virtual_training_puts_the__real__in_realistic_environment/)

 

If I was the curator of the National Infantry Museum at Columbus, GA, I'd have exhibitions on combat skills, survival skills, physical training, and etc in addition to history, and most important of all - I'd acquire a permanent training ground to host Airsoft national OPs. Now that's a wild dream!

[3vi1-D4n]

Airsoft to me is more of an interactive educational program. I've always been fascinated by soldiering tasks, and Airsoft provides a glimpse to them. It'd be cool if Airsoft fields / arenas have a education center / museum on combat skills, survival skills, physical training, and etc. With virtual reality technology, the exhibitions can be interactive as well - imagine a education center / museum like the picture below:

 

Figure: Soldiers of the 157th Infantry Brigade, First Army Division East, take advantage of the Dismounted Soldier Training System (http://www.army.mil/article/97582/Virtual_training_puts_the__real__in_realistic_environment/)

 

If I was the curator of the National Infantry Museum at Columbus, GA, I'd have exhibitions on combat skills, survival skills, physical training, and etc in addition to history, and most important of all - I'd acquire a permanent training ground to host Airsoft national OPs. Now that's a wild dream!

 

Everytime someone say something like that this comic strip comes to mind:

 

[allizard]

Yeah I read the article too and it's a good topic.  But first allow me to clarify,  I am an employee of Kriss USA and we own Krytac brand.  Krytac have nothing to do with KWA.  Although the only association people perceive Krytac with KWA is some of us used to work for KWA USA office.  That's about it.

 

As for large scale airsoft national events, we do have plenty of them like American MilSim, Lion Claws.  We used to have 24 hours event  call Operation Pine Plains.  That said, I like to see an event in US similar to Poland's GF Point which challenge physically and mentally with airsoft gun as equipment.  On the other hand from a manufacturer point of view, the largest demographic of airsoft players in US are between 12-15.  I'm not sure if it's political correct to say but at this age group not many players are the same type of attendees interested in Touch Mudder or Spartan Race.  

 

One trend that we have notice is the HPA system is making an impact with airsoft scene.  Few months ago we attended Fulda Gap 2014 in NC, I haven't never seen so much people using HPA system like Polar Star and Wolverine SMP.  Personally I think it's great that these system bridge players from Paint Ball into airsoft.  Also this is kinda cool to see a full circle that the classic airsoft were using external tanks and hose and it's making a coming back in a positive different way.

 

Just my $.02

[AG1212]

Airsoft is a hobby with (what should be) a close-knit community of like-minded individuals. Now I'm not saying everyone should approach airsoft the same way, but airsoft should maintain the sense of community, teamwork and sportsmanship. 

 

Having said that it just isn't that much of a sport, even calling paintball a sport is a bit tenuous. Airsoft evolved naturally as a hobby, fitting a very small niche in the market. Completely by accident it's exploded into a very popular activity, with no major outside-of-airsoft marketing or any special events. Call me elitist but this keeps the quality of players high, which is now changing with all the CoD-kids coming in thinking this 'sport' is all about killing and winning.

 

If there is any decline I think it's due to the quality of Sunday skirmishes with the influx of new players with the wrong mindset, over here anyway. I've seen and heard of many experienced players leaving the 'sport' for these reasons, they only do Milsims which are a niche within a niche over here, a very small one at that. It's a shame really, a lot of people rush into airsoft but they don't really 'get' what it's about. Airsoft is as much about dressing up and making believe with your mates as it is actually playing, and games run better when everyone is there to have fun and don't care about getting hit.

 

It's obviously different in other countries, but that;s what I've noticed here. Sites make their money off kids who get into the sport for the wrong reasons and they usually disappear after a year or 2.

 

/2cents.

[renegadecow]

My observation at least for the US model of airsoft is that the place is so freaking big that there are sites are far and few in between. A lot of players just play off the radar, gathering amongst themselves on private property. Now, some of these places are actually large and safe enough to play on as legitimate sites, but because they are virtually unheard of do not get any more players than the small group already occupying it.

In the UK it's the rising game fee cost. Most only get to go out once a month due to the prices. I couldn't blame the site owners either as they have every right to set their prices, but they're only running their business into the ground. You want people to attend Sunday games with the least amount of concern for money and instead should focus on other things like equipment sales/rentals, food and consumables. In this line of thought though, it would be logical to have fields and stores to have some kind of agreement or merger. No sense making the stores compete against the place where their products are intended to be used.

Everywhere else it's the lack of big, quality games either by the lack of organization or quality in the player base as a whole. I've gone through several large events in the past and get were all gigantic flops owing to people being dumbasses and *rickrolls*.

[Skarclaw]

I don't think airsoft is declining. There was a massive boom in 2006-2008 mostly cause of china guns. Its slowed but still there. Airsoft is a lot more accessible now and things are just 'better'. Metal bodies, not plastic are the norm. Upgrades are cheaper, there are just way more guns and gear is cheaper now. In the UK there are more sites and it hasn't really gone up in price that much. Yeah, sites that used to be twenty are now 25 but pffft - look at your fuel and food bills, your payslip. Bigger issues, imo!

[LordElpus]

Any observed decline in attendance at sites in the uK isn't anything to do with airsoft being in decline, it's because there is so much choice and good choice at that. The Midlands are pretty much airsofting hell with the sheer number of varied sites.

[Rob15]

In the UK there are more sites and it hasn't really gone up in price that much. Yeah, sites that used to be twenty are now 25 but pffft - look at your fuel and food bills, your payslip. Bigger issues, imo!

Indeed, the green fee isn't a massive issue. When I started playing green fee was £20 and a KWA G19 mag was £14 - £15, now the green fee at a similar/same site I used to play at initially is about £25 and a KWA G19 mag costs £25 - £30, in the overall scheme of airsoft the green fees haven't increased too much.

 

Green fees are the first thing to be complained about when the site dissapoints a player in some way though, I doubt anyone has really left a really good day of playing and questioned the green fee in retrospect. The cost of renting plus green fee probably is a bit prohibitive though for many, but running rentals does cost and that cost has to be recovered with the initial charge and not through additional ammo sales.