Do you hate the 9yr old with your Dream Gun

[DCAP]

So i was listening to the Airsoftology podcast last night and i great subject came up,

 

What do you think the age limit should be for airsoft?

Do you think yhere should be one?

What to do with all those 9yr olds with $900.00 weapons that mommy bought them?

Should there be a jr bracket?

If a kid cries after getting shot, should there be a time out, or should he be shot again for being a pansey?

[ChrisWPA]

Imo, there shouldnt be an age limit.

 

I know kids that played and were 10-13 years old, that I actually respected since they tried hard to be responsible and didnt yell.

 

Then I seen 15-16 year olds scream and run randomly and get in my way.

 

 

So I think you shouldnt be able to buy one unless your 16, and parents have to buy if your under 16.

 

[tosuzu]

Not at all, Although they're sneaky little bastards.... :|

[AirsoftAddict]

some kids are no worse than the adults. Although i think the age limit at 18 in the uk is fine. If they are younger than 16 an playing thats the parents problem, especially when they get injured

[Ferrarilove1]

That is a tough one. I've seen some 13-14 and occasionally some younger ones, what I mean by that is at the field I usually only see 14+, who handle themselves really well and are maturely on the field. And I've also seen some 15-16 year olds and some adults who act like complete morons. One time a guy about 15 years jumps out and shouts, "YOU DIE MOTHER******" so my partner shoots him, I wouldn't call that proper conduct. It's hard to tell an age limit because you will encounter some really mature young people, and some really moronic teenagers (by that I mean 15-18), and occasionally you'll get the adult that acts like the 15 year old I mentioned.

[cafemondo]

No age limit in the UK unless specified by an insurances site, some sites dont allow under 18s by their choice.

Ive seen kids as young as 8 at my local site, great fun, especially about 10 of them in a small building and theyre all shooting each other up by accident, screaming, shrieking and yelling at the same time, dad goes in shouting 'what the fu.. is going on in here' absolute class stuff, I mean you are paying for it but are you paying enough? Me and fellow skirmishes listening to the madness within with tears running down our faces.

And then on the other hand them forming a group around you and listening to some orders, being quiet and serious about the game, taking covering positions, taking point and being fodder in the slaughter. Youll find that the younger ones may shed a tear when riddled but mostly try not to show you it, but a 'youll be okay bud, hurts a bit dont it but thatll soon go, sit down for a couple of minutes' and theyre as right as rain in a couple of minutes. Like the previous poster said moronic teenagers and quite frankly weird adults are the biggest problem ive encountered so far.

This has been mostly about woodland playing, Ive not yet met a child under 18 (I think) who has run with me in a 4 man stack doing room clearances. That would be interesting.

This being mostly an British/American/European based forum we are not acustomed to child soldiers but in other countries this unfortunately is the norm. Ill turn this around by saying does having children playing airsoft increase the level of realism?

[DCAP]

It's hard to tell an age limit because you will encounter some really mature young people, and some really moronic teenagers

 

You got a point ther but how can you draw the line on imaturity, weve all seem those odd balls who think this is some kinda video fantasy land running around with no direction, or task in mind. Shooting and Yelling.... and giving away your position. More often than not its the teens not the old guys or the little newbies.

[3vi1-D4n]

Depends what you see as airsoft.

 

Ideally, I would all want mature players, who are all similarly trained, and can form small teams that will follow a larger chain of command structure, listen and evaluate their actions before and after the battle and hack up a battle plan. I see airsoft as a problem solving game with people, and people need to be in the right mindset to play, and that mindset doesn't settle until they get a job and work for a few years.

 

Airsoft for most, is a meatgrinder "free for all" shoot'em up. Even in organised events it always ends up being a clusterF**k, so having kids around doesn't make a different. Kids can be mature but more kids are less mature than adults, hence why the distinguishing line of 18yo exists.

 

I think physical maturity isn't the issue its the behavioural issue and spiritual issue. People who haven't been around to appreciate what we have here or has experienced the bigger world, who has no idea what they want to do in life, tend to be loose cannons, and that makes them a liability to teammates. But since this is airsoft, people tend to argue: I can do whatever the F**K I want!, with no deadly consequences to life, except to ruin someone elses day (my day).

 

Yeah...thats it really

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shibisueka]

I'm 14, and I'd kill to get into a milsim event. All my guns are bought by me, and all the guns I will get are bought by me. I do agree, that really young kids might not be such a good idea- Sequioa Airsoft has a 13 year limit, which might be for the best. I mean, I've met some mature 10-12 year olds... but then there are those who are - scratch that - want to be "gangsta's." I guess the best option is just to deal with them when they surface. If they aren't mature players, give them a stern talking to and/or a hosing!

[Dark_Harvey]

Yeah, tough question. Clearly it all depends on the person, which is why it's so hard to quantify "too young" or "too stupid". The last game I attended, there were a couple young kids with springers who obviously had much less experience than the rest of the guys, but they did absolutely fine. I'd take a younger kid who cared about the integrity of the sport and tried to play well over an obnoxious, clueless older person any day. The worst attendees I've ever seen at an event consisted of stupid adults and stupid, inexperienced younger teens. Now that was a nightmare...

[The Crunchy Bunny]

If a kid cries on the field for getting shot, he shouldn't have a "time out" or any kind of special privlages, because he should have realized that your playing a game involving getting shot, and it hurts sometimes. Also, if the kid has "My Dream Gun" and he knows how to use it and is reponsible, then that's fine by me. If he acts imature, shoots people at way to close range with a upgraded gun, doesn't call his hits, then I have a problem with it.

[DCAP]

I'm 14, and I'd kill to get into a milsim event. All my guns are bought by me, and all the guns I will get are bought by me. I do agree, that really young kids might not be such a good idea- Sequioa Airsoft has a 13 year limit, which might be for the best. I mean, I've met some mature 10-12 year olds... but then there are those who are - scratch that - want to be "gangsta's." I guess the best option is just to deal with them when they surface. If they aren't mature players, give them a stern talking to and/or a hosing!

 

 

Way to go man... seriously, i think there is a place for you mature younguns in every game. So if you hold your own, your not the future of the sport your the reality, your that nagging thought that people have to face, "I #%@*$ got shot by a 13yr old"!

[shibisueka]

I might add - as long as the kids WANT to play airsoft as is, not for just beating the competition and functionality (I have some friends who don't understand why I want a GBB rifle - they say an AEG will work better... ), they should be fine. From what I've seen, the competetive ones are the spoiled, cheating ones. Oh, and the ones who do it "just to look cool." Not to make generalizations, but that's just from my experience.

[Bloodhound]

I think that it depends on the individual. I started playing Airsoft when I was 10 years old (17 now), I had saved up money from the time I was 5 and had accumulated around $400 in a savings account. I bought a TM MP5-A4 hi-grade with all the goodies from Precision Airsoft. My friends and I had been playing paintball before and its my personal opinion that paintball hurts more so the kids should be fine lol.

 

What I'm trying to get at here is that every individual has their own maturity level, I have always been a more mature person than most in my eyes, and several 13 year olds that come to skirmish with my team take hits and shrug off pain better that some of the 30 year olds. In fact, most of the older players (25 and up) that I skirmish with are total pussies. If a kid wants to play then let them play, if they act mature then don't treat them any differently from the other people you play with.

 

Now regarding the dumb*** kids. I don't really want any immature payer around, there's always something that can go wrong/ they cheat/ countless bad possibilities. And I don't want them ruing everyone's day. But I don't think that a player should be discriminated against simply because they are younger. That young player may just grow up to be a good airsofter and a fun person to play with. I don't want another fun person to play with shying away from Airsoft because he/she had a bad experience, and bad experiences usually stick with children.

 

And yes, it does ###### me off when a child has $5,000 worth of AEGs that his mommy bought him, and thinks that he is a bad mofo.

 

Okay so in the end we all just want to have fun. Sorry for the rant/ incoherent babble.

 

EDIT- spelling error XD

[gunaholic336]

The only way a airsoft age limit would really work is if you put an age limit on the guns. I don't mean just buying them, but also using them. I say this because if little Johnny wants to play airsoft and his mom buys him a gun, but the fields won't let him play because of his age he will just go play in the streets. He gets busted and hurts the whole airsoft community as a whole. What I am getting at here is that we need to embrace the younger airsofters and teach them not just be snobby about it and say "your to young to play." The only time I think an age limit would be appropiate is for a large mil-sim game unless they have a guardian with them because I wouldn't want to be the guy that has some 12 year old who I have to look after the whole time and it would kind of kill the mood of "true" milsim I guess. Unless you are fighting as a terrorists or rebel or something .

 

Here in Hawaii there are a lot of kids and adults who play and I have to say the kids do less stupid stuff and call their hits more then a lot of the adults.

 

To put the above ideas in perspective I was 14 when I first started playing and am now 17.

[meppie]

You have to be at least 18 to play in Belgium due to insurance.

Age-limit to play in Holland is simple: nobody is allowed to play airsoft in Holland.

 

I have seen people that are physically mature but when they run around in the field the age in the brain drops to kindergarten level ... and I have no problem in team-killing them if they are a hazard to the mission.

[greg]

I'm just jealous.

 

Like snow boarding & mountain biking, airsoft wasn't around when I was a kid.

 

But we ate well.

 

 

Greg.

[Robinio]

I kinda want Airsoft to be serious so if a 13 year old comes up with a springer on a mil sim game. I'd shove his gun down his throat.

 

Not because his using a springer but because of the immaturity that destroys the mil sim setting.

 

Luckily it is 18 years limit on berget... so I can go next year (I'm a mature 17 born in late 91')

 

And to say, I've bought all my guns by myself, my own money.

Thats why I'm so poor...

[Azulsky]

For serious stuff 18 is really necessary as they are not of age yet.

 

For weekends youngins are fine as long as they have a guardian with them.

 

They only type of gun i worry about them having is a Sniper Rifle as it takes responsibility to maintain the MED with them.

[jagillham]

There are some quite young players at my site, and never had a problem with them.

 

Would much rather 5 "kids" than one overweight man telling everyone about his days in "special ops" or some other bow-lex!

[Roecar]

No age limit please, however there should be a maturity limit. I believe someone mentioned something about maturity earlier. People (kids included) who are immature kill the essence of airsoft, a game of honor isn't a place for a cheater, poorsport, or someone who can't maintain a certain level of being mature.

 

Fine example is one of the fields I play at, one said teenage maybe adult player regularly cheats is a smartazz and constantly acts an elitist. A 10yo kid is respectful, admires the older players and plays an honest game of airsoft. To add to that he using a decent gun to surrender most of the other players. I see age as less of an issue compared with maturity of all players.

[badwitchproject]

Theres this wee kid who plays with his father at one of our local sites. He's a brilliant player, fearless, honest and always listening to you but at the same time always wanting to get stuck in. So much so he regularly embarrasses most of the "mature" players. I'm not saying all children are like him, they are just children and can be quite immature at times. In saying that I have met quite a few immature adult players, one who so annoyed that this kid kept owning him in a game shot him after endex was called.

 

A few weeks ago I was player marshalling at a site and I found an 18 year old player on the ground crying. I stopped to talk to him and see what happened only to find that he had been hit (by a bb fired from a stock rifle) on the back on the head. There wasn't even a mark on him. I've seen adults crack up when shot and scream abuse at other people, I've even seen threats of physical violence during games.

 

I have no issue with teenagers owning rifs (though unless its a two tone here in the UK they can't own it) as long as they respect the other players and their equipment.

[Ginger_Biscuit]

I agree with the majority of replies so far: age limits for Insurance reasons make perfect sense but besides that there is no need for one.

 

As has been said before age is no measure of maturity: just because a player has been skirmishing for X amount of years, has the most expensive kit and pimped out weapon does not mean they are mature and should be respected.

 

I've seen a group of 11/12 year olds at a skirmish, all with hire guns and overalls whom had never played before act more honourably and command more respect than guys that had played for years.

 

Respect and maturity are more important in this game than age.

 

Biscuit

 

#EDIT# its not just the 9yr old with the dream gun we hate, its the 30yr old with it too!

[WhutJP]

We don't play at any airsoft "sites" but just go out in to the forest. Its only us group of friends playing, but once my friend invited a bunch of his students (jnr high age - bout 13/14yrs old) and they were fine (bar one) maturity wise but yeah, they were just not very good at all (cannon fodder for sure.)

 

also, the comment was made at the time that it felt like we were part of a child army in some third world country...

 

It was fun once or twice but unless they were more thoughtful in the way they played i wouldn't want to have young kids around.

[Kraut]

Our field rules are minimum age of 16 to play (waiver signed by parent/guardian). Under 16s can play, as long as they have a parent/guardian participating with them. All 'special' classes of weapons (Sniper rifle, SAW, etc) must be approved by an Admin first after the player has attended a minimum number of games.

We do have a father and 10 year old son that come out to play. While not overly skilled, they are quite enthusiastic in the game and follow the rules, which is all anyone can really ask of them. Never really had any problems with the kid, though it is slightly embarrassing to be safety'd by him!