Staying in the Game

[Counting Count]

There is also the cult of personality over on Facebook, teams and players where they propagate the attitude of either an airsoft god or royalty, gets a bit grating after a while, especially when you see them screw up 90% of the day.

[aaron2310]

I started playing when I was 18 - so 7 years ago. At that time pretty much all my money was funnelled into new kit every month. My Dad played, all my close friends played so I was going every month, sometimes twice. Sometime later after I moved out, I couldn't spend my money so flippantly. My Dad stopped going - couldn't run around as much - and most of my friends had decided they'd out grown it. One of my friends stuck through it and we went every month. It was pretty nice - I was being selective with my purchases, rotating rifles, selling when I wanted a new one - we tried different sites every other month or so. Then he moved away for 2 years.

 

That's pretty much the only reason I stopped playing. I had no-one to go with. Because I wasn't going, I stopped buying kit and wasn't as enthusiastic about it. Doesn't help there's been nothing particularly interesting to me rifle-wise anyway. Stopped coming on the boards checking news, stopped watching Scout's videos, etc. I did pick up a cheap Pulse Rifle because it had to be done. I'm a massive Aliens fan! 

 

I've managed to get a couple of games in but without an enthusiastic partner, it's hard to get out. Thankfully he's coming back after the New Year so hopefully I'll be back to going every month! But now comes the problem of a new job that has been on-call 2 weeks out of the month and another hobby that sucks up my weekends too - damn you, Attack Wing! 

 

I really do miss it. I miss the adventures of trying new sites. I get that feeling pretty much every time I do get to go.

[Ryaw]

I'm curious as to why a lot of players here state that because they have nobody to go with, they simply don't go anymore. Is having a buddy with us so essential? How would we ever meet new people or discover new sites?

 

I understand that it's easier to motivate yourself to get out of bed early when you've made an arrangement with someone and you're depending on each other to keep to that arrangement.

 

It might just be me, but I've always gone to sites all over Scotland by myself, due to having my airsoft mate always being skint and I've never failed to get chatting to random strangers, making new acquaintances and enjoying myself regardless of knowing people there or not. Perhaps that's mostly down to me having been around long enough now, that people likely recognise me from the various sites I've played at and approach me, as I had happen a few months back, when I was identified from the Sniper Pistol thread on Arnies forum, by the weapon and loadout I had.

 

Maybe it's just a confidence or personality thing, but I think a lot of people will be missing out because they're either not "brave" enough or confident enough to take a leap of faith and be the "new guy" on site. Let's face it, most airsofters are inherently a friendly enthusiastic bunch of like-minded individuals, so someone will always ask to fondle your gun *Oooer* or chat to you about kit etc.

Just a thought.

[scorch]

I've been to a few sites on my own before.

 

The usual ice breaker as I'm reassembling my guns is "Bloody hell mate, you came on a bike?"

[Tw1tch]

Speaking for myself I'm not a very sociable person (yet work in a pub and get good customer feedback about my friendliness quite a bit). It takes me time to open up and "bother" with people as I've been screwed around enough by them before and don't have too much time for people I don't know.

 

It might have something to do with the amount I moved around as a child and being bullied all the way through school and college.

 

But those I do get closer to, I'd readily do almost anything for.

[emergencychimp]

I think the main problem is a lack of more than just running and gunning at a skirmish. It's fun, it's a challenge, etc. but after a while is ultimately lacks satisfaction and enjoyment.  

 

Airsofters are harder to organise than herding cats, I have tried numerous times and it's hard to get people to commit to more than the odd skirmish so you either end up playing with strangers or attend less. As far as meeting people at sites goes, actively encourage it, even have a name tape with my real name so people can find it easier to talk with me, but it's a bit boring meeting new people every single time you go. Personally I have gone down the Milsim route and again, you need a few good reliable people to attend, but finding people who are genuinely into Milsims, local, willing to train and who will actually attend isn't easy. Then trying to tie this up to good events isn't easy at all. 

 

Kit and gearwise, I just want gear that works, always have done and that has led me through several set ups and load outs, guns etc. Constantly chasing the dream of stuff that works and that isn't stupidly expensive, this has meant more real gear as most airsoft stuff just sucks or doesn't work as it could/should/promises, most soldiers are gear whores though so this is consistent! When you have bought loads of gear and it just doesn't work or hold up is extremely annoying, when it happens again and again, well, you start losing hope and the balance between fun and frustration tips the wrong way. 

[aaron2310]

I prefered going with my buddy because we already knew each other really well. We lived local meaning I had someone to travel with and talk to on the way. I had someone who I knew how he played and etc.

 

Plus, I'm not great with new people either.

[Mazer Rackham]

I prefered going with my buddy because we already knew each other really well. We lived local meaning I had someone to travel with and talk to on the way. I had someone who I knew how he played and etc.

 

Plus, I'm not great with new people either.

 

I dig this 100%.  Certainly, being a lone wolf is great, but sometimes you just want a battle-buddy to share war stories with, if you're not good with new folk, it helps to have someone who shares your humour and understands your temperament.

 

What keeps me in the game are the weapons, my friends and stalking out in the long grass and not seeing a soul, even though I know they're out there.

 

My player level is casual at best and I pretend to be nothing I'm not.  I like to gear up to look a bit different, be that oddball cammies or historical period kit.  If I don't like a game, or I am not doing that well, I hang out in the safe zone and chew the fat with the boys/girls, maybe have a plink on the range.  I don't play COD.

 

The good guys at good sites help to keep me turning up too.

[PureSilver]

Playing with toy guns is not fitting in with the world your trying to enter.

 

This, I think, is what will probably do for me in the end. Do I enjoy airsoft, playing with toy guns, fiddling with mechanical systems and team play? Absolutely. But the fact is that, in this country at least, guns do not enjoy positive reputation and the general public's view of adults that play with toy replicas of them is less than flattering. I would be very surprised if many of even the most diehard players on this forum could explain their obsession with spending vast sums of money on what is effectively fancy dress and weapons of war to someone without considerable embarrassment. Indeed, I would be prepared to bet that the wearing effect of despairing looks from significant others and/or suspicious looks from friends, family or colleagues has prematurely eroded many airsofters' commitment to the game.

 

I'm curious as to why a lot of players here state that because they have nobody to go with, they simply don't go anymore. Is having a buddy with us so essential? How would we ever meet new people or discover new sites?

 

By far the biggest issue I've had with the go-forth-and-diversify idea, to blunt, is that this hobby can attract some weird, weird people. I knew when I got into a hobby that revolved around penis metaphors firearms that I'd meet a few oddballs, but it seems that without fail I will encounter at least a couple of people per large skirmish that apparently just don't know when to stop talking, or the meaning of the word 'inappropriate'.

 

Fundamentally, airsoft is a team sport. Going with friends means friendly voices on my radio channels, catching up with news and new toys, and teammates I can rely on. Going alone means spending my day with the other people who have alienated the rest of their team or were too odd to bring a friend, and as judgmental as that sounds, that's not a happy group.

[ninja master of coffee]

So I've recently moved town and started a new job, the main issue is that I'm working most weekends now which is a pain for various reasons. I'm also a fair distance from my normal site and the majority of my team. I did go to Tuddenham on my own in November, I was a tad apprehensive at turning up to a new site on my own but it turned out pretty well. I got chatting with a few people and buddied up with some for some of the day, I also took the opportunity to get some lone wolfing done (I normaly play at a site that does MilSim and I go with my team) it was pretty refreshing in a lot of ways though I miss the team play too. I do sympathise with the new kid feel of going on your own and as Puresilver says, you can run into some right weirdos on occasion.

[Gigueand]

 

By far the biggest issue I've had with the go-forth-and-diversify idea, to blunt, is that this hobby can attract some weird, weird people. 

 

Yeah, it's particularly bad here in the States where you get a mix of run-of-the-mill weirdos, socially inept weirdos and gun/army/right-wing weirdos.

 

I was at a game a few summers ago. Met a few new folks. No one stood out as particularly odd. Two weeks later there was an armed robbery, high speed chase and shoot out that resulted in the death of one police officer. Saw the photos of the suspects on the TV. Thought to myself, "hmm, those guys look familiar." The same guys had been at the game I had just attended two weeks prior.

 

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/09/fbi_seeks_forfeiture_of_busine.html

 

http://callcenterinfo.tmcnet.com/news/2011/10/14/5857329.htm

 

Red Alliance was recently in the news as a result of Eric Frein and the manhunt to capture him. Not my area of the country, but just another example of airsoft weirdos run wild.

[PureSilver]

Jesus Christ! Frein, who I had heard of, remains the apex of lunatic airsofter - but Cheyne and LaFave are new to me. They robbed a bank so they could open an airsoft store? It did occur to me that in the UK (and elsewhere with very strict gun laws) airsoft is limited to attracting people for whom access to guns is part of a weird power fantasy, but that in the US (and elsewhere with sometimes very lax gun laws) the fantasists also have access to the real thing.

 

I don't mean to denigrate other players, but we cannot escape the fact that airsoft is, in my experience at least, a deeply uncool pastime in the eyes of the vast majority of people. It has a toxic cocktail of associations - violence, weapons, fantasy, role-playing - that puts airsofters on approximately the same level as LARPers and Renaissance Faire re-enactors on the social totem-pole, far below much more acceptable things that are still widely considered infantile (like console gaming). I reckon we still have the edge over tabletop gamers and Dungeons & Dragons players, but then again, who doesn't?

 

Like I say, I think that many airsofters struggle to justify the continued expense and inconvenience, especially when facing such universal opprobrium, and that more than anything is what will cause them to cease to prioritise, and eventually leave, the sport.

[aaron2310]

I can't say I've ever experienced that. Pretty much everyone I have ever met has thought it was interesting and no end of people have asked to come with at times. I can't say I've ever felt ashamed of the hobby.

 

If anything, it was me and my buddies that played that used to wrag on each other for "running around woods, spraying white stuff at each other". 

[Cannonfodder80]

The majority of sites I've visited have been on my own but I think this is because growing up I was never in the popular crowd so I guess I've grown up used to doing things on my own and organising how to get there by myself.

 

Yes, airsoft may be viewed as "uncool" but, once again, I was never a part of the cool crowd so this has never been an issue for me. This my attitude has always been that it's my money and down to me what I spend it on (naturally after bills etc are paid) and if someone doesn't like it then they can go cry in the corner. I spent too many years of my childhood trying to please others and eventually came to the conclusion that it's just not worth it

[Gigueand]

I can't say I've ever encountered issues with airsoft as a hobby itself. People in the States are pretty familiar with paintball and, of course, we have a broad cultural acceptance of firearms. So people don't tend to be to flustered when I tell them that I play airsoft and "it's like paintball." I've gotten a few concerned comments about "how real it looks" from some folks, but that's about it. And, of course, our veteran community tends to be split on the issue, so I catch some guff now and again from veterans I know.

 

Most of the folks I know who are leaving the sport are doing so because of other time commitments. I know a few folks who have scaled back when and where they play because they feel like the hobby has changed for the worse. Typically they cite things like fewer scenario and milsim style games, young players and a growth in the number of bad attitudes on the field ("call your hits!").

[Wild_XIII]

I've been going for 11 years, I now run a site and getting time to play is pretty slim. Add to that work is always draining my time and generally making my life hassle. However if someone asks if I fancy a blast at my local then I'm usually game.

 

One thing I've found to help is mixing things up every now and again. I recently got a highly upgraded/modded VSR 10 and it's opened up a different style of play for me as usually I'd try and be on the front getting stuck in, but now I can sit back a bit and take out opfor in the way of my buddies going in for the objectives.

 

For me, airsoft has practically become a way of life. Many of my close friends are guys who I've come to know from the hobby and my life would certainly be duller without them! Having friends who are as mad as you are, and as in to the hobby as your are really keeps it going. If I was on my own without any real team, I'd probably just be a collector of airsoft bits because I like guns and gun related things.

 

If I didn't have adult things to worry about in life, I'd be playing a lot more.

[Ryaw]

"Many of my close friends are guys who I've come to know from the hobby and my life would certainly be duller without them! "

 

My Facebook friends are mostly airsofters, not because I'm particularly good friends with any of them..........in fact I see NONE of them socially outside of airsoft.......but because we have very similar interests in military and firearm posts, sense of humour etc. So we serve a purpose to each other of entertainment and conversation. Nothing bores me to tears quicker than seeing football related posts or pictures of people's kids *Yawn*.........others feel the same about my firearm/military posts, lol.

 

Although I do get sent plenty of friend requests from players who I have no idea who they actually are, but they seem to know me, via sites or other players. They don't get added until I get to know them. I think that's just a bit weird really.

 

My actual friends (who I see and hang out with) mostly rip the sh!t out of me for playing airsoft, so I just rip them for playing golf instead, lol.

 

One of my work colleague friends is a firearms officer, who owns several real steel rifles and shotguns and rips me for shooting "toy guns" instead of real bullets, but I remind him that there is nothing quite like shooting at and taking on other human beings in real life, without hurting or killing anyone. Whereas he has to make do with shooting targets, clays or hunting animals, which I refuse to do for "sport".

Hell yes, airsoft certainly attracts some right weirdos, geeks, social outcasts, mental health cases, morbidly obese military wannabes.........but we've got to have someone to shoot at right? *joking*. We're all a bit geeky at heart.
 

[ninja master of coffee]

To be fair I have a number of good friends through airsoft and the sites I go to have a good community spirit. I do remember being at a game years ago where a full on white supremacist turned up, it was a tad unnerving to say the least and he was fairly loud about his views. Still, that was one game years ago and I just didn't talk to him.

[Whitteh]

I've taken a few mates along to games with me and all though they enjoyed it, there was no real interest in buying their own kit. I think a lot of people treat it like paintball - 'pay and play'.

[Dentonboy]

This is such an apt thread for me, too.

 

Had TM pistols since 93 but skirmishing started in 2006. Lapped it up for 3-4 years.

 

Met my future wife in 2009 and suddenly my weekends weren't free anymore.

 

Now it is 2015 - almost - and I've maybe skirmished 4 times in 4 years. Marriage, a daughter, petrol costs, broken AEGs, non-functioning batteries...it all adds up.

 

Trying to get back into it, and know I need Li-Po's to get back reliability. Fortunate to have found closer sites.

 

I also have been focusing on more practical gear buying of high-end bits...am building a TAD Gear collection as I work outside a lot too, where as when I started, it was all about impressions.

 

I'm glad I've not needed to sell my collection and I have it if I can go more often.

[Skarclaw]

Puresilver raised some interesting points. For better or for worse airsoft is a very, very niche hobby. 

 

Perhaps I am self-conscious, or lacking in confidence, or whatever, but airsoft for me is very much a "secret" hobby despite being one of my one hobbies! I think if a pic of me at a skirmish popped up on my facebook feed there would questions to answer! That's not to say I'm ashamed of it -  but I cba to "explain". 

 

FWIW I don't worry about airsofting on my own. If I didn't I'd skirmish maybe 4 times a year! Admitally I was never on a "team" - at most about half a dozen of us, no comms so the experience is roughly the same. I totally get what Puresilver is talking about but I've only ever heard it, its not like some guy has come up to me and started to talk about loli or *fruitcage* knows what else. To the contrary - whilst I'm not a social butterfly most of the people I've chewed the fat with over a fag or coffee between games are pretty "normal" and conversation stays on airsoft - fine with me. 

 

I saw in this thread - maybe the "staying in the game" thread - someone remarking on the decline of "themed teams" (such as, all flecktarn team or whatever). Having mulled it over and cast my mind back - there is a definite lack of groups of young guys playing. It seems a bit more atomised then how I remember.  I'd stump this down to UKARA but dismiss "COD wannabes" at your peril - they are the future. 

 

edit:

 

A serious long term relationship would probably be the death of my airsofting days. I've been skirmishing to varying degrees since I was 13 and I'm 25 this year. Its been a fairly large part of my life! 

[jal3]

 

Puresilver raised some interesting points. For better or for worse airsoft is a very, very niche hobby. 

 

Perhaps I am self-conscious, or lacking in confidence, or whatever, but airsoft for me is very much a "secret" hobby despite being one of my one hobbies! I think if a pic of me at a skirmish popped up on my facebook feed there would questions to answer! That's not to say I'm ashamed of it -  but I cba to "explain". 

 

FWIW I don't worry about airsofting on my own. If I didn't I'd skirmish maybe 4 times a year! Admitally I was never on a "team" - at most about half a dozen of us, no comms so the experience is roughly the same. I totally get what Puresilver is talking about but I've only ever heard it, its not like some guy has come up to me and started to talk about loli or *fruitcage* knows what else. To the contrary - whilst I'm not a social butterfly most of the people I've chewed the fat with over a fag or coffee between games are pretty "normal" and conversation stays on airsoft - fine with me. 

 

I saw in this thread - maybe the "staying in the game" thread - someone remarking on the decline of "themed teams" (such as, all flecktarn team or whatever). Having mulled it over and cast my mind back - there is a definite lack of groups of young guys playing. It seems a bit more atomised then how I remember.  I'd stump this down to UKARA but dismiss "COD wannabes" at your peril - they are the future. 

 

edit:

 

A serious long term relationship would probably be the death of my airsofting days. I've been skirmishing to varying degrees since I was 13 and I'm 25 this year. Its been a fairly large part of my life! 

 

 

Well, there's this thread on Arnies....

....which i think is deleted now.

 

Anyway.

 

I think airsoft is gaining more traction as a mainstream hobby. Most people have a fair idea of it when i mention it. And you see quite a lot of the gaming community taking it in, eg. Levelcapgaming.

Ofc, it might be different in UK, especially with the harsh laws for beginners.

 

Edit: Maybe it would be worth pursuing more community/public figures to take up airsofting.

[FireKnife]

To answer the original point in my own words: things get in the way and other hobbies / life choices take precedent in people's lives.

 

For me I have given up on other hobbies to do airsoft, in the same way others have given up on airsoft to do other things.

 

But it may also be a proximity to where you are / sites you attend kind of thing too? I have been to some sites that have been filled with about half regulars with a few years experience alongside just as many new players. Other sites are filled with newbies and some seem to be holding on by the fact they appeal to a crowd that has been around that site for a while.

 

What keeps me going is that I just find this is the ideal hobby for me. It contains everything I want in a hobby (along with somethings I don't but that is for another time) but most important it is the hobby I have stuck at and I have progressed in. It has given me a lot of good times to give up on, which is odd given how I seem to buy and sell everything I get my hands on when I get bored of it. I know people that came into airsoft and liked it but either a wife, kids, their archery / rallying / skateboarding got in the way and that is what was a priority to them.

 

In fact most people I know that play for a while and have done so either don't have these other priorites or have got them sussed. I don't have a wife or a kid as right now I don't want one. I have a good paying job and only really two hobbies, of which one gets about 95% of the spending. Maybe in ten years that will change but I see the point of things and threads asking these sort of things but it might be life, it might be just the way your local area is or it might be the bull-*suitcase* legislations we have for doing a 'gun' related hobby, but somethings just turn people away.

 

As for me, new pistol day tomorrow .

 

'FireKnife'

 

'FireKnife'

[Danke]

What I like about airsoft is that it's different from my other hobbies. I wound up employed in a "do what you love" job and having a very different activity is a breath of fresh air.

 

For anyone who worries that if they get married etc. they'll have to give it up it sounds like you're setting out to have an unhealthy relationship from the word go.

[Ryaw]

My wife actively encourages me to get out the house and play airsoft. She understands that it's my one and only hobby and knows that I spend hundreds most months on buying new kit etc. She'd rather I was out getting exercise than siting playing COD and becoming "the angry man" who swears at the game and ends up in a stinking mood afterwards..........we've all been there, right, lol?

 

As a kid, I tried various hobbies, including martial arts, football, badminton etc, but as Fireknife rightly states, airsoft has everything that I want in a hobby. I have a fascination with firearms and the military. I always have and always will. Some non-airsofters will see that as weird and question my state of mind, given that you know guns=bad=school massacre, by their thinking. I enjoyed doing the real steel shooting in Prague last year and I'd love to move to the States to indulge my inner gun guy and have access to shoot whenever I felt like it.

 

Getting back to airsoft having everything I want -

 

Having something to enjoy spending and planning to spend your money on each month (i.e. new stuff to get excited about and look forward to).

Realistic firearms (as close as the UK will usually get to the real deal).

Cool tactical gear and uniforms of all varieties to keep things fresh and evolve as we go.

There's new guns and gear continually being released.

The real steel community keeps us entertained on Youtube, along with airsofters making their own videos to enjoy.

There's the airsoft community (forums/Facebook) so we can discuss our hobby in the most minute of details if we so choose. 
The various sites, indoor and out, milsim, filmsim, walk-on etc so that we can tailor how we like to play.
The ability to turn FPS computer games into real-life human vs human shooting challenges, which is way more satisfying than shooting targets with RS guns.

As for jal3's suggestion about getting more well known community members to take up airsoft, to promote it more into the mainstream - That's one BIG reason that I ended up deleting a few "well known airsoft celebrities" from my Facebook, as I was cringing like hell every time I saw them self-promoting their "celebrity" Youtube status, giving away signed pieces of paper to kids in the US who seemed to treat them as airsoft demi-gods. You can all guess who I'm referring to.
Basically I started playing at the same time as one of the better known ones and he's a thoroughly nice guy, who I've got a lot of time for on a 1-to-1 basis, but to me his ego got out of hand on Facebook and Youtube and some of the stuff he was coming away with and worse, the way the public lapped it up and encouraged it, made me cringe so much that I had to stop reading it.
To me these are just normal local guys who have made a name for themselves in the hobby, by starting as players and realising that status could be gained and money could be made by self-promoting Youtube videos. Airsoft has turned from a hobby into a business for them and I think the enjoyment of it has noticeably died for them along the way. Hence, why guys who work in airsoft shops seem to be less than enthusiastic about the hobby at times. These guys were very successful at what they did and one is still going super-strong being hugely successful, so good luck to them. Like I say, they're really nice guys, so I'm not having a go at anbody or trying to make anyone look bad.....just giving my honest opinion.
The flip-side being that I know someone who went from a great active player, to trying to emulate the airsoft film-makers and who lost his urge to shoot guns in favour of shooting film instead......except to me, he never did it well enough to keep up with the others, failing to capture the entertainment part and I think the lack of success on Youtube killed his passion for airsoft, along with other reasons outwith.
Anyway, if it wasn't for that one super super successful guy making Youtube videos, I'd never have discovered airsoft in the first place, let alone it taking place in multiple locations, 25 minutes in every direction from my house. So I owe him big and always take time to chat when I see him.

Speaking of Youtube videos, not since first discovering said videos, have I ever been so excited about the possibility of a new hobby - I've recently discovered not only very cool standalone GoPro videos from all kinds of cool trips and sports, but also the amazing Quadcopter Drones with cameras attached. The footage they can capture is amazing and piloting one appears to be both fantastic fun and rather addictive, with lots of cool possibilities. The BBC special about Danny MacAskill "Riding The Ridge" was shot with quadcopters and I was amazed at how well the footage turned out.
I'm seriously excited about possibly taking the plunge later this year and spunking £1,100 on a good DJI quadcopter. I'm close to buying a GoPro4 Silver, so the quadcopter seems like the next logical step. I've always enjoyed taking photos and I really fancy shooting some video, both of airsoft (head cam) and the world in general.
Nothing else has tickled my imagination so much for years and I can't wait to give it a go..........albeit funds are currently insufficient/depleted, lol.

If successful, it's not outwith the realms of possibility that airsoft could end up taking a backseat for me................I really hope not, but a newer hobby always trumps an older hobby........for a little while at least. The danger being, as we've already discussed, that when you become less and less regular at attending airsoft, the danger of failing to return at all looms large.

 

P.S. Fireknife, what pistol have you bought now?