So, Airsoft or Paintball? Which do you think is better?

I've never had the money to go paintballing, but it looks soooo fun!

I've been "playing" paintball for the past 6 years (though the past 3 yeas has been a huge drop…Haven't even played this year), and I've been part of the Canadian airsoft community for 3.

Within both "sports", there's sub groups.

In paintball you have the speedballers, the woodsballers, the casual players, and the milsim players.

In airsoft you have the casual players, the chairsofters, the reinactors, and the milsim players.

I call myself a chairsofter who sometimes attends games. The style of games that I like are milsims - I've done skirmishes for years with paintball and airsoft, and unless you're playing with other people who know how to work as a team, it's boring and lame.

Paintball milsim can't touch airsoft milsim, and since that's what I currently love in airsoft, it's definietly airsoft for me.

Plus, airsoft has the cooler guns, the cooler (and real steel) gear, there's no paint, and your BBs have a "hop up" which lets them fly further. I also like the airsoft community better, in Canada.

In the US, it's a whole other story, though. Kids get airsoft guns at like 12, and go out and play. In Canada, you generally don't play until you're 16 at least…But generally it's 18 at almost all fields, and especially big games. Then those 12 year olds grow up and buy real guns, and and stop bothering with airsoft.

As such, the culture in the US or people who actually play airsoft past 18 years old, really don't have a high opinion of other players…And for good reason. But it's a different kind of community in Canada.

Perhaps my favourite part of airsoft and milsims though, is that I've grown from that kid who runs out like rambo at the beginning of the game, doing the risky stuff to get kills, to being someone who likes to hang back, go slow, or even just not play. There's a field I go to, where the owner's wife comments that I just bring my guns around to fuck with them, and hardly ever play.

Anyway, with milsims, there's a chain of command. The command eventually moves down through to the squads and the squad leader. When I get to be the squad leader, or just fireteam leader, it means I get to fall back. I don't do the shooting, my guys do the shooting. I just walk around and give orders, talk on the radio, and make decisions. It's so much more fun.

When I am shooting, my favourite style of play is definitely CQB. I've spent…Probably a few hundred hours by now…training in CQB movement, tactics, and weapons manipulation. A lot of it translates out to the field as well, but CQB is where I love to shoot.

But you can't do much squad work in CQB. You usually break off into a fireteam or a buddy team - which does make things SO MUCH more fun, of course…But when you split your squad down like that in a building, you can't do as much manoeuvrings or long term tactics. Which works out nicely, because in a CQB environment, I can be a door kicker, which a lot of field players don't like to do. And on the field I can take the "inactive" role of some point in the chain of command (which basically means you don't get to "shoot" much)

So, airsoft all the way! Paintball is more socially acceptable, and more accessible, so I still play it socially with some people - particularly from my work. But I definitely prefer airsoft. Better gear, better games, usually better players, more laziness (in command)…And it just all-around suits me better.

There, Acid. My comment is longer than my blog.

The cool thing about paintball is that you can clearly see when somebody's hit by one. I used to have a lot of fun playing with really cheap airsoft pistols with my brother when I was younger. (Like 11 or 12)

The thing with airsoft though, was that there was always times when you were like "I totally hit you, you're dead right now!" and they're all "Nuh, uh, I so dodged that". Paintball doesn't seem to have that problem.

This is all horrifying. o_o

For some context, airsot in Canada is pretty small, and there's one major community for airsoft in Canada, that's grown out of the guys who brought airsoft into Canada in the late 80s and early 90s.

There was a change in import laws about 3 years ago (about the time I got back into airsoft, and actually made an effort to become part of the community), which introduced a flood of airsoft guns to the public. Things are changing, and a lot more people are getting access to this stuff now. In the past, you basically had to go through the Airsoft Canada channels to find games, guns, and gear.

But anyway, because everything grew out of this nation-wide community (an online forum, basically), there's a little bit of a hive mind mentality. That allows us to self govern ourselves, and the government being "okay" with us. (because what we do is illegal. It is illegal to transfer ownership of these "replica firearms" as many of these are classed in Canada. It's assault with a deadly weapon to point these at someone with the intent to fire, even with consent. It is illegal to do the kind of "training" we do). Because this is so "grey", if someone rolled up in a van and shot someone, they'd be kicked out of any game they ever showed up at again. Especially if the guy wasn't wearing eye pro. That is assault, and it is dangerous.

You don't do this stuff on crown land (owned by the crown…public land), you don't do this on private property that isn't yours (because oh god, if you do something illegal WITH A FIREARM in Canadian law, you are so fucked…And these are classified as firearms in Canadian law. In fact, if you walk up to someone with your hand in your pocket, and you stick your finger out in your pocket to look like a gun barrel, and tell someone to give you their purse, you may as well have just had a real gun).

You also do not do this without insurance.

As for the "knowing when you're hit" thing - airsoft is a game of honour. And often times people, myself included, are decked out in plate carriers and helmets (the only target you should present is your face and your fingers. And if someone else has a clear shot on you, you aim for centre mass), so you don't feel things. You have to learn to hear the BB. It's a very distinct *thwack* on a plate carrier, depending on the material it's made of and the plates you've inserted. A helmet is a lot more hollow/cracking sound.

So because of this, you kind of give people the benefit of the doubt. If they don't call their hit, you shoot them again. And then again. And so on. It's generally bad form to "call someone else's hit". Because again, it's a game about honour and trust. You trust that the other person isn't cheating.

Because it's a community in Canada, there's few places that you can go to once you're labelled a cheater. Additionally, with this self governing community, most game organizers and fields only allow 18+ players on, with certain exceptions for 16 year olds in occasional playing fields. Age doesn't guarantee maturity, but it does help cut out 12 year olds that don't have the forward thinking (or caring) to play fairly…Plus it doesn't make you feel nice to shoot a 12 year old with a hot gun.

Additionally, at 18, you are legally held responsible for what you do. If you're not safe with your firearm, you can get charged with assault no problem. If the game host wants you gone, and you don't leave, then you get arrested for trespassing…With a firearm.

So I mean, if you look at American kids playing airsoft on youtube, it's a lot different in Canada. On youtube, mommy and daddy buy their kid a cheap gun (and damn, it's cheap in the US), and they go out in the backyard with sunglasses on, and shoot around with the neighbor's kids, and play war.

Or they'll go out in the desert, and start playing there in sandals and goggles.

That doesn't happen in Canada. At least, not in the mainstream. When you get into airsoft, the saying used to be the "airsoft $1000". You buy ballistic goggles, you buy good boots, a vest, you buy a good gun, batteries, and some mags. Then you dump another $1000 into a side arm, uniforms, helmets, gloves, more mags, optics, fancy shit. Then you dump another $1000 on real steel vests and weapon gear. Then you dump $700 into comms gear. Then you dump $2000 on a PTW. Then you dump another $3000 on night vision. And another $1000 on a DBAL or PEQ for your nighvision.

So, from the start, people are serious about it. They needed to make that initial investment. And at 18+, you don't have mommy and daddy buy it for you…Unless you're…Erm…A certain kind of player, that doesn't get invited out to mainstream games.

Then, you try and find players who will play with you. There's only one "walk on" field in my area (which only opened a couple years ago), and only a few across Canada. Other fields have "weekly games" and stuff, but it's generally people who already know that the field has weekly games, and everyone gets to know each other after you've been a few times. Those fields KNOW people, and will kick out cheaters or people who mess up the field or break field rules, etc.

But, it's not like we all live in fear of "oh god, I better make sure I call my hit, or everyone will hate me, and then I'll never get to use my expensive gear again". It's a friendly place. You play to have fun. You play with friends. You go out for dinner with the enemy team afterwards.

It's like 64D. We've driven out a few people, and we've turned on certain people with certain opinions, and we've suffered our fair share of hacks and downtimes. But I don't think that many of us are like "oh god, I better not post my opinion, what if I get run out of here on a ruined reputation!"

So anyway, yeah. There's no marks (except welts and blood) when you get shot, so you have to be honourable about it. It's important to know who you are letting into your games.

Being unsafe, is a huge no-no.

Doing stuff on your own in the middle of nowhere is a no-no.

Shooting people outside of the playing area is a no-no.

But like I said, most Americans do this as children, until they can get their real guns. Then it's like fuck that airsoft stuff, it's for kids…And cheaters…And LARPers who think they're in the military (LARPing is half the fun of airsofting, btw).

The Canadian scene is just more of a tight community, with more mature players, who invest a lot of time and money into the sport, and have a stake in not fucking it up for everyone in the eyes of the law by getting themselves arrested. :)

Holy wall of text!

I think I just became an expert in Canadian airsoft. :P

I play airsoft with friends sometimes, around 10 persons with very little gear. Usually we only have two automatics, the rest just regular pistols or pump shotguns, and eye-protection ofc. I know there are people playing and putting more money on the sport in my city, but I like it simple and playful.

We play in the forest, time passes so fast.