Jesus Hates A Quitter...

[Savage Haggis]

Okay, what the fuck...

Over the past several months I heard rumors & rumors of rumors of long time airsoft players "retiring" from the sport/hobby, or what ever the hell we're calling it this week. I've heard & read a number of reasons ranging from this, that to the other thing, but to be honest... it reeks of complete & total CRAP.

Hey, if I'm wrong, feel free to point the finger...

I just want to know what the hell's going on & why we (read:the sport, hobby, or what ever the hell we're calling it this week) are starting to hemmorage long time, experienced players. What started out as a slow bleed is turning into a gusher.

Anybody care to step up & explain this to me.

[lt_poncho]

Who are these players in these rumors?

[Naerah]

and i tough it was harder to quit airsoft than smoking cigarettes...

[Pip]

They have lives...same reason i haven't been to a game in about two months. Hell if they have other commitments then fine, so be it. Don't complain because they don't want to play any more...

[arman]

....that ill happen

[Blackthorne]

It's not so much that they are leaving the sport. I think they are just taking a break.

Airsoft gear is a pretty good investment. I know when I left WP I shed ALLOT of gear, and now only have my primary and a core set of gear that is dual use. SO if someone is going to back away from AS for a while, or has found another hobby to get into, you can liquidate fairly quickly, and a getting out of the sport sale is a great tag line to attract buyers, whether you are or not.

I thought about getting out of airsoft completely, but I do still have time, even with a full time job and a reserve commitment. But it's just not enough to time to be a part of and contribute to a team. Teams are a give and take, and I found I was doing more taking than giving.

There is a level of politics both at the team and the entire sport levels that grates on some people. I know the overall "grey legality" of airsoft has affected me, since I own and shoot real firearms and am worried how this activity might affect that.

We may lose some payers completely, but I think this is more of a natural reorganization than the activity dying out.

[Skruface]

I'll call it like I see it....

Maybe (some of) us long-time players are getting sick and tired of having demands dumped on us by the "me first" mentality of the 15-21 year-old crowd who feel that since we are experienced that we are somehow obligated to help them out? I've noticed that new players expect us to bend over backwards and meet their needs while only offering the excuse that if we don't kiss their ass, "the sport is going to die".

That's not the airsoft community we created in this country - as I remember it, ours was a community with a DIY/self-reliant attitude where only the strong and intelligent flourished and the weak, stupid, dishonorable, and unable-to-research-for-themselves got flamed into oblivion with no mercy or regrets. Back in the days of the old "camo" ASC when Primus ran the show by himself, 70% of this current board would have been run off with their tail between their legs from the incessant (and, in many cases, not undeserved) flaming they would attract. It might not have been the most polite and politically-correct way to run a discussion board, but no one who was around at the time would argue that it wasn't damn effective at keeping the morons out.

I remember when I started out back in '99....there were only something like 8 or 10 guys in all of Manitoba who had airsoft guns, and we played with no velocity limits - it was a "run what ya brung" mentality. If we wanted to play with more than a dozen people or so, we had to drive to Regina or fly to Ontario. We had guys running M150's and 10.8 volts, fingers getting broken and teeth getting knocked out...but we never had to worry about cheating/overshooting or flaked buy/sell deals because we all knew one another by actual names, not just by internet aliases, and in a community that tight, your reputation and honor was everything. Nowadays there are so many local players I can't keep track of them all; I've noticed questionable behavior is on the rise, as there is less accountability in the community when you are (basically) anonymous.

Here's another addition to Blackthorne's commentary - most of the old timers also hold a PAL or R-PAL. That means they have 2 expensive hobbies. One of them (airsoft), has become rife with obnoxious, self-centered, holier-than-thou teens who believe they are the future and demand to be spoonfed at every opportunity and are unwilling to do things themselves and learn the hard way (through failure). The other (target shooting/IPDA/ISPC) is filled with (comparatively) mature folks generally over the age of 25 whom they can better relate to. Ask yourself, as a mature adult, whether you would want to hang around with kids literally half your age with whom you have virtually nothing in common, or adults your own age with similar life experience, careers, vision, problems, etc.? I'm not trying to brag, but for the sake of clarity, I'm 35, married, have an 18-year-old son, a couple of university degrees, a white-collar career, a mortgage, etc. What do I have in common with a single 18-year-old who just graduated high school, works retail and lives in their mom's basement? Not much.....

I think Blackthorne's right - we're simply witnessing the end of one era and the beginning of another. The leaders of the past are moving on to other pastures for a variety of reasons, and the younger players are stepping up and taking stewardship of the hobby, for better or worse. Call it evolution if you will, but one thing is certain.

Airsoft is not going to go back to what it was 5 years ago.

Some people just outgrow dressing up and playing with toy guns.
Family, work, other hobbies and the changing community can easily turn people away from the game.
Skruface summed it all up.

[The Saint]

Originally Posted by Skruface

That's not the airsoft community we created in this country - as I remember it, ours was a community with a DIY/self-reliant attitude where only the strong and intelligent flourished and the weak, stupid, dishonorable, and unable-to-research-for-themselves got flamed into oblivion with no mercy or regrets.

Has ASC really moved that far from that? After all, the majority of people here are raised on the flaming ASC mentality and have ran the gauntlet themselves. The response mixture towards newbies still seem predominately DIY, though there's an equal or sometimes greater part of pseudoflame ("We're charging our flaaaaame"), with the more conciliatory replies coming in last.

The "retirement" of Greylocks has certainly changed that mix, though, due to the sheer volume he could generate directly ("Read the FAQ") and perhaps even more so, indirectly ("LoLz Grey's gonna get ya"). But I think we're still keeping our 70% annual quota.

As for the "Me first" mentality, I certainly don't believe that we're obligated to help out people who post first and read later and I'm not sure some of them believe it either (ie. they're just in over their head). I do believe that it'd be a good thing if we don't piss off people who can always just turn around and smear airsoft as a whole in Canada by using clearsoft irresponsibly. That, and I know there are the occasional salvagable person among the askers.

[Cortexburn]

Many are sick of the BS attitudes that prevail the forums as much as the fields. The overall attitude of airsoft has changed into something more infantile, more about social positioning and less about the fun of the game.

[philstructo]

Originally Posted by Skruface

(airsoft),has become rife with obnoxious, self-centered, holier-than-thou teens who believe they are the future and demand to be spoonfed at every opportunity and are unwilling to do things themselves and learn the hard way (through failure).

That is not true at all

[Ibby]

Originally Posted by philstructo

That is not true at all

Wrong. When was the last time you were at a game?

[philstructo]

Last weekend =]

I go every weekend I can

when was the last game you went to?

[Cortexburn]

I think you need to realise that some of us are basing this opinion on many years of playing airsoft. The change is unfortunate...but it is true.

[bean]

coming from a region where were lucky to have 30 guys playing I even noticed a shift. When I was much smaller we had 7-10 people max at games. And as skruface said it was a bring what you go style game. We would play milsim games and balance teams based on how well certain people did. some people left the sport others moved away then I took a 5 year vacation and played paintball. Fast forward to now. Games are filled with paintsofters (people who only want to blow a bag of bb's and constantly be shooting) These sort of games have little to no interest for me. So I am kinda sitting back working on restoring some classic guns. I still plan to game but on the whole its not the same as it was years ago. As weird as it seems I am totally against minors playing when I started as a minor. Hopefully when I finish switching my collection to the guns I used to play with I can get some more fun in the game.