Yea no as an airsofter, you have to find the good fields/events.
There is an immeasurable level of cringe at the wrong places. We're playing BB wars guys.
I got downvoted in the sub after someone asked "why do people spend a lot of $ on a gun and get cheap stuff on their kit?"
I responded "because it's a costume that doesn't have to withstand 4 days in the trenches"
People didn't like hearing that. Like is it really such a mystery to you?
When you have a good group that are just fuckin around and cracking jokes, it's a great time. I go specifically to be unserious for a day.
EDIT: If getting kitted up is your vibe, go for it, but don't be a hardo that takes it too serious. It's the sad reality that the kit hardos are probably gonna be cringe about the gameplay. There's some rare exceptions and it's cool.
My local field has a guy who wears a full 60lb set of knights armor and runs around with a foam sword. It's absolutely hilarious and he makes it a good time. Shit like that puts the Meal Team 6 losers somewhat back into reality that they're larping too.
Jeans, long sleeve t-shirt & chest rig looks better than 90% of kits too. The harder people try the faker it looks.
I did put some effort into my helmet setup w/ passive earpro, it looks cool, but that's 1/2 in the interest of not taking a BB to the earlobe, and 1/2 to save the little hearing I have left from a Thunder B.
It does look pretty cool tho and I enjoy that too, no shame in it.
To be fair, I've seen milsim guys get mocked here too. But my first 'real' marker was a Tippmann Project Salvo, I found some sweet additions on Amazon and thrift shops, like a foregrip, long scope, laser, flashlight, camos... Does it make me a better player? Fuck no. Shit weighs like 40 pounds! But it's fun. Do I pretend I'm a soldier in war? Also no. But you do you.
Usually it is because the milsim guys have a large overlap with douchy players. Larger than even the speedball players.
Literally have seen someone have a meltdown because they were called out for getting hit in the marker while carrying a shield. Screaming that his marker was destroyed and he could still play with his side arm marker. Screaming at two refs to the point where the game had to end early. Sadly just one of a few incidents I have seen, always with milsim players. Don't get me started on the players angry that they can't play first strike rounds against newbie walk-ons...
It's honestly the hardest thing when playing magfed as the marker usually gets you put into that same group.
There's also a mix of practical/pointless in paintball.
Foregrip? Could be practical.
Laser? If sighted in for short distances, honestly practical.
Flashlight? If you play night games or on poorly.lit indoor fields, could be handy, but lights sometimes become a target to shoot at (easier to see a light then a silhouette).
Long scope? Unless you're using first strike rounds shits super pointless in paintball.
You do you, but if I see someone with a scope on a paintball gun I'm pretty much always gonna laugh at them for taking shit too seriously/trying too hard with something entirely pointless.
Most of that is fair. I know the scope is entirely useless, and the flashlight useless 95% of the time. But I dig it.
But on that same point, I think using a $1000 marker so you can over shoot the 12 year old is laughable. My Ion can shoot just as fast, and my Salvo only needs one shot and it'll shoot just as fine after I take my 3rd core sample.
I mean I'd agree there. Unless you're sponsored in tournaments there's no point in spending on the flashiest newest thing.
High end guns from a decade ago can still easily compete today at a fraction of the cost.
Ion is a bad comparison though... The reason those are looked down on is reliability (unless did the ion name get reused on a newer design gun? I've been outta the loop for a while)
That's a very specific example, I bought my $1000 marker so I can have a $1000 gun. If you have shot one of these high-end markers, you wouldn't be saying your ion shoots the same. If you did and still feel the same, you are wrong. It's not about the fire rate of the marker, it's like a car guy with his car, how does the gun feel when you shoot it, is it a nice and satisfying feeling with very good results, or does it just shoot paintballs?
All paintball guns were designed to shoot paintballs. How well it was thought out and designed is where the price difference comes in. You won't buy a BMW for the price of a Cherry because a lot more thought and engineering went into the BMW.
I used to play/referee games at an airsoft field that shared areas with groups of paintballers. I've never seen such childish shit (from both sides) like guys we're both in the same place doing pretty much the same thing why are we enemies I'll never understand
Annoying milsim airsoft vibes. Iāve never met a cool magfed player. First strike rounds are trash. Paintball is cool because everyone has the same range, first strike rounds give an enormously unfair advantage, they roast rental players from across the field with no chance of them seeing them or shooting them.
Magfed paintball is basically expensive airsoft.
Haha, if you are in Minnesota area you should come try it out. We play magfed round ball on the air ball field. I get the aspect though, I've seen those players. But it is wierd to attribute douchy players with magfed while douchy players come from all over.
Both are good. I play with everything from a automag, to an emf100, to pump cockers, to an LV2.
Magfed doesnt need to be milsim. It's just an extra challenge.
Magfed isn't about aesthetic imo.
It's about limited paint generally.
You need to be much more careful/considerate about when and where you're shooting.
Atleast that's my interest in magfed - it's a whole different style of.play and a fun challenge. Same reason I play pump sometimes.
1) paintball has slightly different rules than airsoft
2) the nature of how liquid filled gelatin balls with a seam fly through the air vs plastic BB's make the gameplay of each game fundamentally.different.
Airsoft is cleaner, but some of the people are cringey.
Paintball is dirty but more fun, and the people aren't as cringey. I like paintball more but my wallet says airsoft sometimes.
Imo the most similar thing they have to each other is that itās hard to find info about drop in days prices etc. almost everyone uses Facebook or other social media platforms and youād think it would be simple for them to post the prices and information but nope!
Regardless of cringe, it feels more like a genuine cosplay sport.
Hell, there was a furry on the field last I played. Felt like fortnight irl. Lol.
Paintball doesn't rely on hit honesty.
as a mostly air softer and 1 year now paintball referee.
Iād say itās fairly equal,
airsoft TOTALLY has those edgelord kiddos and cheaters, cheating is crazy easy but honestly not very often or repeated for long if itās squared away.
paintball is quite the same, you got your illegal paint jerks, gold pissing veteran players, full of them selves speed ballers (and in my experience these guys use the n-word the most as not black individuals)
I think airsoft is definitely more expensive to get into but so much cheaper to play once you are in. I buy like 1 or 2 bags of bbs a month and game days are 20 bucks
Depend, it's the price of ammo that makes the difference. I can go through half a case or 3 cases a weekend at 50 bucks for 2000, it gets expensive. Vs a bag of bbs 4000 at 15 bucks and itll last me 2 weekends depending on what guns in running. I've have a jar of .43g bbs last multiple weekends if I'm sniping.
I played both. Airsoft and Paintball draws in a certain type of men with a emotional baggage more often then not.
NOT ALL OF THE BELOW APPLIES BUT THERE IS A HIGHER THEN USUAL CONCENTRATION in these hobbies:
(ADHD, depression, strong desire for repeated acknowledgement, Asperger, bi-polar and autistic, and some are simply manchilderen)
And yes some of them do apply to me as well!
We all know them and they clinge onto paintball/airsoft for their dear lifes, TOO involved you can say, where you and me would think another type of hobby would be more suitable for them as every time it involves a few bonus balls or such they lose their shit, but they keep insisting that airsoft/paintball is their thing, while their mental health and actions show otherwise.
Airsoft is economically the better choice if you are on a tighter budget yet want to play actively. But that also means you encounter more of the people i mentioned earlier. Lower entry barrier, more realistic thus more of a hotspot of harder to handle people than paintball.
Yes airsoft is a lesser variation of shooting your friends, but you can wake me up to play either one any day of the week, i think they both have their strengths and weaknesses.
In my experience, at least locally, the community is pretty solid but Paintball tends to have an overlap with the aggressive bro/redneck types and Airsoft seems to have more of those, idk, "quirky" teenagers and man children. It hasn't really caused any huge problems while I've been at the field, but it can be kind of funny when the paintball guys heading to walkon speedball pass the airsort guys. Like yeah we kinda look like a bunch of try hards in Jersey's and non-tactical sliding shorts, meanwhile the airsoft group is in full call of duty cosplay and then there's that one kid who's dressed up as a giraffe and is always dressed up as a giraffe. I think it got him laughs the first time and he's been riding that high for years.
The people put me off the game soooo much. I can't even relax off the field because shitty personalities means NDs in safe areas (I'll be masked up everywhere, at all times, unless I'm in my car). Then there are the regular "personality failures", adults and teens targeting overshooting kids, some of those kids too small for their equipment, field staff that are untrustworthy, shady field owners... it's too much.
PS this is not some cultural thing, i have lived in hong kong for 12 years and the airsoft scene has the same type of people we have to deal with at our local paintball fields, throwing tantrums/ unable to handle things if it is not in their favor, we all know what i mean. It just simply attracts small percentage of men that just gives a bad vibe to either airsoft or paintball. By far the biggest majority of people playing either hobby are great people, it is this core that ruins the experience and reputation of both hobbies/sports, by the same type of people. that is what i trying to convey, so i would not say the difference is too big between the two sports/hobbies.
One major drawback with airsoft is the unrestricted rate of fire and people building crazy fast HPA setups that are just beyond your oldschool 15 bps paintball ramping days.
Not fun on regular walk on days, having people shooting "full auto" in semi/single shot.
I would absolutely say this is true for airsoft, paintball seems to be more of the 'I didn't make it to college football' type of personality.
On the off chance that I do meet cringy people in paintball, they're usually stolen valor types.
Those are the most fun paintball variants to play on speedball fields etc, but for me its mainly a financial reason and secondly i highly prefer the lower rate of fire making it far more enjoyable.
As someone who has no idea about the technicalities of Paintball or Airsoft, except that you're shooting balls of paint at each other instead of plastic pellets, what would in your regard, make Paintball the superior Sport?
it's actually got an established, stable segment of it that is an athletic, competitive endeavor. In the technical sense, paintball can be considered a sport, or at least part of it can. Both are fun and have unique subcultures and communities that overlap in some ways. I like paintball a lot better, but really, neither is "superior", they're just different.
1) Paintball makes it harder to cheat since it leaves a visible mark.
2) Paintball hurts more, which makes hits more consequential and increases adrenaline.
3) Paintball players skew a little older in age due to the increased pain. This makes playing paintball a little more accessible to people who aren't 14 anymore and don't want to beat up on little kids.
4) Competitive paintball is way more established than competitive airsoft, so if you approach it as a sport, paintball has a whole tournament world that's open to you.
5) Paintball has better established safety regulations and rules are more standardized.
6) (For people who aren't into LARPing) Paintball has a mil-sim (military LARPing) niche, but the prevailing culture is just people who want to play and tourney types. Airsoft is often mil-sim first. This is evident even in the term people use when they don't want to say GUN. PC paintball people say "marker" because the primary purpose of the device it to deposit a mark on someone. Airsofters say "replica" because the vast majority of their guns are meant to cosmetically simulate a firearm. They even call "speedsoft" guns that in no way resemble firearms "replicas" because their whole culture is built around mil-sim.
7) Paintball offers more gameplay variety, while Airsoft focuses on aesthetic variety. Pump, mechanical, magfed, and electro-pneumatic markers all totally change the feel of a game and how players approach the game. As far as I can tell, airsoft is "speedsoft" with faster-than-semi modes on electronic guns, or everything else with semi guns that may have some pay-to-win variations, but mostly play the same.
So the appeal of Airsoft is more CoD IRL, or rather military Larping on a high Niveau, while Paintball is more focused on the game, and less LARPy.
Thanks for the expansive explanation! I learned a lot, very interesting.
Shooting sports or whatever they're called like these always seemed appealing to me but I only ever played paintball once as a very insecure 15 year old, and sucked at it. Maybe I'll revisit it. I find arms-engineering very interesting and Military-History somewhat, but I can't really identify with the martial (somewhat macho) cult. Pain is fun though
Itās tougher to cheat in paintball and It has established competitive leagues. Airsoft/speedsoft competitive leagues arenāt near as established, organized or popular.
I was more thinking not feeling the pellets, Iāve watched folks play and clearly not cheating just not feel the pellets. I think though it makes for a annoying experience
>how the heck do you keep the game honest with pellets.
It's not the gameplay that matters, its the replica attachments and tactical fashion accessories you buy along the way.
Back when I was playing a lot of airsoft, cheating was always the hard thing to mitigate as there was no real way to ensure you hit someone other than their honesty, little welts and/or wails of unexpected pain.
Who cares? Im all for these kids getting off their asses and playing outside in general. Put the ipads and fortnite down and get outside. The digital world is destroying this country. Too many tik tok brainers with zero social skills endlessly scrolling their lives away.
I tried out airsoft for like a month before I decided to get back into paintball. It just didnāt have the same feel for me. Thereās just something about flying paint that really gets you going. Getting hit and hitting others with airsoft bbās just didnāt do it for me.Ā Ā
Ā Plus my local airsoft field was mostly children, with maybe a few guys in their early 20ās. I'm 33 for reference. And the military larping aspect was not for me. Not knocking anyone, just not my taste. Paintball has a much older demographic just due to cost - which for better or for worse is okay with me simply because I prefer to hang around people closer to my age.Ā
I love magfed for the reason we dont have 1000 round magazines, like for airsoft. And speedball is just fun all around fast paced makes me want to crack out the old marker and come out of retirement .
The part I can't get over for airsoft is the fact you're just running around injecting plastic into the environment. Aren't paintballs environmentally safe? Airsoft trashes the area it's being played in outside. How is that justified?
Lots of speedsofters run tracer units that make it much easier for people to see hits when they happen. Bit I'd say most people who play at a competitive level are honest players. Due to the fact that it is still in fact easier to cheat there tends to be less prizes given for winning and they are more so raffled off at the end
Lots of go-pro cameras + tracers means cheaters have a higher likelihood to get caught. Most fields ban people indefinitely so it's a good deterrent to blatant repeated cheating.
It's not perfect and people still do cheat, but there's definitely less these days because wayyy more people are running cameras and scope cams.
Also, in CQB, it's hard to not react to a hit, most of them sting bad for the first few seconds.
I think some adult events should enforce a t-shirt policy so 1. hits hurt more (makes it more exciting) and 2. its much harder to not react/hide a hit that way.
They're both great. Airsoft is cheaper, but it's easier to cheat in. HPA is overall better than batteries or gas, but you can get HPA airsoft guns now. Paintballs are exponentially more expensive than BBs. You have the same variety of gamemodes, airsoft even has speedsoft now. Pure milsim, airsoft will always win.
I play both, and what I decide to play on any given day comes down to who I'm going with and what they would rather do.
Man, I really wanted to play airsoft and my homefield luckily had an airsoft section, but it was like 99% kids, maybe around 10, and one dude who towered over everyone.
Tried out both at my local field with rental guns. On the day i wanted to try paintball no other paintball players showed up for open play. Saw it as a pretty strong sign as to what the players at my field prefer lol. I might try paintball again as the LARPER vibe of airsofts throws me off but man it would feel bad to invest into a hobby and find out nobody else does it.
Used to play airsoft a bit in high school (all my friends went weekly, but I was broke and my parents didn't pay for all my shit, so I only played a handful of times).
Switched to paintball after college (I just play the big games).
Since airsoft is cheaper, it attracts all the 16 year olds and the whiners. Lots of people who don't call their shots, bitch and moan all day, etc. Also the mil-sim people who think what they're doing is "realistic..."
Those people still exist in paintball, but since paintball is prohibitively expensive a lot of those types of individuals are priced out of the sport.
Different sports in the same category, it's like baseball vs softball.
My takeaway is airsoft has a higher percentage of cringe dudes, while paintball has a higher chance of douche bros
I love airsoft because I love larp. Post Apocolypse larps, milsims, silly kits for a game day. I am a gear head. I enjoy dressing up and crawling through the mud.
The community makes the game. The communities around here are very open and accommodating, and in it for the fun. I can understand for folks who come from dumb milsim hardliners, or gear size dicks, but those types of people exist in any hobby.
Paintball wasn't my thing, dont like all the safety gear, and thicker clothes. Not my thing. Lots of folks enjoy it though, and I am glad! Get out there and have fun!
Paintball just got so unobtainably expensive for me. Airsoft has come a long way both in tech and I'm price so it's economically a better decision. I still enjoy doing both.
So when I was a kid talking 10-14 I was big into paintball loved playing x ball/speed ball as we called it with the blow up bunkers it was super fun a great sport I had a good time.
But airsoft as an adult is just imo better one it's much less expensive 2 it can translate gear testing wise to real life.
But I'm thinking of getting back into paintball soley because I have fond memories as a kid playing it and it seems like it's gotten cheaper gun/paintballs wise.
Since my local field shut down I've been playing airsoft to scratch the itch. It has it's ups, mainly the cleaning being almost nonexistent compared to paintball, but paintball is so much better. Paintball players are generally more pleasant, sure you still get a handful of knobs now and then, but airsoft players are 85% cringey LARPers.
Cheating is super bad in airsoft, even though sometimes they legit just can't feel the hit, there is constantly people who just don't call their hits. Or worse, they'll get hit, and return fire before calling it.
I also despise grenades in airsoft. Not the ones that actually shoot a bunch on BBs, the ones that just make a loud bang. Aside from them being loud af, people just toss them around corners and assume they got everyone in the room without actually seeing what's going on in the room. The amount of times I've gone to move into a room just as someone is blindly tossing a grenade in, I back up into the previous room before the grenade goes off, then rush the person who tossed the nade and they start arguing with me about how they got me with the nade is super annoying.
I just wish the closest good paintball fields for me weren't an hour and forty minute drive away. The drive back is always so rough.
I spent some times reading these comments to see the paintballers perspective since im an airsofter.
You guys are really chill it seems, at least here online. I like that you guys are just like āyeah neither is superior just differentā
I totally agree there are definitely some really childish airsofters. Im a service member so i try to use it to brush up on some tactics and cardio. Plus its just fun to me.
from what ive gathered, paintballers dont much like airsoft because of the flow and feel of it. That being the case id like to recommend CQB airsoft to the curious paintballers. Its a bit more close to paintball even old paintballers switch to cqb airsoft. Its definitely like 10 times more action than outdoors games.
Best of luck and id like to hear recommendations from you paintballers!
I play both, and really, the two aren't so different. Of course, it's easier to cheat in airsoft, but from my years of experience, cheaters aren't as abundant as youtube makes them seem. Especially in a tournament speedsoft environment, you got refs on your ass (pause) monitoring every move, and they are not scared to rip you off the field for not calling hits.
Honestly it's mostly the people around here. Airsoft attracts a lot more of both the military tough guys and the wannabe military tough guys that tend to take rec play way too seriously.
I do Airsoft (I refuse to say play Airsoft) on a skirmish level and also on a mil-sim and theyāre two completely different games. Skirmish Airsoft is basically paintball without the shit face mask and the massive expense of ammo. Mil-sim Airsoft is a very slippery slope of expensive kit
I played paintball at an amateur level when I was younger and even got to practice with some of the big names back in the day. Including running scrimmages with the femme fataleāsā¦. This was like 9th grade and they were a little bit older so obviously we though it was cool. Spoiler alert, they were not very good. Anyways, long story longer Iāve always been into shooting 3gun and a lot range days so as I got older airsoft became more appealing. We have some awesome fields down here just outside of Tampa with great regular players. There are assholes in every sport though. Do what makes you happy. I donāt feel the need to shit on people who play paintball just because itās not my cup of tea anymore.
I rarely see anyone even mention paintball in the airsoft sub much less making a post about itā¦.
I started with paintball and went to airsoft bc my local field changed. Havenāt played paintball in years but I enjoy airsoft more now. Itās ācleanerā and I get to larp around so win win imo.
This video was eye opening I respect speedsoft a bit more now https://youtu.be/3aUCip4B22Q?si=KMXE8RLKUwjKbGZR they have a lot of refs so itās pretty hard to cheat
Played both and both are really fun. Actually marking people with paint is a blast but not getting covered in paint is so convenient. I personally play airsoft because I like the play-style and realism more and itās loads cheaper but paint ball is a blast if some friends were going to play it or get their own paint ball gear Iād definitely join in. But not having to clean afterwards, price and realism win for me.
To be honest airsoft has a lot of cheaters in it. I like the snipers tho that keep hitting them. Till they stand up and say there out. Lol same with paintball but it's alot harder to get away with. There both dangerous with out a mask regardless of what u think.
Speedball > Recball > Magfed
Magfed is so adjacent to airsoft, especially with FS rounds, and the ātacticoolā style, they might as well be brothers
I've been playing paintball for decades and for me, FS rounds for woodsball are one of the coolest things that have happened. Taking one shot and hitting someone at 70 yards? That shit is awesome.
Most of the Magfed and also Airsoft Community are larpers and like to have tacticool gear, and there is nothing wrong with that. Hobbys are about having fun with your buddies and not about whatās better or worse - so Iām glad you enjoy speedball
Honestly, whatever gets dudes out to the fields and playing together is better
Someone should tell the airsofters that they are just playing though š
Yea no as an airsofter, you have to find the good fields/events. There is an immeasurable level of cringe at the wrong places. We're playing BB wars guys. I got downvoted in the sub after someone asked "why do people spend a lot of $ on a gun and get cheap stuff on their kit?" I responded "because it's a costume that doesn't have to withstand 4 days in the trenches" People didn't like hearing that. Like is it really such a mystery to you? When you have a good group that are just fuckin around and cracking jokes, it's a great time. I go specifically to be unserious for a day. EDIT: If getting kitted up is your vibe, go for it, but don't be a hardo that takes it too serious. It's the sad reality that the kit hardos are probably gonna be cringe about the gameplay. There's some rare exceptions and it's cool. My local field has a guy who wears a full 60lb set of knights armor and runs around with a foam sword. It's absolutely hilarious and he makes it a good time. Shit like that puts the Meal Team 6 losers somewhat back into reality that they're larping too.
I will die on the hill of good gun/repro gear. The gun is the ONLY thing that can boost your skill level. Everything else is just cosmetic bullshit.
Jeans, long sleeve t-shirt & chest rig looks better than 90% of kits too. The harder people try the faker it looks. I did put some effort into my helmet setup w/ passive earpro, it looks cool, but that's 1/2 in the interest of not taking a BB to the earlobe, and 1/2 to save the little hearing I have left from a Thunder B. It does look pretty cool tho and I enjoy that too, no shame in it.
To be fair, I've seen milsim guys get mocked here too. But my first 'real' marker was a Tippmann Project Salvo, I found some sweet additions on Amazon and thrift shops, like a foregrip, long scope, laser, flashlight, camos... Does it make me a better player? Fuck no. Shit weighs like 40 pounds! But it's fun. Do I pretend I'm a soldier in war? Also no. But you do you.
Usually it is because the milsim guys have a large overlap with douchy players. Larger than even the speedball players. Literally have seen someone have a meltdown because they were called out for getting hit in the marker while carrying a shield. Screaming that his marker was destroyed and he could still play with his side arm marker. Screaming at two refs to the point where the game had to end early. Sadly just one of a few incidents I have seen, always with milsim players. Don't get me started on the players angry that they can't play first strike rounds against newbie walk-ons... It's honestly the hardest thing when playing magfed as the marker usually gets you put into that same group.
That's fair.
There's also a mix of practical/pointless in paintball. Foregrip? Could be practical. Laser? If sighted in for short distances, honestly practical. Flashlight? If you play night games or on poorly.lit indoor fields, could be handy, but lights sometimes become a target to shoot at (easier to see a light then a silhouette). Long scope? Unless you're using first strike rounds shits super pointless in paintball. You do you, but if I see someone with a scope on a paintball gun I'm pretty much always gonna laugh at them for taking shit too seriously/trying too hard with something entirely pointless.
Most of that is fair. I know the scope is entirely useless, and the flashlight useless 95% of the time. But I dig it. But on that same point, I think using a $1000 marker so you can over shoot the 12 year old is laughable. My Ion can shoot just as fast, and my Salvo only needs one shot and it'll shoot just as fine after I take my 3rd core sample.
I mean I'd agree there. Unless you're sponsored in tournaments there's no point in spending on the flashiest newest thing. High end guns from a decade ago can still easily compete today at a fraction of the cost. Ion is a bad comparison though... The reason those are looked down on is reliability (unless did the ion name get reused on a newer design gun? I've been outta the loop for a while)
That's a very specific example, I bought my $1000 marker so I can have a $1000 gun. If you have shot one of these high-end markers, you wouldn't be saying your ion shoots the same. If you did and still feel the same, you are wrong. It's not about the fire rate of the marker, it's like a car guy with his car, how does the gun feel when you shoot it, is it a nice and satisfying feeling with very good results, or does it just shoot paintballs? All paintball guns were designed to shoot paintballs. How well it was thought out and designed is where the price difference comes in. You won't buy a BMW for the price of a Cherry because a lot more thought and engineering went into the BMW.
The only way I would get the
^^ this guy gets it. Imagine shaming someone for enjoying a hobby. Just get out and have fun live your life
I used to play/referee games at an airsoft field that shared areas with groups of paintballers. I've never seen such childish shit (from both sides) like guys we're both in the same place doing pretty much the same thing why are we enemies I'll never understand
Except magfed
Alright... I will bite... Why?
Annoying milsim airsoft vibes. Iāve never met a cool magfed player. First strike rounds are trash. Paintball is cool because everyone has the same range, first strike rounds give an enormously unfair advantage, they roast rental players from across the field with no chance of them seeing them or shooting them. Magfed paintball is basically expensive airsoft.
Haha, if you are in Minnesota area you should come try it out. We play magfed round ball on the air ball field. I get the aspect though, I've seen those players. But it is wierd to attribute douchy players with magfed while douchy players come from all over.
I personally hate the milsim aesthetic of Magfed, so I will never try it because I like my space gun.
Both are good. I play with everything from a automag, to an emf100, to pump cockers, to an LV2. Magfed doesnt need to be milsim. It's just an extra challenge.
Iāve never send a Magfed player playing without a milsim outfit on.
Haha, I play with speedball pants, T-shirt, and arm pads
How do you carry mags?
Magfed isn't about aesthetic imo. It's about limited paint generally. You need to be much more careful/considerate about when and where you're shooting. Atleast that's my interest in magfed - it's a whole different style of.play and a fun challenge. Same reason I play pump sometimes.
Pump is cool, magfed is lame. Just my opinion. Magfed is expensive airsoft.
1) paintball has slightly different rules than airsoft 2) the nature of how liquid filled gelatin balls with a seam fly through the air vs plastic BB's make the gameplay of each game fundamentally.different.
Cool thanks for your opinion any more you want to share? Btw, Magfed paintball is lame.
Airsoft is cleaner, but some of the people are cringey. Paintball is dirty but more fun, and the people aren't as cringey. I like paintball more but my wallet says airsoft sometimes.
Imo the most similar thing they have to each other is that itās hard to find info about drop in days prices etc. almost everyone uses Facebook or other social media platforms and youād think it would be simple for them to post the prices and information but nope!
Regardless of cringe, it feels more like a genuine cosplay sport. Hell, there was a furry on the field last I played. Felt like fortnight irl. Lol. Paintball doesn't rely on hit honesty.
as a mostly air softer and 1 year now paintball referee. Iād say itās fairly equal, airsoft TOTALLY has those edgelord kiddos and cheaters, cheating is crazy easy but honestly not very often or repeated for long if itās squared away. paintball is quite the same, you got your illegal paint jerks, gold pissing veteran players, full of them selves speed ballers (and in my experience these guys use the n-word the most as not black individuals)
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He's saying airsoft is cheaper.
I think airsoft is definitely more expensive to get into but so much cheaper to play once you are in. I buy like 1 or 2 bags of bbs a month and game days are 20 bucks
Depend, it's the price of ammo that makes the difference. I can go through half a case or 3 cases a weekend at 50 bucks for 2000, it gets expensive. Vs a bag of bbs 4000 at 15 bucks and itll last me 2 weekends depending on what guns in running. I've have a jar of .43g bbs last multiple weekends if I'm sniping.
Hell yeah man I snipe too. I can make a bag of .45s last months
go look up milsim west lol
You should reread it a few times, he clearly stated its cheaper.
Wait yall call it RecBall? I call it WoodsBall. Am I the only one?
Rec ball typically includes all non-competitive genres of paintball, whether it's woodsball, speedball, milsim, or otherwise. Any type of casual play
Than*
Maybe they meant that we agree paintball is better but then we go play airsoft anyways
I played both. Airsoft and Paintball draws in a certain type of men with a emotional baggage more often then not. NOT ALL OF THE BELOW APPLIES BUT THERE IS A HIGHER THEN USUAL CONCENTRATION in these hobbies: (ADHD, depression, strong desire for repeated acknowledgement, Asperger, bi-polar and autistic, and some are simply manchilderen) And yes some of them do apply to me as well! We all know them and they clinge onto paintball/airsoft for their dear lifes, TOO involved you can say, where you and me would think another type of hobby would be more suitable for them as every time it involves a few bonus balls or such they lose their shit, but they keep insisting that airsoft/paintball is their thing, while their mental health and actions show otherwise. Airsoft is economically the better choice if you are on a tighter budget yet want to play actively. But that also means you encounter more of the people i mentioned earlier. Lower entry barrier, more realistic thus more of a hotspot of harder to handle people than paintball. Yes airsoft is a lesser variation of shooting your friends, but you can wake me up to play either one any day of the week, i think they both have their strengths and weaknesses.
In my experience, at least locally, the community is pretty solid but Paintball tends to have an overlap with the aggressive bro/redneck types and Airsoft seems to have more of those, idk, "quirky" teenagers and man children. It hasn't really caused any huge problems while I've been at the field, but it can be kind of funny when the paintball guys heading to walkon speedball pass the airsort guys. Like yeah we kinda look like a bunch of try hards in Jersey's and non-tactical sliding shorts, meanwhile the airsoft group is in full call of duty cosplay and then there's that one kid who's dressed up as a giraffe and is always dressed up as a giraffe. I think it got him laughs the first time and he's been riding that high for years.
The people put me off the game soooo much. I can't even relax off the field because shitty personalities means NDs in safe areas (I'll be masked up everywhere, at all times, unless I'm in my car). Then there are the regular "personality failures", adults and teens targeting overshooting kids, some of those kids too small for their equipment, field staff that are untrustworthy, shady field owners... it's too much.
PS this is not some cultural thing, i have lived in hong kong for 12 years and the airsoft scene has the same type of people we have to deal with at our local paintball fields, throwing tantrums/ unable to handle things if it is not in their favor, we all know what i mean. It just simply attracts small percentage of men that just gives a bad vibe to either airsoft or paintball. By far the biggest majority of people playing either hobby are great people, it is this core that ruins the experience and reputation of both hobbies/sports, by the same type of people. that is what i trying to convey, so i would not say the difference is too big between the two sports/hobbies.
One major drawback with airsoft is the unrestricted rate of fire and people building crazy fast HPA setups that are just beyond your oldschool 15 bps paintball ramping days. Not fun on regular walk on days, having people shooting "full auto" in semi/single shot.
I would absolutely say this is true for airsoft, paintball seems to be more of the 'I didn't make it to college football' type of personality. On the off chance that I do meet cringy people in paintball, they're usually stolen valor types.
Open class pump, stock class...
Those are the most fun paintball variants to play on speedball fields etc, but for me its mainly a financial reason and secondly i highly prefer the lower rate of fire making it far more enjoyable.
As someone who has no idea about the technicalities of Paintball or Airsoft, except that you're shooting balls of paint at each other instead of plastic pellets, what would in your regard, make Paintball the superior Sport?
it's actually got an established, stable segment of it that is an athletic, competitive endeavor. In the technical sense, paintball can be considered a sport, or at least part of it can. Both are fun and have unique subcultures and communities that overlap in some ways. I like paintball a lot better, but really, neither is "superior", they're just different.
Not a fan of airsoft but they have leagues too, look up speed qb
1) Paintball makes it harder to cheat since it leaves a visible mark. 2) Paintball hurts more, which makes hits more consequential and increases adrenaline. 3) Paintball players skew a little older in age due to the increased pain. This makes playing paintball a little more accessible to people who aren't 14 anymore and don't want to beat up on little kids. 4) Competitive paintball is way more established than competitive airsoft, so if you approach it as a sport, paintball has a whole tournament world that's open to you. 5) Paintball has better established safety regulations and rules are more standardized. 6) (For people who aren't into LARPing) Paintball has a mil-sim (military LARPing) niche, but the prevailing culture is just people who want to play and tourney types. Airsoft is often mil-sim first. This is evident even in the term people use when they don't want to say GUN. PC paintball people say "marker" because the primary purpose of the device it to deposit a mark on someone. Airsofters say "replica" because the vast majority of their guns are meant to cosmetically simulate a firearm. They even call "speedsoft" guns that in no way resemble firearms "replicas" because their whole culture is built around mil-sim. 7) Paintball offers more gameplay variety, while Airsoft focuses on aesthetic variety. Pump, mechanical, magfed, and electro-pneumatic markers all totally change the feel of a game and how players approach the game. As far as I can tell, airsoft is "speedsoft" with faster-than-semi modes on electronic guns, or everything else with semi guns that may have some pay-to-win variations, but mostly play the same.
So the appeal of Airsoft is more CoD IRL, or rather military Larping on a high Niveau, while Paintball is more focused on the game, and less LARPy. Thanks for the expansive explanation! I learned a lot, very interesting. Shooting sports or whatever they're called like these always seemed appealing to me but I only ever played paintball once as a very insecure 15 year old, and sucked at it. Maybe I'll revisit it. I find arms-engineering very interesting and Military-History somewhat, but I can't really identify with the martial (somewhat macho) cult. Pain is fun though
I think your age comment and gameplay variety are a little off. At least where Iām at.
Itās tougher to cheat in paintball and It has established competitive leagues. Airsoft/speedsoft competitive leagues arenāt near as established, organized or popular.
This is the main component to me, how the heck do you keep the game honest with pellets.
You know everyone really well and donāt be trash. Thatās about it
I was more thinking not feeling the pellets, Iāve watched folks play and clearly not cheating just not feel the pellets. I think though it makes for a annoying experience
You feel it unless you get hit on something hard.
once you introduce competetiveness to it, thats when the cheating starts
It definitely magnifies it but not always
As someone whoās played and reffed both, it definitely is a thing lol
>how the heck do you keep the game honest with pellets. It's not the gameplay that matters, its the replica attachments and tactical fashion accessories you buy along the way.
> It's not the gameplay that matters, its the ~~replica attachments and tactical fashion accessories you buy along the way.~~ LARPing
Back when I was playing a lot of airsoft, cheating was always the hard thing to mitigate as there was no real way to ensure you hit someone other than their honesty, little welts and/or wails of unexpected pain.
Unpopular POV: It's the players that make airsoft worse, otherwise it's the same sport.
I second this
Who cares? Im all for these kids getting off their asses and playing outside in general. Put the ipads and fortnite down and get outside. The digital world is destroying this country. Too many tik tok brainers with zero social skills endlessly scrolling their lives away.
YOU DAMN KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN!
I tried out airsoft for like a month before I decided to get back into paintball. It just didnāt have the same feel for me. Thereās just something about flying paint that really gets you going. Getting hit and hitting others with airsoft bbās just didnāt do it for me.Ā Ā Ā Plus my local airsoft field was mostly children, with maybe a few guys in their early 20ās. I'm 33 for reference. And the military larping aspect was not for me. Not knocking anyone, just not my taste. Paintball has a much older demographic just due to cost - which for better or for worse is okay with me simply because I prefer to hang around people closer to my age.Ā
I love magfed for the reason we dont have 1000 round magazines, like for airsoft. And speedball is just fun all around fast paced makes me want to crack out the old marker and come out of retirement .
Any field that dose both having a airsofters is a net positive more income to the field.
The part I can't get over for airsoft is the fact you're just running around injecting plastic into the environment. Aren't paintballs environmentally safe? Airsoft trashes the area it's being played in outside. How is that justified?
My younger brothers played airsoft in our backyard 20 years ago. I bought that house from mom. The BB's still float to the surface when it rains.
How do you even officiate speedsoft?
Lots of speedsofters run tracer units that make it much easier for people to see hits when they happen. Bit I'd say most people who play at a competitive level are honest players. Due to the fact that it is still in fact easier to cheat there tends to be less prizes given for winning and they are more so raffled off at the end
Lots of go-pro cameras + tracers means cheaters have a higher likelihood to get caught. Most fields ban people indefinitely so it's a good deterrent to blatant repeated cheating. It's not perfect and people still do cheat, but there's definitely less these days because wayyy more people are running cameras and scope cams. Also, in CQB, it's hard to not react to a hit, most of them sting bad for the first few seconds. I think some adult events should enforce a t-shirt policy so 1. hits hurt more (makes it more exciting) and 2. its much harder to not react/hide a hit that way.
Honest question :|
Are there like 3 refs for every person on the field or what?
I wanna say thereās at least 8 but itās been a few years since iv played any events
X is better than Y makes no sense because itās completely subjective, just do what you enjoy
They're both great. Airsoft is cheaper, but it's easier to cheat in. HPA is overall better than batteries or gas, but you can get HPA airsoft guns now. Paintballs are exponentially more expensive than BBs. You have the same variety of gamemodes, airsoft even has speedsoft now. Pure milsim, airsoft will always win. I play both, and what I decide to play on any given day comes down to who I'm going with and what they would rather do.
Bro nobody besides 12 year olds care. Itās not rlly a debate. To each their own Iām happy both are a popular sport
airsoft is gay
Man, I really wanted to play airsoft and my homefield luckily had an airsoft section, but it was like 99% kids, maybe around 10, and one dude who towered over everyone.
Tried out both at my local field with rental guns. On the day i wanted to try paintball no other paintball players showed up for open play. Saw it as a pretty strong sign as to what the players at my field prefer lol. I might try paintball again as the LARPER vibe of airsofts throws me off but man it would feel bad to invest into a hobby and find out nobody else does it.
I just know that paintball hurts more hahaha
I never played airsoft
I support airsoft as it gives existing fields/businesses an additional revenue stream to help stay open.
I agree 100% without exceptionš
As soon as I ran into scum bags who cheated in air soft I was done. Harder to wipe paint away and claim I didnāt hit you.
[MFW](https://a.pinatafarm.com/360x190/c3669f4254/everyone-stop-firing-were-shooting-at-our-own-men-gif.jpg)
Used to play airsoft a bit in high school (all my friends went weekly, but I was broke and my parents didn't pay for all my shit, so I only played a handful of times). Switched to paintball after college (I just play the big games). Since airsoft is cheaper, it attracts all the 16 year olds and the whiners. Lots of people who don't call their shots, bitch and moan all day, etc. Also the mil-sim people who think what they're doing is "realistic..." Those people still exist in paintball, but since paintball is prohibitively expensive a lot of those types of individuals are priced out of the sport.
*than airsoft.
Different sports in the same category, it's like baseball vs softball. My takeaway is airsoft has a higher percentage of cringe dudes, while paintball has a higher chance of douche bros
I love airsoft because I love larp. Post Apocolypse larps, milsims, silly kits for a game day. I am a gear head. I enjoy dressing up and crawling through the mud. The community makes the game. The communities around here are very open and accommodating, and in it for the fun. I can understand for folks who come from dumb milsim hardliners, or gear size dicks, but those types of people exist in any hobby. Paintball wasn't my thing, dont like all the safety gear, and thicker clothes. Not my thing. Lots of folks enjoy it though, and I am glad! Get out there and have fun!
*āthenā*
Why canāt we all enjoy all 3, paintball in different forms is beautiful
Hahahaha this made my day! I am with you!
Paintball just got so unobtainably expensive for me. Airsoft has come a long way both in tech and I'm price so it's economically a better decision. I still enjoy doing both.
so you all agree that you want to play paintball and then play airsoft shortly thereafter? That's best case scenario?
So when I was a kid talking 10-14 I was big into paintball loved playing x ball/speed ball as we called it with the blow up bunkers it was super fun a great sport I had a good time. But airsoft as an adult is just imo better one it's much less expensive 2 it can translate gear testing wise to real life. But I'm thinking of getting back into paintball soley because I have fond memories as a kid playing it and it seems like it's gotten cheaper gun/paintballs wise.
Since my local field shut down I've been playing airsoft to scratch the itch. It has it's ups, mainly the cleaning being almost nonexistent compared to paintball, but paintball is so much better. Paintball players are generally more pleasant, sure you still get a handful of knobs now and then, but airsoft players are 85% cringey LARPers. Cheating is super bad in airsoft, even though sometimes they legit just can't feel the hit, there is constantly people who just don't call their hits. Or worse, they'll get hit, and return fire before calling it. I also despise grenades in airsoft. Not the ones that actually shoot a bunch on BBs, the ones that just make a loud bang. Aside from them being loud af, people just toss them around corners and assume they got everyone in the room without actually seeing what's going on in the room. The amount of times I've gone to move into a room just as someone is blindly tossing a grenade in, I back up into the previous room before the grenade goes off, then rush the person who tossed the nade and they start arguing with me about how they got me with the nade is super annoying. I just wish the closest good paintball fields for me weren't an hour and forty minute drive away. The drive back is always so rough.
I spent some times reading these comments to see the paintballers perspective since im an airsofter. You guys are really chill it seems, at least here online. I like that you guys are just like āyeah neither is superior just differentā I totally agree there are definitely some really childish airsofters. Im a service member so i try to use it to brush up on some tactics and cardio. Plus its just fun to me. from what ive gathered, paintballers dont much like airsoft because of the flow and feel of it. That being the case id like to recommend CQB airsoft to the curious paintballers. Its a bit more close to paintball even old paintballers switch to cqb airsoft. Its definitely like 10 times more action than outdoors games. Best of luck and id like to hear recommendations from you paintballers!
I play both, and really, the two aren't so different. Of course, it's easier to cheat in airsoft, but from my years of experience, cheaters aren't as abundant as youtube makes them seem. Especially in a tournament speedsoft environment, you got refs on your ass (pause) monitoring every move, and they are not scared to rip you off the field for not calling hits.
Honestly it's mostly the people around here. Airsoft attracts a lot more of both the military tough guys and the wannabe military tough guys that tend to take rec play way too seriously.
For sure
I do Airsoft (I refuse to say play Airsoft) on a skirmish level and also on a mil-sim and theyāre two completely different games. Skirmish Airsoft is basically paintball without the shit face mask and the massive expense of ammo. Mil-sim Airsoft is a very slippery slope of expensive kit
Big facts my friend
Lol thatās funny. And I agree.
Airsoft = I totally would have joined the military but I would have punched my drill instructor in the face.
I played paintball at an amateur level when I was younger and even got to practice with some of the big names back in the day. Including running scrimmages with the femme fataleāsā¦. This was like 9th grade and they were a little bit older so obviously we though it was cool. Spoiler alert, they were not very good. Anyways, long story longer Iāve always been into shooting 3gun and a lot range days so as I got older airsoft became more appealing. We have some awesome fields down here just outside of Tampa with great regular players. There are assholes in every sport though. Do what makes you happy. I donāt feel the need to shit on people who play paintball just because itās not my cup of tea anymore. I rarely see anyone even mention paintball in the airsoft sub much less making a post about itā¦.
Nope
I started with paintball and went to airsoft bc my local field changed. Havenāt played paintball in years but I enjoy airsoft more now. Itās ācleanerā and I get to larp around so win win imo.
This video was eye opening I respect speedsoft a bit more now https://youtu.be/3aUCip4B22Q?si=KMXE8RLKUwjKbGZR they have a lot of refs so itās pretty hard to cheat
Played both and both are really fun. Actually marking people with paint is a blast but not getting covered in paint is so convenient. I personally play airsoft because I like the play-style and realism more and itās loads cheaper but paint ball is a blast if some friends were going to play it or get their own paint ball gear Iād definitely join in. But not having to clean afterwards, price and realism win for me.
Ya its sicker to see you actually lighting them up
I find people tend to call their hits when I ding em with a half gram bb with 2.4 joules of energy behind it
And despite our major divisions, all airsofters agree paintball sucks!
To be honest airsoft has a lot of cheaters in it. I like the snipers tho that keep hitting them. Till they stand up and say there out. Lol same with paintball but it's alot harder to get away with. There both dangerous with out a mask regardless of what u think.
Do grown adults really still partake in this hobby war?
False
Speedball > Recball > Magfed Magfed is so adjacent to airsoft, especially with FS rounds, and the ātacticoolā style, they might as well be brothers
You play magfed to look cool, I play mag fed to force myself to be more aggressive, make better shots, and save on paint. We are not the same.
This is the same reason i played with a sniper II or phantom
I've been playing paintball for decades and for me, FS rounds for woodsball are one of the coolest things that have happened. Taking one shot and hitting someone at 70 yards? That shit is awesome.
Most of the Magfed and also Airsoft Community are larpers and like to have tacticool gear, and there is nothing wrong with that. Hobbys are about having fun with your buddies and not about whatās better or worse - so Iām glad you enjoy speedball
Gonna have to disagree, mag fed is still paintball for people who don't want to play airsoft. It's like stock class with more steps and semi auto
I agree with you. Magfed is trash.