Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Airsoft

What is Airsoft Anyways?
Airsoft is a modern infantry combat simulation sport. Players compete in mock battles with mock weapons that attempt to simulate modern and historical firearms. Airsoft is a brother to paintball, second cousin to Society for Creative Ananchronism sword-fights, and related by marriage to historical re-enactors.

The term Airsoft can be applied to a number of different games, sports, and competitions that use a particular type of mock weapon, or the the mock firearms themselves. There are also collectors of the Airsoft weapons who may have little or no interest in the competitive aspects of the hobby.

What distinguishes Airsoft weapons from other gun models, replicas, or non-firing weapons, is that they are functional. Airsoft weapons shoot spherical pellets when the trigger is pulled. The projectiles are commonly called BBs, though they are usually made of plastic or bio-degredable materials. Like paintball guns the projectiles are shot with relatively little force (~1 Joule of energy) and are quite safe to shoot at people wearing adequate eye protection, allowing Airsoft guns to be used in combat simulation games.

Unlike paintball guns, they look like, and are operated in a similar fashion to the weapon they are modeled after, giving Airsoft games the potential to be more accurate simulations. Airsoft rifles and pistols typically store their BB 'ammuniation' in the same magazine that the actual weapon would, support semi and fully automatic modes of fire, and may incorporate recoil and blowback mechanisims. The Airsoft weapons typically look almost identical to the 'real steel' and are accurate enough in reporducing their dimensions and configuration that many accessories, such as sights, grips and so on, are compatible between the toys and the originals. Also unlike paintball, the BBs are solid pellets that don't mark their targets on contact - therefore when competing good sportsmanship is essential, as players must honestly call themselves "out" when shot.


Why Airsoft?
From the most ad-hoc backyard game of cops and robbers to the most elaborate three hundred player games that utilize historically accurate scenarios and tactics, Airsoft offers players both the fantasy of armed conflict combined with the physical commitment and rewards of a team sport. Airsoft has a complicated history, but most of it's development was in Japan by firearms enthusiasts who, without the benefit of a Second Amendment, were unable to legally own firearms. Nonetheless they were still fascinated in the history, functioning, aesthetics, and design of firearms. Most of all they were also interested in the discipline and exercise provided by shooting. The legal restrictions to make toys that were safe even when accidentally shot at people also created the opportunity for the enjoyment, mental stimulation and exercise provided by using these toys competitively.

Appealing to the same audience that finds modern and historical combat fascinating, Airsoft provides interactive entertainment similar to that of First Person Shooter video games. Just like FPS games have widely varying degrees of realism, from tactical shooters like Rainbow Six and First to Fight, to fantasy shooters like Doom and Battlefield, Airsoft players can find a wide variety of clubs, teams, and playing styles to suit their interests. Some play rather abstracted war games, while others focus on specific historical periods, conflicts or SWAT and counter terrorist scenarios. Similarly players will find different level of physical exertion required to play, with some groups pushing themselves close to the degree of actual combat soldiers, occasionally even to the point of camping and living the part for several days.

Whatever your preferred playing style, Airsoft can be extremely rewarding. It teaches history, inspires teamwork and leadership, develops honor and good sportsmanship, provides a total body workout, and stimulates the mind and spirit with fierce competition in an evocative play setting.

Why Not Airsoft?
Airsoft weapons require responsible handling. Yes you *can* shoot your eye out! You must be mature enough to treat an Airsoft weapon with the same disciple and discretion that you would a real firearm. Always assume it's loaded and ready to fire. Never aim it at somebody, who isn't wearing eye protection or actively playing the game against you. Brandish an Airsoft weapon cavalierly and you will eventually find yourself looking down the barrel of the real deal. If you can't follow the safe handling rules religiously, you should stick to Lazer-Tag for a few more years.

Airsoft requires fortitude and discipline. Taking hits, re-spawning on time, complying with a demand to surrender, these are all difficult things to do in the heat of battle. The temptation to fudge the rules just a little can be tremendous, especially when you suspect your opponent may have fudged a little already. This is a really slippery slope, and if you cannot be committed one hundred percent of the time to acting honorably *depsite* everything else, then the games break down for everybody. If you don't want the pressure, or think you can't hack it, try paintball for a while first (though it too has some weenie techniques for ignoring hits).

Airsoft can be an expensive hobby, with an initial equipment outlay of several hundred dollars, and ongoing costs in ammunition and equipment maintenance. A basic automatic Airsoft rifle and accouterments will total around $400 US. Essential field equipment, like eye protection, boots, suitable clothing (usually camouflaged BDUs) will tack on an additional $200 US. After you're committed to the hobby, you'll probably want to upgrade your total kit by another $300 US. That doesn't count the ongoing costs to play, say a $25 dollar field charge and $30 for a day's worth of ammo. With an X-Box and a local basketball court you can get many of the benefits, albeit not in one package.

Airsoft enthusiasts are often real fire arms and military history enthusiasts. Many have served in the military, and many believe deadly force is morally justified under certain circumstances. If you're not comfortable around folks with NRA stickers on their cars, or can't be civil to them, you might wanna take up archery. At the same time there's another common type of players who are young, inexperienced and have absorbed most of their military history and firearms knowledge through Hollywood. Patience and tolerance are required!

Playing Airsoft *is* infantry conditioning. You will be learning to some degree or another the skills and basic muscle memory to point a weapon at a human being and pull the trigger. Experts still debate the effects of exposure to violence in TV and in videogames on kids. While that rages on the US Army has spent the last sixty years perfecting desensitization, and muscle memory conditioning techniques to demonstrably increase the capacity of soldiers to aim at the enemy and pull the trigger. Airsoft will not make you more violent, but it will give you skills that *should* you choose to become violent, will enable you to cause much more damage and loss of life than if you'd just stayed home and played Puyo-Puyo. Airsoft can be used by the military to train soldiers, and is used by some Police departments to train officers. It could also be used by criminals or terrorists to train as well. Therefore with these skills comes the responsibility for using those skills wisely and morally. If you can't handle that, or have serious discontent in your life, or anger issues, seek spiritual and psychological counseling before taking up the hobby. You should lay off the Time Crisis games too!


What's up next?
Topics to be covered:
- A brief history of Airsoft
- Types of Airsoft weapons
- Basic Airsoft Equipment, what to buy to get started
- Ways to play
- Basic infantry skills
- Internet resources