I know this is a topic that has been discussed on many airsoft and paintball boards around the world. But I am curious why there seems to be such an animosity between airsoft and paintball players. I play both sports, but what I don't do is simply go out there in jeans and T-shirt and play spray and pray...I have no interest in that whatsoever. I have a group of friends that I play with regularly and we have invested a lot of time and money on our guns and gear many of us are in the military and whether we play airsoft or paintball we always observe authentic tactics used by military or LE operators. We play MILSIM and TACSIM, scenario and role playing games, many of the guys we play with come from a paintball background but have gotten frustrated by the speedball mentality of most players and wanted something more strategic and less childish.
But the fact is that, their are sloppy run and gun immature type players in both arenas but when it comes down to it both paintball and airsoft have more things in common than one would probably like to admit, so why cant we develop a mutual respect of each other? I am a bit older and I remember when most airsoft games were exactly like how paintball games are now.
Yet there are groups such as Stirling Airsoft in the UK who have integrated both airsoft and paintball into their groups and even play games using both simultaneously.
I'd like to hear your guy's opinions, but here is are the Pros and cons for me personally, though I play both sports when my friends and play paintball we describe it as an airsoft game played with paintball. I think a Quebec group called the Death Korp is a good representation of what kind of paintball I’m talking about.
www.deathkorp.com.
Please try to keep hostile comments to a minimum, in the end wether airsoft of paintball is your chosen sport or both it’s JUST A GAME.
Airsoft:
Pros:
More mature like minded players
Guns look more real and there are more types to choose from
More cool gear
Not having to wear a full mask
Scenario/Role playing game play
Cost of BB’s is lower than paintballs
Not as messy
No hopper and remote lines
Cons
The honesty rule
Lack of recoil feeling of AEG
Electronic sound of AEG
Importation Restrictions
Paintball
Pros:
Guns are usually lauder
Looks cool when the CO2 “smoke” escapes the barrel
Hurts more and makes a mark when you are hit
(this is a good thing in my mind because it is more like Simmunition)
The bullets are a bigger
More accessible (no import restrictions yet)
Cons:
Messy
Typical paintball mentality is sloppy
Full Facemasks make it almost impossible to use your sights
Hoppers get in the way of your sights and look stupid
Lack of realism with ammo capacities
You don’t get the to experience the rush of changing mags
Most guns don’t look very real
Ammo can be expensive at fields
Remote lines are very restrictive
Speedball anything