Kids in airsoft

[sammy7676]

Hi guys!

Im 14 and have been doing airsoft for about 6 months now, I have mid range kit, call my hits and follow all of the rules but due to my age and sise seem like a nusience on my team or in a small squad.

For example; the last time i was at a skirmish I was getting shot at from behind, so as you do i told a few team mates who were older than me and I wasnt listened to,after about 2 minutes i assumed he didnt hear me so i said it again he told me not to worry....we all got shot from behind-_-

So does anyone else have a problem with kids at airsoft (i wont be offended if you do) and if you do, why?

Thanks guys!

 

[adam bussey]

some time you guys can be annoying such as one time we had just got the enemy flag and on kid on our team decided to yell out loud that we had even though we were trying to be sneaky.

 

[sammy7676]

I do agree with you some of the kids i have played with dont know very much in the ways of being stealthy and that annoys me to, however we arent always wrong

 

[adam bussey]

I do agree with you some of the kids i have played with dont know very much in the ways of being stealthy and that annoys me to, however we arent always wrong

no you're not wrong but you all get tarnished with the same brush by others

 

[toanjuice]

if you do as you say you do, then your one of the few kids who play well

i try not to ever generalise in life but about 95 percent of the kids i play with ( that sounds sooooo wrong ) do infact, not listen or know what they are doing

yesterday at the mall, i told a few kids who was staying back that their rental guns are not reaching the players they are trying to shoot at. infact, they were hitting our own team

upon being told nicely by me, they told me that i dont know what im talking about, and that their rental g36 can easily out range my stock sopmod

but for now, dont worry about what people say to you

just try to enjoy yourself man, youll eventually be one of those older players, who is good, with a wealth of experience

 

[Ian_Gere]

I like having a few young teens on my side at a skirmish - nippy little bastards with boundless energy. As often as not an objective based scenario can be dominated by achieving tactical control of a specific area of the field as quickly as possible. Now yeah, young lads especially, easily get overexcited and pay no attention to anything other than their desire to say things they've heard in films and games and look seriously cool while doing so (but let's have it right, we're all into that to some degree), but if just one of a bunch of 'em listens for a mo, that's your shock squad right there...

It's up to fat cnuts like myself to pour on the covering fire while the nippers sprint forward at Game On, but more importantly it's up to the rest to move up behind the them and occupy the forward positions they capture so that their efforts are not wasted when the enemy have their two pen'orth. Of course, if the older players are looking down their noses at kids running around like blue arsed flies hosing anything that moves and yelling their heads off, they often don't give them tactical support on the field and soon enough there's an "us'n'them' dynamic going on which is not only bad for the atmosphere generally but, since your force is then divided, even less cohesive than the usual cat-herding exercise which attempting to employ strategy in airsoft is, you lose, so you feel worse...

I haven't personally found youngsters to be any worse at hit taking or making inexperienced mistakes than anybody else. For eg, on days where a lot of rental players turn up, sooner or later there will come a point where, even though I can't move anywhere near fast enough to be what I would describe as effective on the front line, I will get frustrated with exhorting them to get a wiggle on and attempt to lead by example. Some days it works better than others, but I don't remember the malingerers being predominated by any particular age group. Also I've been hosed in the back by variously aged members of my own team.

But hey, it's all about communication...

 

[sp00n]

i mean no offence or disrespect, but i tend to distance myself from kids at skirmishes. as from my point of view there are 2 types, the more common type, too often have i seen them firing from the hip, wondering why they are not hitting anything, they then seem to attract the enemy to focus fire upon them for a easy kill. I have tried a few times to tell them how to aim there weapon, but it has fallen on deaf ears ... i blame video games, for giving them a "god" complex. they just seem to wander around shooting randomly, and often do not take there hits.

that said though, there a few out there who know what they are doing, these kids i have a lot of praise for, they know what they are doing, aim, and are sneaky.

 

[sammy7676]

We have a few of the hip firing guys at our site but most of the kids at my site (like myself) are cadets, and have all been taught weapons handling and how to shoot. I usually find that kids who dont go to the ACC or the ACF or the Sea cadets, dont have much respect for rifles or any sort of weapon, i know this isnt allways the case but i have noticedi t before

 

[firstname-lastname]

I take my son with me when i skirmish, he's a teenager so under normal circumstances he doesnt listen to a word i say, get him in a game and its a different matter. I am doing my best to teach him the right way to play airsoft from the beginning, which is what i think the "random" teenagers or otherwise need.

Airsoft for me is about the team play and camraderie, its not something that is fun when played alone, so i do my best to try and help the new players. Lets face it, having hired equipment when most other people have their own can be daunting, especially when the regulars know all of the ambush points and can out range you.

Try it yourself, gather the randoms together and get them to follow you, (you'd be suprised how many will follow you) and if nothing else its fun to attack the regulars from an unexpected angle with 10+ people. Even if they dont really hit anything, they are having fun, which makes them all the more likely to come back and buy better equipment etc.. which in turn keeps the sport alive. Therefore we all win.

My £0.02p

 

[M_P]

We have a few of the hip firing guys at our site but most of the kids at my site (like myself) are cadets, and have all been taught weapons handling and how to shoot. I usually find that kids who dont go to the ACC or the ACF or the Sea cadets, dont have much respect for rifles or any sort of weapon, i know this isnt allways the case but i have noticedi t before

To be honest, in my experience, cadets tend to be the worst of the younger players. Most others are willing to learn and let you help them, whearas cadets seem to think that their 'extensive military training' makes them the best on the field. Respect for weapons doesn't have much to do about it, last year I had to stop two cadets live firing in the safe zone, which just isn't on.

 

[zetec]

I take 4/5 13 year olds along on a regular basis. They get a bit feed up with being given orders by older teens and young adults who have no better ideas but manage to shout louder. What I will say is that they will work as a team if they are treated like members of the team. As with all team sports treat them with respect and educate and they will improve, bit like guns - some are good straight out of the box and others take a bit of time!

 

[QuadMachine]

Generally agree with the sentiments here. It's worth noting though that patience with the younger players is a must if the sport is to grow. I worked in a Games Workshop store for a few months way back, and the divide there was quite stark. You had the "Veterans", a group of around 12 gamers that would come to the store regularly and spend a fair bit of money, and the "young bloods" the kids between 10-14 that would just splash paint on there models and throw dice around without a huge respect for the rules.

What happened was telling. The veterans looked down on the new guys, acting with an aloof and superior attitude, both with their painted models and their knowledge of the rules. On various forums you'd see them posting comments, effectively saying we (Games Workshop) owed them because they spent so much money. I was looked down on for pandering to the younger folk and in some instances not knowing as much as the vets did despite the fact I was an employee. What Games Workshop taught you though, was that the young guys were the lifeblood of the hobby, without them growing up into the game the business wouldn't make money and the veterans would be screwed. GW didn't care that I didn't know all the rules, or wasn't the best painter, they liked me because I was patient and guided the young bloods through the expensive and daunting hobby Warhammer is.

We as skirmishers all love our sport, and theres always more mature events that we can visit if we want less of the kids running Rambo around our heals. But all of us as a community must support the new players, even if it involves biting down hard on our lips in the face of serious in-experience. We need them just as much as the veterans if airsoft is to grow in the UK.

 

[remus]

yea but gw are known for not supporting the vets, their discontinuation of their specialist games and bits ranges es evidence of it, and their treatment of indys, which i used to work foris just daft. the hobby will die if you dont have vets and newbs supporting the company, same applies with airsoft.

at my local site theres quite a few kids. but quite a few vets. the kids that come with a group of mates for the day i pretty much ignore, they sit at the back taking shots that are more than likely hitting our players too. however the ones that either come alone or with family are really good. one in particular can pretty much every time plant the flag in the enemy base, and despite having a long m4 is a boss at our qcb section. i try to advise the younger/newer players of what they are doing wrong, ie too far back, firing too much, easily in site etc, without trying to tell them how to game.

also had a problem kid a few weeks back, who just whined and whined, i cant hit him, not taking hits, these hits hurt. actually cried when i shot him(mistook him for someone else other wise i wouldnt have bothered.) whilst airsof tis good for many kids, some really are too wimpy to come straight into such a sport. i felt bad for making him cry, but tbh not for shooting him, you come to shoot and be shot, unless you are really awesome or really crap where you loose one or the other...

then again many adults who come once to try the sport also have similar problems in not moving up etc, but they arnt as common, and usually dont tend to cause as many problems, but they do exist as well...

 

[AK47frizzle]

It's annoying how adults look down on me in skirmishes like "Pppppfft, i'm WAY better than this kid with his two tone AK!" but then they get hit.

 

[firstname-lastname]

Eliteism. Its prevalent in most sports and airsoft is no exception. I suspect it's deep seated human behavioural trait, as i have been guilty of it in the past.

But its like our relationship with learner drivers, we all were learners once, we all hesitated at roundabouts and drove 2 MPH below the limit, there is no sense going crazy if you have a learner in front of you, people would do well to remember that.

All i am saying is, as mature adults (or mature teenagers for that matter) we can turn the other cheek and help the new-comers, even when it doesnt benefit us directly. If they are not interested in your help, leave them and find ones that are (there are always a few).

 

[CES_williamson]

i am 15 and been airsofting for a few years and i have never had problems with people not taking me seriously i actually find my self getting annoyed at younger players for not moving up and making us do all the work in all fairness when i was 14 i was 6ft (now 6ft 2 ) so people thinking they where better than me wasn't a problem to be honest but yeah just make sure you take part and people will take you seriously

 

[JRTIGHE]

To be honest, I actually believe the worst people for being completely oblivious to any tactics or ideas are first-time adults of around 25+. Games like CoD and such do teach kids basic tactics like checking corners and clearing buildings, whereas I see people who I assume don't play games just running into buildings firing.

 

[TPI]

I'm 19 Next Month and i've alway's Disliked it when Anyone Copy's, follows or Imitates me. This HAPPEN's So Much when Younger Kid's are there because my Job involve's being able to talk to a Lot of People. (Checkouts Assistant Effectively a Team Leader and Checkout server with a 36P Pay rise over Checkout Helper's! That'll all change this Afternoon though Finger's Crossed!) I naturally Talk & Talk but for the Life of Me Leave me the F Alone and Have some indepence and resist the Urge to follow me Everywhere but Listen Now & Then aswell as a few other thing's already mentioned

 

[remus]

yea infact i think players are more likely to look down on rental players(which kida are usualy in the majority of) infact i dont think i have problems with any of the regular players (bar one but not cause hes bad or anything but cause hes very cocky about his skill play whilst better players rarely say anything) though its irratiting when people youve never talked to come up to you after a game and say ha i killed you that time over there, when your thining i died how many times and killed not only you but x+ each time? generally i find adults dont do that(unless you know them well and have a running banter grudge)but then thats just my experience....

 

[Zak Da Mack]

I never have an issue with people at sites. I think the only ones that struggle with tactics/following orders are the new players. However, they soon learn what is right and what is wrong and will soon be like the rest. Remember, we were all noobs once. I remember the first time I went to a skirmish, I took a shotgun with me and a 70fps p90. I got owned and I only managed to get a few kills. Then you learn, change, adapt, learn, change, adapt.

However, I had only one issue with these sorts of people. When I went to Billericay, there was a cocky kid there who kept on showing off, saying that he was better than everyone. He told me and my friend that he got a 5 in 1 knife kill and we just accepted it, not saying anything. Next thing, he says that this CO2 revolver he had was real from WW1 and it was converted for airsoft use. The guys who I was sharing a table with then grabbed my little spring pistol and said "you see this? This is antique pistol, one of a kind, and was converted to fire pellets." I just started laughing out loud and then he looked at my and then got angry with me whenever he could.

I just hate cocky people like that. It drives me nuts. Luckily I've only seen this one kid like that.