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- Sep 2, 2014
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You got unlucky by the sound of it. As with all walks of life, obviously there are some knobheads who take it way too seriously, some who don't take it seriously enough, some who take the piss and - in airsoft - some who don't take their hits. But I would say that the people on this forum are a better typical cross section of the type of people you will meet at most skirmishes, that is to say, generally personable, helpful and not dickheads when it comes to understanding what you should be doing.
Needless to say, if the skirmish you were at was anything like the one I was at today (First and Only up at Bolton), it was snowing and pretty cold, so to at least some degree you could forgive the odd hit not being taken, as nearly everyone was layered up to keep warm (at least in the morning anyway before sweating takes over). You can't always hear hits even if you don't feel them either. Having said that, I certainly did hit a few people numerous times and very obviously so, as did other guys I was with, and we were observing players quite blatantly not taking their hits, as evidenced by clocking the typical 'ouch' reaction of the hit, followed by seeing them ducking into cover and then furtively looking about to see if a marshall saw them, which you get when someone blatantly doesn't take a hit. But as I said to some other guys I was with, if somebody wants to win that badly at a GAME, then f*ck em, there's no point getting pissed off about it, just let the marshalls deal with them and be honest with your own hit calling. To be fair though, there were certainly players there too who were taking hits that they could quite easily have not called (i.e. when a shot comes through a bush). I did in fact call a few such hits of that type on myself, as I hope everyone would, even if such hits are often more luck than judgement, i.e. there are decent players out there too.
It's not that uncommon to see someone with a lot of cool gear who hasn't got a clue about tactics either, but, if they are having fun and playing honestly, then that's their business, just don't make the mistake of thinking that because someone looks like they should know what they are doing because of all that fancy special forces gear, that they actually do know what they are doing. You'll pretty soon work out who the bullshitters are and who are not, and be aware it's not always the military veterans who know best either, so don't take that as a guarantee of tactical genius either.
As for people staying back and doing nothing, be aware that you don't always have to go charging up to the enemy's position like Audie Murphy on speed to be doing stuff that is useful, so occasionally people might look like they are doing nothing when they might actually be in radio contact with someone and executing a plan or whatever, although obviously some people do hang back and not play their part on occasion, especially toward the end of the day when everyone is a bit knackered. But, people can twist their ankle and be taking a breather, or be holding position whilst others try to drive enemies toward them, or be waiting for someone to join them, or sorting out a weapon malfunction, borrowing ammo etc, so what you see isn't always someone not pulling their weight.
Having said that, when I see people with an assault rifle just hold position and lean against a tree taking potshots at a silhouette 150 yards away, hoping a miracle is going to unblock the stalemate, it does make me wonder why they even showed up; I prefer to try to push up. When you do get people who understand tactics, even basic tactics like covering fire, fire and maneuver, using smoke, using cover and concealment, calling out contacts, covering the flanks etc, and you do push up, it makes it more fun and is after all what you've paid to play. In fact, it was because I was pushing up on the enemy's base today with some people who did know what they were doing, that I managed to get a bunch of kills with my cheap ass back up springer pistol (since my M4 had a stoppage at an awkward moment), three in fact (four if you include the guy who shot me as I shot him, and we both took the hit) much to the amusement of the marshall who was right next to me at the time and who complimented me on getting a bunch of kills with a springer.
In other words, maybe it was just a day where there were a lot of dicks at that site, maybe it's not a great site and you should try another, or maybe you should just avoid some of the tools, but whatever it is, don't let it put you off, most people in airsoft are pretty decent and realise that it is up to them to make it enjoyable by being an honest team player. But like any new endeavour you get into, it's occasionally a bit of a learning curve, and sometimes you gotta kiss a few frogs so to speak.
Needless to say, if the skirmish you were at was anything like the one I was at today (First and Only up at Bolton), it was snowing and pretty cold, so to at least some degree you could forgive the odd hit not being taken, as nearly everyone was layered up to keep warm (at least in the morning anyway before sweating takes over). You can't always hear hits even if you don't feel them either. Having said that, I certainly did hit a few people numerous times and very obviously so, as did other guys I was with, and we were observing players quite blatantly not taking their hits, as evidenced by clocking the typical 'ouch' reaction of the hit, followed by seeing them ducking into cover and then furtively looking about to see if a marshall saw them, which you get when someone blatantly doesn't take a hit. But as I said to some other guys I was with, if somebody wants to win that badly at a GAME, then f*ck em, there's no point getting pissed off about it, just let the marshalls deal with them and be honest with your own hit calling. To be fair though, there were certainly players there too who were taking hits that they could quite easily have not called (i.e. when a shot comes through a bush). I did in fact call a few such hits of that type on myself, as I hope everyone would, even if such hits are often more luck than judgement, i.e. there are decent players out there too.
It's not that uncommon to see someone with a lot of cool gear who hasn't got a clue about tactics either, but, if they are having fun and playing honestly, then that's their business, just don't make the mistake of thinking that because someone looks like they should know what they are doing because of all that fancy special forces gear, that they actually do know what they are doing. You'll pretty soon work out who the bullshitters are and who are not, and be aware it's not always the military veterans who know best either, so don't take that as a guarantee of tactical genius either.
As for people staying back and doing nothing, be aware that you don't always have to go charging up to the enemy's position like Audie Murphy on speed to be doing stuff that is useful, so occasionally people might look like they are doing nothing when they might actually be in radio contact with someone and executing a plan or whatever, although obviously some people do hang back and not play their part on occasion, especially toward the end of the day when everyone is a bit knackered. But, people can twist their ankle and be taking a breather, or be holding position whilst others try to drive enemies toward them, or be waiting for someone to join them, or sorting out a weapon malfunction, borrowing ammo etc, so what you see isn't always someone not pulling their weight.
Having said that, when I see people with an assault rifle just hold position and lean against a tree taking potshots at a silhouette 150 yards away, hoping a miracle is going to unblock the stalemate, it does make me wonder why they even showed up; I prefer to try to push up. When you do get people who understand tactics, even basic tactics like covering fire, fire and maneuver, using smoke, using cover and concealment, calling out contacts, covering the flanks etc, and you do push up, it makes it more fun and is after all what you've paid to play. In fact, it was because I was pushing up on the enemy's base today with some people who did know what they were doing, that I managed to get a bunch of kills with my cheap ass back up springer pistol (since my M4 had a stoppage at an awkward moment), three in fact (four if you include the guy who shot me as I shot him, and we both took the hit) much to the amusement of the marshall who was right next to me at the time and who complimented me on getting a bunch of kills with a springer.
In other words, maybe it was just a day where there were a lot of dicks at that site, maybe it's not a great site and you should try another, or maybe you should just avoid some of the tools, but whatever it is, don't let it put you off, most people in airsoft are pretty decent and realise that it is up to them to make it enjoyable by being an honest team player. But like any new endeavour you get into, it's occasionally a bit of a learning curve, and sometimes you gotta kiss a few frogs so to speak.
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