I totally disagree. If I had my way our sport/hobby would split into two.
Airsoft would have the current upper woodland limits across the board - AEG's 368FPS, semi-auto pistols & rifles 425FPS, BASR's 500FPS 20m MED.
Strikeball Air would only be open to 16+ with a parent or guardian's signature and 18+. All guns would have to be full metal, roughly equivalent to their RS originals in weight. The FPS hard limit for AEG's and all pistols would be 500; for Semi-Auto Rifles 650 with a 20m MED (for those above 500FPS); also there would be a new category of support AEG's with a minimum weight of 7Kg which could fire full auto max. 12rps at 650FPS at a 25m MED (for those above 500FPS); BASR's would be limited to 750FPS with a 25m MED (for those above 500FPS). Hand thrown grenades and smokes under 300g would have no restrictions on how they are thrown, between 301-500g they could be thrown no higher than cricket bowling height unless lobbed with only enough force to clear an obstacle so long as they would then fall no further than 8m. Devices over 0.5Kg could not be thrown above head height at all. Some kind of players' association would attempt to convince a/some manufacturer/s, perhaps pay for some of the R&D, to create an entirely gas/CO2 powered projectile weighing less than 250g which would launch from a 40mm moscart upto approx 50m and explode on impact generating approx 110dB and a similar but larger system for parachute deploying mortar shells.
My reasons are complex and multi-sided but in no particular order include these:
You don't have to fire at the limits. In fact upgrading to and keeping guns going at higher limits would be a lot of work; it would therefore introduce more variety in the maximum effective ranges of weapons since the expense would get prohibitive to have every AEG you own firing at 495FPS at 25+rps, plus given that one of the best ways to get higher FPS and thus range, without putting so much extra strain on the gearbox that the trigger response suffers noticeably, is to get more pressure behind the BB in a TBB, rifles with long barrels in general would have an advantage over light, short, weapons in general, which is as it should be - if you want the advantage of range you should have to lug some extra weight for it and if you would rather have a gun which is so light you barely notice it, your advantage is easier movement and thus shorter range is fair enough. This would introduce a degree of variety, even at sites we know well, which is currently a bit lacking.
Harder hits would reduce the phenomenon of 'accidental cheating' where someone who is adrenalised does not notice a hit through their clothing because it doesn't hurt and they've got so much else on their mind that they don't notice.
Safety equipment properly worn would still prevent any actual injury. Yes, harder hits would increase the incidence of broken skin bleeders, but let's have it right, a bit of blood does not an injury make and there are plenty of sports which regularly result in much worse hurts, let alone actual hospitalising injuries, and nobody runs home whinging to their mum about those. If you don't care about your teeth or scars on your face, don't wear a mask; if you are concerned that a 468g BFG falling 6m onto your head will hurt more than you are prepared to accept, wear a helmet.
The pain is the main source of the excitement of our sport/hobby. It may be competitive spirit that drives us to get forward and try to shoot the opposition, but it is the potential for getting totally rinsed that makes us genuinely, sometimes desperately, try to use cover while we do it! If we were not excited by the opposition shooting back, we would shoot paper targets, but the more is at stake, the more exciting it is. Personally I can no longer afford silly money gambling and, even if I could, I think it's far better to just spend the money on definitely having a good time than to try to have a good time by risking losing it on the outcome of some event/turn of cards/roll of dice where the odds are to one extent or another stacked against me, but it is a similar principle.
A major bonus which greater effective ranges would produce is that camouflage would be more effective and the knock on effect of that is an increased threat of being shot by an unseen opponent, hence again greater excitement.
