Nervous newbie here.. looking for some advice.

[A Radford]

Hi,

I played few skirmish matches with a group of mates when I was younger (14) but then I got banned from it all for shooting my mate from my bedroom window (G36C and Glock binned by my mum <_< )

anyway...

I'm 19 now and looking to get into airsoft seriously. The only thing is I'm a little nervous about just turning up at a site on my own as none of my current friends are interested. When I've been paintballing people turn up in groups and stick in those groups throughout breaks etc. and I've never seen anyone on their own (it would be a bit awkward). Is this the case with airsoft too? I have a vision of me sitting on my own like some wierdo between each game whilst everyone is with their respective groups .. This is the only thing putting me off going to play airsoft so I thought rather than keep putting it off I'd ask you guys. :wacko:

Cheers

P.S. is anyone here base around derby sort of area??

 

[Esoterick]

Welcome to the forum. There's no problem turning up on your own to games, you'll just find it much more enjoyable if you get talking to people. It's pretty much how I got started as after 1 game the person I was going with flaked out and stopped going so I just rocked up on my own.

It's pretty easy to strike up conversations as you can just ask people all sorts of Airsoft related questions like "what gun is that?" or "do you play here regularly?". If you are outgoing anyway it will be even easier but i've found Airsofters are generally a good bunch and if someone gives you the bulldog licking piss off a nettle look then just talk to someone else.

 

[Aunty Pasty]

Welcome. I play on my own. I just turn up and set up with the rest of them. I nearly always end up chatting with somebody else at some point in the day. Usually things relax a bit after a game or two. Everybody likes talking about their guns so it's an easy ice-breaker.

 

[proffrink]

Same here. I've moved so much the past few years that anyone I've got to know plays somewhere I don't now, but airsofters are very polite and will take any opportunity to talk about what they've brought with them, so striking up a conversation is easy and many will do it with you if they notice you're new.

It's a team based game a lot of the time, and if you find yourself next to others then you will end up communicating (at the very least shouting out where the other team are), so it's not awkward at all. There will also be the classic 'man by tree' telling you to move up the whole time.

Also, welcome to the forums.

 

[Happy]

Pretty much what the other guys have said before me: airsofters tend to be a very approachable bunch. Anyway, welcome to the forums!

 

[Colonel Kurtz]

Much more lone gunmen in airsoft than paintball. And much less stag-do's. If you try work with your team during games, you'll have something to chat about during the break, and most people will usually jump at the chance to explain what gun they've got and what 'upgrades' they gave it.

 

[n1ckh]

You'll also hear people describing how the snuck up to someone, knife killed them or shot them etc lol so you can jump in & tell them what you saw if you there

 

[BrightCandle]

I have pretty much always just rocked up to a site on my own since the beginnig. I just set myself up somewhere and then talk to the people around me, as a result I know quite a lot of people in the sites I play at nowadays. None of my friends have the remote interest in anything airsoft related other than the one guy I met on these forums. Just go and more likely than not you'll meet a load of more experienced players who are also super friendly and have you join their group for the day. You would have thought that this strategy would have failed at least once in the 50 or so games I have played, but it never has!

 

[BBrotherwood]

I dragged two friends from school along on my first game, then a friend from work for my next one. I then played a couple of games by myself and generally ended up chatting to someone. I'm not an outgoing person either so rest assured you will be fine. There will be others by themselves or in a small group of 2 or 3. They tend to be most approachable.

 

[Avionyx]

Yeah you'll be fine man. It's about 50/50 split between groups and individuals these days where I play. Airsoft is much more about utilising the team players as well as you can and that won't work without talking to people on the team.

You will find yourself feeling involed in no time.

 

[Bottledtorment]

If you're looking to play in the Derby area come down to Combat ready airsoft. I usually play on my own but you can always find someone to tag along with

 

[Greg147]

I much agree with what the others had said, generally it's easy to start talking to people by striking up conversations about guns, equipment, etc. You shouldn't be standing around on your own for two long, as it's not like paintball where each team has mini-teams of people who came together, and there's no communication between. Airsoft players generally play at a site regularly, whereas players at a paintball site will often only do it on odd occasions (like stag parties), so will have little interest in meeting new people while they're there.

That said I found it a little tricky at first, and not everyone is good at approaching groups of strangers. I found it got easier once I stopped wearing full-face protection, which sounds strange. When I first started I wore a balaclava and SWAT style helmet. Eventually I moved on to just eye-protection and a baseball cap, and I found that more people were approaching me in the safe zone because they recognized me from the field, and it's easy to get involved with what other groups are doing when you're actually in the game.

Not that I'm recommending wearing only eye-protection if you're not comfortable with it, of course, but I felt it was worth a mention.

 

[Lez9]

Pretty much what the other guys have said, I was and am in the same boat attend on my own and just strike up conversations with fellow Airsofter's. My 1st game i attended on my own and within 2 minutes i was chatting to a guy who was setting up his 5 group members kit and weapons and he involved me with everything. Later in the day they allowed me to use some of there kit instead of the hire kit which was much better and even let me use one of there custom guns for the last few games we had.

Overall I felt comfy and welcomed straight away so cannot be thankful enough to the Airsoft community.

 

[A Radford]

Cheers for all the advice guys. you've definitely put me at ease...

If you're looking to play in the Derby area come down to Combat ready airsoft. I usually play on my own but you can always find someone to tag along with

Funny you should say that, I just nipped in there on Sunday to ask about the games and prices after finding them on Google and am glad to say that is definitely where I will be starting. when I get back from Menorca on the 1st October I'm gonna have a look at the schedule and book in for a Sunday of head in to one of the drop ins. already ordered a face mesh mask ready (I get a little nervy about hiring face protection due to a severe peanut allergy :/ )..

 

[Bottledtorment]

Cheers for all the advice guys. you've definitely put me at ease...

Funny you should say that, I just nipped in there on Sunday to ask about the games and prices after finding them on Google and am glad to say that is definitely where I will be starting. when I get back from Menorca on the 1st October I'm gonna have a look at the schedule and book in for a Sunday of head in to one of the drop ins. already ordered a face mesh mask ready (I get a little nervy about hiring face protection due to a severe peanut allergy :/ )..

Hi mate, make sure it is either a lower and goggles or a full face as they run a policy of Full face only. I'm usually rocking about in Olive trousers and and Green JPC (If i'm not marshalling that is!)