Playairsoft – a Crowd-sourced List of UK Airsoft Sites

[shadowfacex]

View attachment 72270

I’ve been working on this project for a few weeks, where I’ve started to gather info on airsoft sites from all over the UK. I have built a database of these and created a website where you can browse and find information about these sites, all in one convenient place.

PlayAirsoft UK

People who want to have a website for their airsoft locations/clubs are not generally well versed in information architecture and they don’t typically have a budget to spend on professional services to make their websites or even basic information well designed and accessible. I'm hoping to take this burden off their shoulders and give them solid tools join in on the action without much fuss.

I was annoyed that there was no central place with more info about nearby sites so I could pick one for my next weekend. PlayAirsoft is an answer to this and other issues. The functionality is currently limited because I only just started, but the info is solid; I’ve spent hours scavenging and verifying all the information about the sites you'll see there.

There aren’t a lot locations as of right now, but I'm hoping that with your help, we can have a universal place to find more sites. If you have a favourite airsoft location that isn’t listed or know a site owner, use the link below to suggest a new site to be listed. All submissions are reviewed beforehand, as I would like to have the most accurate info on these places as possible.

https://airtable.com/shrpMw7Xx1UiVErke

Feel free to use this topic as a way to provide feedback, suggestions, and report issues. I’m hoping that PlayAirsoft will provide you with a reliable and accessible way to plan your next airsoft adventure.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

 

[hitmanNo2]

Big list of sites to scrape info from on the UKARA site

http://ukara.org.uk/

 

[EDcase]

This one too

https://airsoftranch.com/uk-airsoft-map/

I prefer a large scale map that you can zoom in to find your area.

 

[shadowfacex]

This one too

https://airsoftranch.com/uk-airsoft-map/

I prefer a large scale map that you can zoom in to find your area.

The map is in the works, and I started scraping some of the data from AirsoftRanch as well, but lots of this data leads to nowhere, so it's a slow process. For example, yesterday it took me about an hour to find all the info I needed for 3 sites from a single organiser.

As for the roadmap, I can share a little bit:

• More filtering options
  
• Countrywide map of airsoft sites to browse and pan around
  
• Support for location services to show what's near you
  
• Grading system to establish "recommended" sites
  

 

[Albiscuit]

Good stuff. The Airsoft map was great for the short time it seemed to be running. I toyed with the idea of setting up a new one but couldn’t be arsed   

 

[Adolf Hamster]

looking good, hope it gains traction.

open source is great too as when a site moves/closes good to have it kept up to date, i know there are sites that have been closed for years still show up on google.

 

[shadowfacex]

looking good, hope it gains traction.

open source is great too as when a site moves/closes good to have it kept up to date, i know there are sites that have been closed for years still show up on google.

I'm looking to provide the community with some reporting tools, but for now everything is static, so if you find anything that is incorrect, feel free to email me at [email protected]. I'll be happy to make amends. In fact, I've done so just today, as Anzio Camp's GPS coordinated were a bit off.

I'd appreciate if mods would consider sticking this in a relevant place, as it provides people with helpful and accurate information about places to play in the UK.

 

[MiK]

Hope this gets site pimped/used by as many as possible - looks super promising 
 

Just need someone with nothing on their schedule to tippy-tap more sites in
 

Locations need some fine tuning tho..... Humberside Airsoft isn’t quite in East Midlands but closer to North Yorkshire & Humberside

 

[ak2m4]

@shadowfacex good start indeed, have you thought about creating an account system where a site owner would register and then they can add, and then edit their site details, price, opening etc.  Saves you from having to edit the info yourself.

 

[shadowfacex]

@ak2m4 I did think about it, and it's something to launch when there is enough demand for self-managing airsoft sites. Right not, the site has barely any traffic (~500 visits weekly) because it's fresh, so I'm focusing on airsoft players more than on site owners, as content moderation is often a one-off (do it once and it's done).

It all depends on the traction and how helpful something is vs returns it brings to the community. It's hard and time consuming to build content management tools, so I'm deferring that until I am sure a lot of players are relying on PlayAirsoft to discover and engage with sites and venues. It's definitely easier for me to review and edit submissions than it would be to create a whole admin panel with all the things involved, such as security, authentication, spam/flood protection, etc.

That said, things can change based on what's going to happen along the way. I like the journey, and the destination is at this point less important. ?

 

[shadowfacex]

I promised an update about the site, so here's something that I'm currently working on in my spare time. A highly requested feature: to browse sites using a map.

Well, it's coming! Right now it's early days, but as you can see there's already a few sites on here. Both, the map and the list will be in sync, so what you'll see on the map will show on the list.

View attachment 73518

 

[TheFull9]

Very much a badly needed thing after 'airsoft sitemap' decided to do PDF downloads and posters that'll be all be fairly useless within about 12 months.

Airbana used to be extremely good and incredibly handy but obviously whoever was running it got bored/left airsoft and it's now a lot less useful.  If you can spread the word enough to get some advertisers in order to bring in a little cash such that someone will keep it updated in perpetuity (be it yourself or someone you might hand it to if you leave the game) that'd really be a winner.  I've seen a few come and go over the years, the current airsoft ranch one seems lacking in some details too.

 

[MagpieTactical]

Have you seen this? 

Https://app.airtac.me

 

[shadowfacex]

Have you seen this? 

Https://app.airtac.me

Nope. What is it? Seem to be hidden behind a registration wall. Can't find any info about it.

PSA: I have just deployed new version of the site with the following changes:

• browse sites by region
  
• browse sites using a map
  
• see which sites are open/closed at a glance
  
• improvements to browsing experience on mobiles
  

As usual, check it out here: https://playairsoft.uk

The next step is to feed the rest of my shortlist of 130+ sites into the system. My goal is to have 100+ sites by the end of May 2021. I have already planned additional features, so this will be a very busy year. Keep on rocking folks!

 

[MagpieTactical]

It's not, try clicking on the bit that says map only. 

Additional features may need registration. 

 

[DrAlexanderTobacco]

Nope. What is it? Seem to be hidden behind a registration wall. Can't find any info about it.

PSA: I have just deployed new version of the site with the following changes:

• browse sites by region
  
• browse sites using a map
  
• see which sites are open/closed at a glance
  
• improvements to browsing experience on mobiles
  

As usual, check it out here: https://playairsoft.uk

The next step is to feed the rest of my shortlist of 130+ sites into the system. My goal is to have 100+ sites by the end of May 2021. I have already planned additional features, so this will be a very busy year. Keep on rocking folks!

Nice stuff, it's great to see the site maturing and seems like it's in a great state already!

Have you thought about a basic voting system for sites? Nothing special, just a 5-star aggregation system.

 

[shadowfacex]

Have you thought about a basic voting system for sites? Nothing special, just a 5-star aggregation system.

Yes, of sorts. Initially, it'll not be a voting system, but rather a simple criteria check to see if a given site is good enough to be classified as "outstanding".

I'm hoping to employ the help of the community to define these criteria. If a given site meets them, then it gets a special badge on PlayAirsoft that indicates to players that it's better than most.

Baby steps. ?

 

[DrAlexanderTobacco]

Sounds good. Lemme know if you ever get a donation link up to help with costs, etc.

 

[shadowfacex]

Very much badly needed thing after 'airsoft sitemap' decided to PDF downloads and posters that'll be all be fairly useless within about 12 months.

Airbana used to be extremely good and incredibly handy but obviously whoever was running it got bored/left airsoft and it's now a lot less useful.  If you can spread the word enough to get some advertisers in order to bring in a little cash such that someone will keep it updated in perpetuity (be it yourself or someone you might hand it to if you leave the game) that'd really be a winner.  I've seen a few come and go over the years, the current airsoft ranch one seems lacking in some details too.

I don't plan to abandon the project. I plan to keep it growing into something more than just a handy list of sites. If I can earn a little while doing it, awesome, but it would have to happen organically, as I don't plan to plaster ads all over it, just to keep the lights on. That's not my kind of game.

As soon as I have 100+ sites, I'll be looking at adding a monthly/weekly newsletter which will be covering what's up in the industry, and keeping folks up-to-date about our favourite pastime, maybe a blog section for long-form content, such as reviews, news and community created content (guest posts?).

Let me know if you guys fancy any of that, as I don't want to sink time into something that won't be helpful/entertaining.

If you've got ideas, I'm all ears too! Can't make any promises, but I'll definitely listen.

 

[shadowfacex]

After weeks of hard work, I’m proud to say PlayAirsoft has now a search feature, along with a blog, and over a hundred of sites across UK. I’ve added a bunch of sites going as far as Orkney Islands.

As far as sustainability of the site goes, I’ll be looking at something more low key, such as affiliate links etc. I don’t like the idea of plastering ads all over the place just to keep the lights on, so my aim is to get a bit more creative. I want to make sure you guys will actually benefit from it too.