Playairsoft – a Crowd-sourced List of UK Airsoft Sites

[Fatboy40]

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".

All I'd say is be cautious about rating systems that could have an effect on the public perception of a business (and its bookings / revenue), the business may expect some sort of arbitration system if a dispute over a rating occurs, it could be legally a little sticky?

 

[shadowfacex]

@Fatboy40 It's a good sanity check, I agree, although the idea in my head is focused around a "recommendation" system. For example, if a site meets certain criteria deemed important by the community (gathered from surveys, etc), it gets a "PlayAirsoft Recommendation" badge on their page and in search results. That's all. No comments, no reviews, no star-based ratings. At least not for now.

An example of criteria could be (it's just an example, not saying this is what's important to most players):

• has on-site shop
  
• provides free lunch options
  
• has online booking
  
• has guns/gear rental
  
• has toilets
  

If it scores 5 out of 5 it gets a badge, that's all. The aim is to increase competition for players between neighbouring sites by incentivising site owners to get better at what they offer.

 

[TheFull9]

Gonna bump this myself because this needs and deserves a lot more eyeballs and traffic.  I know there's at least 1 site just south of Oxford (a RIFT site I believe) that's not currently listed though not sure if that's because it's not been submitted or @shadowfacex is working through stuff.

Would greatly encourage anyone who's not to bookmark this, start using it and recommending to friends.  But more importantly submit any sites that aren't on there right now as I don't know of a single central resource listing every UK site and I guarantee tons of people out there are missing out on finding the places to play that suit them best because of that very issue.

 

[shadowfacex]

@TheFull9 R.I.F.T. seem to have about four (?) sites in total, and they are on my list to verify and add. Currently, I’m working through improving region pages for faster loading and better viewing, as well as having a dedicated search/filtering page for more sophisticated browsing.

I do encourage anyone who knows of any sites that aren’t on PlayAirsoft to submit them, even if you don’t know all of the details. Don’t be afraid of submitting just a name and web address, if this is all you know about it. I’ll get to it and try to verify all the details anyway.

The hardest part is to provide meaningful descriptions for each site. Most of them have a little blurb about what they offer, but nothing specific about the site features, which would be of most help to players who don’t yet know a given site. I will be going on a little tour and visit some sites that aren’t too far from me for the sake of gathering intel, but it’ll be a slow process.

Anything you may know about your favourite site that isn’t mentioned, file a report through the website and I’ll take a look at it.

 

[Keldon]

You should check out Asmodias reviews of the southern region Airsoft sites to add some info might save you a few trips

 

[shadowfacex]

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

Donation widget is now up and running on PlayAirsoft.

Thanks in advance for all your support, and please: don’t feel obligated to donate. I will be looking into better ways of supporting the site than donations. Something that works both ways, as opposed to just “gimme me money”.

Changelog:

• Improved homepage which is now faster and clearer
  
• Added newsletter sign-up throughout the site (for later)
  
• Created a dedicated map page with proper map controls
  
• Blog has now an RSS feed, for those who still remember what it is and how to use it
  
• Individual location and region pages load much faster now and look way better, especially on mobile
  
• Added a few new site attributes:
  
  
  Site limits (AEG, DMR, Sniper; in Joules)
  
• Pyros (allowed/limited)
  
• Bio BBs (required/optional)
  

What’s next?

• Dedicated search page with advanced filtering based on already existing attributes
  
• Display the latest three site additions on the homepage to facilitate discovery
  

 

[Cannonfodder]

Looks good. Would it be possible to put links up to site's websites on the map? 

 

[shadowfacex]

Looks good. Would it be possible to put links up to site's websites on the map? 

I've had this in mind early on, but I am not convinced this is beneficial to the players for a couple of reasons:

• not every site has a website, Facebook page, etc
  
• if they do, most of them don’t give players any info or even a description of what to expect
  
• if they do, it’s often hard to find between the fluff and broken layouts
  
• if it’s not hard to find, it’s often out of date
  

If you find a site on the map, chances are you will find more info on its location page on PlayAirsoft than on its OG homepage. If you want to book, enquire or visit their website, the call to actions are clearly displayed (where available).

This is supposed to save people anywhere between one to several clicks and in some cases a lot of time. You’re free to feast your eyeballs on outdated info and gruesome website design any time, my friend.

I realise location pages are missing crucial info such as pictures, but that’s in the pipeline too. Unfortunately, I will have to create a new backend for this purpose, because with its current setup I’d have to pay quite high hosting costs for image storage and bandwidth.

 

[DrAlexanderTobacco]

Cheers Shadow! I'll chuck some coins over on payday.

I wonder if a small tweak to the "Suggest a Site" CTA could help with uptake and frequency of new sites being uploaded:

View attachment 78776

My thoughts being that new Sites being added to the database can only be a good thing, and would kick up uptake of the site in turn.

E: You could also use something like AppCues to highlight the CTA early on.

 

[shadowfacex]

That’s a good point about improving the uptake of site submissions @DrAlexanderTobacco. Will add it to the list of things to work on next.

 

[shadowfacex]

Hey folks, just a quick one to say that as of today you can browse and filter airsoft sites with this nifty little page. Read more about the whole autumn update on the blog: https://playairsoft.uk/blog/playairsoft-autumn-update/

 

[Scorp]

Hey folks, just a quick one to say that as of today you can browse and filter airsoft sites with this nifty little page. Read more about the whole autumn update on the blog: https://playairsoft.uk/blog/playairsoft-autumn-update/

This is very cool, thanks for all the effort!

 

[shadowfacex]

Hey folks! Another update that went out of testing: 5-day weather forecast for each location.

View attachment 80047

Now, you can check whether to pack gaiters or shorts! Enjoy!

 

[Jaylordofwaargh]

Hey folks! Another update that went out of testing: 5-day weather forecast for each location.

View attachment 80047

Now, you can check whether to pack gaiters or shorts! Enjoy!

This is super cool, which weather source have you built in?

 

[shadowfacex]

@Jaylordofwaargh I used OpenWeatherMap API, because it's very easy to use and free for what I need to do with it. It also delivers accurate forecasts and data, so there it is.

 

[shadowfacex]

Another month, another bunch of updates to PlayAirsoft, alongside new additions to the site’s database. This time, I have added direct links to Google Maps and Apple Maps for your convenience. Should save you time looking up directions to sites manually!

View attachment 83816

 

[Khyber]

Hey have visited the site a few times now. Keep up the great work. Would like to suggest if you ever plan in having an account system then being able to add sites to your own 'played at' and 'want to visit' lists would be great. I for one want to try and play at as many sites as I can being a newish player. And being able to keep track of sites I want to visit from recommendations or watching youtube gameplay would be great. Kind of like an online version of that airsoft site map poster with checkboxes. thanks

 

[shadowfacex]

It’s been a bit quiet about the website, since I’m working on its second incarnation in my free time. However, I’ve made some minor updates recently to the way certain things are displayed on the homepage to give you better way to view what’s out there.

In addition, I just reviewed and published close to 20 new locations throughout the UK, bringing the total to 171 sites (161 are currently open).

There’s plenty of places to play in the mainland, though I’d like to see more locations from the outer edges, predominantly Scotland, mid-Wales, and smaller British Isles, as I’m sure there’s a ton of great places I haven’t heard about. Got any intel? Share it: submit a new location!

PS: If you have feedback about the website, use this thread to let me know. I can’t make any promises about immediate improvements while I’m building PlayAirsoft V2, but I still wanna hear it all: good and bad.

I only have one condition: be constructive. This is hobby project of mine, not a full-time job (I wish it was, though).

 

[Pseudotectonic]

My 2 cents:

• I think the layout as you enter the site/directory is a little flat in terms of the layout of the grid of maps/locations, the small maps of each location themselves are useful but a whole grid of them is a bit too monotonous, if the site has their own specific logo or badge or icon next to the names (if they have an official one) that will make each site more differentiable and identifiable from one another.
  

• The different panels/sections can use a slightly different colour background for legibility. (or like the big "our mission" panel with some image)
  

• The "explore the map" panel is redundant if you can immediately just put the map there, or maybe add a "full view" button if you want to keep a separate page. Maybe even streamline/incorporate the search bar function into it, maybe even make it a big search bar in the middle.
  

• "Where to play airsoft" perhaps should be renamed to "(Browse sites) by region".
  

• "Search for sites" maybe "Find sites near you".
  

• Maybe a very basic "change log" or "updates" page (just a list of "this date added what") can be useful to show when the list is being updated and how update it is.
  

But overall I think the site works quite well already, these are just minor comments.

 

[shadowfacex]

@PseudotectonicThanks for the feedback! Really good to hear from the community.

I’m currently working on a V2 of the website, since there will be a slight shift towards how things work in the future. The design will change as well.

Currently, most locations don’t even have photos on them (which I would prefer), let alone any logos or emblems to use, since most information is crowdsourced. The map is therefore used as a placeholder, but the idea is to use a photo when one is available. I’ve not implemented this yet; it’s on my list. ?

Now, change log is a good idea that I explored last year, and it hasn’t happened purely because the current software stack would make it very challenging to create something that doesn’t have a lot of benefit. So far, I try to summarise changes to the site quarterly on the blog, which might give people a better idea of the status of the project. I’m happy to ponder this once V2 is out, as I’ll have much more room technologically to weigh different features.